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A & J Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
1319 Rockville PikeSte C
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 251-7878
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11:30 am - 9 pm
Sat-Sun 10 am - 9 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
239 reviews for A & J Restaurant
Review Highlights
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"Their beef noodle soup is the best comfort food." In 56 reviews -
"The thousand layer pancake was hot and flakey." In 14 reviews -
"This is a low profile place which serves excellent dim sum." In 46 reviews
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239 reviews in English
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Review from Sam L.
Newburgh, NY
5/18/2012
Given that this place has 200+ reviews, I had to try it in my tour of Asian foods in Rockville. I went with all the Yelp recommendations and ordered the dan dan noodles, the thousand layer pancake, fried meat bun and taro bubble tea. The taro bubble tea was decent, slightly on the sweet side but the bubbles were a great chewiness. The fried meat bun was the best part of the meal while the thousand layer pancake I didn't find had enough flavor. It was indeed flaky as the reviewers have said - just a bit plain. Finally, the dan dan mien was flavorful and did get spicier with each bite. Very good.
My only complaint is that this place is cash only.
You know that this place is good when it is packed on a weeknight. -
Review from Anita C.
5/9/2012 1 Check-in Here
Hand-pulled noodles, my taste buds say.
This Chinese restaurant boosts delicious, thick-cut, hand-pulled noodles. It is hands-down my favorite part of this restaurant, and worth the trek onto congested Rockville Pike (ick!) for. The broth of their beef noodle soup is not as flavorful as I would like, but the springy, chewy texture of their hand-pulled noodles makes up for it. I also enjoy that they use leaner cuts of meat in their beef noodle soup (I'm not a fan of very fatty parts). It's simple: broth, lean meat, spinach, and noodles.
As for the other items - I've had the pan fried dumplings, which I didn't think were great. I've also had the shredded pork and mustard green noodle soup, which is a lighter option compared to the heaviness of the beef noodle soup. It's a good alternative if you're looking for a clearer broth. I've actually never had the dimsum since I love the beef noodle soup so much, but I'll definitely be back to try one day (if and when I ever get sick of noodles!).
This place is CASH ONLY. -
Review from D L.
Washington, DC
5/3/2012
Been coming to this joint since I was a young buck and it has literally stayed the same for the better part of two decades. Like many of the reviews before me, I have to agree that the dishes taste very authentic and the chefs don't dumb it up for the non-Asian population (adding unnecessary amounts of salt and other non-Chinese flavors) . Sorry white people.
Their dimsum is good, though the items are not as extensive as some of the other restaurants in the area. You really cannot fail with salty soy milk in my opinion. As for non-dimsum dishes, I enjoy the beef noodle soup, dandan noodles, spicy/cold cucumbers, and thousand layer pancake. The beef noodle soup is a hit or miss. Sometimes the soup is perfect and the cuts of meat/tendons remind me of a baby's ass -- super soft. Other times I find the soup to be too salty and get shitty cuts of meat that ruin my day. The dandan noodles are pretty reliable, but are surprisingly spicy. The spiciness is not exactly apparent until you've taken several bites though, and will creep up on you like TLC. Every time I get this I start off scoffing at how un-spicy it is and actually wish they would make it more spicy...by the fourth bite i'm sweating like Keith (get it?). Lastly, the thousand layer pancake is my favorite and pretty unique to this restaurant. It's super flaky and I like to get a plate of sugar to dip it in.
Others have already mentioned this, but it's a Chinese restaurant...which means the concept of credit cards does not exist... -
Review from John H.
Takoma Park, MD
5/24/2012
The food was great and the staff's warmth was even better. The nice ladies fussed over our two and a half year old like aunties. The potstickers were not like anything I've had before. The spicy beef noodle soup had an intense beefiness. The scallion pancake was our kid's favorite. I love this place.
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Review from Tina D.
Alexandria, VA
5/23/2012
Aboslutely love this place! They feature delicious authentic Taiwanese fare for a great price! My personal favs are the hot & sour noodles, the fried chicken w/ rice dish, the thousand layer pancakes (dipped in the hot & sour noodle sauce), and their potstickers. Their thick noodles are great - so be sure to ask for it if you're trying a noodle dish!
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Review from X P.
Arlington, VA
4/26/2012
I really like this place because of how authentic the Chines food is. When I start a meal with Dou Jiang and You Tiao (soy bean drink with fried bread stick) I forget where I am and all of a sudden I am in China eating my breakfast before I head off to the collective on a cold winter day.
I wake up and realize the harvest is not starting and I continue onto eating. Dan Dan Mian is good, the beef noodle soup is OK but you can't blame them. Noodles are big in the west of China, and this is not a western China Restaurant
The small eats are good, including pig ears and tripe. Xiao long bao is eh, but this is not a Shanghainese Restaurant. Pot stickers are OK, but my mom's are the best in the world, can't compare. What really stands out are the scallion pancakes. Eat them with the pig ears and you'll be wondering why they don't' serve beer.
How then can it be 4 stars? The stuff they do well, though not many, is bomb and Chinese restaurants in this area are lacking. Everything else is average, but better than your orange chicken. -
Review from Phoebe C.
Anaheim, CA
4/18/2012 1 Check-in Here
Came here on a Sunday morning around 11AM. Luckily, we got here before the crowd, so we didn't have to wait for a table or sit with strangers. Pretty cheap for a "dim sum"/weekend brunch type meal - ended up being $10/person - $30 for a party of 3. Menu isn't very clear or accurate/descriptive for non-Chinese readers or non-Chinese population, so make sure you bring a friend or something. AND, remember it's CASH ONLY!!!!!!!!!
We ordered:
Sweet dou jiang + you tiao (sweet soy milk + fried Chinese donut sticks)
-Standard Chinese breakfast staple, and they didn't disappoint. One order of soy milk can be shared among 2 people, and you get 2 sticks of you tiao, which is plenty, considering how it's deep fried. I like this combo - reminded me of my childhood and eating at 369 in SoCal :-)
Cold bean curd with carrots and cucumbers
-I have to say, this dish sounded questionable to me upon order, but I was pleasantly surprised when I realized what it was. Emphasis on the COLD bean curd makes it taste delicious! It's not just a curd of... well, beans. It's basically slivers of bean curd with carrots and cucumbers, and it tastes refreshing and slightly sweet.
Cold seaweed with sesame seeds
-Same side dish that's commonly found in Korean and Japanese restaurants. It's refreshingly chilly and a great side dish that feels pretty healthy.
Fan tuan with rou song (glutinous rice cake with pork sung)
-Meh... standard and super easy to make. It's good to get if you want a filler (asides from a traditional bowl of white rice), but it's so easy to make that you can just make it at home with cooked white rice, pork sung, and saran wrap!
Side of vegetables + edamame beans
-This was the dish I was most apathetic about. Nothing spectacular in taste and I would have been fine without it.
Fried pot stickers
-This I thought was just OK. It was definitely on the oily side, and I could only eat about 2 without feeling gluttonous. We even had to box it up because it was so oily, which I doubt we'll get to finishing. -
Review from Sunshine D.
Gaithersburg, MD
4/8/2012 1 Check-in Here
#1 Bring cash! It's cash only here!
#2 It was not the same DIM SUM I dreamed of. The menu in my opinion was scarce.
#3 The spicy food, was not the super spicy food my husband was wishing for.
#4 They didn't have the plum sauce and mustard sauce.They only had red chili sauce, soy sauce and vinegar.
I was very happy to find an all day dim sum place. The service was fast. They placed forks for our 3 kids (they probably knew most kids can't use the plastic reusable chopsticks).
Spent $40 on probably 10 different types of dishes on the menu which I thought was a super awesome deal.
I will most likely try another dim sum place before coming back to this one to see the difference of dim sum servers in the area. I think the best place for dim sum will be in a place like Chinatown though. I hope to try New Fortune in Silver Spring for my next dim sum crave. -
Review from El C.
Washington, DC
5/6/2012
Great place to go on a weekend. The food here is the real deal...you won't find beef with broccoli on the menu. Prices are ridiculously low, but portions are also small...think Chinese tapas if you're not familiar with this place. Order a whole bunch of dishes and gorge yourself silly! My favorite is the smoked chicken. I can still taste it days after eating it. I have no idea what they do to it, but it's really really tasty!
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Review from Koroush P.
Rockville, MD
5/3/2012
I always get the spicy cucumbe salad, pan fried dumpling, or the beef broth. They are quick to get you in and out so don't take it personally if your rushed. But it's really good.
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Review from Deborah N.
Columbia, MD
2/10/2012 2 Check-ins Here
Wow. I loved A&J so much I even took home the menu to remember what I had ordered!
No General Tso's here. No Beef with Broccoli. Not a chicken wing in sight. This place served "Northern Style Dim Sum". Says so right in their window - in neon. Cool for me, I'm a dim sum veteran. Or so I thought upon entering. But, like other reviewers, I soon found I didn't know what I was talking about. Northern style dim sum is apparently a totally different animal than the stuff on the dim sum carts I've been eating every three weeks for 10 years.
The only thing I recognized on the menu was Scallion Pancake. Which I was not smart enough to order.
Being all on my own without a guide (other than Yelp reviews on my iPhone, of course) I decided to just throw caution to the wind. I figured whatever I ordered, if I ordered enough I would like some of it.
Oh, but first I had to be able to order. Which meant that I had to be able to pay. And since they do not take credit cards at A&J (as I found out AFTER driving there and entering) this meant trudging back out to my car, in the rain, to go find an ATM (or, in this case, a CVS - debit with cash back, love it!).
So, there I was back again, feeling sheepish and very hungry, The same pot of tea was placed on the same table for me. C'mon lady, let's go. I'm a hungry customer now!!
So I picked three medium-priced items, figuring they wouldn't add up to too much on the bill.
First - soup: I was intrigued by the thought of Shredded Pork and Mustard Green Noodle soup but, judging by the $6.95 price, I figured it would be one of those great big bowls that I wouldn't be able to finish and it would make me feel too guilty to order anything else.
So I went for the lower-priced (and presumably smaller) Suan La Lian Mian (Sour Cabbage with Pork Strips & Bean Stick Soup). Hey, I love me some sour cabbage! Boy was I the winner in that algorithm. Amazing light pork broth. Small slices of pork. Sliced of sour cabbage. And some thin vermicelli noodles thrown in. Alone it would have been just enough. Just the right sort of light and satisfying meal my weight control conscience would like me to survive off of. Had I known it would be so good, so plentiful and that the noodles would have been enough to quench my hunger, I would have stopped there. But I had already ordered the rest...
Next was the Suan La Mian (Noodles in A&J special Hot & Sour Sauce). This was basically just noodles and hot sauce. No meat, no veg. So it was a little bit of a carb-heavy meal for me, but oh so delicious.
The waitress tried to talk me out of either this dish or these particular noodles. They are house made noodles. Thick but not too thick. (about 1/3 as wide as chow foon noodles). Chewy. Delicious. Thank goodness I stuck to my guns and got them. Mmmm....
My third item was the only disappointment. I had had high hopes for the Zhua Bing (Thousand Layer pancake). But it really was just a plain pancake fluffed up from deep frying. Pretty bland, pretty boring. Sadly I did not see until afterwards the Yelp hints about dipping it in the chili sauce. For some reason my mind didn't even go there. After the carb-fest of the noodles I really didn't need to fill up on that pancake so I just let it go. Next time I will try the scallion pancake because that is a dish that I have enjoyed in other restaurants.
Oh, and I also ordered a Passion Fruit Iced Tea with Bubbles. Oh why not, it was only $2.75, instead of like the $4 charged elsewhere. It was sweet and dairy-free and cut through that full feeling you get when gorging (though I did leave several of the bubbles behind).
Finally, a word about the decor. I frequently find myself needing a pre/post class meal in Rockville and have been searching hard for a place to make my "regular." I require clean, not depressing and good food. Oh and cheap! A&J is a bright and cheery place and fits the bill. I will be back a lot!!! -
Review from Robert R.
Olney, MD
4/29/2012
located in rockville, md and annandale, va they specialize in northern style dim sum. first time diners should not be expecting hong kong style dim sum and they do not push carts around. the rockville location is very small with approximately 15 tables. the waitresses are very friendly yet can be overwhelmed at crowded times which is very often on saturdays and sundays. also, be sure to bring cash as credit cards are not excepted.
favorites: pan fried pork dumplings, sliced beef marinated and cooked with bean paste, cucumber salad in hot garlic sauce, spicy wonton with red hot sauce szechuan style and spicy beef noodle soup szechuan style -
Review from Maggina K.
Washington, DC
3/5/2012
I loved it here! First time that I saw REAL Chinese food in a while so me and my boyfriend went crazy.
We ordered the Dan Dan noodles, fried pork chop and rice, potstickers, fried beef bun, spicy pig ears, xiao long bao, and taro bubble tea.
The Dan Dan noodles were pretty good, although not as spicy as I would have liked them.
Fried pork chop and rice dish was not at all impressive. It was rubbed with five spice so it tasted a little sweet and not enough savory.
Potstickers, and fried beef bun were delicious. Perfectly crunchy on the bottom and you can tell they make their own skins.
LOVED the spicy pig ears. When you get pig ears and they are bland, they are disgusting. But these pig ears just got me wanting to eat more!
Xiao long bao was meh, okay. I preferred the potstickers.
Taro bubble tea was good, but I have had better sadly.
Service was pretty good, they were really busy but the staff got me everything I asked for in a timely manner. Of course we forgot to bring cash so my boyfriend had to leave half way through to go to the ATM, which was like a mile away! The owner and our waitress came by and was very courteous and apologized repeatedly for our inconvenience.
If A&J wasn't so far out (considering I live in VA), I would definitely be a regular. -
Review from Joie T.
1/26/2012
I I I I I I WAAAAAAANT DIIIIIIIIIM SUUUUUM!!! AHEM. Ever have one of those days? Okay, now that it's outta my system... Lemme explain...
The waitresses here are super friendly! And they try to seat you as quick as possible, even if that means SHARING a table with complete strangers!!! It's an option they give you. Now I've had Dim Sum from Toronto to Vancouver to Taiwan to Hong Kong to San Francisco to DC, but when I cracked open the menu here, I was completely LOST!
Let me clarify, the menu is, indeed, in both Chinese AND English. It's just that the description of what I was reading did not register anything recognizable to me. Plus, the list was SO SHORT! Not much variety. I must have looked at the menu up & down & across & backwards for about 30 minutes until my friends arrived! Still clueless! My friend explained that the dim sum here is "Northern Chinese" dim sum. Aaaahhhhh! And WHY wasn't this clarified?
Anyhoo, we ordered a few dishes like the layered pancake, rice soup (which was just plain congee with tofu strips), and pan-fried veggie dumplings. It was GOOD, but nothing I'd run home to tell mama about! I love surprises, but it wasn't QUITE the exciting "novel" experience I was hoping for, so I did not have a memorable Dim Sum experience. If you expect 'traditional' Dim Sum, go elsewhere. If you want to venture into a different "region" of Dim Sum, it's a great way to exercise your adventure buds! -
Review from Steven R.
Arlington, VA
4/17/2012
Let's be upfront about this. If you are a middle-of-the-road white person and you don't like any Chinese restaurant that doesn't serve sweet-and-sour pork or General Tso's Chicken, you aren't going to like this. However, if you are willing to branch out a little, this place is excellent. First, it is authentic. If you're white (i.e. like me), expect to be a minority. You'll get a menu in English, but it's the same menu everyone else gets, just translated for you. Second, this place is an excellent value for your money. Third, the service is friendly and quick. Finally, you get to sample an authentic and delicious version of a cuisine in a way that most of the US doesn't get to have.
BTW, I hardly think it is fair to give this place only one or two stars because your palate isn't used to something that isn't over-sauced meat served with a side of rice and fortune cookie. Honestly, it took me a few trips to this restaurant to really appreciate it, but I've been coming here for 16 years and it is consistently good (with mostly the same waitresses who worked here the first time we came). -
Review from K D.
New York, NY
2/21/2012
Excellent food here. Our server was so nice too!
Their spicy beef noodle soup is to die for. The beef was perfectly cooked, and the noodles were hand-cut.
We ordered many of the dim sum dishes and they all tasted delicious. Especially notable was the smoked chicken. YUM! -
Review from Tatsu O.
Washington, DC
1/23/2012
Very cheap, especially for DC.
Beef noodle soup was excellent.
Dumplings were good.
Scallion pancakes were not bad. -
Review from Angela A.
Gaithersburg, MD
1/22/2012
Went here with my family of 6 today because I was in the mood for dim sum like food. I read lots of reviews on here and looked at all the pictures and felt like I was fully prepared for this place. I am an offal fan and love innards and outards you name it. The place was not busy when we got there, only one other family. The menu is limited but I think that is a good thing. We started out with seasoned peanuts, pig ears, beef tripe and potstickers and then the second round we ordered the thousand layer pancake, spareribs, the rice and chinese fried chicken, beef noodle soup and the pork and bean paste with wide rice noodles and for the final round we had the pan fried beef bun aka the chinese hamburger as the server called it. We also had the taro and iced tea bubble drinks.
Seasoned peanuts....we really enjoyed these because we are familiar with this style of cooking peanuts and the spice on the peanut was nice.
Pig ears....nice, but I think they would have been better if they weren't served cold. I added chili oil to them and they were better.
Beef tripe....too cold and not much flavor
Potstickers....yummy! We really enjoyed these.
Thousand layer pancake....crispy, nice texture but very bland. Needs a drizzle of honey or something sweet to make it pop. My three year old would disagree because he practically ate the whole thing.
Spareribs....When we ordered these the server tried to talk us out of them because she said the flavor was very strong and we might want to order the smoked chicken instead. We insisted that we wanted to try them. I think she was expecting a typical american palate and was afraid we didn't know what we were doing and I even asked her not to americanize the dishes and we wanted them Chinese style. The spareribs were decent but the breading on them was bit thick.
Rice and Chicken dish...my son ate one piece of the chicken and most of the plain rice. The chicken was crispy but was in need on some serious spices.
Beef Noodle Soup...very good, nice broth and the meat tasted like it was just killed out back and had recently stop mooing just moments before ending up in the soup.
Ground pork/ bean paste and wide noodles....noodles were mushy, the pork was very mushy and had wayyyyy too much bean paste, cucumber and bean sprout garnish added a bitter element and the chili oil saved it. At best this dish was meh!! The pictures looked so nice on here, I was expecting mega flavor. I make this dish at home and mine is wayyyy better and I'm not Chinese (that probably doesn't matter because I did see a hispanic guy in the kitchen).
The pan fried beef bun was nice enough...it took a while to come out but it does taste like a chinese hamburger.
The bubble tea was par for the course.
Service was pretty good, we just called out to the waitress when we needed something and she was great about getting things done and did remember to offer us water and utensils if we wanted them.
My husband thought that it was just okay and felt like it wasn't flavorful enough. Maybe they watered it down for us and if they did it worked against them because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't make it a point to return there unless I went with a chinese friend to see if the food comes out differently.
Our total bill with tax and tip(which they automatically added on) was about $71.00. I didn't take any pics because everything we ate already had pics showing them here.
Wishing it had been more enjoyable but it is what it is! -
Review from Veronica N.
Boca Raton, FL
1/15/2012
Great for traditional Taiwanese breakfasts, brunch, lunch, and dinner. Yummy!! Great for vegans and vegetarians. Comfy atmosphere, very cheap, great staff. My new local favorite spot for comfort good! Oh, and did I mention the food is not only delicious but also very healthy too?! Think of it as the Chinese version of Spanish tapas.
Oh-but I'm pretty sure it's cash only. The inconvenience is worth it! Go get some green currency and eat to your heart's content! -
Review from SmugVegan J.
Washington, DC
1/23/2012
Not much in the way of vegan friendly food here.
Most of them are either cold dishes or sweet dishes (even the mains). The dishes here (such as the veggie dumplings) are more expensive and less tasty then their competitors in the area.
If you want a some good chinese food at a low price, try Joe's noodle house, China Bistro (for dumplings), or Sichuan Pavilion.
This place was even worse than Bob's Noodle house, maybe I just don't like Taiwanese food? Regardless, I won't be visiting again. -
Review from Shauna R.
Los Angeles, CA
12/9/2011 1 Check-in Here
Can I just say when needing noodles or traditional chinese.....this is where its at. I haven't been there in years and yet food quality has NOT waivered.
The noodles, the tofu, the little appetizer plates were not overly salty or spicy.
Although the menu may not seem to be lengthy, the focus is on the food. If you're out in DC area, they have 2 locations. Although one is somewhat a bit more off the beaten path and hard to see off the main drag, both locations are good. -
Review from Joe M.
Dallas, TX
12/26/2011
Okay, am giving them 3 stars to make up for my error.
A reminder, if you are American, authentic Chinese places are just that,
authentic. It 'can' be a good sign if they are filled with Asians, but can
be trouble if you really like Chinese American food (like I do).
Cannot give them 4 stars, one of the two things I got was really
outside of my acceptability limit - but not totally blaming them.
Also, they are VERY nice btw. It is pretty reasonable as well.
Dumplings - were decent, not amazing, but good. Very mass produced,
and had the square noodles for production
Fried Chicken - I dream of Paradise (that was in Congressional in the 70s
and 80s) whenever I order this. A&Js was scary, came out and thought
"I am not going to touch this". I blame myself for this, but this was such
an atrocity, I discourage anyone from ordering it. Other people's food looked
pretty decent, so not totally crushing them.
I'd check it out, avoid the chicken and then Yelp about it.
Again, am torn here, has everything that would indicate quality
(e.g. tons of Asians, Chinese owners, good reviews), just
my experience was mixed. -
Review from Jenn H.
10/3/2011 4 Check-ins Here
Despite the fact that this is really far for someone who lives in VA, my bf and I have come by quite a few times, even though the Annandale location is closer. Well--it's worth it! The food here is definitely better. Soup noodles with yummy wide noodles, lots of tasty side dishes (love the spicy cucumbers), boba...I'm happy!
Just remember to bring cash! -
Review from Superman L.
Ellicott City, MD
9/20/2011
This is the most un-americanized chinese (in a good way) restaurant I've been too. The closest thing that you can get to anything found on a Chinese take out menu is the smoked chicken. I didn't really see anything that was fried then smothered in some corn starch based sauce. They even had thinly sliced pig ear. It's the real deal.
- Spicy Beef Noodle Soup: Order with thick noodles. IMHO, the best thing on the menu
- Fried dumplings: the outer skin was extremely thick. About 3-4 times thicker compared to korean ones. Too thick for my taste.
- Cucumber salad: slightly sweeter and spicier version of korean cucumber kimchi
- Pickled cabbage: good. cabbage soaked in water, vinegar, sugar
- 1000 layer pancake: Light, flaky and crispy outer shell. Dipped it in the chili paste/oil on the table. The middle 1 inch diameter was too doughy and not consumed.
- Smoked Chicken: good smoked flavor.
Portion are like "tapas" style. Two dishes per person is a good amount. They also have bubble tea.
The ladies who work there were really nice and attentive. -
Review from Ken L.
Rockville, MD
11/8/2011 1 Check-in Here
This place is really popular for people in the Rockville area and it is definitely because of how good and cheap the food is. We had the scallion pancake and the deep fried pork. The food was delcious and the bill was like $12 including tip. Come here if you're hungry and in the mood for good/cheap chinese food.
Service is a little slow though but thats probably because they're so busy. -
Review from Lawrence H.
Silver Spring, MD
4/18/2012
Recently, we have started going to Joe's Noodle House instead, which is marginally better in my opinion (although I also give it four stars). But A&J's very good too. The deep fried bread stick is a guilty delight!
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Review from KuangYou C.
Chicago, IL
8/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
I went there with a group of four. We had Tza-Jan noodles, beef noodles soup, Yan-Chun noodles and fried pork rice.
Beef noodles was soso, a little spicy and Yan-Chun noodles was plain(but soup was good).
I think their Tza-Jan noodles was great. I will order that one if I go there again.
We also had Hsiao-Lon Bao and I liked it a lot. Much better than any other Bao I've had in other restaurants.
Their beef Hsien-Bin(like flat dumpling) was so great. I will recommend it a must!
They have more noodles or flour-related food on the menus. I think I will go there and try more. -
Review from Donna Y.
MMmm I came here again and this time I tried the spicy pig ears and the spicy pickled cucumbers which were really good. The cucumbers were sitting in a little too much oil for my tastes but good nonetheless. Again, I ordered the beef noodle soup in clear broth.... delicious.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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12/29/2011
I came here with a friend and it took me a while to find this restaurant. It is certainly a dingy… Read more »
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Review from Jeff T.
7/5/2011 ROTD 5/8/2012
I have an obsession with specialty Chinese restaurants because you can get beef with broccoli anywhere but how many places serve up a good rendition of pig intestine stuffed with duck blood, AMIRIGHT?
A&J is the best northern dim sum place I know. It's also the only one I know; take it or leave it. I'm kind of a fierce defender of this place and tend to think that the people who don't like the food here have been eating orange chicken at Panda Express so often that their taste buds have been sandblasted off.
I heard a rumor once that a disgruntled customer or an embittered employee drove their car through the glass facade, shattering the entire storefront. The food is really good though, so I don't know why anybody would do that.
My personal favorites include the hot and sour noodles [thick noodles for better texture], fried pork chop with rice, pan fried beef bun, and the thousand layer pancake. Aside from the aforementioned, they have a wide variety of hot, cold, small, and large dishes.
Service is a little weird. The staff is super friendly and fast but different people are buzzing around so quickly you never really know who the hell your waitress is. It's also cash only.
Every time I come here, I eat so much I feel like I'm gonna die. Who knew a little northern Chinese specialty restaurant could serve up such a truly American tradition?Listed in: The China Syndrome
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Review from Wayne K.
9/25/2011
I admit, I'm somewhat "white-washed" for lack of a better term, when it comes to eating Asian food. I might be Asian, but I like the ole "Americanized" Chinese food. You know, like General Tso's Chicken or Sum Young Gal. Both dishes that are definitely not to be had in any "real" Chinese restaurant and this was one of those types of restaurants.
I would say the food here is pretty authentic (at least as far as I know), and that's where my praise ends. Anyplace where they have a specialty on tendon soup or fish eyeball ghoulash (I made the last one up, but I'm sure they had fish eyeball something) is not really my type of place...and this is one of those places.
However, I have to say that my Chinese friend who only came to the US around 10 years ago loved it, so take that for what it's worth. -
Review from Peter T.
Washington, DC
1/10/2012 4 Check-ins Here
More like 4.5. Great place for authentic dim sum. Ground pork w/homemade wide noodles is a fabulous dish. Fried pork dumplings are wonderful. Everything I've tried here has been good. Some dishes you will not find in other restaurants. Service is very friendly. I love coming here!
Listed in: Best Noodles in DC Area
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Review from Maria K.
Potomac, MD
4/4/2012
I love A&J. Authentic food. I don't really have any idea what things are, but I still love the food. But I come here frequently to get the bubble tea, many times to just get the bubble tea. Best bubble tea IMO. Black milk tea.
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Review from Jen S.
5/23/2011
This is not your typical Americanized Chinese food. It's small plate style, like tapas. We ordered 6 dishes consisting of the smoked chicken, thinly sliced beef with black bean paste, beef noodle soup, seaweed and bean sprout salad, vegetable dumplings, and scallion pancakes.
The food was quite disappointing. The good was the pancake and seaweed salad. The thinly sliced beef was dry and bland. The soup was flavorless although the noodles were fantastic. We had to doctor it up with soy sauce. The vegetable dumplings were just dry and mealy. The smoked chicken was moist and tender but I think I just didn't care for the smoked taste.
I would give it 2 stars but I did like the service. Very friendly and attentive. And prices are very affordable. -
Review from Serena Y.
Saline, MI
4/2/2012
Wow, a lot of people actually like this restaurant. It's ok; I've had worse. But seriously it's not very authentic Chinese food...well this is coming from my parents who are yet to be Americanized yet. I thought the food was pretty good. It was probably Americanized a bit to suit American tastes but overall still Chinese. Anyways, so about the food. I had some noodles and they were undercooked (along with my dad's). The fried dumplings are weird...I mean they taste good but I've never seen them cooked like strips...haha very interesting (I must not get out a lot :) So, I suppose I would recommend this to you if you're really hungry...I mean there's a lot of other really good Chinese restaurant in the area. Ex: Mandarin Express :)
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Review from Pat R.
Manhattan, NY
1/1/2012
Food 4
Ambiance 3
Service 4
Believe it or not this is a chain. There are others in Cali but not sure if they are by the same owners, but the food is from the same recipe. Thus, comparing this to the bay area one in San Jose....this has the following:
1) nicer decor
2) much more efficient and friendly service
3) they sell bubble tea
4) the beef noodle has a spice that stays with you
5) each dish is more expensive by about one dollar
6) smaller portion
Overall, this place has super tasty northern Chinese food. Our favorites are the fried chicken rice plate, the beef noodle soup, and the pot stickers (not the typical ones). This place's spicy wontons were weak....almost no meat filling, you should pass. The menu is a bit confusing as it isnt divided into types of dishes. -
Review from Cheryl T.
Whenever I go to the Chinese noodle joints on Rockville Pike, (A & J, Joe's Noodle, Bob's Noodle, Michael's Noodle) I generally order the same thing: Beef Noodle Soup and Marinated Cucumbers.
A & J's beef noodle soup is very average, and super spicy for me. The noodle part is good because it's handmade wide and thick noodles, which I love. It's too bad that I could barely drink the soup because of the numbing hot spices, and had to have lots of water to wash it down. It also comes with an entire layer of oil.
I think their sides here are a lot better than their entrees. Their MaLa Cucumber and Mustard Greens and Edamame side dishes are pretty good with a bowl of noodles. Chicken Salad is way too skimpy on the shredded chicken, so I'd skip out on that.
Unfortunately, their service here is so terrible, that you literally have to ask 3 times to get a glass of water. In fact, after the 3rd time my friend asked them to get me water, he decided to just walk up to the water pitcher up front and said "I'll just get it myself", and then the lady was like "Ohhh oops Sorry".
I seem to like this place more when I don't get the beef noodle soup, and stick with the dry noodles, like Dan Dan or Ma La noodles. Haven't had their rice dishes, but I never see anyone order those. I also like their Chinese breakfast menu with the Soybean Milk and the Yo Tiao.
3.5 stars! -
Review from Judd L.
4/13/2011
Gosh, I had forgotten about this place. On a late Wednesday, just three tables being occupied, but you can tell everyone there was a seasoned diner. Little talking, just the sound of slurping noodles and deliberate picking at side dishes.
Place is super neat, clean and aesthetically most pleasant to my senses. The menu is extensive and it intrigues my senses to the very max. I can't resist to attempt to try everything on the menu. Of course it'll take quit a few return trips to satisfy my eating curiosities.
Our primary bowls of noodles was Pai Gu Mian (fried pork chop) and Dan Dan (hot spicy sesame sauce topped with crushed peanuts). Our side dishes include Cong You Bing (scallion pancake), Sean Bao Niu Jin (beef tendon w' garlic), Ma La Er Si (thinly sliced pig ears w' hot & spiced sauce), and Kao Fu (gluten, dry bean curd & mushroom).
I think we could have invited another guest to dine with us. Just one or two dishes too many. To punish ouselves, we managed to finish everything. Our excuse was that it too good to take home and besides it won't taste the same the next day. lol
Will be back shortly for some more. This one for sure stays on my Garmin.Listed in: Rockville, MD Restaurants and…
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Review from Cat J.
Washington, DC
3/20/2012
I would give this 2.5 stars. As people have mentioned, it is reasonably priced, especially for this area. Outside of that it was kind of an underwhelming experience. Most of the food was mediocre, though there was a bean curd dish and a dish (I can't remember the name of it) that was rice, beef and egg that was tasty. Reading a previous review I guess I didn't know it was northern chinese so that's why I wasn't familiar with most of the food. I've experienced many a dim sum (mostly out of this city) that has had many more options and higher quality in food...unfortunately all in all I was underwhelmed.
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Review from Jennifer N.
Washington, DC
6/10/2011
(3.5 stars):
A hit-and-miss local favorite - we sampled four dishes on A&Js extensive menu (yes, newbies - write on the menu and circle which entrees you want!) - veggie dumplings, Chinese fried chicken with rice, noodles with green veggies in broth, scallion pancake.
Both the scallion pancake and the dumplings were really doughy - I could forgive it in the scallion pancake because it was hot and salty and delicious (though I did find myself wishing it came with its own sauce), but with the veggie dumpling it was a bit less pleasant (and reminded me of China Bistro's extremely doughy dumplings). The real miss of the evening was the Chinese fried chicken - for some reason, the chicken had a very meaty taste, more like duck than chicken, and it was just a few slices of chicken and a ball of rice. The real hit of the evening was the simple thick noodles in broth with bok choy and scallions - the dish was really clean tasting - the broth was flavorful and rich and perfectly salty.
On balance, A&J wasn't quite the spectacular experience I was expecting - but it was cheap, and obviously quite popular (we got there at 7PM on a Friday evening and it was a fairly full restaurant). I'd be interested in trying other things on the menu, but what we had wasn't exciting enough to make me want to venture all the way to Rockville any time soon.
One last reminder: A&J is cash only. And cheap too - so you won't need even that much cash. Dinner for two for us came to $18 (pre-tip). Seriously. -
Review from Kate R.
Washington, DC
11/6/2011
If you are homesick for Chinese noodles or want some authentic Chinese noodle dishes, then this is the place for you. The menu is a bit limited but it is the only place in this region that offers authentic noodle dishes such as the spicy beef noodle soup and Zha Jiang Mian (or "Cha Chiang Mien"). Other restaurants' offerings don't even resemble the dishes in China. Lastly, I've lived in China for a number of years and I am fluent in Chinese so I got some street cred on this.
