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"I love love love this place and for people that like traditional non-american dishes on the menu this place has duck feet, pork stomach…" read more »
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A&Js, oh how I love you.
I love this place, a definite staple in Rockville.
I usually get the Dan Dan Noodles (with wide noodles!), Scallion Pancakes (so flaky and delicious), Pan Fried Pork Dumplings (best EVER), and Cucumbers in Chili Paste (super spicy with a little sweet). This makes my tummy very happy inside (and very full).
I have also had the noodles with ground pork, bean paste and cucumbers, the spicy beef noodle soup, the beef bun, and wonton soup. All are awesome.
Whatever you do, get WIDE noodles. They are so soft and delicious. I am not sure if the skinny noodles are even hand made.
Make sure you bring cash along! They don't take credit cards.
Good prices. Fast, quality food. The taste is on the less salty side. But you have your sauces and soy sauce at the table to add to taste.
Must haves are pork fried dumplings. Any type of noodles. And a couple more sides dishes. You will have enough food to fill 3 people. The bill was around $20 something. $20 something for 3 people, in the Rockville area is awesome.
Will definitely return to try other dishes. Yum!
Friendly, casual atmosphere and so-low-it's-too-good-to-be-true prices. This is a great place to go for basic northern Chinese food (ie. noodles, dumplings, buns, and other carb-loaded foods). The pan-fried potstickers and beef buns are my favorite A&J dishes.
I went here on a rainy Friday night and the bowl of noodle soup we ordered was as comforting as hot chocolate and warm mittens. We ordered the beef noodle soup to share and several little bites: pan-fried potstickers, beef buns, turnip (daikon) pastry, steamed spareribs, and sliced marinated beef.
The soup was delicious in its clear broth with hearty cubes of beef and scallions. It was my friend's first time eating here and she soon learned that eating at A&J's is not a dainty affair! This is the place to go to attack your food and just go for it. The crispy, hot potstickers clump together and take a few jabs with chopsticks to tear apart; and it helps to have a spoon underneath the pan-fried beef bun to catch the hot beef juices that spill out from the first bite. I tried something new and ordered the turnip pastry, which turned out to be pretty fantastic! The flaky, pastry crust was a perfect complement to the slightly sweet taste of the shredded turnip filling. The five-spice powder gave the tender spare ribs a slightly sweet taste, and the layer of sliced sweet potato served underneath were a nice surprise.
Again, if you are a carb person or just carb-loading before marathon, this is a great place to go! The noodles and buns are great Chinese comfort foods. I have been eating here for nearly 10 years with my family and this place always tops my list. Just be aware, this place is cash only, so no plastic.
This past Saturday I made the trip out to Rockville to meet up with some good friends. In hindsight, we should have met earlier than noon, because inevitably everyone was a little behind schedule and we had to wait for a table.
However, the wait just piqued our appetites, because once we sat down and looked at the menu- it was all over. My friends pretty much attacked the menu, furiously ticking off items in rapid succession.
There was a momentary lapse when they noticed the breakfast menu, and were debating whether to order the warm soymilk and "you tiao" or just plow ahead with the regular menu items.
I honestly don't know everything that they ordered, but then dish after dish came out, I wasn't going to hestitate to start digging in.
Between the four of us, we managed to polish off guo tie, cucmber salad, vegetable steamed dumplings, steamed pork dumplings, braised pork ribs, zhua bing, a plate of chicken cutlet and rice, shainghai spicy wontons, tofu and mushrooms, seaweed salad, some pork dish with soy beans and you tiao.
An A&J meal would not be complete without ordering the scallion pancakes which are in my opinion the… Read more »
I went a few weeks ago with my boyfriend and another couple for dim sum on a Saturday. I was a little disappointed by the small menu, and the lack of carts. It was not the same "dim sum experience" I have enjoyed at many places in California, or at Hollywood East Cafe in Wheaton.
That said, nothing our group ordered was bad (about 6 dishes, including some dumplings, noodles, and soup). And the scallion pancake was downright delicious -- we had to get another order! It was crispy but not greasy. I would definitely go back for a scallion pancake snack, but I'm still on the search for my favorite dim sum place in the area. At least the prices were reasonable.
I'm on my second trip to NIST. Unlike X-ray measurements, neutron measurements take a lot longer. So I am here for a little over a week with lodging accomodations fit for a graduate student. Since I no longer have my own kitchen, I am eating out for lunch and dinner. I need meals that are healthy, inexpensive, and hot. I don't do sandwiches; I am loyal to noodles and rice. A&J fits the bill.
For many years now, my bf and I have been customer of A&J in Cupertino. We love their noodles and small plates. And after waiting for a table there, I have to come to know that there is an A&J in Maryland. How happy I was when I learned that Rockville and Gaithersburg are neighbors. During my first trip, I went there two nights in a row during which I ordered my usual favorites: spicy beef noodle soup with thick noodles, potstickers, rice, cucumbers, shredded tofu/edamame/mustard greens. Oh man, it sure beat frozen dinners, I had leftovers, and on a per meal basis it was the same price. Fabulous. Last night I went there again, shredded pork with mustard green noodle soup. I added a little shoyu and hot sauce but it was so good too. And unlike Cupertino, this place is clean and updated with friendly, smiling staff. A&J - thanks for making my trips to NIST so cozy and wonderful.
This is my favorite cheap chinese place in the Bethesda/Rockville area. The menu consists of about 30-40 items all of which are well under $10. Most dishes range between $3-$7. The scallion pancake is not quite as good as joes noodle house but is definitely way less greasy. All the the most of the soups can be had as a soup noodle entre with a a choice of noodle width. My favorite soups are the shredded pork with schezuan pickled cabbage and the spicy beef. Of the dumplings I prefer the steamed pork buns over the beef dumplings (which are the kind you can get anywhere). For a refreshing starter try the seaweed with garlic and bean sprouts. If you need something to fill you up try the braised pork with rice., its a hearty dish which includes and egg and is often the first dish to come out.
Also try the bubble tea, various flavors are all very refreshing and fun to eat/drink.
I go to this place a few times every month and I am never disappointed.
Truly neck-and-neck with the Annandale location of this international chain. There are definitely differences, however.
Most notably, the service at the Rockville location is far superior. The servers here actually smile! And they use courtesy words, like "ching" and "xie xie." I don't remember the Annandale ladies ever speaking a single word that wasn't entirely transactional.
It might have been because I was pretty hungry, but I really felt that the ma la huang gua was spicier and more savory than the version they offer up in Annandale, as well. I figured it was all ported in from some central distribution service, but based on this experience, it leads me to believe that each location makes its own in house. Bonus!
The only down side to the entire experience was my unimpressive niu ro xian bing. Considering it's my all time favorite dish at A&J, I was kind of bummed that the ones here seemed 1) more flat (isn't that just a sad word? flat... flatter... flatty...) and 2) gushed out less greasy meaty soupiness than the ones over in Annandale. Sadness.
On the whole, I feel like the experience balanced out, and I'd be willing to return to either location, depending on my point of origin.
P.S. I found it entertaining that I'd just been trading notes with Venu about how he's never been to A&J or Yechon yet. The thought of that is almost as sad as considering the word "flat."
**4.5**
What can you say that hasn't already been said in 82 reviews before you?
Not much, so I'll keep it short.
ALWAYS choose the housemade noodles over the other choice.
ALWAYS get an order of the fried pork dumpling. (maybe two)
ALWAYS remember to bring cash, though you won't need much.
ALWAYS put on napkin over your chest when eating the noodle soup. Slurp slurp slurp.
That's it. Now go and have a good time because you can hardly order a bad dish and even if you do... it's so cheap, who cares?
Actual 'conversation' during dinner :
"Mmmm".
"Slurp...slurrrrrp".
"Mmmmhhmmm".
"Hot...hot...burning tongue!" (I was a little impatient when eating the guo tie to wait for them to cool.)
"Crunch".
"Chomp."
"Mmmm".
::Moan::
"Yeahhh..."
::Sigh of happiness and fullness::
"I'm so full!!"
"Okay, now let's go get gelato."
A&J makes me so happy.
Roommate+boyfriend and I got the spicy cucumber salad, you tiao, guo tie,…
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As good as actual Chinese food gets around here. No matter what you order, it's absolutely delicious! Even when you're bloated you still feel like eating more. It even tastes good cold!
It really reminds me of the Chinese restaurants in LA. Most here are subpar or just barely decent. Not this one.
This cash only place is great for dim sum or a late night snack. I'm always a fan of places that serves good sweet soybean milk with the fried crullers. The beef noodle soup and pork chop over rice entrees are also worth trying here.
The bottom line: Best dim sum in the D.C. area, great prices, don't go for the ambience. 4.5 stars!
Bites of the crispy pork dumplings brought me back to Taipei night markets The smoked (think very smokey) chicken was falling off the bone, the scallion pancakes were crispy-chewy-crispy goodness, the spicy peanutty dan dan noodles had great texture, and I love the boiled peanuts and other small starters. The steamed dumplings are good (but I find them a bit more run-of-the-mill than some of the other dishes). There's good volume to all of this food as well.
The service was smiley, fast, and helpfully explanatory (perhaps because we were some of the non-asians).
if you are looking for quality, quantity, and some great dim sum, head here!
We arrive at stop 2 of our 4 stop gorge-fest, and even before arrival, we knew that we wanted the nui ro xian bing, which is an amazing concoction of ground meat wrapped in dough, then perfectly pan-fried. It's served steaming hot with plenty of rich hot juices, and to eat one...well, let's just say, if you're a "n00b" to this - please come with a pro to show you the ropes or you may have to go to the emergency room with 2nd degree burns. I'm so serious.
We ordered authentic pan-fried dumplings, amazingly tasty "logs" of dumplings with open ends, rather then the fully closed dumplings. This is so that when pan-frying, the steam lets out on the open ends, making the dumpling skin crispier. Because these types of dumplings have to be made by hand (takes more effort I believe - the dumpling skin has to be oblong rather then round), most places will just take normal dumplings - meant for steaming or boiling - and just pan-fry those. Not bad if one is craving pan-fried dumplings and one doesn't have the time/energy/will to make authentic ones, but it's always a little more special and a lot more tasty when one can get the "real thing. We also order the scallion pancakes, a bowl of the spicy beef and tendon soup (house speciality...much like the "hamburger") with handmade wide noodles, pig's ear (more delicious then it sounds), tofu skin, and I hate to admit it, but I can't remember what else...the food just became a magically delicious blur of gastronomic heaven.
Although A&J's is cash only, which often throws new diners off, as Alicia G pointed out, it doesn't matter how many people you bring here, and how many dishes you order...the final bill *always* comes out to $12 per person. I didn't believe her...but by the time we were done stuffing ourselves, our final bill came out to $70 (including tip)...which, when split amongst 6 Yelpers, equals $11.60...or basically, $12. Also, no one ever believes me when I say I can't do math, so when the bill came, I somehow became the collector of the cash. After the fifth time of trying to figure out how much is $20 minus $12, everyone finally concluded that I am, indeed, math-impaired and wisely took the task away from me. Heh.
Finally, practically everyone (non-Asian) that I know, always tries to corner me and ask me where to find "authentic" Chinese food. I have a hard time answering because there are so many variations of Chinese cuisine. It's sort of like someone asking you where to get "real" American food - you'll be left wondering if they are looking for a burger joint, a pizza parlor, a steak place, or perhaps ribs. It's not an easy answer to make. However, whenever anyone asks what is one of my favorite authentic Chinese restaurants, A&J's always makes my top 5. The staff is nice, the food is spot on and delicious, and as Alicia G noted - no matter what you order, it'll always turn out to be only $12!
*********getting on soapbox for a minute*********
Now, many people like to compare A&J's to Bob's 66 or even Joe's Noodle House - all three of which are dangerously close to each other. However, I would like to take a moment to get on my Chinese culture soapbox and break things down so that even if you can't *taste* the difference, you can at least discourse upon the differences intelligently.
A&J's serves Northern China cuisine - which usually means Beijing. Beijing cuisine contains more pastas and wheat based dishes - such as dumplings. The foods also tends to be a little richer, contain more beef, and are usually served hot (temperature-wise) or hot (spicy-wise).
Bob's 66 is Taiwanese style, which is a reflection upon the fact that Taiwan (as it is today) is a melting pot of Chinese cultures, so the food is very eclectic. However, Taiwanese cuisine is usually packed with seafood (it is an island, after all), tend to have less beef, and uses more herbs (cilantro, basil, etc) in their cooking then spices.
Joe's is Szechuan style, which is a province in China, toward the south and inland. Because it is inland, they tend to have more pork, chicken and beef in their dishes, however the main characteristic of Szechuan cuisine is that it is spicy, spicy, spicy. Lots of ginger, garlic and scallions are used...and of course, hot peppers.
So when one says something like "I think the food at Bob's is better then Joe's" one is really saying "I think the food at Uno's is better then Famous Dave's"...not exactly comparing apples to apples, you see. If you must compare the two, at least say something like "I find the Taiwanese cuisine from Bob, more pleasing then the Szechuan style cuisine from Joe's". Otherwise, if you say "Bob's is better then Joe's" to a Chinese person, we may nod politely, but in our heads, we're saying "what an idiot!". Please, don't be that idiot.
*********stepping off the soapbox*********
I haven't had real Taiwanese food in so long and this was the real-deal! You can always judge a place by it's beef noodle soup, and this was the best beef noodle soup that I've had since I was in Irvine, California 2 years ago. (A&J out there is good too!). What's up with naming asian places A&J anyways. I'm wondering if this A&J is the same one as the one in Cali, as far as owners, relatives and all. Anyways, the scallion pancakes were amazingly good. Seaweed, as well as the sliced beef, and dumplings were amazing. The dumplings were really good. Everything is pretty authentic in terms of Taiwanese "small eats" you'll find it here. I live in Baltimore and drove an hour just to find a place like this. Finally, I've found something that I can treat myself to on weekends.
I thought grub from here was just in Annandale
Went for local bites, for cash ONLY
Style - Chinese fried chicken
Succulent protein
Gastronomic bang, rich zest - not lean
Yeah, I yelped this place
Now I'm a believer
A and J
No doubts in my mind
Cheap true stuff (MMM, oh)
I write down order
I hand to server
Once nearby
I thought ground pork bean paste was a punchy thing
Seasoned well, I'd say - sauce so piquant
Thick noodles, plump option
Bowl blend healed my pang
When mixed with two fresh sides - scrumptious gang
Yeah, I yelped this place
Now I'm a believer
A and J
You're stuck in my mind
Cheap true stuff (MMM, oh)
Busy. Dead? Never!
Parking, more - at rear
F - Y - I
Monkee-in' around http://www.yelp.com/bi...
My dad comes to visit me from Dallas, Texas, and what does he want? A & J's. The following conversation is in Mandarin Chinese.
- "Dad, do you want to try something else?"
- "No, let's go to A & J's."
- "Dad, do you care if we go to one in Annandale?"
- "No, let's go to Rockville."
- "Dad, they're the same restaurant."
- "No, you can't trust them if they have different kitchens."
- "Alright, we'll go back to Rockville."
Even at 1:30 PM, the restaurant was packed. There's now a greater mix of Americans to the Chinese so ethnic ratio is at risk. Service is still good; particularly if you speak Chinese. However, there is a noticeable decline in quality (soup is not as rich and tastes watered down) but I'm not quite ready to demote A & J's just yet. But the food is still really cheap and its closest approximation to cooking from the motherland around the DMV. Plus, my dad's very picky so the day he stops asking for A & J's will be the day I change the rating. [Last Visit: May 2, 2009]
Get over it. This isn't China and we're not in California or New York City. Say what you want but… Read more »
Wow, what a disappointment! Everything took a turn for the worse after being greeted by a cheery 'Hello, how are you?'
The thousand layer pancake was outright bland. How people eat this without at least three different dipping sauces is beyond me. Then comes Taiwan's renowned dish: ru rou fan (stew pork rice.) Served in a small bowl, a hungry eater would have to place at least three orders of this in order to walk out stuffed. (That is if they can overlook the tastelessness of A&J's version.) The fried chicken over rice makes KFC's crispy fried chicken seem like a glorified health food -- something I never would have never deemed possible. And lastly, the pork chop over rice. Greasy and dull, it clearly matched the caliber of the aforementioned appetizer and dishes. Good grief.
Do yourself a favor and head over to Bob's instead. The food there may be equally greasy, but at least they are prepared with MSG.
1 1/2 Stars -
I mean, it was edible - but we were definitely pissed at ourselves for straying from our usual Mark's Duck House dimsum.
The ratings on yelp were so good we tried it out. Granted that it was a different type of regional fare (Northern Chinese) than we were used to or expecting, but even so...not so tasty. Everything we ordered was just bland. Plus half of the fun of going to dim sum is to be able to see what you're ordering - but alas, there were no carts. I'm sorry, but "accurate descriptions" off a menu typically do not surpass the accuracy of being able to see exactly what you're getting before you get it. If I have questions about what's inside...I ask. Amazing, I know.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this place. The prices for this northern Chinese dim sum place are unbeatable, and the combination of flavors in the simple dishes are sophisticated and memorable. I usually grab a weekday lunch here. The scallion pancakes and vegetarian dumplings are classic and tasty, but my favorite dish is the beancurd skin with mustard greens and soybeans. Served cold, I marvel at the different textures every time! I also recently tried the boiled peanuts in seasoning and was delighted. While it is served hot, I had it cold the next day and it was equally tasty. My husband has tried and raves about the pan-fried pork dumpling as well. A&J is not to be missed if you're in Rockville, and has wonderful vegetarian options!
A&J is the best chinese food in Rockville. No doubt about it!
This is a low profile place which serves excellent dim sum. The food is always excellent and the prices are very good as well. Being a dim sum restaurant, the portions are not large, but given that the prices are low, to me this is an advantage since I can try a larger variety every time I go there. The service is very good (although the servers don't speak good english they try their best, and to prevent misunderstandings, patrons are requested to mark their orders in a paper menu with pencils). I particularly like the pork pan fried dumplings and the spicy peanut noodles. My wife loves the scallion pancakes. The ambiance is not fancy but it is always full of people and very casual. I highly recommend this place.
It is disgusting for an Asian place to discriminate against Asians.
A&J features northern Chinese small dishes that few places in DC area offers. However, the quality of food is for beginners who are just getting into northern Chinese cousine. For people growing up with this kind of food, it's okay to tasteless. I believe Michael's noodles (a well kept secret) and others do even better. As for the experience and service, that is an entirely different issue. The price is low, therefore the place is busy, tight, and crowded, and designed for high turnovers. Besides throwing dishes at your table and rushing you in and out like they do in the old country, as an Asian, I am very offended by their discrimination practices.
As a former regular, I was often moved to smaller crowded table after being seated. That's okay, but then I noticed parties with Caucasian folks consistently getting the nice tables and a noticibly nicer treatments. They were offered larger tables where we were consistently denied, as well as greeted nicer, and more often. Yes, they are trying to garner more Caucasian business, but don't treat Asians like chump change. Being the only place that I have ever witnessed this happen (and we eat out half of the week), I observed the pattern and went into denial for a long time. Finally I got sick of it and decided not to eat there for a few months. This past weekend, we forgot why we boycotted the place, returned, only to have the same thing happen.
Two of us were just seated at a table near the walkway, when the table next to us against the wall opened up. I asked for a change of table out of the walkway and the waitress said no, it was already given out, THEN turns around and offered it to the couple (with caucasian) behind us. As if that was not enough, they came back politely and asked the couple again if they would like to be moved to an even nicer table. What an insult. Please make that more obvious A&J.
It's disgraceful to have Asians discriminate their own kind. Shame on you A&J.
AWESOME.
My husband and I have been frequenting A&J for about 7 years, and have introduced several friends and family to the place, who have all become regulars (including a Taiwanese friend).
The service has always been warm and friendly. Even when we took an exceptionally long moratorium from going our after our first child was born, we were welcomed back as if we were there just yesterday.
Now, on to the dim sum. This is not a choose off the cart without knowing what it is type of place. You order off of a menu that has brief (and somewhat accurate) descriptions of what each item is. Keep in mind that this is authentic noodle- based Northern Chinese cuisine...no General Tso's chicken here.
I have had most of the menu, and pork lovers rejoice! You will find the excellent pork pot stickers on most every table. They are incredible. Also exceptional are the fried pork or chicken Chinese style, the beef buns, spicy radish soup with shredded pork, and the smoked chicken.
Vegetarians will find a lot to choose from including the excellent scallion pancakes, vegetable dumplings, spicy marinated cucumbers, spicy sesame noodles, and 5 spice boiled peanuts, just to name a few...
Keep in mind that this place is cash only, but dirt cheap. In fact, I would recommend getting a couple of dishes on the more adventurous side, it won't cost you much at all.
All in all: AWESOME.
I went there today for the first time, and I'd have to say all of the previous reviewers have been spot on.
The atmosphere is cozy - the place is small, but clean, the hostess & servers are friendly. I went at lunchtime on a Friday afternoon, and it was busy but not overly crowded.
The food, I thought, was good. I'm not Chinese, so I'm no expert, but everything came out fresh, hot, and quickly. For two people, we ordered the scallion pancake, chinese fried chicken and rice, pork potstickers, spicy wontons, and sesame noodles with peanut powder.
Like everyone else has reported, the scallion pancake was fantastic - flaky & crispy, hot, and not oily at all. The potstickers were also GREAT - crispy, doughy, lots of meat, and a big portion size. The spicy wontons were indeed spicy, but mostly wonton wrapper. We ordered the sesame noodles with the wide house-made noodles, and the noodles themselves were tasty, but the sauce was somewhat bland. It might have been that we were putting chili peppers on everything else, so the comparatively mild flavors of sesame and peanut were overpowered. To be honest, I was very full at this point, and only had one bite of the chinese fried chicken, but that one bite was good.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed it, would recommend it to anyone, and will definitely go back.
A friend recommended we come here for lunch and I'm glad we did. They serve authentic Taiwanese food and very reasonable prices. We got the spicy beef noodle soup, chinese friend chicken with rice, pork dumplings and some bean sprout dish. The spicy beef noodle soup was ok but the fried chicken, dumplings and vegetable dish were all great and it didn't taste like some fast food take out place but it costs about the same as that. The service is great too and make sure you bring cash. I will definitely come back here again.
I've been eating here ever since I was a child. I grew up in Ellicott City, but we didn't make it down to Rockville that often, so it was always a treat for my sister and I to go to A&J. Came back today for the first time in over a year and was reminded all over again of how much I enjoy it, and how much we always over order.
The noodle soups are AWESOME. And you can choose what protein they come with. I'd recommended the pork cutlet. Jia-jiang mien is really good too (sorry I don't know the English translation but it's a dry noodle dish with a sort of salted pork/tofu combination that you mix in). There's also a bunch of traditional Taiwanese-style snacks that are delicious. Thousand layer pancake, scallion pancake, pot stickers--all so so good! Probably not that good for you...since everything is cooked in oil..but let's not dwell on that. They also have traditional Taiwanese breakfast foods too, which I love...reminds me of being in Taiwan.
Prices are so affordable, but they don't accept credit card. The place is always packed, and there's not much space to wait for a table, which makes for an awkward dining experience for those who are sitting close to the entrance. We got there around 1:30pm and waited about 5 minutes for a table. Don't let that deter you from going though, they have a pretty quick turnover rate.
Next on the list A&J for Northern Chinese food. Yes northern styled I always go Szechuan (Joe's Noodle House my top 5 lists) Hunan (Hunan Palace), or Hong Kong or alot of Chinese American (Wing Wahs) carry out. Keep in mind that they all have their own flavors and then there is the subsets of recipes within each different Providences, regions, house holds within those cities, town, villages etc it could go on and on. So with the help of Fenny our groups tour director I had the chance to find out more of this particular style of food and Ohhh how I loved it. Pigs ears chewy good and I didn't think that I would like them but now I'm all ears. The Chinese burgers whew!!! Burnin my mouth off trying to eat these. Take one bite and let the steam fly out and scold your mouth. OOOUCH but oh so delicious, I could eat a whole bag full of these. The dumplings some of the best I had have made right it hit the mark. Noodles they make their own very good and tastee. Pancakes are not just for breakfast especially if they are made with scallions no syrup with these only the hot pepper sauce. Everything else excellent, so much food and also very good. Another place to bring the Wifee. Fenny you rock for making this one of the stops in the Rockville gorging fest. I highly recommend this place and it also helps if someone you know, speaks Chinese, it helps alot. Remember CASH ONLY so visit ATM before arrival or you'll be sorry.
A coworker gathered a group together and took us here. For those of you who think you know dim sum, this is Northern-style dim sum. The foods are different than Hong Kong-style and there's no one pushing a cart with foods. You order the dishes like you're ordering tapas.
The food is some of the best Chinese I've had in this area. We got some dumplings, vegetables, and soup. One of the more brave members ordered pig's ear. As with all Chinese menus, the food descriptions are literal, so you really are getting slices of pig's ear. (It's chewy and rather bland.) It helped having our coworker place the orders in Mandarin and to guide us for selections but I'd still recommend this place if you have a sense of curiousity and humor about trying something new. If you cannot use chopsticks, they have forks available.
This location is by far the better one. I think because it's more busy the ingredients and food are fresher. I love their potstickers because it's the way they do it in Taipei. The open ends let some of the grease free, but the skins stay nice and crispy.
Their small dishes like the marinated cucumbers, the snow cabbage-edamame, the seaweed salad Chinese-style, the chilled chicken with rice noodles, and the marinated wheat gluten (shanghai standby) are good, but I guarantee they all contain a dose of MSG to kick the umami flavor off the charts. Sometimes, they over do it, and my mother-in-law gets headaches and puffy eyes the next day. However, it does not affect me too much other than a little thirstiness.
People shouldn't knock MSG as there is much worse things that can be ingested through the mouth. In moderation, it makes the meal very enjoyable; thus the many 4-star reviews you see here. Too much, though, and you might as well go home and eat a bowl of instant ramen (which I do occasionally, too). Unbeknownst to you all, MSG is used in other restaurants un-Chinese. I had a kobeeda kebab and the meat was doused in MSG it made my mouth tingle. Just because someone calls it Mrs. Dash doesn't make it not MSG. Whoa, that double negative thing really makes it confusing, but I think you get the point.
The potstickers tasted like they were pre made and then thrown back in the skillet when I ordered it at the Annandale location. They are fresher here.
Scallion pancakes are so-so, but not as good as the ones I had at Charlie Chiang's near UDC. An aunt and an uncle on two separate occasions visiting DC from Taipei both said that the scallion pancakes were better than they get in Taipei. That's another story.
The noodles are my favorite, especially the wide-cut ones. They don't seem the hand-pulled variety obviously, but I would believe it if they told me they made the noodles from scratch in the back. They do seem to have that texture.
I'd visit here more often, if it weren't such a trek for me.
You really have to pick the right stuff to enjoy this place. I tend to stay away from the bowls and main dishes when I go and only order the small more "dim sum-like" dishes- these are the one's I suggest:
Vegetarian delight with bean curd
steamed dumplings
scallion pancakes
bean curd with green beans (i dont think this is the actual name, but it's similar to it)
This place also got me hooked on bubble tea- (the coffee bubble tea is really sweet, but good)
Oh, and it's really inexpensive.
Not the healthiest place to go out to eat, but this has to be Chinese comfort-food at it's finest. The pan-fried beef bun is incredible...but be careful, it's very juicy and will leak all over you if you don't pay attention. I am also a big fan of the Chinese-style fried chicken. There is a soup version of this dish which is also quite good, but I prefer it with the rice. The scallion pancakes are some of the best that I have tasted--not nearly as greasy as others I have tried.
As others have mentioned, BRING CASH. That is the only obnoxious thing about this restaurant. I also wish they would expand the menu a bit. I don't eat pork, so the options are more limited than I would like.
We were here a couple weeks back with my family. I think there were 20 peeps in our group, so I was impressed on how fast they seated us on a very busy Saturday night.
My aunt went crazy and pretty much ordered everything off the menu....
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
(Chinese cucumbers, fried dumplings (ok, no wow-factor), seaweed, don't know what the top left item is)
http://www.yelp.com/bi... (have no clue what they are...)
My aunt also ordered the fried pork noodle; I only had room for a slice of fried pork - gross.
One of my cousins raved about their steam dumplings:
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
What a disappointment....where's the juice?
Don't order their scallion pancakes (no where near my grandpa's) but you should order this: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
The thousand layer pancake--it's good.
Another dish that I enjoyed was their beef noodle dish:
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
If my aunt drags us here again, I'll know now just to have the beef noodle and the thousand layer pancake. I'm sure I might get a lot of haters for giving them a 3, but what I can I say, I live in Cali where there are plenty of good Chinese restaurants --don't be jealous...
As Nami says, CASH ONLY. You have been warned. I didn't see an ATM nearby. This place is really cheap, but if you have to scrounge in the car seats to pay for dinner, she probably won't go out with you again. (Just a thought, guys.)
I had the beef and tendon noodles (szechuan style) with the house-made wide noodles. The noodles were just ok; they could have been cooked another minute to make it to al dente. The broth, the tendon and the beef were utterly delicious. I've never had tendon that tender. It melts in your mouth. Same with the beef. The broth was rich and gently spicy (no peppercorns in there, alas).
I also had the xiao long bao, four Shanghainese pork soup dumplings. The wrapper was thick and doughy, and there wasn't any soup inside the dumplings. This might be because I came in at 8:55pm (they close at 9pm) and xiao long bao is more of a lunch or brunch thing (they might have pulled these out of the freezer -- yes, they were that bad). Dunking them in the soup above made them much better.
I had a hard time finding this place. Tips: Going north on Rockville Pike, pass the VOB BMW dealership on your right, make a U-turn at the next light, and then take the first driveway. Going south on Rockville Pike, take the first right hand drive way after you pass Talbott Center and the Woodmont Country Club (hard to see in the dark). After you exit Rockville Pike, hang a left into the parking area that slopes downward, and A&J is right there.
I can tell I'm going to be a regular here.
Always been a reliable place for a meal, but seriously, WHERE IS THE MEAT IN THEIR SICHUAN WONTONS. They put like 1 cubic cm of meat inside each wonton. Ridiculous.
I've also noticed they give slightly bigger portions to non-Asian people. It's probably because the waitresses think they tip better :P
Had dinner here last night. Ordered a couple noodle soups and various dumplings, spare ribs and scallion pancakes. Everything was great. Food came out pretty quickly and the service was really good.
The Annandale location is closer, so we will give that one a try next. Hopefully it is as good as the Rockville one.
Cash only is a bit of a pain though.
It has become my sister and mine's ritual to go try an unknown-to-us-but-loved-on-Yelp resto when she comes to visit me. Prior to her most recent arrival, I narrowed down the field to a short list of finalists, and from this list we selected our winner- A&J. If only the weather would have cooperated. We hydro-planed out to Rockville in the pouring rain, but managed to arrive in tact. On to the food...
We were in a vegetarian state of mind this fine rainy day, so we ordered a large bowl of house-made peanut noodles, the scallion pancakes, sauteed combo of mustard greens/soybeans/unknown green veg, and something called "vegetarian delight" which, the waitress was careful to warn us, did not contain any vegetables. That didn't deter us.
Well, we stuffed ourselves silly and everything was delicious. The vegetarian delight, in case you're wondering, is some kind of deep fried meat substitute (I'm guessing made of soy products) in a five-spice flavored brown sauce. The "meat" was really tender and rich- we loved this dish best of all. I also adored the flavor of the mustard greens dish, but there was a little bit of grit in a couple of bites that tried to spoil it for me.
All that food, plus complimetary jasmine tea, set us back about 10 bucks each. I will definitely be back... in fact if it were closer, I'd be there right now.
I can't stop my obsession with Rockville. I get hungry and I think of Rockville. It's my birthday and somebody asks me where I want to go and I say, "Rockville!" So naturally when Sam rolled through the area and was staying way out in Gaithersburg, Maryland I suggested Rockville.
A & J treated us just fine but I'd probably pick Bob's or Joe's over A & J if given the choice.
Nothing about the pork chop over rice wowed me.
I vastly prefer the scallion pancake at Joe's Noodle House (also on Rockville Pike). This one wasn't the least bit flaky.
The jjajangmyun was not typically saucy. The handmade noodles, however, were outrageously good and I would absolutely order this dish on a return visit. It was, by far, the best thing I ate at A & J.
Spicy beef soup was spicy and beefy. I wish I'd ordered the version with noodles.
Bubble Tea was served lukewarm. Blech. Where's the ice?
I'd go back, but next time I'd order the pan-fried pork pot stickers, spicy cucumbers and the Chinese-style fried chicken. Who wants to go to Rockville?!
get potstickers, smoked chicken, pan-fried beef bun
can't beat the price, but cash only!
I can't say anything but that:
I HEART A&J.
That is all.
First time going and i'm not sure if it's been a lack of good Chinese food or not, but it was amazing. I ate until my hearts content and it was cheap. Had a great soft tofu dish. There was also a delicious fried chicken, a spicy noodle soup, and great scallion cakes. They also have some decent dumplings. Highly recommended when in the area.
Rockville, MD
Category: Chinese
Rockville, MD
Category: Chinese
Rockville, MD
Category: Chinese
Rockville, MD
Category: Chinese
Rockville, MD
Category: Chinese
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