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Jang Won Korean Chinese Restaurant
Rating Details »
4210 John Marr Dr
Annandale, VA 22003
(703) 354-1950
Annandale, VA 22003
(703) 354-1950
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
14 reviews for Jang Won Korean Chinese Restaurant
My car was at Tires Plus next door, so before I left I got a jja jjang myun to go.
For $5, I got the noodles, a little side of ggakdugi (cubes of radish kimchi), yellow pickled radish, and raw onion pieces with black paste. I was happy to eat jja jjang myun because I haven't had any in years, but actually it tasted kind of average. If you need to get filled up for cheap though, come here at lunch time!
Living in NYC, sometimes I forget that how much I pay for a dining experience is not the same as the rest of the country.
"$7 for a hot dog? Phew, finally, a meal under $10!"
"Mm, these $5 cupcakes sure are worth every cent of Daddy's money!"
"If I eat this $40 cheeseburger I won't be able to pay my rent...."
And so on and so forth.
So when my parents told me about a $3.99 jjajangmyun lunch special in Annandale, I knew that would be my first stop while back in VA.
The restaurant itself is pretty spacious and could easily accomodate a large party. My parents and I came for a late weekday lunch and all ordered the jjangjangmyun special. Hearing the *thwap thwap* of the hand-pulled noodles being made in the back was getting me geared up for some good food coming our way.
When our entrees arrived, I was first pleasantly surprised by the portion size-- they definitely did not skimp on the noodles or sauce. Secondly, I noticed the brown sauce had a generous mixture of pork, potato, onions, and other veggies. Lots of sauces are skimpy on the pork or potato (and are all onion) in order to save cost, but that was not the case here. I mixed everything in the bowl together and eagerly dug in. The noodles were fantastic! I loved the chewy, springy texture, and how no one noodle was the same width-- a sign of hand-pulled noodles (as if the thwapping noise in the background wasn't a dead giveaway). I didn't find the sauce to be watery at all and everything tasted fresh and delicious.
In total with tax and tip included, our meal for 3 came out to less than $16. I don't know how this place makes a profit with that kind of deal, but I'm definitely not complaining. Next time I'm back in VA, I'll take my parents out for lunch here-- mom, dad, this one's on me.
I grew up in L.A. and so I know my Chinese-Korean restaurants. I now live in Hawaii and my wife was in Arlington for business for a couple weeks. The little one (3 years) was jonesing from some cha-chang-mien and after checking out this review on Yelp, I decided to take my two kids (5 and 3) this past Thursday.
I was also interested in how "Koreatown" looked in Northern Virginia, meaning, Annandale. I was kind of surprised by how clean the stores and restaurants looked. The shops seemed to meld perfectly into the suburban layout. This of course is quite a contrast from any Koreatown in the U.S. I've ever visited.
Getting to Jang Wong at around 2 p.m., it was nice that the place was a stand alone shop, with its own parking lot, not that any of the shops in the strip-mall filled Annandale need it. The very reasonable lunch prices are valid until 2:30 p.m.
The place had ample space, lots of booths and very clean, with only a few patrons there as lunch was almost over. The waitress was super helpful and friendly as she told me to scale down my order: for myself I originally ordered the double-portion cha-chang-mien (kopecki), regular cha-chang for my kids to split and chicken fried rice for all of us (I wanted to order the tang-soo-yook, sweet & sour pork that you're "supposed" to order at Korean-Chinese places, but my kids don't dig that).
She said not to order the kids' cha-chang-mien and that my order and the fried rice (which comes with some soup - she said she would serve two for the kids) would be plenty. Wow, refreshing to see someone not pining for a bigger sale.
Before the meal, the pon-chon (side dishes, which is not as elaborate in Korean-Chinese restaurants as in Korean restaurants) came. The dakuan was lightly and very thinly sliced how I like it. I'm not into the onions and black bean sauce, but I tried and it was decent. What was great was that they served radish kimchi which is usually not pon-chon fare at Korean-Chinese places.
The kopecki cha-chang-mien was pretty huge and the sauce was very good. The noodles were not hand made, which is a must for me, but besides that the dish (actually bowl) was plentiful and tasty. The sauce had liberal amounts of sliced onions and potatoes, which was great because my son really loves them both and usually cha-chang-mien houses are stingy in those ingredients (esp. potatoes).
The chicken fried rice was decent and unremarkable but made to order, as I told the waitress to take out all the vegetables (the older one can't stand veggies in her fried rice). And the two side soups looked like a chicken broth base with some egg in it.
After we finished our noodles, we had extra black bean sauce and I was able to mix the sauce into the fried rice, which my son particularly enjoyed.
The total amount was $15 and it was plenty of food for the three of us. After two weeks of eating scrambled eggs, bacon and home fries at our hotel, it was a welcome diversion. Oh, btw, the bathroom was clean for the kids, which also has become an actual factor for me these days.
Man.. what happened to their Jjam Ppong? The soup tasted like it was watered down... No flavour and cheap seafood ingredient... Can't they put a "normal" sized shrimp in there? Why does it have to be those mini, baby shrimps??? Ja Jang myun was watery.... and their Szechuan chicken (you can ask to get it with chicken instead of beef) has canned pineapples!!! So,.... the only difference between Szechuan beef and Tang soo yook is spicy peppers?
All in all, I was a bit disappointed about the food. It's OK, but it used to be better. After today, I may have to go back to Choog Hwa Won...
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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6/11/2008
Hmmm... I'll have to disagree with J.J.K on this one (on some things). I stopped by during lunch. I… Read more »
Jang Won can sod off.
I've been here three times.
Once was during opening week. I'm always a big fan of Cha-Chang-Myun and competition, and this place offered both.
I was particularly happy since they offered Cham-Cha-Myun (Half Cha-Chang, Half Cham-Pong), which Chunhwa does not.
So I went with my mother. We ordered the Tang-Soo-Yuk as appetizer, Cham-Cha-Myun for me, and Cham-pong for her.
I was pretty jazzed. It looked like a happening place with a lot of people. Cleaner, and better interiors than Chunhwa. It looks like an actual restaurant, versus a cafeteria.
10 minutes later I was still feeling okay.
My mother's Cham-pong came out.
15 minutes later I noticed that a group of 4 who came in about 5 minutes after me got all of their food.
20 minutes later, I flagged the waitress, who assured me my food was coming out.
25 minute later, refer to 20 minutes later.
30 minutes later, I saw 3 separate tables that came in after me who got all of their food.
35 minutes later, I raised my voice.
Apparently, the waitress assumed that I wanted my Cham-Cha-Myun after my Tang-Soo-Yok, so they were holding off on that.
This doesn't explain how my mother got her Cham-pong ~10 minutes after ordering. It also doesn't explain how 3 tables got their entire order, including Tang-Soo-Yok.
45 minutes later....FORTY FIVE MINUTES LATER....I got my Cham-Pong and Tang Soo Yok.
I complained to the waitress and the supervisor. The manager wasn't in. They did nothing. No % off the meal, not even a free orange for dessert, or a personal apology. Just some grunting.
I don't even remember what the food tasted like.
I went back a month later. Why? I wanted to give them a second chance, now that they had some practice. I once again ordered the Cham-Cha-Myun. This time it came out in less than 10 minutes.
I liked the Cha-Chang-Myun better than the one at Chunhwa, because the sauce was thicker. It tastes richer and more flavorful to me. Whereas the Chunhwa sauce reminds me of the cheap Cha-Chang-Myun I'd have in Korea. Watered down flavor. The noodles though, didn't taste as fresh. It tasted like they were store bought. However, the sauce made up for it.
The Cham-pong didn't ring any bells for me. I haven't found great Cham-pong yet, and Jang Won wasn't going to do it for me.
So I figured, hey, everything's okay now right? Positive and negative cancel out.
So I go back a third time, and holy smokes did I get flashbacks to my first night at Jan Won. My meal took ~20 minutes to come out, and all I ordered was Cha-Chang-Myun. The waitress never came by to refill our water. Everytime I asked for the check they'd just run away from me. In all, it took us 90 minutes to get out of there. And it's not because we had an intensive, interesting discussion about life. I once again complained to the waitress about the poor service, and all they did was apologize and go back to providing worse service.
I'm a reasonable person. I'm polite in public. I rarely raise my voice and I treat my service persons with respect. But Jang Won really encouraged me go to postal (I didn't).
Bad hair nights happen. The food comes out cold. The waitress has a flu. But....when you screw up, you fix it. At Jang Waon, when they screw up they don't care.
The food is pretty good, but is it a league better than any other Korean/Chinese restaurant in the area? No. The service on the other hand is terrible. They have plenty of waitresses, so there is no excuse for this level of slack.
I have never said this before in a Yelp review, but if any restaurant deserves to go out of business, it's Jang Won. It infuriates me that there's a place with such poor customer service in one of my favorite cities serving one of my favorite foods.
If, after reading this, you choose to go, you may find that you've had a good experience, but I can guarantee it's not the norm.
Ok there are two korean/chinese restuarants in annandale. This one may be a hair better but... it does not take the cake to be a place that I'd recommend.
We had 6 people and all of us ordered either jajang myun, jampong, or... the mix of both. I was glad they had the combo dishes b/c I always have a hard time deciding between the two but... neither was delightful. The jampong didn't have enough sea food to create the taste we look for.
It actually tasted watered down with hot peppers added to it. I hear it used to be good until the owner changed.
Their service... wasn't the best in refilling the water or the side dishes. We had to ask several times. So there it is... my 2 stars.
The Korean sign outside this restaurant reads Jang Won Ban Jum (I forgot if there's any English written on the sign), but this place used to be called Hankook Kyoja which is evident from the names on the plates and bill / receipt.
Although I can't say I'm a fan of this place, I did think the food was good, and the overall experience I think is better than Chung Hwa Won. I think I may have to lower their rating.
My Jap-tang-bap was okay...although I'm used to having more of a clear opaque sauce rather than a light brownish sauce. Here they do the half combos meals, so you can get half a bowl of jja-jang-myun and jam-pong.
Not a bad place if you want Korean / Chinese food.
Korean-Chinese food is a mutt of a cuisine. To some, it may not be their cup of tea, presumably because it's neither completely Chinese nor Korean. But to others, this combination of cuisines is soul food (Seoul food? Ha ha?). Jang Won Ban Jum is a fairly good representation of Korean-Chinese food.
Jang Won Ban Jum does the basics well. Jja jang myun (black bean sauce noodles) is good here, with a slightly less salty and greasy feeling than other competing places. However, the sauce is basically a little bit of meat and a whole lot of onions, which is good is you like a little crunch in your sauce, but bad if you like talking to people afterwards. The better option is the jeng ban jja jang myun, which is very large and should be shared with 2-3 people. Here, the jja jang myun is stir fried with jalapenos to make it spicier, and the end result is a little more grease but more flavor.
Jjam pong (seafood noodle soup) is also good, and has all the requisite seafood bits. However, the broth in the jjam pong is decent, but does not stand out. The noodles themselves are house made, and every so often you may hear pounding in the kitchen as they make a new batch of noodles. However, the noodles aren't wheaty strands of deliciousness, and they don't seem to have the texture and feel of a really well-made noodle.
Korean-Chinese places tend to deep fry a lot of foods, and Jang Won Ban Jum uses its fryer well. The tang soo yook (beef or pork) is crisp, a little chewy, and comes with a good (albeit perhaps too plentiful) sweet and sour sauce that's balanced in its flavor. Gam poong gi (fried sweet and spicy chicken wings) are similarly well fried and well sauced. Other menu items I have had reflect a similar level of competence in the kitchen. The fried rice is good but a little greasy, for instance.
Jang Won Ban Jum ends up as merely good. While that's not a crime, it's safe to say that this place is not much better than some of the other Korean-Chinese restaurants in the area.
Jang Won Ban Jum's sam sun (three seas?) jjam-ppong soup is on par with some of the best. It's loaded with lots of seafood.
Being a Chinese-Korean(Chinese food adapted to Korean tastes) restaurant, they're not known for using only the purest natural seasonings, but after 37 years of tasting jjam-ppong, I have to say this one's up there.
...granted, my opinion might be a bit skewed, because I've been really craving Korean/ChineseKorean food since I left L.A. 2 weeks ago (I didn't realize there was a Korean community so close to Alexandria).
The jja jang myun and jjam bbong noodles are good, but the sauces and soups are average, which I think is comparable to Choong Hwa Woon. The reason why I'm giving 4 stars to this place is because of their service and their tang soo yook, which is the best I've ever had. The breading is perfect because you can actually see the meat in each piece. The sauce isn't too sweet, which can totally ruin the dish. And when it comes in hot the meat is much more tender than any place I've ever been to. The tang soo yook alone is worth a trip.
I like Chinese and I like Korean, but I am not a big fan of Chinese Korean. For starter, the portion size is ridiculously big even for family style. Two people can share one dish and four people can share two dishes. I would rather they charge a little less for half portions, so I can get a good variety. The chap chae I had was ok, nothing special. The beef with spicy garlic sauce reminded me of Americanized Chinese food and the beef was a bit dry.
You see the green roof of this place and you can't help but wonder if this used to be a pizza hut. Once you step inside the doors, you notice the giant ventilation hoods looming above each table and your mouth may begin to salivate at the thought of Korean BBQ.
Although one would think that it's a shame that no deliciously grilled meats are prepared here, the regulars know that inside these doors there is another blessed Korean staple being prepared and served to eager diners. This is marked by the occasional thunderous smack at the front of the restaurant as a fresh batch of noodles is being prepared.
We're talking about jja jang myun, of course. Most easily described as Korean black bean noodles to those who don't speak the language. It's a dish consisting of perfectly hand made noodles covered in a rich, sweet black bean sauce with diced onions, little bits of meat, and tiny pieces of potato. The bowl also comes daintily garnished with a few julienned slices of cucumber that only add to the wonderful taste of the dish.
The waitresses are quick to take your order, so be sure that you know what you're getting asap. Once ordered, they bring out a few standard accompaniments called ban chan that you can have while enjoying your noodles. The three "standards" that they serve with any order are spicy, fermented pickled radish, sweet and tangy pickled radish, and a few bare onion slices with a black bean sauce dip. Most people tend to get confused with the onion slices. Traditionally, you dress them with a little white vinegar (which is on the table) and then dip them in the black bean sauce and enjoy. I have to warn you that the onions are raw so they tend to be a little strong, but the vinegar helps to cut down on that taste.
Having tried jja jang myun from coast-to-coast, I have to admit that while the noodles are top notch... the sauce definitely leaves something to be desired. It may be that I'm just being overly picky but the sauce that they serve their noodles with seems to be missing a couple ingredients compared to other traditional recipes. Even still, it's a transgression that I'm easily able to forgive whenever I bite into the perfectly made noodles that have just the right amount of bite.
The other dish that I've tried is the tang soo yuk, which is deep fried pork pieces in a sweet and sour sauce. This dish too, seems to sport their own flare as it is far from traditional. It has more of a Chinese restaurant sweet and sour pork taste with a strong hint of tropical fruit (i.e. pineapple). Still, the dish is still respectable and the portion size is adequate. It did take some getting used to, but it's a favorite when looking for an accompaniment with the jja jang myun.
All in all it's a very good bargain, especially considering how much you get for under 10 bucks. It can be a little intimidating since it's mostly Korean people that are ever there, but just walk in with a confident stride and don't be afraid to ask for help if you have any questions.
i am on vacation.
i am away from ktown la.
i am away from my fobby roots.
i am here and going to try new foreign american things.
yeah, right.
i say one thing but it never works out like i plan. i had a major jja jang mien (chinese korean jja jang noodle) craving.
we all know that when you are visiting your family, you are a boss. families ask you..."what do you want to eat?" and always answer with "we'll eat whatever you want since you are our guest." what do i want to eat? jja jagn mein!!! they had no choice but to say, "of course. whatever you want."
it was a gloomy sprinkle-y saturday afternoon, and the restaurant was packed. the wait time wasn't bad at all (only 5 minutes). it's so easy to order you come to a place for a specific craving need. i ordered jja jang mien. we ordered 2 bowls of jja ja mien, 1 sweet and sour pork, and fried rice. we were starved and devoured our sweet and sour pork and jja jang mien. i can't say it was the best i had but it was better than i expected. i loved the noodle. examining the uneven thickness tells me that they make their noodles fresh (big plus). the sauce lacked some flavor. sweet and pork tasted great when it came out fresh and hot but as it was cooled, it lacked flavor (also definitely lacks the crucial flavor... could be the saltiness or some more natural sweetness). fried rice was unworthy of my words. don't order their fried rice.
it was about $35 for four of us. i guess not too bad.
This is Virginia (Annandale) location of MD based Korean Chinese restaurant chain called Jang Won Ban Jum. They are located where Jin Sung Korean restaurant used to be (after the short lived ManDoo (Dumpling) only place (which I forgot the name) closed down). They have been selling JjaJangMyun for $4.99 special price and just extended that promotion for another month. I tried their regular JjaJangMyun and SaChun (Schechuan style) TangSooYook. The JjaJangMyun was OK, the noodle, supposedly hand-pulled not by a machine was chewy enough and the sauce wasn't too salty yet kind of bland. The sauce of TangSooYook was good being tangier than the regular sauce (the way it supposed to be for this kind) but it was over-fried until the batter turned dark brown and the meat was not good quality. It was either too tough or simply over cooked. To many Korean Chinese restaurants, these are two of most popular menu. Well, if you ask me, I'll stick with JoongHwaWon right across Little River Tnpk. Happy eating!
