Cafe China

Sorry this will be short and sweet, well maybe not for this restaurant. So we had our big snow storm and a couple days later, we didnt feel like cooking or going out. The only place which delivered Chinese food was this place. We ordered the regular fried dumplings, chicken w/​mushrooms in brown sauce, lo mein and fried rice. While the Americanized Chinese fried rice, lo mein were okay, the dumplings were not. The dumpling skin was very thick but the problem was the taste. Two words: freezer burn. That left a terrible taste in my mouth. How long have these dumplings been in the freezer and when were they made??? Also chicken didnt taste right of chix and mushrooms. Maybe they actually used a rubber chicken! One extra star for delivery…

Café China is my family’s go-​to spot for those last-​minute weeknight didn’t-plan-dinner moments. Over the years we’ve easily gotten takeout from here hundreds of times.
Why do we keep coming back?
1) It’s fresh. If you order right, you’ll get a lot of fresh vegetables — more than most takeout options.
2) It’s fast. Insanely so. They’ll tell you 15 – 20 minutes on the phone but it will be ready in less than 10.
3) It’s cheap. You get a lot of food for the money, and we always end up with leftovers for the next day’s lunch.
4) Plenty of variety. Yes, all the usual Americanized takeout fried kid-​pleasers but also anything else you ask for. They’ll seriously make anything if you know what you want, including lighter sauces.
5) Free Delivery. We don’t take advantage of this all the time but it’s nice in a pinch.
Is this the best Chinese food in town? No. For Sichuan, Peter Chang Arlington is 10 minutes away. For Hong Kong-​style, Mark’s Duck House is just 15 minutes from here. But for quick, cheap takeout, nothing really competes with Café China.

One of the other reviewers said «comfort» chinese food — can’t disagree… but I love this place. We only do take out, but it is good, cheap, always delivered fast — crab rangoon is a hit (alright — my SO loves it) and kids love chicken lo mein (which I though was chow mein on the west coast). Food always good, great for lunch leftovers the next day and enough fortune cookies to go around. I usually order from work before I leave — I can manage payment & tip online so the babysitter doesn’t have to deal with anything other than opening the door. Convenient & good.

MSG MSG MSG.
Two stars for the initial taste and nice lady on the reception.
Be aware, you will get ridiculously thirsty shortly after you consumed the food and you won’t feel a thing on your tongue.

Seriously, the cashier/​hostess/​waitress is so embarrassing. She brings her two toddler children to work with her. I order a lunch special and then she forgets about me. the 5 spanish construction workers, who ordered after me, got all of their orders before me. Then, when she finally gives me my meal, she forgets to include an egg roll and a fortune cookie, as advertised in the menu, and she just runs into the kitchen and orders her little son to tell me that «his mom forgot to cook the egg roll so its going to be a few minutes». NEVER going back to this embarrassing catastrophe of a restaurant again.

Just moved down here from NYC, where all the chinese food is too greasy and overpriced. Knowing it’s usually better in the suburbs, I was expecting good things from this place. I ordered the house lomein and egg rolls. Not only was it more money than I expected, but both dishes lacked flavor and were really greasy. Probably not coming here again.

OK, update for Café China. I’m lowering my review from 4 stars to 3 stars, for a couple of reasons:
1) their spring rolls are average at best. They’re small (excusable) and not very flavorful.
2) their egg rolls are even worse. No bigger than the spring rolls (not excusable) and no more flavorful.
3) I think my excitement of initial discovery caused me to overrate it slightly.
That being said, it’s still the best takeout I’ve had in McLean, and the Crispy Sesame Beef is still quite good. It’s sweet instead of spicy, and the beef isn’t too tough like some Chinese dishes at takeout places. We had the Lo Mein as well, and it was in the 3.5 star instead of 4 star food. Temperature on the food is still commendable, portions are good, and I’ll still be going back.

I went back, and got more of the same.
1– I asked for extra spicy sha cha ckicken– listed as spicy on the menu and the website. The lady confirmed «very very spicy?» when I picked up my order… and The chicken was as spicy as a bowl of fruit-​loops.
2– Lots rice, but overcooked.
3– $ 7 with taxes, good price.
This place is less than a mile from my house, but I’m done. Don’t be fooled by the reviews.

Café china surely you could do better. with such great reviews I should have been a little hesitant, but how can you screw up shrimp fried rice?! easy you don’t cook the rice for more then 2 minutes you pass off sub par luke warm shrimp and you «give» me dumplings that where literally Dumpy! the tasted like dough on top of dough on top of dough on top of well you get the idea! once again I am disappointed by the food in this area. please save you money and get panda express it is just about the same.

Live about a mile away, so I take-​out once a week. I’m 30+ and just want comfort food. I use the Internet to order, drive over (about 10 minutes) and usually my order is waiting for me.
It’s a hole in wall in a small shopping strip, next to Afghan Kabob place, Domino’s Pizza and a dry cleaner. Corner of Kirby Rd & Old Dominion (123), about 1.5 miles from McLean’s business/​shopping district.
Only 3 tables there, and at dinner, the owner’s children are there.
I always order the same food:
(1) Beef & broccoli ($ 10.25) — my daughter loves the tender beef; broccoli is crisp, load of sauce overpowers it. Overall, I like it.
(2) Chicken fried rice — A-​OK, good, solid but had better (but no egg, so it’s soy rice w/​shredded chicken).
(3) Shrimp fried rice –A-​OK, good, solid, and has a reasonable amount of shrimp (also usually no egg).
(4) Chicken lo mein — also A-​OK, good, solid, typically greasy, but hey, what do you want for $ 7.50, about the price of a 5-​Guys big burger.
(5) Singapore rice noodle (for those who don’t know, it uses a dry curry) — all types of meats and actually very good, but a bit pricey at $ 9 (remember, this supposed to be cheap chinese).
I get the free crab Rangoon (a cream cheese in a fried, pinched wonton wrapper) for ordering over $ 30.
Never had lunch or sit in; I’ll keep going back because of above average food and proximity, and the owner is just trying to make a living.

Mediocre food at best, incompetent and clueless service. The sweet and sour shrimp was a lump of dough with gelatinous sauce. The so-​called spicy garlic eggplant had no flavor at all. Never again!

I’m surprised this place has so many good reviews.
I tried really hard to like this place because its so close to my job and school that I imagined grabbing dinner here before a night at the library. Unfortunately, everytime I get anything from here, I get sick, bloated (tmi ;)) and usually can’t sleep. Regardless of what I order, this has happened enough times for me to be done with them.
The food is tasty, but I assume not very fresh. And I do eat greasy chinese food from plenty of places to know this terrible indigestion is not a common denominator of all chinese take out restaurants.

Very good food and service as far as carryout goes. I am generally disappointed by the availability of good Chinese options in Tysons/McLean/N.Arlington area, but Café China offers decent food when I am looking for a quick fix or just some comfort food. The vegetables are always very fresh and meat is not soaked in corn starch like other places in the area. Also, I like the size and freshness of their shrimp — would recommend their shrimp/​pork springrolls (comes in 2) and Shrimp with Broccoli (in white sauce). Also, ask for their dried bean curd with pork — pretty close to authentic chinese taste! I always ask them what’s fresh today and they will fix something special for you — another treate at this customer-​friendly place.

This is the closest Chinese style takeout to me (you can eat in if you want but it’s mostly habitated around lunchtimes by roving packs of tradespeople).
It’s extremely fast in prep (around 5 mins, definitely less than 10), and similarly in service. The prices are okay and the food is okay. I’d stick with beef over chicken for your meat selection in general.
Watch out for the $ 10 minimum on credit card.

Great food, and highly recommended for take-​out!
The first review pretty much hits the nail on the head. Great food, prompt preparation and a delivery to a limited radius. I would recommend the take-​out or delivery options since, yeah, there are only three tables in there and it’s not that great an atmosphere.
Great food, though… check it out if you’re in that Chesterbrook area. I recommend the crispy sesame beef! Enjoy!

Has become my favorite Chinese Delivery in North Arlington. Maybe because they offer some good rice-​noodle dishes. Delivery services have been either on time or early. Definitely not exceptional food, but there is a «comfort food» factor that it achieves.

Very good, reasonably priced Chinese food. It is mainly designed for carry out, since there are only 2 tables in the actual building. But it does very well at carry out. The food is almost always ready in less than 10 minutes, and the people are very friendly. They do deliver for free on orders over $ 15 and within 3 miles. They take mastercard and visa for orders over $ 10, which can sometimes be annoying when I want a $ 8 dish. The other reason it isn’t 5 stars is that when they repeat back what you ordered over the phone, you have no idea what they just said and hope it is the right thing. But in ordering at least 20 times its always been correct. The people working there are pretty nice. Open late w00t!