Big Bowl

Service was a bit slow and not that busy, but suspect waiter was new perhaps. Took 8 of us, rest hadn’t experienced the bowl idea before. overall, food was good. very large portions, most of us had plenty to take home. A little noisy, so for larger party was challenging to hear across entire table, but able to accommodate fine. Outdoor seating looked like a great option though.

We had such great service tonight while dining on the patio that i had to start this review despite not having time to describe the food.

Stopped in for lunch. Ordered a lunch portion of Mongolian Beef with a small Hot and Sour soup. Also ordered a glass of the seasonal Sangria, which was never served. Soup lacked any pungency; it was bland. The entrée was oily and I did not like the addition of red onion to the dish. Would have preferred the traditional white onion. Will not go back this week while staying in the Reston Town Center. Only good thing was the friendly server, though I’m still wondering why my Sangria was never served.

If you want to spend $ 20+ on dinner for beyond mediocre Americanized Asian food, this is the place for you!
I’ve tried at least 5 entrees over the course of a few months and I still don’t have many positive things to say. It tastes like they use those sauces you can buy at the grocery store over rice and whatever meat you order. I’m not expecting authenticity from a chain restaurant but at the least I want something that I can’t make at home for a third of the cost.
The best thing I can say is that the service is consistent and pretty good. But next time I’ll go to the international aisle at Safeway and save myself some $$$.

The worst foods i ever had. we ordered pad thai, thai basil beef and panang curry. It did not taste like pad thai or curry at all. Everything was very sour for some reason. It almost felt like the dish from cheap college dining hall. And each entrée costs ~$ 15 – 17. The server was unfriendly. I saw the server accidentally spilled a cup of water to the customer’s leather bag on chair. Never going back there!

Fresh choices and improved flavors prompt an increased rating!
Five solid stars for great banquet room and catering service!!! The staff here has have been super-​facilitating and provided 5-​star service across the board to the three big parties we’ve held here over the past two years.
Flavorful, healthy options like satay and lettuce wraps are available in platter-​sizes from the kitchen.
Banquet rooms can accommodate a crowd and have their own dedicated bartenders and servers if you want to a cash bar with your event.
A competent and caring staff make scheduling and hosting easy peasy; I’m very impressed with the service I had!

I stopped by Big Bowl for lunch and I felt very unwelcome. I came by myself and requested a table because I didn’t not want to sit at the bar. Between the hostess and the waitress it seemed like a problem that I wanted a table (as a party of one). I didn’t want to be a burden, so i told the waitress that I could just sit outside. She sat me outside right next to the door which has a servers station. Considering servers would be continually walking past me, I figured that I would be served soon. In reality, I watch 3 other tables (larger parties of course) get seating and immediately get service. I sat there long enough to figure out that I was not a valued customer. It was honestly a weird experience. I went to the hostess stand to ask if it was normal protocol to ignore customers. Naturally, the three employees at the hostess stand wanted to provide service once I complained and even said someone was sent to my table (no one came). Considering there are 15+ restaurants within 3 blocks, I decided to spend my money else where. I went across the street to Jackson’s and had attentive, fast service.
I dont think it was too much to ask to — get someone to come to my table within 5 – 10 minutes. This was my first (and last) visit to a Big Bowl restaurant and I will never recommend this location or chain to my friends or family.

Came here for the first time on Friday night for a friend’s birthday. Our server, Michael, was FANTASTIC. It is not easy dealing with 6 chatty and inquisitive girls (we must have asked a million questions about the drinks. the entrees. the desserts.), and he was patient, friendly, attentive: all the attributes that a good server should possess.
We shared 2 pitchers of the {seasonal} strawberry sangria, which was delicious although it could have used a bit more alcohol (ha!), then a few of us ordered our own drinks (I went for the Shanghai Mule — basically a Moscow Mule — and it was refreshing to the palate and appropriately served in the traditional copper mug).
For my entrée, I ordered the Spicy Sichuan Beef, and it was flavorful and had a great kick to it. I ended up adding quite a bit of the crushed red pepper concoction to it, as I like my food as spicy as possible — especially a dish of that genre (e.g. a stir-​fry). The rest of our group seemed happy with their dishes as well.
I only had a taste of one of the gals’ desserts, a chocolate molten cake of sorts, and it was good but I am not a huge fan of desserts on the whole. No sweet tooth here! (Don’t worry– I get all my calories in adult beverage form).
Based on how exceptional the service was (and the quality of the food), this is likely a restaurant that I would visit again!

the food was tasty. the service was fast and friendly. Prices are reasonable. the food quality more than justifies the prices.

Went today with my friend, loved this place!
I ordered the potsticker combo and the kung pao chicken with big rice noodles. I tried their homemade ginger ale and it was way too strong for me but i am sure someone who loves ginger ale would like it.
The food was really good and you get alot of food for your money. Pretty affordable nothing i saw on the menu was crazy expensive. Everyone was nice and i would definitely go back there again when i am in the area.

Pretty good Chinese and Thai food! Everything always tastes fresh. It is located in RTC so sometimes parking can be tough but usually the restaurant isnt too busy so it moves pretty quickly.
The best feature in here is the Stir Fry bar. You pick a meat and a sauce and then they give you a bowl and you go up and fill it from a bunch of different choices of veggies. In terms of the regular menu items the potstickers, summer rolls and chicken lettuce wraps are all great. For entrees the pad thai as well as the Bangkok Shrimp and Scallops are some of my go tos. The service is usually pretty quick and the food comes out fast. The specialty cocktails from the bar and beer selection are also pretty good as well! Happy Hour prices for apps and drinks good too.

This is our second time here and it’s still one of my favorite fusion-​Asian restaurants. The stir fry was great, with a large selection of fresh vegetables. We had a large group; 3 families for a total of 22 people. They were able to accommodate all of us with no issues. The staff was friendly and very helpful.

Visited this restaurant for the first time last night! Service was great! I wish I had paid attention to our servers name, he was very helpful! They brought us complimentary cucumber salad for being first time customers, it was to die for! I ordered the sweet and sour shrimp, ended up taking half of it home it was a very generous serving. Ingredients were fresh and looked delicious. I loved that the shrimp wasn’t drowning in batter but instead was lightly breaded!

My daughter and I love this place. We end our flute festival weekend here every year with a Mom daughter lunch accompanied by a ½ off bottle of wine, it’s half off wine Sunday! We build our own bowls and enjoy! You will love this place. It’s got great atmosphere and can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Big Bowl serves very good Chinese and Thai food, everything tastes fresh and there are many choices, on the Chinese side you have the typical items kung pao, orange chicken, egg rolls and dumplings BUT the spicy sichuan green beans are Awesome
On the Thai side there’s curries, pad thai and a couple of dishes like the red hot pepper which are all good as well
There’s also a stir fry bar where you pick your own ingredients and they’ll cook it up for you (Duh)
They have a nice happy hour, solid drinks and a good selection of beer, the service has been good the couple of times that I visited, Big Bowl is good eating.

I really enjoy great Asian food (all ethnic types) and as a colleague suggested we check out Big Bowl, I was skeptical, assuming it was typical chain food, but willing to give it a try.
We wanted to try their orange gingerale: homemade ginger with orange juice. It was delicious!
I ordered the shrimp summer rolls to start and a bowl of chicken Phở for dinner (wish they’d had beef). The rolls came out artistically cut into six pieces. Of the two dipping sauces, I liked the peanut best, but it wasn’t as thick as I’m used to getting.
The soup came in a pretty tureen. I had to ask for sriracha and hoisin for it (it wasn’t big deal, but I assume many eaters there don’t ask for it). The soup was okay; the broth was missing some flavor. It could be too because I prefer it with beef.
My dining partner ordered one of the stir fry where you choose your ingredients and they cook it for you. He seemed to enjoy it. He got the chicken satay as an appetizer and said it was also good.
The dessert chosen was a molten chocolate cake with caramel ice cream. It was delicious.
Service was excellent.
It won’t be my favorite place to go, but it was an enjoyable meal.

Not bad but not great. Decent. Good atmosphere and service. It gets one extra star for the delicious watermelon sangria and the complimentary cucumber salad mini app they gave us after we ordered. Very refreshing.
The lettuce cups were good. Huge though — could easily be a whole meal for someone. The sesame chicken entrée was good. Slightly sweet but good. The green curry however, was bitter. I’ve never in my life had a bitter green curry! Sometimes too sweet, sure. Never bitter. And not spicy either. I’m not sure that they used coconut milk. I couldn’t taste any. How do you make it without?!
Would come back but avoid that green curry!

I have been to Big Bowl in Reston twice in the last month now. The menu is comprehensive, and there are tons of options for vegetarians. So far, my experience has been great with food. The service… well, can use a bit of training here. The servers are not attentive, and during peak times, often forget to check on you.
Now to the food:
— Vegetable Dumplings: DELICIOUS. I love ordering this appetizer. I can just eat this for dinner… its that good.
— Steamed Edamame: Standard Edamame. Nothing special here.
— Spicy Sesame Peanut Noodles: This is average in my opinion. It definitely has the spicy kick, but the noodles tasted average.
— Red Hot Pepper (Chicken) Noodles: You can ask them to remove the chicken, and you have a vegetarian dish. I had to ask them to make mine mild, but if you can handle spicy food, go for it. Its delicious.
I look forward to trying the other vegetarian dishes on the menu.

I’ve never been a fan of chain restaurants, and this one is on my list of least favorite ones. It doesn’t act like an IHOP, for example, where they happily embrace their chaindom. Big Bowl claims to be high-​end, despite their extremely slow service and disappointing, overpriced food. It masks itself in Reston Town Center, but I really wish they’d convert that spot into a better, hipper restaurant or music venue.
We ordered the veggie dumplings and summer rolls, and neither were particularly tasty. My boyfriend and I decided to get specialty drinks since they sounded exciting — pomegranate ginger ale and hibiscus lemonade. These drinks were also rather disappointing. They were watered down with ice and lacked any bold or unique flavors.
For the main course, I did the stir fry bar, and made the mistake of doing «Chef’s Choice» for Step 1 — you’re better off «filling your bowl» and picking exactly which veggies you want and how much of them you’d like. As we were leaving the restaurant, I saw the topping options that weren’t included in the «Chef’s Choice» and I had major regrets over my poor decision.
For Step 2, I picked tofu. The waitress (or cook) neglected to put the tofu in, so it was only vegetables, and not even that many of them. The waitress was dreadfully slow and inattentive, so I had started eating despite the lack of tofu. When she finally came around, I let her know that it was missing the tofu. She said they could add tofu to it, but I’d already eaten about half of the food on the plate and it seemed pointless to throw it on top since it hadn’t been cooked in the sauce. I suppose it was nice of her to offer, but I declined nonetheless. I just asked her to be sure the bill was revised to show the price for veggies, rather than tofu; even though the amount of veggies they put in was extremely pathetic, and I probably shouldn’t have had to pay full price for the veggie «protein», but now I’m just whining.
For Step 3, I chose panang curry sauce. It was yummy, but not as spicy as I was hoping. If you like spicy food, be sure to ask them to amp it up a bit.
And Step 4, I chose brown rice. I have no complaints about the brown rice. After the whole dining experience, Big Bowl finally wins a point, for their brown rice. And I added an extra point because everything was edible and I found no foreign objects in my food. Hooray!

Carry-​out orders are a good way to go during the busy holiday season. My order of Kung pao beef was a bit fatty, but I really liked their version of Orange Chicken. Decent portion, but lots more rice than protein/​veggie.
Whenever I get too adventuresome with my order I risk being disappointed, but their food is consistently fresh, and service is fairly quick. TIP: While I was waiting for my order, several people popped in to get $ 100 gift certificates (The restaurant is adding a $ 25 bonus to that right now).