China Garden

Reviews 6

KA

Katherine Pham

I have a wedding booked for next year with this restaurant and I am extremely upset and angry with how I am treated. For those who may possibly be looking for a venue to have your reception, look elsewhere. I had no choice due to family request, but if I wasnt forced to go with this place I wouldnt! The only things that this place has going for it is that its good is decent compared to other Chinese restaurants in the NOVA area. It also looks bit better than other Chinese restaurants. Its service is EXTREMELY HORRIBLE! I had been yelled at by a lady there for her mistake when I had asked to come in to survey the restaurant with my decorators. She had told me that there wasnt a wedding going on when there was. When I got there, I didnt want to enter because it was rude! I would not want to have random people coming to my wedding! When booking with this restaurant, it is important to keep in mind that you must have 450 guests in order to book the whole place. They still use the restaurant for their regular customers if you have less than that number. Well, I am planning to have that number, meaning I will be paying about $20,000 to book the whole restaurant. Even though I am shelling out all that money, they are still greedy! They will not let me set up until 4:00pm the day of, when my reception starts at 6:00pm! Two hours is not enough time! When I asked the manager/owner, Peter Tran, if I would be able to come in the day before to set up, he told me that I would only be able to come in at 2:00pm, but must leave at 5:00pm. Three hours is still not enough, especially for ceiling decor! I politely asked if we could continue after dining hours and a little pass closing. He rudely told me that no one would be there or want to stay until I finished. I am freaking paying 20k! That is more than they would make in a year on regular dining folks alone! He continuously cut me off while I was trying to explain things to him, telling me that he had customers too! I told him that he had to keep in mind that I am also a customer. He blew off that fact and continued to tell me to get my planning straight and that he could not promise me anything since the wedding is too far in advance. It is 6 months away! If it was too far in advance, then why rush people to book over a year in advance?! This restaurant is ridiculous! BRIDES, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! If you do not want this kind of stress, stay away!!!! Leaving you with some other minor notes, the restaurant is filth. Windows are dirty, Curtains are dusty. They still hang wilted plants around. Their serving plates do not match (I have those plates in my own kitchen).

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A

A Private User

A few weeks ago (in July 2009), I took my staff out for lunch to China Garden, and a roach ran across our table. I have been raving about this place since moving to DC-Metro. I am half-chinese and felt it had the authenticity missing at a lot of Chinese American restaurants, and it was the only chinese restaurant I ate at. So in July, I took my staff and a new employee out for a welcome-to-the-team/new job lunch. everything was fine until a small roach (the small light brown/tan) kind scurried across the table. We captured the roach in a napkin, and I carried the napkin with the still moving roach over to the manager and discretely but firmly scolded him in Mandarin (I was so angry that I felt speaking directly to him in chinese was the best way to express). The manager did not know how on earth there would be a roach on the table, and made me feel like I was over-reacting. He gave a weak apology, offered us free desert, but did not comp our lunch. We refused desert and left our doggy bags behind; paid our bill, and vowed never to eat there again. /// Disclosure: Ive worked in Chinese restaurants all through my schooling (10 yrs), and have lived in developing countries so I am pretty open minded when it comes to creature-comforts, but this is unacceptable. A restaurant MIGHT have insect or rodent issues in the back; but when it gets to the dining room, that means the problem is 100x worse in the kitchen. Ive worked in over 15 different chinese and non-chinese restaurants and in only two did I see roaches, and they were both total dives and poorly managed. So relative to all the kudos this place receives and the elitist ethno-centricity of the place the roach issue is all the more preposterous.

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ZI

Zimu Tian

部分菜味道还不错，挺入味的。 但很不足的是服务生态度特别不好，像欠了他们家钱一样，特别是对中国顾客，爱理不理，没吃完，大家还在聊天，不打招呼就直接从旁边上来收盘子，动作特别大，像赶要饭的一样。 介绍菜品的时候也很不耐烦，一概说不知道，都好吃什么的，隐约还是透露着一丝傲慢。 另外催账特别快，还特别提示要给小费，生怕国人不明白，看着国人顾客像低人一等一样。 总之菜品味道还可以，但服务像吃了苍蝇一样，装修尚可的门店中隐藏着深深的鄙视和看低。

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A

A Private User

That restaurant locates at a perfect spot. Thats the reason I thinkit has business. Most of the dim sum and chinese dishes are authentic. They are authentic poor, cool and gease chinese food I have ever had. If you are cantonese, you will hear the middle-age female boss or head waitress or whoever she is b*t*hing all the time. She has a very rude attitude. If you are Americans, please order the general tsao chicken, orange chicken, or seasame chicken. Those foods are deep fried or have a thick source which cover the texture or the meat taste. You cant tell how c*** the food is. I cant believe the washington post had an article of this restaurant w/ good comments. If you wanna have the real dim sum or authentic delicious chinese food, I recommend the one located at Beltway 495 Exit 31B (Right next to Giant).

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SC

Scotty ST

Not impressed with this place. It could be much better. I did like the Kung pao chicken here. The atmosphere I did not like. It was very awkward getting my table, there was some confusion and getting seating took a little longer than expected. The waitress I had was barely around after I placed my order. I felt like I was just a transaction, come in, eat, pay, and leave. The staff wasnt very friendly, they seemed to be under staff and needed all the workers to do other thing in the kitchen. My food was very fast and it came with tea which was very nice. The food was average, my dish was okay but it was made so quickly, which was nice but made me wonder if the food had been already made. The inside of the restaurant is okay, everything is a bit too spread out in my opinion. Its not a very inviting atmosphere.

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MA

Marty Monaghan

Amazing dim sum. Ive only been to this place on the weekend which is the only time they serve dim sum but it is awesome and lots of fun. I suggest going with a smaller table but they have large tables with a lazy Susan for sharing of the small plates. Unlike other dim sum places, Ive never had an issue with getting the type of food that you want. And if you still havent seen that cart come by, just ask and they will send that person over when the food is ready. Gotta go and get the pork buns, chicken fried dumplings, beef and noodles (forget the name for this one), green beans and of course the tea. Also a good tip is that they validate the parking garage that is underneath the building which has a ton of parking spaces with an elevator that goes straight to the restaurant.

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