[deangold]

It was the kind of meal where the more we ate the less satisified I felt, resulting in eating too much yet still alking away wanting a good dim su meal. The tarts, fresh out of the oven and still hot were a treat. Service was spotty.

[perrik]

The MontCo Dim Sum Comparo has now morphed into the Metro DC Dim Sum Comparo with this first outing to China Garden in Rosslyn. It was... all right.

As everyone could attest to, finding the place and then finding parking was a wee challenge. The restaurant is very conveniently located about 1 block from the Rosslyn Metro station, in a highly visible building (the Gannett building with the WJLA-TV news ticker). There is free underground parking in the Gannett building's garage. However, this is a very popular restaurant, and there was a lot of stopping and waiting and blocking aisles going on. Once you manage to get past the vehicular mess and park, look for an exit to the shops level. Follow the noise.

rbh warned us to get there early, and this was very wise advice indeed. The +1 and I arrived 45 minutes before our planned dim sum time, and it took a little over that long before there was a large table available. The restaurant looks quite large inside. They can handle banquets of up to 600 attendees, so its size is comparable to New Fortune. However, it's popular with Chinese tour groups - as we drove up we saw a bus unloading its hungry passengers - and parties of all sizes were in for long waits.

The table arrangement at China Garden can be unfortunate. There were some large tables placed with no easy aisle access, and we were (alas) seated at one of them. It took a while before carts threaded their way to our table, and I think some of the food reflected the odd traffic flow. We were quickly supplied with the basic accoutrements, but food was slow in coming by at first.

The cart traffic overall did not seem as plentiful here than at the other places we've sampled - we learned quickly to grab several orders of whatever came by because who knows if that item would ever come around again? Example: har gow and char sui bao are two of the absolute standard dishes that every dim sum place has. I saw each item come by our table just once in the 90 minutes or so that we were there. There were fleeting glimpses and tantalizing rumors of sweet items, but it wasn't until the very end of our meal that the glimpse turned into reality. Some of the items we got were lukewarm, and some seemed to have seen better days (like the string beans). Can't blame the time of day for this - China Garden serves dim sum from 11:30am to 3:00pm, so we were there at the middle of service and the place was absolutely packed. Rapid turnover should have ensured some level of freshness, but it just wasn't there.

But what of the food, you may ask. It was certainly not bad - we're not talking Good Fortune here - but very little was all that impressive. There was a steamed dumpling filled with veggies like chopped baby corn and mushrooms that I rather liked. There was some love shown for the stuffed tofu and the shrimp/chive dumplings. We were lucky enough to get the egg custard tarts while they were still quite warm - the crust was light and flaky, and the filling was custardy with just a touch of sweetness. This was easily the best dish of the meal, and it was certainly the best egg custard tart I've ever had either here or in SF. I thought most of the other dishes were pretty pedestrian - certainly acceptable, but not worth a detour. The har gow wrapper was thick and yet too fragile, the steamed spareribs with black bean sauce were lacking in black bean flavor. Not once did I see my beloved cheong fan making the rounds, but perhaps that's just as well. Tendons and chicken feet were available on the carts (not bad but nothing special), but tripe had to be specifically ordered.

The worst part of the meal was the table next to ours - they had ordered dishes off the menu, and it all looked so good! I spotted a whole fried fish and a whole roast duck. Darn.

With tip, our meal was $15 per person.

I'd rank China Garden next to Silver Fountain - worth going if you're in the area and hungry for dim sum, but not worth a special trip. It may say something that we spent the last half of the meal discussing when we should schedule our next visit to a better dim sum place.

This post has been edited by perrik: 19 February 2006 - 05:00 PM

[goldenticket]

While the dim sum may not have been all that good, we were in good company. I believe I spied a table of restaurant folks from the likes of Tallula, 1789, and Restaurant Eve

I enjoyed the combination dumpling the most - it had a lot of fresh cilantro in it, which gave it some good flavor. Of course the one thing I didn't get to try was the custard tart! I did try the chicken feet (my first time ever!) and they weren't bad. I'm not sure how other 'connaisseurs' of chicken feet would rate them, but to me it seemed to be all about the sauce, which was tasty if a bit thick. Not sure if I'll be ordering them on my own, but at least I tried 'em.

<moved from the DimSum Sunday thread>

[DonRocks]

I hadn't heard anything about China Garden in awhile, dim sum or otherwise. I'm always impressed at the sheer size of this place - they have banquet facilities for up to 600 people (i.e., they cater to large tour groups, not that there's anything wrong with that).

A lunch order of Szechuan String Beans ($5.95, ordered spicy, with no pork and no MSG) was sub-par, even for this type of homogenized restaurant. There was just too much salty oil in the somewhat wrinkled, but not quite dry-fried, sauteed beans, and it was a thick oil, the kind that leaves a margarine-like film on your lips, and has you running for the sink when you're done. It had a good kick from the pepper flakes, however, and wasn't terrible (I don't think it's possible for such a simple dish to be terrible).

One bite of the chicken in the Moo Goo Gai Pan ($6.95) - which was so white it looked like a scallop - gave me a twinge of guilt regarding my mom, who has this in store for her later today. Then again, she told me she's been craving Chinese food and I know she'll love it.

Cheers,
Rocks.

[Saycheese]

Had dim sum at China Garden on Sunday for the first time in many years. It was very good. In fact, I was checking it out in order to plan a group outing in a few months for about 30-40 people. I need to pick a brunch/dim sum place that is metro accessible. However, when I called to make a reservation, I was told that it's first come first served, and that the only way they would accommodate us if our entire group showed up at the same time. That just ain't gonna happen -- There is no way a group of 30-40 people is going to show up "on time." Maybe they are used to accommodating bus tours. I'm going to try again and see if I can speak with someone else, but if anyone has had an experience going there for dim sum with a group, I'd love to hear about it.

[Sthitch]

Saycheese, on 10 March 2010 - 05:29 PM, said:

However, when I called to make a reservation, I was told that it's first come first served, and that the only way they would accommodate us if our entire group showed up at the same time.

Did you ask to have it in the banquet facility?