ulrath

My Beef Bun advice is as follows. 1. Eat your fried Chicken. 2. Take the rice from the Chicken and rice dish, put it on your plate. 3. Place beef bun on your plate and puncture it. 4. Allow the grease to soak into the rice. 5. Enjoy Beef Bun. 6. Enjoy grease and rice. Another note. We tried the vegetarian delight dish. The dish had tofu, mushrooms and some other stuff. Whatever it was though, it was delicious. Probably going to go on our list of "must order dishes."

Oh God, you're killing me. Like the original poster my family had been going to Sampan Cafe forever. Since before I was born and I am almost 34. My wife and I had our rehersal dinner there. As far as americanized chinese food goes, this place was the best. I have yet to find something that is close. The day we went there after they changed management is still scarred in my memory. Same decor, different menu, different staff. It was awful. I would have rather it gone out of business entirely than to have gone to see it changed like that... and changed for the worse. I am glad to hear that the original people that took over the restraunt failed. At least keep the chef. That dude was awesome. We have been intrigued by the new incarnation but have not had the courage to go.

Went last friday night with the family. As previous responders have mentioned, the restaurant is small and very nicely decorated. I would hazard to say though that it is not extremely baby friendly. Not that the staff isn't accomodating but there isn't enough room to put a car seat. Now to the food. We got the pad thai, the bob's noodle (drunken noodle) and some crispy duck dish. We also got an order of their wontons. The clear winners were the drunken noodles and the wontons. Probably the best I have had since before Sampan Cafe changed management. The drunken noodles were spicy and had an almost smokey flavor. Definently worth going back for. The other dishes were ok IMO. The Pad Thai was a little too sweet. It tasted like they used regular refined sugar instead of palm sugar. I prefer the rendition at Thai Basil in Chantilly. The crispy duck was pretty good but all I could think of when eating it was how I needed to get out to Thai Square sometime soon.

Just to add my two cents to the reply, Eammons is already well known but Hunters Head in Upperville has a pretty good rendition of Fish and Chips. Jimmy's in Herndon was good but I can't abide the smoke there.

I've gone to the Centreville location about 4 times now. Last time I got something with the meatballs which I did not like as much as some of the other meats. Its still a great deal. 1 Large bowl for take out feeds my wife and I with enough leftover for 1 lunch the next day. For those that were curious, the Indian place a few doors down has potential. Rasoi of India. I did carryout. I got Goat Korma, Chicken Biryani and Garlic Nan. The Korma and Biryani were fairly good but the star was the garlic nan. By far the best garlic nan that I have had. Better than Minerva, Harvest of India, Rangoli.... I would go back for the Garlic Nana alone.

We've tried a few of the varieties. We like the honeydew the best.

If I have to do fast food, this is where I go. Recently they changed the recipe to their chicken strips and now they are much improved. Combined with their Chick-fil-a sauce its a pretty darned good meal.

Went today after I picked up the veggies from my CSA. I got carry out. I got a #11, the chicken wings (per rock's rec) and the summer rolls. All were quite good. The soup travelled well and both the wings and rolls were crisp and flavorfull. I can see adding this to the rotation.

I have a co-worker who loves Outback. Whenever we are on travel we have to eat there at least once (breaking my rule of always eating local). Whenever we do I would get a bacon cheeseburger and baked potato which while good, I would never make a trip there to get.

We've taken our 5 month old to a few places. Sweetwater Tavern is one of our standdby's If he has a meltdown it tends to be so loud there he doesn't bother other people. Not sure about the changing tables. Last time we were there the boy had a category 4 explosion. There were no changing tables in either bathroom although they may have been in the handicaped stalls which were occupado. Matsu Sushi in Centreville is very friendly to infants. They've talked to him every time we are there. A & J is friendly as well. haven't had to change him there either.

I live in Centreville and will be near this location tonight. Any recommendations on what a first time Pho-orderer and his wife should try?

Am I the only one here that doesn't like the Noah's pretzels? I do not see what the fuss is about.

Time to chip in my review. Some background, I have been going to Ray's for several years now. I live in Centreville so getting to Arlington is a bit of a hike so I don't go as often as I would like. Whenever I get a "birthday" dinner, Ray's the Steaks is always my choice. When we had our inagural draft for Nationals season tickets, we had it at Ray's. The Post covered it and I even got my picture in the paper. Fast forward to Monday. I find out that Ray's Hell Burger has opened. I immediately tell the wife that we need to go. Ahh, but there is one small complication. We have an infant at home and therefore we don't get out much. The trip to Ray's Hell Burger would have to be put on hold. Jump ahead to yesterday. The day before my wife's return to work. I ask my wife if I can take the boy out of the house so she can get some stuff done and get ready for work without worrying about the baby. Normally I take him on a long long walk, but he had already spent 2 hours in the stroller that day and my legs weren't going to be able to handle another 2 hours. I know. I'll take him on a car ride. Now everyone who's had an infant with colic knows that a car ride can work wonders in getting them calmed down. The key though is that the car has to keep moving. Its like the movie Speed. The baby has to go 55 or he blows up. Traffic lights are hell with this so once I get out with him I head to the interstate. Well, if I'm on the interstate I can go east or west on 66. I figure I'd go east. Oh darn, I drove all the way to Arlington. Oh well, I may as well get something to eat. Where could I get something in Arlington.... Where.... So there I am, in the parking lot by Ray's. Unfortunately parking was at its normal premium and I had to park down the hill. I took the sleeping baby out of the car and hiked the two blocks to Ray's Hell Burger. I actaully walked past it the first time, the restraunt is so unassuming. For a moment I feared that this was some cruel hoax that the internet played on me. Curse you cruel internet! How could you toy with my emotions like that!? Fortunately I doubled back and found it. I could already tell that Ray's Hell Burger was getting a lot of the spill off from Ray's the Steaks. 2 hour wait for a table? No problem. Maybe a burger will tide you over. There was a line but it moved well. Someone actually came out from behind the counter to take my order. Nice easy process. As I waited, the place really started to fill up and all the tables were full. Michael (I'm pretty sure it was him) stopped by to see the baby and give me grief for wearing a Five Guys t-shirt (A poor wardrobe choice, I admit). It took about 10 minutes and my burgers were ready. Good thing too since the baby had finally woke up and was starting to express his displeasure. I grabbed the baby, grabbed the burgers, went down the hill. The Review Burger A- My wife's burger Grilled, Recommended w/ grilled onions, peppers, mushrooms and mayo. Cooked perfectly. One of the highlights of no longer being pregnant is my wife can get burgers that are not burned to a crisp. The toppings were delicious, especially the mushrooms. When my wife found out where I had gone I got the "You drove all the way to Arlington?" bit. One bite of the burger and all was forgotten. She really really enjoyed it. Burger B- My son's burger. Unfortunately since he is three months old and lacks teeth I had to help him out by eating it for him. The things parents have to put up with. Au Poivre, Recommended w/ bacon, blue cheese, grilled onions, peppers, mushrooms and mayo. Cooked perfectly. Recommended may be too rare for some people. Not me. The cracked pepper was not overpowering, I actually barely noticed it. There was much less than you would normally see on a steak the burger had more of a sprinkle. You could tell that a high quality of meat was used. It actually tasted that someone took a steak from next door, put it through the grinder and put it on a bun. Unfortunatly the burger came without most of its toppings, only the cheese. Having tasted the toppings from my wife's burger, I could tell I was missing out. Burger C - My Burger Grilled, recommended, w/ bacon, the $4 aged Amish cheddar, grilled onions, peppers, mushrooms and mayo. Cooked well done (it's an art, not a science). It was a testament to the quality of the meat that even well done, the burger was still juicy. I admit the aged Amish cheddar was an impulse buy but damn was it good and worth the 4 bucks. I actually snuck a bite of this one in the car before I drove back to Centreville. Unfortunately this one also came without most of its toppings as well (missing the peppers, onions and mushrooms). Again, having tasted my wife's burger, I was missing out. Verdict If you ask my wife, everything was great. The one burger that had to be right was perfect. Me, I was mildly let down simply because I had built the trip up in my mind. After reading the reviews I was expecting a perfect experience but only got a pretty good one. The two burgers I ordered both had problems both of which can be chalked up to the place being mobbed and in its first week of operation. If the crowds are any indication, this place should be able to print money. Especially once word of its existence reached a wider audience. I can only hope that one day Michael will start to offer the blue cheese sauce or the brandy mushroom sauce used at RTS as a topping (I could bathe in that stuff.) To the poster who wondered whether or not the burgers travelled well I can report that they travelled to Centreville just fine with buns intact. We actually didn't have any problems with the buns disintegrating. I close this post with some advice. If you travelled 25 miles for some burgers, double check them before you leave. Oh yeah, and never, ever wear a Five Guys t-shirt to another man's burger joint.

Did the research and tried A& for the first time yesterday. The stars of the day were the fried chicken and the pan fried beef bun. Also good was the Honeydew bubble drink, the braised pork (w/egg but not mentioned on the menu). The pan fried pork dumplings (which I beleive are the egg rolls mentioned in a previous post.). The spicy wontons were also good as well. We did not care for the pork spare ribs (dry and flavorless). Also dissapointing was the dan dan noodles. I was expecting more along the lines of the schezuan style with ground pork but this was a peanut dish. Very bland although the wide noodles are good. We would go back if only for the chicken. We consider the trip more of a scouting mission. Now we know what to order (and what not to).

My wife and I went yesterday. Overall we were very impressed. We tried the crabcake sandwich and the lobster roll. Both were good but we preferred the crabcake. Nothing against the lobster roll but lobster is lost on us. The fries are top notch, done perfectly. We also tried the key lime pie and it was very good. I told my wife that I was not sure that it was better than Ray's and I would have to go back to Ray's to compare the two. Strictly in the interest of science. A special shoutout to the food server who worked the lunch shift yesterday. Some of the most polite and attentive service we have had. Especially noteworthy because it is not a full service place.

Back in college I lived here (Not in fairfax, in the diner). Back in the day the coffee was made by this huge monstrosity of a coffee machine that heraleded back from the 50's. It was awesome. Some of the best diner coffee you could get. I have been back since and the coffee machine was replaced with what looks like an office machine. Now the coffee is horrible.

Their she crab soup is to die for.

I plan on going on Sunday. Any Labor Day related closures I should be aware of?

My wife and I went early on Sunday thinking that we would try and beat the crowds. We got there right as Ray's opened and there was already a line to get in. The hostess quickly and efficiently went through the list and got everyone to their seats. After the hostess was done with the list she sat the people waiting in line. We had to wait for maybe five minutes for her to get to us. Inside of 15 minutes the place was full. Considering how quickly everyone was sat I was expecting some delay in service. I used to wait tables so I know what it is like to be triple sat. The waitstaff had it even worse and they handled it eficiently and with a smile. My wife and I each had the soup which came out quickly after we ordered it. For our main course she had the Shrimp entree and I had the Rib Eye with garlic, onions, and the blue cheese sauce. The food came out quickly and was all great as usual. My only regret is that when its only a two top, they only seem to bring the regular mashed potatoes. The regular potatoes while good, pale in comparisson to the garlic mashed potatoes. Next time I'll be sure to request those next time. When all was said and done we were in and out in an hour. We had a great meal. Its probably a good thing that Ray's is 35 minutes from my house. I would go too often. The table next to us was talking some smack about the place, but what did he know? He was ordering his steak Medium Well. What a waste.

A group of us went yesterday for the extended restaurant week. While the portion sizes weren't huge, the food iteslf was excellent. Drinks were a little pricey, but I had a good experence and would go back.

I'm thinking of doing a Restaurant Week lunch here with firends. Any recent reports?

Based on recommendations, we took my father here for his birthday. I gave him the choice of Ray's and trying something new. He picked this place. We should have gone to Ray's. While my dish was good, two others were mediocre and my wife's pasta was downright poor. The service itself was also on the unsatisfactory side. The good took forever to come and it seemed like the staff was ignoring the tables stuck without their food (I know the look, I used to wait tables). I understand that this isn't the kind of place where your food is up in 10 minutes, but ours took an hour and it was late on a Tuesday night. Maybe they have issues back in the kitchen. Honestly, I felt we would have had a better mean at Carabbas.

Went here on X-mas eve. Price fixed menu. I spent 72 a head for 4 courses. The food was excellent. We stayed for three hours. I definently feel like I got my moneys worth. I'll be going back.

My family used to go to Sam Pan cafe in Franconia for chinese food for 30 years. The owner retired a few years back and his nephew sold the joint. Broke our hearts. The place is still there, but it isn't the same.