China Cafe — Restaurant in Chantilly

I love this little cafe. Fortunately all the jobs I've had have been in the Chantilly area so I can honestly say I've been coming here for +20 years! If there isn't a huge lunch line you can be eating piping hot food within 5 minutes of ordering! Faster if you get the soup! I lived in Beijing for 3 years and my judge of a Chinese restaurant comes down to they gong-bao-ji-ding (kung pao chicken) and their hot and sour soup. 95% of the time I order these two and have to say their kung pao is the best in the area (NO filler veggies like broccoli stems, carrots, water chestnuts, etc, just chicken peanuts, scallions, and peppers like proper style). The soup is decent and isn't just a cornstarch slurry like most other places. Sometimes I get the chicken and cashew because they do something with the cashew nuts to make them almost candied! Yummy and unique. My colleagues all have their favorites: general tso's chicken is popular with some, others always have the combination lo mein or combination fried rice. Back in the day they used to offer free hot tea next to the free water - I wish they'd bring that back. The café is a no-nonsense eatery and can get packed during the week because it's such a good deal in taste and quantity. When the weather is good you can usually see my coworkers and I most weekends eating outside on the red plastic chairs relaxing for a few minutes from the job and having a great meal. Tasty, plentiful, fast,...

The food quality through the years , maybe due to change of ownerships has changed .

I had not aten their food for a while ; yesterday , I picked several dishes ; one being general tso chicken ; a favorite in my family . There was short thin hair encrusted in the chicken . I might had swallowed some as the feeling of hair stuck in my throat does not leave me .

I believe in constructive criticism ; I called them and went there in person ; none of the cooks were wearing hair nets . The lady at the cashier did not even want to bother to listen to my complain . I left what remain of the food at the restaurant and totally disappointed of their customer service and their will to listen to constructive criticism .

By the way ; the fried rice is rice with soy sauce not fried rice . Years ago that was not the case .

To be fair ; all of their food is not bad ,my family loves their dumplings ; they have to be more careful in the prep of their food . Who wants to eat food with...

I’ve never posted a review before, but I felt the need to after my last experience with China Cafe. In the past I have ordered food from them 4-5 times and in all honesty everything was fine. About a week ago I placed a delivery order around 9pm. I was out on my deck when a car pulled up outside and I could hear something coughing and spitting aggressively. To my surprise it was the delivery driver, the guy had the audacity to continue coughing and spitting on my front porch when I was signing the receipt with my door closed. I’m almost positive the food was being delivered in the car of a heavy smoker; I cannot be sure though.

I immediately called the establishment after the food was delivered. I explained the situation and she told me there would be no charge for the order. I ultimately was charged for the order. She never once apologized to me and wanted to end the conversation ASAP. I will never order from them again. I was beyond disgusted by the whole...