Mandarin Express — Restaurant in Derwood

Sadly I am unable to select 0 stars. The "manager" of this establishment polices the parking lot from her entrance. The shopping center is privately owned and does NOT have a partnership with a towing company. She will threaten to have your car towed but her signs are from Amazon without contact information etc if you were to need to locate a towed car (refer to photo) She tries to regulate parking for patrons at other restaurants in the same shopping center. She proceeded to come outside screaming in regards to her illegitimate parking restrictions, trying to be kind I went to search for a new spot. Unfortunately there were none were available, I went ahead and parked in a vacant spot that did NOT have a "sign" in front - this was second from the left with the brick facade. She proceeded to come outside (again) into the lot to body check me ensuring I was not able to walk into the restaurant next door. She then personally kicked my car, (front right bumper) multiple times. As this occurred another patron shared that the same women had keyed her car moments prior. Sadly, Montgomery County police were called as the women proceeded to push me and continue to kick my car. Once the police arrive she then proceeded to no longer speak English. What she is doing is NOT legal, she is not able to police parking spots as she does not "rent" spaces as she says. I highly recommend recording her if you are to encounter her as Montgomery County police have received multiple calls regarding her behavior. Sadly if it is not documented it is a "he said, she said" situation. I don't even know about the food, she was enough to make me not want to even drive down...

Fat lady married to the chef thinks she runs the place - would make up numbers on your bills hoping you won't check. Quality of dishes going down the drain over the years.

Long story: Been a regular to this place for 5 years as my office was close-by. I started bringing the girlfriend there They make a hearty and bland signature noodle soup and a more interesting sour spicy noodle. The noodle soups were decent in their best days, but the quality of the dishes vary day by day - one day you would get a great tasting bowl with fresh vegetables and the next visit you might get rock hard noodles with soup totally off. The owner and her sister are both pretty nice and greet you with a warm smile and small talk, but the fat lady working there acts like you owe everything to her (husband, who is one of the cooks). I've noticed in a couple occasions where they would make up numbers on your bills and add a tax on it to make it look legit. I would usually just let it go as I trusted that they were, as they said, honest mistakes. Today my bill was again higher than expected. The owner isn't there so the fat lady openly told me because I usually pay $1.80 tip on my $13 noodle, that's not enough for her so she secretly add a couple dollars to my bill and refuse to remove it. I've been a loyal customer for 5 years and never paid less than 12% for the tip. Today is the last day me and my SO will go there.

Shady business practice, never improving environment, dish that makes you think you're eating at a different restaurant everyday (now mostly bad days)...

this place is one of my absolute favorite restaurants in Rockville - I’ve been going here regularly with my family for over 15 years.

there’s usually no wait on a weekday night and it’s pretty easy to find parking. This place does offer the classic Chinese restaurant dishes but the real gems are the ones listed below.

here’s what to get:

1. the crossbridge noodle soup (過橋米線) , cooked (you can order it “raw” with piping hot soup and put the raw ingredients in yourself, but I prefer it to come out cooked). This noodle soup is so comforting and delicious, and filled with a ton of good ingredients like fresh veggies, shrimp, meat, and tofu skin
2. crispy sweet and spicy tofu (干辣豆腐) , it’s fried to order and super crispy when it comes out. delicious.
3. the rice cakes with mustard green and pork (炒耳塊) I love rice cake and the way they make it is super chewy and umami and delightful.

Recently I also tried the thinly sliced chili oil bean curd (紅油豆乾絲) which was super refreshing and sliced so so thinly (how do they do that!!) and the seasonal Chinese mahogany with egg (香椿操蛋)...