Sampan Cafe — Restaurant in Franconia

Dont do it!! I ordered egg roll appetizer $4, duck entree $14, and chinese donuts $6 and after delivery fee was $30+ total. When the order arrived it was a VERY small bag. I was surprised because the other chinese place I normally order from I get a large bag for that price. I recieved one egg roll, I am accustomed to getting 2 in an appetizer order but I thought ok well not a deal breaker and it was a standard egg roll, nothing special but not bad either.

Then I looked for the box of chinese donuts, and there wasn't a box just a little bag with what looked like naked Churros in the bag, not chinese donuts. They were gross little hard sticks like churros, but completely bare, no sugar no nothing just cold fried dough sticks . If your used to the delicious little light pillows of soft bread with a dusting of finely ground sugar ... your going to be massively disappointed like I was. Don't buy the Chinese donuts, I don't know what they put in the bag but it SUCKED! Tasted stale, old, and bland, worst thing I have ever eaten.

ON TO THE DUCK. I opened the box (it was a small 4x6 inch box) and thought ok, this is good, it looked like a good amount of duck, with a crispy looking skin, and plenty of it, over white rice. I picked up a chunk, went to bite it and nearly broke a tooth. It was a greasy peice of skin wrapped around a peice of bone. No meat in that chunk at all, it was just a layer of slimy fat and skin on bone. What looked like crispy skin turned out to be just over seasoned and slimy. When I looked at first it looked like lots of 1 inch chunks of meat but it wasn't, turns out it was only one duck leg, chopped 1 inch pieces bones and all, so once I pulled all peices of bone away from the actual meat there was hardly anything there, and went to eat it I kept biting into little shards of crushed bones in my food, it was horrible. It was also cold. Everything was cold on arrival. And the sad part is the restaraunt is 2 tenths of a mile from My house. I could literally walk there in 5 minutes but it was raining so I decided to order delivery. NEVER AGAIN!

This was the MOST disgusting and horrible chinese meal I have ever eaten. Do yourself a favor and order from somewhere else. This is the worst!!

The first picture is what it looked like at first, in the second picture the bottom section is the actual meat on the rice, and the bones and skin in the top section. None of what is in the top section is really edible, maybe some people like that skin with a 1/4 inch of fat attached but to me that was gross, slimy and cold. The third and fourth pictyres are the supposed donuts, four chunks of bland hard cold...

One of the BEST Cantonese restaurants in the area. This place has been here for a long time. I actually just discovered it. I usually go to Seven Corners to get Cantonese food but that area can be really hard to navigate and hard to get around during busy hours. I try to avoid it and now that I have discovered this place I can.

One the reason why I say this is the best is because of HOW you can order DIM SUM. Many people will argue with me that other places are better because they have the carts and its a whole experience. I could care less about the carts as an adult. I care about he quality of the food that I am paying for. My experience with the carts is that the food is cold or hardly hot. This makes huge difference in texture which is tied to freshness for me. The flavors of the filling even begins to diminish because of the fats starting to solidify due to the low temperatures. Then when that happens you just throw soy sauce all over everything. That makes for bad experience for me. I understand that most people would not agree with me.

THIS place has dim sum a la carte. Which means the dim sum you order comes out fresh. So when everything comes out they are taste and are prepared as they should be. Would you want cold McDonalds or Popeyes? No. No. No.

I have only explored parts of their regular menu but everything I've had has been amazing. For example:

Spicy Crispy Pork Chops: Fried Garlic and Shallots with a thin breading that has explosion of umami. Ginger Scallion Lobster: Succulent and flavorful Chow Foon: Classic Wide Noodle goodness that has a nice chewy texture to each bite of the noodles. Salty Fried Rice: This is one the best unheard of dishes in the area. The rice has little hints of umami in each bite and isn't as oily as other fried rice's I have had. Buddha Delight: If you are vegetarian...THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO EAT TOFU!!!! They use a soft/silken tofu that is fried to perfection over a gravy sauce that is delicious.

I highly recommend this place to anyone who loves...

BEWARE. ONLY PAY THESE PEOPLE USING CASH. I will NEVER visit this restaurant again! I placed an order for 4 spring rolls. My total was $6.89. I paid using my Visa Debit card. Two days later I went into my bank make a transaction. The bank teller informed me that my account had been frozen due to an overdraft!? He then informed me that there was a charge from Sampan Cafe in the amount of $6,288.89!!!!!!!!!! I immediately called the business. The lady I spoke with wasn't at all concerned. She informed me that their system was new. She also stated they were aware of the mistake and several others had the same issue. I then asked her what they were doing to resolve the issue. She claimed the company's bank had corrected the issue and that there was nothing else she could. I bank with Navy Federal. They assured me that no reverse was put on the payment for 6,288.89. Not satisfied with her dismissal of the problem I went to the restaurant in person! I was greeted by a nonchalant attitude. When I asked to speak to the owner I was told she wasn't there to come back later. I insisted that the manager be called. I was then told I can't call her she is busy and unavailable!!! I asked for the manager information and was told that was private!!! I then called the police to get them to mediate the situation. Once the police were called her attitude completely. She called the manager. I filled a dispute with my bank and am waiting for an outcome. I understand that computer systems glitch. I understand people make mistakes. But what I don't understand is how a business could be nonchalant about taking 6000+ dollars from my account. They didn't offer to compensate me for my time or the inconveniences caused by their...