Yu Zhou Cafe — Restaurant in Gaithersburg

I've been coming here for many many years. I'm not sure if they have a new owner, or a new chef, but the food isnt as good as it once was....their spicy crisp seafood quality isnt good, most of the squids are thinly sliced and more than a few pieces was hard and brittle and not chewy soft like it used to be many years ago. The flavor is different as well and the salad they normally put in the bottomed of the dish was soggy instead of the usual crispy shredded salad. The crispy shrimp with mushrooms....BIG DISSAPOINTMENT. Drenched in a spicy red sauce. Sucks I dont have a pic of what it used to be before but it was definately not drenched in this spicy red sauce nor did it have peppers in it. The flavor is completely different than what I was back in 2014. The spicy beef tendon I got as well.....every single slice used to be a good thickness, but now it's so paper thin. I thought maybe bad day....I order the same thing 2 weeks later nope. The food was still the same....everything so thinly sliced, the food tasting completely different than what it was years ago. even the way they cut the mushrooms, squid tendons etc is completely different. I'm sad to say I wont be coming here anymore. this was my favorite spot to come to always ever since I was 19 (I'm 32 now). the quality of the food is not worth it anynore. I also never see that nice older lady managing behind the cashier anymore running the place. Shes like a older asian lady and I think her daughters american name is stacy wong. I'll forever miss this place. :(

Also whether I did take out or dine in years ago, the quality of food, sizes, and flavor was always the same and consistent. Now I dont know what happened. I'll miss you...

We first visited Yu Zhou by recommendation. My family and I now visit at least twice a month. A Sunday dinner at Yu Zhou’s has become quite a tradition in our family. We go for good service, great staff, and excellent food. After a couple months of visits, my family and I created a surefire order that we use every time. As routine patrons, we know what we like, but the owner sometimes brings us a new chef special that he thinks we will enjoy. He is right every time! We have found some of our new favorite menu items this way. The food is excellent. Yu Zhou introduced us to delicious authentic Chinese cuisine, now that we have tried others, we always find ourselves going back. It is the best Chinese food we have had. Given its sheltered location, you would think that it is not a busy restaurant, but the seats are almost always filled to the brim with customers like us that are loyal to the good food. There is limited staff to be seen, but when we enter we are always led to the same table we love. The waiters are quick to bring out water and tea. The appetizer easily entertains the table until our food comes out, which is usually below 10 minutes from when we order. So, you know something is happening behind the scenes even if you don't see a lot of action. Overall, very quick and attentive staff given the number of tables. As I mentioned above, the owner knows his craft, is very friendly and hospitable, and is pivotal to the welcoming atmosphere of the restaurant. You can tell he loves what he does. With many more visits to come, my family and I are excited for the new foods we will have the pleasure of eating at Yu Zhou...

I've been coming here for the past 5-6 years for weekend lunches from the food bar. You go up and pick out the dishes you want, pay, then bring your food to your table. The service has always been a bit hit or miss. Sometimes they will bring you water and refills, sometimes they won't. The food is usually very tasty, but portions have gotten smaller as prices have increased over the years. It is a talking point at all of our meals here now. They also tend to lack consistency. Sometimes they serve dumplings with sauce, sometimes they don't. Sometimes you get a large fish, sometimes you get a small one. Depending on who is scooping you might get a smaller portion of things. It's especially frustrating when you see someone else in line who was given a larger scoop than you by someone else.

If it were up to me, I wouldn't come back anymore. Raising prices over time is understandable due to inflation and increased labor costs. But I just feel like the quality and overall value of their food has gone down. But my relatives like the food enough to keep putting up with the spotty service, inconsistencies, and ever increasing prices and shrinking portions. I will say the seating area has become visibly cleaner than it ever used to be. So they have raised their standards for cleanliness.

If you're willing to overlook the flaws, some of the best things from the food bar include the fried chicken, fried pork chop, and the dumplings. Their tofu and their fish filet with tomato dish are very good too. For a family of 4, we can usually be somewhat satisfied by about $40 worth of food. (We used to pay around $30 and have...