Lakeside Asia Cafe — Restaurant in Reston

I’ve tried a lot of Sichuan places in NOVA. I have family from the same region the chef is from, and honestly, I can’t tell the difference between the food I had in China compared to here. Here are a few foods we ordered that have a high skill ceiling that this place did near perfectly:

Mapo tofu: most of places I’ve tried either make this close to tasteless mush or crank up the heat with no other significant flavor. This is a hard dish to make balanced. The way this chef does it, I could eat all day. Huge amount of flavor; balanced heat and numbing; incredibly savory. The base recipe is a great crowd pleaser, but can easily satisfy someone who wants more heat if they just ask for it. I cannot emphasize enough how well this dish was made compared to the huge number of places I’ve tried around the world.

Twice-cooked pork: rendered well, with crispy portions. Excellent balance of savory, sweet leeks, spice, and pork. This is an easy dish to make, but hard to master, especially when it comes to texture. Absolutely did not disappoint.

Hong shau rou (red braised pork): this is listed as stewed pork on their menu, but for these low and slow fatty pork dishes, I look for a few things: tenderness of the fat, natural pork flavor, balance with seasoning. This stuff melted in my mouth, had an incredible pork taste, and the sauce was nowhere near cloying or overly salted. It takes a lot of experience to produce something this well-made, and it’s an incredibly comforting less-spicy dish that can easily pair with the spicier stuff on the menu.

I also ordered other dishes. All excellent. 10/10 food as well as exceptional service and recommendations. I’m coming back to try everything else on the menu with the same critical eye, but I highly doubt I will be...

April 8,2022 Friday time 1:59 pm afternoon.I came in a tell the old woman can I used your bathroom first before a order a food she said okay . I came back bathroom cause I was tired walk 4 miles I just set down there table can I set her cause a got tired long walk they want me follow there rules where you can order to go they talk there language I could not understand. They have only 4 customer eating there tables there more plenty more open , they want me as a customer following there rules set other tables to order. I was so mad a walk away that Chinese store . Am a customer they want me follow there rules where am supposed to order to go. This 2 woman Chinese they are so aggravated and arrogant they’re customer how they serve where supposed to be ordered. This 2 woman Chinese they need to go and closed there restaurants if you gonna speak your language without saying anything no one understand you been disrespectful to a customer. Don’t come this restaurant there are racist, arrogant customer and old woman very rude. They speak their language but you feel the voice of tone they talking about you but anyway they should arrogant i customer telling to move other table I already sit down have rules where you gonna sit down pick up orders how ridiculous and rude speak there’s language old woman close your restaurant if you not happy be there at restaurants if you have problems keep to yourself don’t bring to your customer looser the 2 old woman stay to your...

My mom’s first experience at this restaurant was not so bad so she took me and my husband to this restaurant. When we went around 7pm we were happy to see that there was only one table occupied since we were very hungry. The food came out almost after 30 minutes. Other customers that came after us were served before us. The waitress said that their food was quick and easy but ours took long because it was a slow food. I wouldn’t complain if the food was good but it was not. All the food had this bad oil taste to it. By the time we got our 4th beef noodle dish, it was almost 8pm. We had a baby with us so we couldn’t really stay any longer. I hurried to finish at least few bites and even gave my baby some of the noodles. Then I saw that the tomatoes in the dish had barcode sticker still attached to it. I didn’t want my mom to feel bad since she was the one who took us there so I did not make a big scene out of it. I just mentioned it quietly to my mom and she ended up talking to the owner. I was expecting a refund but heard that she only offered to give us another dish. Why would we want to sit there any longer to have another dish after seeing what we’ve been served? Food was horrible, waiting was long, her way to handle the situation was also horrible. I would never. Go...