East Pearl Restaurant — Restaurant in Rockville

Dec 2023 We decided to order some takout from here for dinner, which we ordered over the phone. We came to pickup the food around 6:30pm. The inside was brightly lit and the tables were about three quarters full. There were 2 or 3 groups of people waiting by the door to be seated.

It was very obvious at first glance that the service was pretty slow. I think they need more staff because they only had 3 people covering all the tables: one was taking orders, one was delivering food from the kitchen, and the other was running around doing everything else (seating, dishes, water, check, etc). I mean, the one taking orders was doing a little other stuff, but it was all really inefficient.

And then there was only one person handling takeout orders. So we had to wait several minutes in line behind people ordering takeout in person. Actually, I think that was the only pay register in the place, so it was handling the takeout orders plus the dining in orders. Restaurants of this size usually have 2 registers, so you can tell I am unimpressed with this service already.

They had placed our order into a reusable cloth bag instead of the usual paper bag. It was impressive at first, until you realize they charge $0.25 for it. It makes me wonder: if you order again and bring the previous reusable bag, will they still charge you? Not to mention that they also used a plastic bag around one of the food items in case of leakage, so there was an additional charge for that too. And just so you know, there was a significant amount of leakage. It would have been more secure if they had used a soup container instead of the flat black container that they didn't even close properly. You can sense my annoyance with their service at this point, right?

The only good thing, was that the food was decently yummy. The pan fried noodles had a good crunch, light flavor, and a decent amount of meat. The roasted pork was less fatty than what you get at a supermarket. The roasted duck was also tasty, but a bit too oily.

Overall, very unlikely we...

Food, overall, was pretty great, so I can't give it a 1 star. Flavors were deep and intricate, and all cooked fresh, and I would come back for the food except for...

These two waitresses we had the unfortunate pleasure of having. The hostess was very nice and helpful though. These two waitresses were incredibly rude, had 0 emotion at all times, and when we tried to order, she stood across the entire table, so it was just so hard to hear her, and for her to hear us. She acted like she got so offended when we asked her to come stand closer around the table. In the process she kept poking me in the face with the menu completely unaware of it. She just acted so impatient while we were ordering like we were wasting her time.

Another waitress was the one who brought the bill to us and then loitered around waiting for me to sign the check and give her the tip money. Then at the second I signed the check, she grabbed it and walked away. No words or facial expression or anything, just took it the second I signed and walked off. I've never seen this behavior in any restaurant, Chinese or not. Waiters and waitresses are trained to not take the check until the customers leave as that is etiquette, but I guess she didn't care. I tipped above 15% too but no way I was tipping 20% with the service we got earlier, as I know what it's like to work for a tip. They didn't earn it though.

And, our table's tea and water never got refilled, once. I tried to call any waiter or waitress down but I guess they never heard me. There was only one helpful waiter / busboy who actually said thank you and have a nice night as he was cleaning our table. I will not be coming back here, and will be telling my friends to avoid this place, unless you get takeout so you don't have to deal with the waitresses from hell. Service makes it feel like I...

I think it's important to go to certain restaurants for what they specialize in. If you're interested in Hong Kong/Cantonese cuisine, come to East Pearl Restaurant. That is the kind of food they specialize in.

My mom and I dropped by on a Sunday between 5:30-6pm. We snatched one of the last tables in the restaurant - super lucky because when we left, there was a line out the door! This place is not that big at all, and the parking situation is just as tight. We parked by the Citibank, only because the bank wasn't open. I'd recommend coming here during off-peak hours to score a coveted parking spot.

We ordered the following: Shrimp with walnuts Sliced fish congee Beef chow fun Seafood casserole

Everything was good, very authentic Hong Kong cuisine. I personally did not like the shrimp with walnuts too much, but the dish itself was cooked well. The sliced fish congee and beef chow fun were my favorites. There was definite wok hei (aka "the breath of the wok") in the beef chow fun dish. Delicious! The sliced fish congee reminded me of weekend mornings when my parents and I would have congee for breakfast. Usually, we had pork and century egg congee (which you can also order here), but I really like the sliced fish congee too. So homey yet simple.

Service was so-so, but thankfully the food surpasses service. Definitely recommend if you want Hong...