Typical, traditional and tasty! Â Although my wife and I do not frequent Chinese restaurants much due to her soy allergy issues, Canton Cafe we consider to be one of the best the Springfield Area has to offer! They're friendly, service oriented, attentive, the ambience is very 60's Chinese Restaurant style, and the food has always been consistently delish with no over-powering soy or teriyaki overdoses. From their beef and broccoli to their General Tso's... you can count on getting your good portions and great taste here!
Review Source:We've been coming here regularly since we had a blowout with our usual dim-sum place.
We come on a Sunday right when they open around 11am. They usually have 2 carts of hot food and then a dessert cart. Â Can I say that I LOVE their shrimp Shumais?! They are filled with 4-5 shrimps each!! YUMMM The sticky rice in banana leaf is soo good too!
My favorite part is the dessert.... I tried the pineapple bun there for the first time and it was sooooo delicious!!! The custard on the inside was smooth and creamy and not too sweet. Last time we went in I got the egg tarts and damn were they GOOD!! The tart was buttery and crispy and the egg custard was smooth and soo yummy!
Can't wait to go back next Sunday!!! =D
My family had been patrons of Canton Cafe for at least 8 years. Â They were really great in the first couple of years, even remembered us every time we'd walk in for dinner or to pick up take-out. Â Their Cantonese food is actually Cantonese food. (My family is not Cantonese, but based upon several Cantonese friends' recommendations.)
Unfortunately, their quality of their service has plummeted, they've switched management numerous times, and their turnover rate for waitstaff is atrocious. Â Sure, we could deal with that for a while but what did it for us was once it impacted their food/prices...
The worst part of it all is that their prices have shot up and their portion sizes have halved. Goodbye, Canton Cafe. We had good times.
Finally stopped by since I had a reason to be in this area.
It was pretty much deserted on a Saturday afternoon, but they were still serving dim sum. Â This joint reminds me of the Cafe Asia in Rosslyn. Â Lost of blonde wood, sterile, with uncomfortable seating.
The dim sum lady (one cart going around) descended upon us when we got there. Â I told her to cool her heels until I got my tea first. Â I sampled the har gow, siu mai, tofu skin rolls, chicken feet, and shrimp crepes. Â The crepes were really good. Â Most of the other stuff on the cart was not hot, but tasted OK. Â Dim sum lady still hovered after giving us what we wanted. Â
I ordered a pan fried dish and that was OK also, but the beef was not marinated well or flash fried. Â Service was attentive, if not overbearing. Â They have a BBQ display in the back of the restaurant, so at first blush, you wouldn't know that they offered it. Â Most joints have that BBQ stand in the front of the restaurant.
Overall, not a bad pit stop for some quickie dim sum. Â Prices on the high side...kind of like HK Pearl.
Definitely the worst restaurant experience I've had. Â Let's do a bulleted list:
- The food took a while to come out.
- Ordered noodle shredded duck but didn't really get much duck.
- Waitress slammed my glass of water on the table after filling up my glass.
- Found a thin metal wire in my food.
- Waitress hovered over our table waiting for my friends and I to pay up.
I can say for sure I will never step foot in that place again.
First thing I think about when going to Canton is their pork chops. Bet me 5 bucks you can't find a better one around this area. The portions are huge, so if you take it home and microwave it the next day....EVEN BETTER! Werid, I know.
I've been here a few times and their food is pretty good. Its real chinese food...well most of it anyway. Their wonton is great as well, they give great lunch deals and its a great place to go in groups. Give their dim sum a try on sunday mornings too.
I enjoyed my first visit to Canton Cafe. I had heard mixed things about it, but decided I wanted to sample Cantonese Cuisine. I had not had Cantonese in quite some time, as nearly all Chinese restaurants today are Hunan-Szechuan style. There is something of an old-fashioned Chinese restaurant ambiance about Canton Cafe, which I mean in a positive way.
I ordered the Hong Kong Style Wonton Soup and Beef Chow Fun (beef with wide noodles). The Wonton Soup included shrimp in the dumplings, something new to me.  The Beef Chow Fun was very flavorful and the beef tender. Very good. The portion was ample, too. I took half  home in a box for lunch
I think the restaurant is a bit understaffed. There were two waitresses handling the entire floor and the restaurant was fairly full. There was a bit of a wait to be seated and I never did have an iced tea refill. Yes, I suppose I should have ordered hot tea.
I'll try Canton Cafe again.
This is my second favorite place to eat in Springfield (after Thai Cafe). Â My boyfriend's family has frequented this place for years and has used this place as a gathering place for birthdays, funerals, Mother's Day, Father's Day, promotion celebrations, and everything else in between. Â Basically, it's the Asian version of a Sunday night dinner type restaurant -- comfort food all around!
My favorite dishes are the Hong Kong style wonton soup, crispy beef, shrimp pan fried noodles, beef chow fun with gravy, Chinese broccoli with garlic, and sauteed pea shoots. You can't go wrong with anything on the menu here.
The servers are usually very friendly and make me feel like family whenever I visit.
Not sure if you've ever eaten at a restaurant where everyone appears to be on break, but on my most recent excursion to Canton Cafe, I felt like I had ordered a big ole plate of Cow Dung Woo Fung.
I had been to Canton Cafe before for dim sum and even though I thought it wasn't that bad, I wasn't truly blown away by the quality. Â It was during that visit that I thought, "I would try this place again." Â Well last night I did while running errands in and around the Springfield area.
When I entered the restaurant there were three parties already there. Â One large table, already served, and two small booths one in the process of ordering. Â I was eventually seated as it seemed the wait staff preferred chatting it up with customers than taking orders and moving on to the next customer.
As it had been some time since my dim sum experience and it was evening, I went off the main menu and ordered some of my go to dishes. Â I probably should've gone with Cantonese dishes, but wanted some mainstays - hot & sour soup and kung pao chicken.
The soup was great,...almost cold, but great if it had actually been warmed to more than room temperature. Â The kung pao chicken (all white meat as the menu claimed) was tasty, oily and not all white meat as can be identified by the texture when one chews a piece of chicken.
Beyond that, the wait staff honestly seemed disinterested in actually serving people or bringing out the food. Â Then one chatty party shows up with whom the wait staff is familiar, ordered some entrees and gets most of them before I get mine. Â Wow, that's how you keep new or infrequent customers, give someone you know better service.
Let me put it this way. Â I normally tip 20% minimally everywhere I go, because I realize getting the food right and expediting it is not always up to the wait staff. Â Last night was one of the first times I had considered leaving no tip and providing exact change in a very long time. Â I reluctantly, however, left slightly less than 15% with the knowledge it will be quite some time (read: never) before my return.
I really like this place, however, I didn't like it as much as I do now in my first few visits. Â It look me a while to warm up to them. Â I wrote it off as a place for Chinese food that's not take out.
But after frequenting the place and checking out other Chinese restaurants, I now like this place. Â
The server and owner now recognize me when I eat here.
The dim sum is really good compared to the large places. Â If there is something you want that is not on the dim sum cart, just ask the server and she'll order it for you. Â I always have to ask them for fried shrimp balls. Â Even though they don't always have it on the carts, they come out hot and fresh when the server has it made to order.
The cod w/ ginger and scallions is one of favorite dishes there and the fried pork chops with spicy salt. Â Try those out if you haven't already.
The price can get a little on the high end, but ok enough to come here once in a while.
I came for dim sum with a friend on a Sunday morning. Â We got there just a few minutes after 11, which is apparently when they open, so at first we were the only people there.
I thought for sure this would mean they would make us order off the menu. Â I was pleasantly surprised that they had carts ready and we were able to get the whole dim sum experience.
The steamed pork buns were pretty good, and the spring rolls were excellent. Â Everything else was pretty standard, but nothing was bad. Â Overall it was a very solid choice, with a friendly staff and great prices.
We ate way too much: 4 small, 1 medium, and 2 large dishes; and the total was only $25 for the two of us.
BEST CHINESE FOOD IN THE DC METRO AREA!!!
I am from Hawai'i, and I am part Chinese (Cantonese) - we take our Chinese food seriously back home! Â All of these take out joints with greasy rice & noodles is just gross! Â Canton Cafe is NOT that kind of place!
The food is great and the staff is attentive and very accommodating! Â Our hula halau eats here regularly after performances - even late at night - and they always welcome us with smiles! Â Weve also held baby showers & wedding showers here. Â
When my mom came to visit this summer, I wanted to take her here to try the food and to see that I can get great Chinese food in VA!
My favorites are the chicken w/ sour cabbage, walnut shrimp, beef/chinese broccoli with pan fried noodles, fried beef, the DUCK (OMG, the DUCK!), kung pao chicken, etc etc. Â And their hot & sour soup... so ono! Â Oh, ono = delicious in Hawaiian.
Sidenote: I did try their dim sum once a few years back and I did NOT like it. Â My advice - stick to the regular menu for lunch or dinner.
I think Canton Café used to be better. I frequent this place because a good friend loves it.  It has undergone a renovation, and is now trendier than before, with a very nice bar.  The high prices still remain, but quality has deteriorated. Â
I recently ordered a standard Chinese order for my friend and I - kung pao chicken, spring rolls, pork fried rice.  Kung pao chicken was way too salty and covered in an awful, gelatinous brown sauce.  Asking for extra spicy still resulted in minimal heat.  I barely touched it.  Springs rolls were fine and pork fried rice was tasty.  I also recently had the duck at Canton Café - OK, but a little dry.  I tried a couple dimsum dishes (dumpling type things), which were fine, but did not wow me.  I really want to like this place, especially as the owner is friendly and funny, and the staff is great.  However, I would not rush here.
I've been coming here a lot from Montgomery County because they're food is really good. Â So I took some out of town guests here for some awesome Chinese food. Â And the food was certainly great. Â The service and charges however were big disappointments.
Beware if you have a party of 6 or more. They charge you 18% tip which is unheard of in Asian restaurants. I have never ever encountered that before. Â Additionally they charge for extra bowls of rice. Oh! And they charge the 18% after sales tax. Â So they want me to pay tips on the tax. Â Nice try but no dice. Â Fix the bill.
And then the waitress justified the 18% service charge by saying their boss underpays the wait staff and the service charge will help pay for their salary. Â Sounds like I'm a customer and a part owner. I never played that dual role before.
Won't come back here anymore.
This is one of two places I can think of in the Springfield-Woodbridge 95 Corridor that serves authentic Chinese food. Â For all of the other places you need to venture toward Falls Church/Arlington or up toward Rockville/Wheaton.
That being said, this place is pretty decent. Â The dinner offerings are pretty tasty and the Dim Sum is decent. Â You don't get the ten carts of dim sum dishes whizzing by like you do at the larger restaurants, but it's still a decent dim sum experience in a pinch.
If you want authentic Chinese food and don't feel like driving toward the other areas, this place will do.
This place has gone downhill. Â Went back recently with a friend who used to go here with his wife. Â Food is overpriced for the inconsistent quality and the service is terrible. Â
I almost kicked the manager in the forehead last time with my wife because he was being a jerk. Â I simply asked what kind of noodle they used in their pan fried noodle dish. Â To be a smart ass he brought me my order with the wide noodles you get with the beef fun. Â ( beef fun was mediocre, noodles were overcooked )
Their pork with crispy skin is pretty good, but everything else I have had there is mediocre to average at best. Â Their crispy beef dish is expensive and has a strange texture and sauce that is too sweet.
I'm done with this place.
Pros
- Spacious
- Quick Service
- Open Late
- Tastes better than Chinese Fast Food
- Complimentary dessert
Cons
- Too pricey for less than mediocre food.
- The noodles are soggy and coated in oil. The beef is extremely chewy. The roast pork and duck are dry and rock hard. The snow peas tasted burnt. The only thing that tasted decent was their General Tao Chicken, Tofu and Soy Sauce Chicken.
- You have to beg for water.
- The service here is BAD. If you have something negative to say about the food or service, they immediately start to argue with you. In conclusion, the manager knows all and the customers are wrong.
{Note} Their dim sum is NOTHING special. Do try another dim sum restaurant if you can.
Craving some roast pork and not willing to drive out to Falls Church, I decided to try out Canton Cafe on a Sunday. Â In hind sight, I should have went to Mark's Duck as some of the pork was not fully cooked. Â Perhaps next time I'll have better luck as I'm willing to give Canton Cafe another chance.
Review Source:So I have been a fan of this place for years, but recently it has made me change my mind on going specifically due to their Dim Sum menu. The restaurant is a nice clean place in a strip mall with "mostly" friendly staff.
My colleague and myself were craving Dim Sum recently, so we went here for their Dim Sum during a week day lunch. If you are going to offer Dim Sum during the week, do not give the customer a menu then come back 20x to tell them that they don't have something on the menu you ordered..After 20 minutes of this, we finally ordered the only 6 Dim Sum on the menu that they actually HAD.
The food off the normal menu has always been good and comes out relatively quick. Their prices on the lunch menu are cheap and I am always a fan of their Singapore rice noodles. Be careful if you plan to use a credit/debit card they have a minimum that is usually over the lunch prices though.
The service is so-so (except the time the server got frustrated at my colleague because of a language barrier and stole my chop-sticks to replace with a fork without a word and stomped off..guess I am not Asian enough to use them properly? =) got a good laugh either way).
So if you are going there for items off their regular menu you might be alright, but for Dim Sum, you are better off elsewhere.
Wow! This is a hidden restaurant next to BuyBuyBaby & TraderJoe's w/blacked out windows that you wouldn't even look twice at.... But boy would you miss out!
The display case of hanging meats including Peking & roast duck, crispy pig (lechon baby!!!!) is scrumptuous but slightly high on the buttered skin. The seafood chow mein (pan fried noodles) & snow pea shoots (veggies tossed in garlic sauce) are to die for. Now we don't have to drive all the way to Mark's Duck House for good Chinese food! Yummers =)
Very family friendly & lots of seating.... Open late on weekends too!
My favorite Chinese food in the entire Washington DC area.
Food is authentic and the flavors are high. Not dumbed-down for the American palette. Â The restaurant is chef-owned -- always a good sign. Staff is friendly, service is prompt. Â Not super fancy or anything -- but that's fine with me. Â
You don't have to spend a lot of money here if you don't want to. Â I did not feel the prices were out of line. Â BTW: their tofu with vegetables was amazing. Sounds boring, but it wasn't. Â Last time I was there, I saw a group of nuns eating at one of the tables. I knew it had to be because the food tastes like heaven.
Try the Cassaroles!!-- these are NOT American casseroles. Â These are pots filled with flavorful meats and veggies. My favorite dish is the meat and seafood casserole. Soooo flippin good.
Ok, I am updating my review part on the DIM SUM, not the other food.
Let me just reiterate that I love and have loved their food for a long time. I still do.... I just would never come back for the dim sum. The first time wasn't bad, but then I returned a second time with my mother who is Chinese and a hardcore judge on dim sum.
First off, the chicken feet were much better than the first time however still very mediocre. They tasted like they had too much flour and just got stuck in my throat and roof of my mouth. Not that great.
Next, the ha gow (Shrimp Dumplings) were so much smaller than before. They were pretty much bite size.... disappointing!
The steamed veggie dumplings were disgusting. It had bamboo shoots, canned mushrooms, carrots and pickled veggies. I mean come on.... when you make a veggie dumpling and aren't using greens at least don't used CANNED veggies. It was totally and uber-ly disgusting.
The sesame balls weren't even toasty and crunchy. They were soggy and not friend enough. MEH
That was it for dumplings.... like two options and that was it. BAH!
The only thing I thoroughly enjoyed was the tripe with ginger and scallions. On top of that, it's not cheap dim sum.
Next time, I will stick to my usual place and drive that extra mile to go to Oriental East in Silver Spring, MD. Much much more worth it and surprisingly cheaper!
So the lesson here is..... just because a restaurant may do a fabulous job in providing you with authentic Cantonese entree's, it doesn't guarantee their dim sum is up to par.
The end.
REAL Chinese food! Â What can I say, all the Hunan's and the Wok's are simply not nearly as close to authentic Chinese food as Canton Cafe is. Â Finding a Chinese restaurant that can cook Chow Mein and Chow Foon w/ gravy done right is down right rare in northern Virginia.
The decor, ambiance, and cleanliness is top notch for a Chinese restaurant and commendable for any type of restaurant. Â In fact, this is the only Chinese restaurant I've been to with a genuinely clean and spiffy bathroom. Â I would not hesitate to take a #2. Â Truth.
Lawrence, the owner, is a very friendly guy and will treat you with first class service and stories filled with wisdom that may help you in various facets of life. Â Get to know him.
I would recommend they get a happy hour going with the decent bar set up they have going on.  Bottom line, if you're not close by to Miu Kee or Mark's Duck House, this is as good as it gets for Chinese food in northern Virginia...and  no, P.F. Chang's is NOT considered real Chinese food.
The only good thing about this place was probably the size of their shu mai, and those of you from NYC will probably like the worchestershire sauce available at the table without your request. Â They used a cafe press for the chrysanthemum tea..but overall it boils down to what they actually serve for dim sum which is not much.
I think they only had 2 carts which both pretty much had the same content.
Stopped in for lunch today, dishes I had were OK but nothing stunning.
Egg drop soup was thick, flavorful, full of egg and not too salty, but needed the crispy strips for texture. If the bowl (really a large cup) had been any larger I probably wouldn't have finished it all due to the overall heaviness.
Crab rangoons were a mixed bag. Loved that the triangles were plump and perfectly fried, almost flaky - not a hint of grease. But the filling was just oddly sweet and I didn't really enjoy it. I did enjoy the Chinese mustard they were served with though. Was starting to get the sniffles when I headed in and the mustard took care of clearing my sinuses right out. Sadly - the mustard was probably the best of my meal.
Roast duck was disappointing. Skin needed to be crisper and the meat was a tad on the tough side and riddled with bone shards so you have to be very careful eating it. Finally my 1/4 duck was served on a plate sitting in a pool of rendered fat and what I can only presume was suppose to be some type of flavorful sauce. But all you could taste was oil.
Finally, and the real reason I just can't nudge this place up to the 3rd star, the decor. I've eaten in some true hole in the wall joints. I've cracked open lobster tails sitting on a rock jetty in New England. I've eaten more stuff out of a street cart than my stomach probably would like to. I'm not affronted by the humbleness of a business. But as others have noted - Canton Cafe's menu on average is pretty expensive. If I'm going to shell out the cost for some of these dishes, I guess I expect to be dining in a place with slightly better fixtures than furniture that escaped from an IKEA gallery and nailed together plywood booths (they could have at least slapped a coat of paint on them).
Friend recommended the place and then he drove us "Ban" - ton "No flav" or to some Canton Cafe. The food is gross and lacks any kick. Not to mention, I had a long back strain of hair mixed in with my chicken and had to argue with them to get another order hair-free. They had such a big issue (stating I put the hair in the dish), then turned around and tried to make one last ditch effort to get a decent tip from me. I felt bad, so I left the two-faced manager a few............. pennies for his trouble as tip.
Review Source:This area used to be my stomping grounds with a computer game center just on the other side of the shopping center. Â Anyone remember Game Domain? Â Ah well, I figured it was time I came out here again, if nothing else but for nostalgia.
I got the Hong Kong noodle soup with roast pork. Â The noodle soups are pretty much the only things on the menu that appear to be reasonably priced. Â Everything else looks pretty expensive, especially for a Chinese restaurant in Springfield of all places. Â The soup was salty and flavorful. Â I like my noodle soups on the saltier side. Â I can see how other people might not be able to handle it. Â There was plenty of roast pork in the soup. Â However, I would have liked to see an extras option on the menu i.e. extra dumplings, extra meat, a side of greens. Â Next time, I'll just ask. Â I also ordered the fried wontons. Â They were pretty crappy. Â There was no filling whatsoever. Â Essentially, they were just deep fried wonton wrappers. Â I can do that at home. Â I do like the mustard that they served with it. Â The mustard flavor cleared out my sinuses and worked its way up to my brain. Â Soup and fried wontons came out to 10 bucks. Â Not bad.
The inside was pretty nice, especially considering the place looks deserted from the outside. Â Service was pretty good and I got water refills. Â They have all the regular butcher items hanging from the back window. Â I'll have to try those later.
I just went here last week and it was bad! Â Me and my cousin decided to come here because we were craving some Hong Kong noodle soup which is normally great here. Â When we got our soup, it was overloaded with salt. Â I usually order the red pork with the soup which help obsurbed some of the saltiness. Â Somehow a simple noodle soup with a can of Coke for the both of us ended up being almost $30! Â I guess that's what I get for not asking how much they charge for the extra pork in the soup which cost us an extra $4 each. Â Oh, and by the way...a can of 12 oz can of Coke was $2.50!
I might give them another try but not for the soup and I will sneak in my own drink!
This place currently ranks below sampan for me. Â It's more expensive, but the taste is subpar. Â
HK shrimp wonton-authentic version suppose be coarsely chopped shrimp in a flour wrapper submerged in a savory chicken broth flavored with dried seafood (fish or squid). Â What you will see most of the time is that ground pork will be added to the shrimp as a cheaper filler. Â Canton Cafe uses little cubes of pure pork fat instead of ground pork. Â Yuck. Â
stir fried seafood and vegetable-again cheap filler like fish cake and salad shrimp were used along with squid and large shrimps. Â The dish was also too watery, as if the wok wasn't hot enough. Â
Canton style beef-the beef had a strange almost hot dog like smokiness to it.
HORRIBLE SERVICE. The waitresses at Canton barely make eye contact. You have to ask more than three times to get your water refilled or just to even get the freaking check! Another tip is when you DO eventually get your check, look it over to make sure they did not overcharge...because I don't know about anyone else, but on the occasions that I have been there, they have always tried to jip me by a couple extra dollars. Now, I know it's not much but I just find it very disheartening for a business to try and CHEAT their consumers. It's misleading and mischevious on the business owners' end and just leaves a bitter, unpleasant taste in my mouth.
Check out Sampan Cafe down on Franconia Street. Although their duck is not as good as Canton's, every other dish is DELICIOUS at Sampan. And the service there is far more pleasant!!!
I came in with my two year old and four year old for lunch on Saturday. Â The waitress sat us as far away from EVERYONE as should could. Â She only brought two drinks. Â We ordered sweet and sour chicken. Â On the LAST bite, I noticed something black. Â I took a closer look and it was a baby ROACH! Â UGHHHH....Will not be back.
Review Source:Holy crap.
I've lived here in the DC area now for almost 13 years. Â Almost 13 years. Â That's over a decade! Â I've searched up and down, and up again, and down again, for good dimsum in this area. Â I had just about given up and thought about how much disruption it would be to move myself, Hubby, Baby, and soon-to-be-Baby2 (in June!) to Maryland so that we could get some more decent dimsum on a regular basis without having to drive for umpteen hours to get to a decent place. Â Me. Â Moving everyone. Â With this whale of a tummy, pushing our couch around the beltway to a new house in MD.
OK, so maybe Social Services is on my speed dial, but it's all good in the name of decent food. Â We decided to try out this place in my ongoing quest after our recent stop into next-door Buy Buy Baby to get stuff for Baby2. Â Baby was hungry for lunch after our run-around in the store, and I thought to myself...hell, it's worth a try. Â It is just lunch after all.
Opened the door, walked on in. Â Surprise to my eyes, the place looked more like a Thai restaurant than a Chinese restaurant (modern decor, light woods), but the carts swerving in and out among the tables gave me hope (as did two full round banquet tables of Asians). Â We pulled ourselves in to a booth, and almost immediately a cart pulled up with my favorite sampling of steamed dishes. Â Now, I don't know if it's the pregnancy hunger talking, but Hubby confirmed how I felt about the dimsum we got: Â it was spot on. Â Mind you, Hubby's first real experience with dimsum was in NYC (still the bar he holds dimsum experiences to), with my aunt and uncle giving him the once-over to see if he was an acceptable boyfriend for their 20-something niece way back when. Â Fast forward to our dimsum excursion with Baby and bun-still-baking-Baby2... he was equally as excited about the food we got as I. Â The steamed stuff wasn't as greasy as we've had it other times, but the flavors were wonderful and authentic.
The one thing I did want to get, though, didn't come around on a cart when we were there - I love those shrimp "tsahng-fun", the shrimps wrapped in the big wide noodle with the sweet soy poured on top (next time, you are mine!). Â But, we got enough dimsum that even preggers here got full, with take-home even. Â Hubby and I did eye the shrimp stir-fried rice (I know, so round-eye) on an adjacent table, and we promised ourselves we're coming back. Â Soon.
Baby also loved the dimsum, though she really did enjoy kicking her feet on the base of the booth seating much more. Â CAUTIONARY NOTE!! Â Don't let a curious toddler sit in the booth. Â Otherwise, the whole restaurant will be enjoying a drum solo for the entirety of the time you're trying to eat your meal! Â She did, however, love looking in the mirror adjacent to the booth while she was eating, so the decor afforded Mom and Dad some quiet time to be able to focus on the food without hounding her about kicking her feet on the booth base every other second (lest we stick her into the high chair!) or making sure that she ate what we put in front of her and didn't just steal what we had on our plates (BUT SWEETIE - IT'S THE SAME EXACT THING AS WHAT YOU HAVE ON YOUR PLATE!).
I'm coming back - and with dimsum served every day, I may have found a new place for my food addiction. Â And, I'm bringing my father here next time he's down from Philly, which will be when Baby2 arrives. Â He will be quite happy that we actually DO have a good dimsum place close to home.
A bit of a hole in the wall restaurant buried in a large strip mall. However, this place is worth the visit. The restaurant is filled with not your standard Americanized Chinese food. Traditional dishes featuring duck blood, dried squid, baked frog, and squab (seasonal) are listed under the Chef's Special Recommendations. However, don't let the exotic entrees scare you away if you are not feeling adventurous.
The more recognizable items for the "less traditional" are well worth the higher than average prices. The chow foon is always hit and this place specializes in Chinese BBQ so the duck and assorted pork dishes are fantastic. The usual selection of soups (along with a few more exotic) are very reasonably priced and generally very flavorful. The Egg Drop was a bit bland... but what else should you expect of Egg Drop soup.
Lunch-time and weekends feature dim-sum. I've only had the dim-sum once and it was good but not extraordinary. The waiter seemed very hesitant to serve me the tripe until I smiled and told him that I knew what it was. Unfortunately, the chef had been a bit heavy handed with the five spice powder and the dish was a bit overpowering.
I was disappointed when this place stopped delivering. However, take-out is generally fairly quick - especially if you call ahead.
Food - usually good but has been going downhill. Â Today ordered the pork with salt and it was all bones and fat. Â Spoke with the owner. Â As we have come here many times before, we expected the same quality, and said this was disappointing. Â His answer (as he was texting) was if he wanted us to hand-pick the meat himself... Once he said that, we dropped the it, even more disappointed. Â To make matters worse, after he left, I killed a roach on my table. Â
Greatly disappointed by the service and the roach. Â Never going back.
3.5 stars.
I did what I never thought I would do as a Chinese guy...I went to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas day (yes, I'm still trying to figure out what that means).
My friends and I generally enjoyed the bipolar assortment of foods we selected for our Christmas lunch. Â We sampled a few of the standard dim sum items (shrimp dumplings, shu mai, buns, etc) and they were, well, pretty standard...really. Â My "americanized" buddies informed me that the egg drop soup was completely flavorless, but I found my congee to be seasoned just right for my tastes (definitely a plus for the trip).
On to the "mains"...I was quite impressed by my non-oil laden dry beef chow foon. Â Every other place that I've ordered it at in the metro DC area has produced something that approaches a soup noodle (replace soup with oil), but Canton Cafe's is definitely something to write home about (frankly, the last place where I got some good chow foon). Â The spicy salt assorted seafood platter was something less to write home about, but honestly...who doesn't like spicy fried food?
Service. Â At first I was annoyed that the wait staff were a bunch of (dim sum) pushers. Â I wanted to enjoy more than those typically delectable bites for a Christmas lunch...plus the fact that they looked as if they had been sitting on the cart for quite a while given the lower-than-normal amount of restaurant traffic given the holiday. Â However, I soon warmed up to them as they bantered and shouted to each other like I remembered from my childhood visits to other Cantonese restaurants. Â Frankly, it was exactly the kind of homey reminder that I needed on a fine Christmas day!
I'll reserve a final verdict until I visit again, but this is definitely a solid place that one should make the effort to get to if Cantonese food is your thing!
Hell yes! My family and I have been coming here for around 10 years now. We usually end up here extremely late at night celebrating bday's, etc and chilling with the owner as we finish up our meal.
The food is good and the portions are heaping! The chow fun with gravy, pan fried noodles, general tso's, and crispy beef have never disappointed. We fed 10 people last night, til everyone was overstuffed for only $70 bucks.
Canton Cafe rocks my socks.
We noticed a sign in the window that they serve dim sum daily from 11 - 3 and decided to give it a try.
The dim sum was pretty good, but some of the items were a little greasier than usual. Â They had the standard dim sum fare (spare ribs, shiu mai, chicken feet, chi chung fen, various dumplings...), but since they aren't strictly dim sum and the place isn't that big, the selection wasn't as varied as a 'dim sum place' like Maxim or Mark's Duck House.
Some of the dumplings (particularly the ones with shrimp or scallops) had a kind of strange texture, but were still tasty. Â You can opt for things off the regular lunch menu too, and it seemed like the owner would be willing to make something for you if you asked. Â Another table had a deep fried flounder that looked amazing.
I used to come here fairly often for their duck, shrimp dumpling, or roast pig noodle soup and the deliciously garlicy spinach, but had not been back in a long time. Â They've updated the insides and it looks pretty nice. Â I'll probably be back, but for some soup.
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