Chau’s Cafe

It’s about time I write a review for this place after my husband and I have eaten here at least once a month for the past year. They are super fast, we live about 3 miles away and they are here with 30 minutes and 40 on weekends, which seems reasonable for this area. The person who reviewed and said they were 9.8 miles away, well guess what most places have a maximum of 10 miles. You’re lucky you got it in 45 in this area. Our food is always hot and the american– chinese you crave without the greasiness and dark meat.

Ordered online from Chau’s through Unilocal.Order took about 45 minutes to arrive.
The food smelled like fabric softener and affected the taste. The rice wasn’t fully cooked, the crab ragoons were sweet, and the sesame chicken had inedible hard bits.
Not to mention, the receipt had «out of range» written on it multiple times and «9.8 miles» circled in Sharpie in the middle. The driver also verbally advised me I was too far away and wasn’t sure how the online system didn’t catch it. (I understand the issue and a simple call after I placed the order to let me know I was out of delivery range would have saved them the hassle.)

Good prices and really big portions when we got carry out. The staff was super friendly and and the inside was so clean. Definitely going to try to dine in next time.

After a bad experience there last spring, I decided it was time to try them again. Wife and I had lunch there yesterday, and they were back to their usual quality. Were very happy to eat there, since it was (and now is again) our go-​to Chinese restaurant in this area.
We had General Tso’s chicken and Szechuan chicken for entrees, and I had the hot & sour soup. All very good.

Definitely a lot of variety from this little Asian café, from all types of Asian noodles to bubble tea to smoothies to Thai food. Would recommend this place to anybody especially because the owners are so passionate and comforting.

Food is always fresh and the service is always great. Delivery is quick too. Can’t beat it.

Fantastic! We have been looking for a good Chinese place. This it it!!! Delicious, fast, and kind owner.

Best Chinese restaurant I’ve found in this area.

This place was pretty good. The sesame chicken was tasty and the fried rice was good as well. I wish they would have put broccoli with the lunch sized sesame chicken. I ordered milk boba tea and it wasn’t very good. The tea tasted a bit old. Next time I will try the fruit flavored bobas.

This place is AMAZING! I studied abroad in China, and this stuff is as fresh and American Chinese food gets. Real not frozen shrimp, melt in your mouth beef, fresh cut veggies. It makes a difference. Also they make their dumplings from scratch, dough too, definitely get them every time. I’ve been known to stop in here for just those and bubble tea. Also free rice tea. Just so many good things to say!

Good typical fast food Chinese. Delivered hot. This is a no frills place but we love it. General TSO chicken, fried rice, white rice, green beans

I hate their general tso/​orange/​sesame/​sweet and sour chicken. They use white meat chicken, fine. But make the chunks bigger so that they retain more moisture or something, because it’s so bland despite all that sauce. I do like their soups, and noodles, and they have bubble tea very close to my house, and appears clean to me. That’s cool.

The people are always friendly, food is okay, and it is reasonably priced. The only issue I have had is that they always run out of coke for the lunch specials. I don’t care for diet coke or sprite, so it is an inconvenience while I’m on my short break to be told they don’t even have the soda I want. I understand things happen, but this has happened three times now! My fault for not learning.

I have been there few times and tried different dishes. Place is very clean. I notices that most of the people order take out by phone instead of eat in, so the place is pretty quite.
I like their fried chicken wings, very fresh and crispy. It’s not in the menu I think, but I have seen people eating it over there and decided to give it a try. Singapore rice noodles was delicious. It’s spicy but I love it. My husband love their hot and sour soup, one of the best in town he said. Orange chicken is good as usual. Once I ordered a dish with shrimp (forgot which dish), I was surprised by the shrimps quality. The shrimps were big and you can tell that they were very fresh from the moment you bite it. Definitely will go back again.

I have tried many of the Asian food restaurants in the area and this is one of the best. The food always tastes fresh and it is very flavorful.

I enjoy to come in here, this place is fantastic! The staff is very polite and they use quality ingredients. They all know me by name and what I order. Definitely one of the best Chinese places in NOVA!

The food was mediocre. Service was ok. Reason for 1*. The restaurant was not busy. My friend and I were the only ones there. Three of the employees were sitting at a table stringing snow pea pods and chatting. A few of the snow peas fell on the floor. One kid picked them up and put them back in the pile. Wonder what goes on back in the kitchen. Not going back.

Have eaten lunch here multiple times. Fast, fresh, and inexpensive. Clean, with nice décor.

I have eaten here a handful of times as it is close to my work. Everytime I eat here though I am usually disapointed. Bland food with small portions.
Today was the deal breaker though, I ordered the advertised lunch special which was supposed to be $ 6.25 and 2 egg-​rolls which should be roughly 9 dollars tops. My bill was over 11 dollars. I didn’t bother to argue as I figured I was getting the larger portion, which has happened here before.
When I got back to work to eat my food I has a lunch sized portion and no eggrolls. There are enough chinese resturants in the area that are a little bit futher from my work, but the quality and service are much better.

While hesitant to try based on other reviews, I just went for it regardless. Overall, it was an okay experience, but I did not expect much because it’s just Americanized Chinese take out food and it was just what I had a hankering for at the moment.
This place does offer a decent lunch special. Seems that on weekdays, they offer something for only $ 5.95 (comes with a spring roll), otherwise, the lunch combinations (entrée with choice of a soda or soup) for $ 6.95. I stuck with take-​out, but this place has plenty of seating and ambiance that is much unlike what you expect from regular counter-​order take out places. If you dine it, there’s serve yourself water and hot tea. You still order at the counter, but you’re given a number and you pick your own table to sit at. Staff will deliver your meal to you. The inside of this place is pretty clean.
The portion size was huge (look at picture) and was more than plenty for two meals. The soup was a pint-​size container, which is more than some of the other take-​out lunch combination specials in the area. Though, there’s none of that crispy fried wonton noodles to accompany your soup, if that’s something you’re into. While a pretty large serving of soup, not exactly the best hot and sour soup I’ve had. It did contain bean curd, bamboo, preserved vegetable, egg, mushrooms, etc., though the flavor and ratio of ingredients are a bit off; still edible though. The food overall wasn’t as greasy or overall salty as some other take out places. They also offer brown rice (extra charge), so that’s something I’ll probably try in the future too. Lunch was packed up with utensils and napkins which are quite helpful too.
This place does do bubble tea and it’s alright, but mostly powder-​based and the tea flavor is generally weak. Bubbles are cooked thoroughly though. Definitely not of the same caliber of Ten Ren or the other bubble tea places in Rockville, but may satiate your craving until you have time to drive there.
In general, my overall experience was good and I’ll most likely come back for a quick, cheap lunch when I’m in the area.