Ma Dukes

My husband and I just ordered some food from here for the first time today. He had the fried fish platter and I had the salmon cakes platter. The platters are a good size… I couldn’t finish all of mine in one sitting. I found this place by looking on Unilocal and I’m soo glad I did! The food is sooo good! We both loved our meals and definitely plan to go back!

This place is bittersweet in my book. i was going to write a review a while ago but just got around to it now. their wings are great well the battered ones. great crunchy texture moist on the inside. the mac and cheese definetly hits home. overall its a nice corner store with great food. the only thing is complain about is that their cornbread is way too sweet. their greens are the best ive had in a long time. the ambiance could use a little more work .the restaurant definetly does not do justice to the food. renovations are much needed but i guess that comes with better business. overall i support them 100% and do recomend this place for some great food made with love. i will be back!

It was my first time at Ma Dukes (10÷20÷12) a cute little place. Customer service is great. However, $ 13 for a platter… sorry I have family from the south who would prepare fish, chicken dinners for church functions for less than ten bucks and it came with an ice tea-​LOL. Meat portions were plentiful, but the sides were smaller than my palm. Cornbread was really good but that too was extra at a reasonable price.
LOWER YOUR PLATTER PRICES, and you can grow your business

their wings are pretty good, their so called bbq sauce, is terrible. it is way too sweet and they overdo it: my beautiful wings came drowning in it and i had no way of saving it! i’ll have to try a different sauce next time. the wings themselves were tender and meaty. i’ll definitely look for them again.
their burger is a simple patty, super-​well done. not terrible, not amazing.
their cornbread is pretty great: not that gritty dry stuff: it really is more like cake.
tried their potato salad: liked the random hardboiled egg whites in there, wish there was more. the potato was not cooked enough so it was hard, and it was slightly soupy, but still edible.
collard greens: didn’t know what to expect, just wanted some greens next to my meal. they were pretty soft, without much seasoning, just cooked (boiled?) it seemed.
i’ll have to try the fish next.

Ma Dukes food and customer service it TOTALLY AWESOME!!! The fried fish, gyro, mac and cheese, potato salad, yams, cornbread, chicken and strawberry cake is AMAZING, and all the meat is Halal! The restaurant is very clean and the staff is very customer friendly. Definitely my #1 go to in Germantown.

usually Im skeptical of eating out from mom and pop places but I had their fried fish platter and it was delish!!! better than Horace and Dickies. It was very well breaded and seasoned. The bread was soft not like prison brick bread… Of course the tarter sauce makes it good… but its so good that u could skip the sauce… I will return to try other stuff off the menu. but Im so hooked on their fried fish. Its that good.

Tried Ma Dukes again the food was not very good unfortunately. The chicken strips are really unappetizing. The turkey burger wasn’t good either.
Wings are still good though!

Ma Dukes is in an unassuming and large suburban strip mall. We went around 4pm on a Friday and were greeted by a group of teens just hanging out outside the restaurant. We walked in to the warm hole in the wall to be greeted by a young lady in an empty establishment. We ordered our food and were chatted up by the lady who said although she didn’t like the turkey burger, it was a popular item. I had the turkey burger and my wife had the chicken fingers and both were good. She was working alone in the restaurant and those unassuming kids outside were related to her. We waited just 10 minutes and walked around before getting our order to go and being on our way. We will probably come back and visit if we are in the area, but its not a sit down establishment.

OMG! OMG! OMG!
What a hidden soul food treasure in MoCo. A co-​worker raved about this soul food restaurant in Germantown, so my husband and I gave it a try this weekend. It is a small restaurant with only a few tables and a small menu selection. But the food was BIG on flavor. I ordered the fried fish with mac n cheese and yams; hubby ordered the chicken wings and waffle – everything was delicious, delicious and delicious. We ate in the restaurant and carried leftovers home for dinner. Upon the recommendation of the owner, we also took a slice of lemon cake home for dessert. I think the prices were reflective of the taste and quality of the food and the customer service displayed was outstanding. My only regret is that I had not learned of this restaurant’s existence two years ago when they opened for business.
We will defiinitely be going back. The food and service is worth the drive from Bethesda.

Good halal soul food for Germantown MD. Wings are good and they have plenty variety.

I’m not a good judge of soul food, but I am of wings. And damn if this place don’t have some of the best wings in the area. We ordered on Super Bowl Sunday, day of, and they accommodated our order (I thought this was impressive, maybe I’m overvaluing this). We got the Jamaican Jerk, the Old Bay, the standard buffalo, and the BBQ, and all were darn tasty. They also kept really well for the rest of the week. We also got the corn bread, which was really good (and I am not a real fan of the stuff, my wife is though). Really want to try the rest of their menu now.

Ok,
So I called up today to order from here for the first time ever.
When they picked up the phone and learned I wanted to order to go she asked me to hold. She put the phone down and for the next 6 minutes I listened to people talk, being told to take an order but no one stepping up to do so.
Finally I get them on the phone and place my order.
6 wings
fries
collard greens
corned bread.
The food took 40 minutes and my wife sat there waiting forever. They felt bad so they threw in extra fries and corned bread.
The wings were of decent size. Bigger then most around the area. The issue is they were ice cold when I went to eat them (5 minutes after the order came out or less as we live less then a mile away.)
The bbq sauce was good but they put way too much on. The buffalo wing sauce was good but VERY spicy and again slathered with sauce.
The fries although plentiful were undercooked and therefore a big mess when I got home. I tried to heat them but they weren’t having it, it was 1 big semi raw mound of crinkle cut fries.
The collard greens were ok, good texture but lacking any smokiness or any real flavor. (even a northern white boy like me knows you need a ham hock bone or something to add some flavor.)
The corned bread had a good taste but was beyond dry. I tried to dip into the collard green juice but would crumble in the process.
All in all it was an ok experience but I ended up really not eating it as cold wings and raw fries just isn’t all that appetizing. (btw some might think the wings got cold on the way home, not the case, they were cold all the way through, the fries on the other hand were scorching hot, even melting the container a little, the wings obviously sat for awhile waiting on the rest of the meal.)
Maybe i’ll try them again and eat there and order with light sauce but for now i’m still in the search for good wings in the germantown area.

Expensive Expensive Expensive!
If you are wanting to spend lots of money on food you can cook at home, be my guest and come here. Although the food was good… I couldn’t see myself paying so much again. The portions were decent, though the constant children running in and out was annoying. You could tell it was a family establishment, where anyone in the family could just roam in and out of the kitchen.

I don’t want to be overzealous with handing out five star reviews everywhere I go. Heaven forbid I lose Unilocal cred.
On to the review:
I love that this place is family-​owned and operated by a pleasant bunch. Everything is made fresh daily. It’s like Thanksgiving at Justin’s godmother’s house. Upon recommendation, I got the fried fish platter (it’s whiting not cod), with collared greens and mac and cheese. Cuong got wings (half buffalo, half bbq), corn bread, and baked beans. They had a wide selection of mystery sauces in squirt bottles on the condiment carts. Everything was delicious! The mac was a little eggy for me, but good texture. Noah finished half my fish order, and that kid never takes a liking to much for too long. I loved Cuong’s bbq wings. They were sopping in a smokey molasses type of sauce with a candy crunch. Cuong loved his sides also. The cornbread was super moist, and I’m not a bean fan, but he loved those too.
I’ll be sure to update after a few more visits, but for now, they’ve left me wanting more!

I love soul food. And being from the Gaithersburg area, there isn’t a lot of it. And every so often I get a craving for good ol’ fashioned fried fish and can’t get my craving satisfied. Until now. And Ma Dukes is my source of good ol’ fashioned homemade soul food goodness.
I order the fried fish platter every time with my sides of choice yams and mac n’ cheese. Though I have exchanged the mac n’ cheese for collards once in awhile and it was delicious. And the cornbread. Oh my gosh, the cornbread is perfection. It’s always extra and it’s always in my order. And try to get there early in the day for their homemade cake. It’s good, it tastes homemade.
My kids know it’s my place because I get a little dance knowing I’m getting fresh homemade food. The kids menu is simple and uncomplicated. Which is how we like it. They love their chicken wings and their mac n’ cheese. My 8 year old swapped out their french fries and asked for collards instead. To me, that speaks volumes to how their food tastes so good.
The owners are nice and personable and I love going there. There is a bit of a wait, but I know the wait is because it’s being cooked to order. And the time they take for that, makes me happy.

I absolutely love this place. I have been here more than once so why not write a review?
When you first walk in, it looks like a little hole in the wall. But everyone knows that the hole in the walls have the best food. You will notice their small hand written menu when you first walk in. I like that their menu is not overwhelming when it comes to ordering food.
I order the six chicken wing platter every time I go. It is always dinner and lunch for the next day. The wings are HUGE. I can get thru like like 2.5 wings I think… yup, I’m a beast. lol. Anywhoo, I always get macaroni and cabbage for sides. they are both flavorful and they give you a nice size portion.
I always tried their lemon pepper wings and they were delish. Better than Wing Stops… and that is rare for me to say. They have great customer service every time I go in to order. The cakes on the counter always make me drool but i know that after eating my mass amount of wings, I know that cake will not be able to come near my mouth.
They are a little high in price but the taste justifies it. You can tell that everything is freshly made (about a 15 min wait for your food). I love this place and I always recommend it to friends and co-​workers. I do not mind the wait or the price. I definitely say try the place and you won’t have any complaints (other than the itis).

I was really craving some soul food, so I decided to give this place a whirl. The place’s relatively small & there’re usually 2 people working, so your food might take awhile.
I tried the Coney Island Shrimp Sandwich ($ 6) — fried popcorn shrimps sandwich served with melted cheese and cocktail sauce on the side. The shrimps’re really crunchy and delicious; I never knew they’d go pretty well with cheese and sandwich! Make sure you put in the cocktail sauce in there, it’ll make the sandwich taste much better. This probably won’t fill you up, make sure you get their side dishes. Their Corn Bread ($ 1) is decently big and taste pretty good.

This is exactly what you think when you hear «hole in the wall» like Thavy says. I was shooting the sh** with the owner of the restaurant and apparently this place has been open for over a year now. How did I never notice it? With that said, its exactly what it says it is. Good old fashion soul food. Heck look at me, Im a Maryland-​born Vietnamese boy… What do I know about soul food? Nothing I’m guessing, but the food was outstanding.
From what I know about southern food, this is the normal fare. Fried chicken, fried fish, fried shrimp, and collection of sides. I had the Soul-​food sampler which had a little of everything and I got corn bread and baked beans. Everything was just amazing. The fish in particular. You go to places and get «fish and chips» and the fish is over battered and oily. This fish was lightly battered and didnt draw away from the flavor of the fish and cooked to perfection.
All-​in-​all, I will most definitely go back when i know I need to be FULL!

Just went there today after seeing it & then reading the good reviews.
It is a short menu, but it is still hard to decide, as all of the items are excellent. This is the kind of business that would survive anywhere, because if you are good enough — they will come.
Today I tried the Coney Island Shrimp sub because Thavy & Deb said it was great. They were right. So I had to try the Mac & Cheese, Corn Bread & then the hand written sign for Banana Pudding worked on me.
You know a place must be good if you go in spending like that.
So many things to try. The fish platter or Sandwich sound good-​oh, but the chicken also is excellent. SEE! It’s hard to decide & that’s a good sign.
They are new & I bet their menu will grow over time.
Florida Ave Grill has an extensive menu, but they’ve been around since 1944, so give them a chance.

I’m a «Hole in the wall» kinda girl and this place was just up my alley. Last Friday at work I over heard a conversion where one of my co-​workers mentioned Ma Dukes. «Blah blah blah… Ma Dukes… soul food» Whhhhaaaaa! Did someone say SOUL FOOD?
Its a quaint little place with about 8 tables and a menu written on chalkboard. It’s not an extensive menu but that doesn’t make it any easier to choose from. «That sounds good and ohh that too but wait what’s that heavenly smell coming from the kitchen?» I got the Cooney Island Shrimp sub and my other half got a steak and cheese sub. Also got a side of mac n cheese. While waiting for our food I couldnt help but notice what these two ladies before us ordered. Because I have food envy I locked in on their meal like a hawk. They both ordered the fish fry platter which I can only imagine tasting as good as it looked but wait! What is that wrapped in wax paper. CORNBREAD! Sold!
The steak n cheese was good but Ive had that before. My skrimp sub… now that’s a horse of a different color. The shirmp was nicely sized and perfectly cooked with a batter that gave a nice crunch. I was afraid it was gonna come out like those heavily battered chewy popcorn shrimp but boy was I wrong. It was seasoned just right. The mac n cheese was yummy in my tummy and gone before I could even really savor it. As full as I was, we had to get that cornbread. It was a nice slice for a buck. The guy at the counter was sincerly kind enough to say, «Here is your cornbread and here is another one on us since I want both of you to try one»
We took it to go but took a bite in the car before we left. I said «Stop the car. Take me back!» I went back in to tip Ma for the BEST CORNBREAD IVE EVER ATE IN MY LIFE“
To be continued… Im going back for the wings.