Rolling Cooking

i was fooled by some of the good reviews and was excited to see a place so close by. The food was quite mediocre, we placed an order for 10 people so we had a chance to try different things. Except for maybe the fried rice everything tasted so processed. The food is not fresh at all, the beef looked like it’s been sitting in their fridge for quite some time. The sauces tasted like those packed sauces you buy at the grocery store. Not going back again for sure.

I gave them an extra star because of the great service we had when ordering delivery.
I am not sure if they were rushed or busy when we ordered (their special Rolling Chicken was very, very dry) and they messed our order up (brought us Soy Sauce Pork Leg instead of Crispy Salty Prawn). When I called to let them know, they very very kindly delivered us the shrimp with no charge.
All in all, the food is decent. The Soy Sauce Pork has good flavor and is very soft (a little fatty and tad salty), the Salty Prawn is good and the mixed veggies with it give it a nice touch, the Chicken Fried Rice is okay. We also had Crispy Duck, which had a nice crisp and the fat was rendered out.
There are tons of deals for dine-​in and coupons online, so search before you go!

This place is really not good. They have gone downhill and seem like they don’t care and that customers will just accept anything. In fact a lot of Chinese restaurants around this area do this and think they can get away with it, or maybe all the MSG they eat has gotten to their heads. The last time I ordered here the sweet and sour chicken had a funny taste and they had burned most of the pieces of chicken so they were inedible. Never again.

Unfortunate Experience.
We tried Rolling Cooking largely because 1) there are few options for flavorful Chinese food in West Springfield/​Burke and 2) the reviews and menu seemed promising. Back to the drawing board.
We ordered carry out and ended up tossing out the orange chicken after trying three pieces. Soggy with only the faintest orange flavor sitting on top of wilted and overcooked broccoli. Seemed more boiled than stir fried. Yuck.
The Hot and Sour soup had a decent taste (actually, it had some sour to go with the hot which puts it ahead of most offerings around here), but the heavy handed use of corn starch made it more of a jelly than a soup. There were little stalactites hanging from each spoonful it was so think.
Lastly, and curiously, they had both Kung Pao Chicken Szechuan style and Kung Pao chicken. No plain old Szechuan Chicken. We went with the Szechuan style. Although it actually had some decent flavor more complex than many of the local offerings, the overuse of corn starch led to more gelatin than sauce. Even more annoying was the fact that they cut the dried peppers into little ½″ pieces. These are inedible as they have a plastic, unchewable texture. I spilt the dinner portion with my wife, and there at least fifty pieces on my plate. Super annoying as they blended with the sauce and you don’t notice them until you think you have a piece of plastic wrap in your mouth. I guess these were used instead of the usual shredded carrots. Again, they add flavor but are otherwise inedible.
Help. Is there a decent Chinese restaurant in the Springfield/​Burke area? Rolling Cooking «ain’t» it.

I ordered twice more from here and got my typical chinese order of sweet & sour chicken with fried rice. It’s actually pretty good, the portions are nice, the flavor of the fried rice is good. My only complaint is that the steamed mixed veggies is overcooked, consists almost entirely of broccoli, and doesn’t taste fresh (maybe frozen?).
I actually like this order better from here than from Duk Wo (my other go-​to chinese delivery place), although Duk Wo’s crab rangoon is still the best.

Best dumplings in years. Even better than most I’ve tasted in China. You can take instant photos here (and get 10% discount). Environment is very cozy. The logo is very cute so you can’t miss it. Definitely worth the visit!

This place a bit difficult to review just because the food I tried were new to me… but here goes! My friend and I ordered the Juice Steam Bun, Ma Po Tofu and Flaming Lamb (and a small bowl of egg drop soup). First, we were served Jasmine tea which was really delicious. The Egg drop Soup came out and it was very thick and had a apparent chicken stock soup base. It was good and flavorful. Second the steam buns came out. The soy sauce with vinegar and ginger and a really strong vinegar taste but the smell and taste dies down when you eat with the buns. The buns were more like dumplings to me… not sure why it was called buns but it was filled with meat and juices from the meat filling. It doesn’t have any strong flavors so it is nice when taken with the soy sauce. Then for the entrée the Flaming Lamb and the Ma Po Tofu came out. Not really knowing what it was supposed to taste like, I had a hard time really figuring out how to eat it. The lamb came out in a hot pot with fire still under it and it was hot temperature wise AND flavor wise. Lots of cumin flavors and you can see the crushed pepper flakes and the pepper seeds. It was a very strong taste. There was also cilantro in it giving the whole dish a very powerful kick! Lastly for the Ma Po Tofu… It was very oily… I thought because it was made with red pepper oil and tofu it was in some way more spicy than the lamb… But my friend described it as spicy in the nose area while the lamb was spicy in the mouth. In the end we kind of left a lot of the tofu behind but overall I think it was a good learning experience. We always had Korean Chinese Style MaPo Tofu and now trying the more authentic Chinese style… Was interesting haha. So in the end we finished off by ordering the taro bubble tea which was okay. The tea could have used more taro powder and the bubbles could have been cooked less. But I want to say, it was a very fun environment with very nice workers. I would go again if I understand more of what to expect for some of the dishes.

Picked up some shrimp w/​rice noodles, egrolls, and ma po tofu. The shrimp w/​rice noodles was great– I’d definitely recommend it and have done so. The tofu was just tasteless– I’m not sure if it’s me but it wasn’t as great as people have made it out to be. The eggrolls were decent but had almost no meat in them.
Sucks that this is a ³⁄₅ review and is literally the best chinese anywhere close to me in Fairfax station/​burke.

Authentic Chinese food with nice dining atmosphere. A great place to go if you care for good quality. And definitely order bubble tea.

Fantastic sichuan in Springfield. Service was very friendly and attentive. Prices were reasonable and portions at lunch were spot on: I ordered several ‘lunch’ portions in order to get a better feel for the menu and the size and lower cost made them the perfect for this type of exercise.
Of note: they do not have a couple of the ‘classic’ sichuan dishes that I was inclined to order. For example, they did not have Dan Dan noodles or spicy dumplings.
As a result I ordered the Scallion Noodles with Shrimp – which were good and savory, but definitely nothing like Dan Dan. However, what really set Rolling apart was their MaPo Tofu and their Braised Fish. Holy moly! Both were fresh, appropriately oily, and had sufficient green peppercorn and tsien tsien peppers to numb your entire mouth.

I don’t normally review restaurants, but I had to do it for rolling cooking.
I come every Wednesday and order a Mapo Tofu because it. is. amazing. Every time I walk in or leave, if I see someone eyeing the restaurant, I will go out of my way to tell them they need to try it. That’s how much I love it.
Everyone I know who’s tried it all agree — this place is amazing. We’ve had a number of dishes on the menu, but here are the highlights:
Mapo Tofu, Flaming Lamb (flaming anything for that matter), the braised fish, and the scallion fried fish.
Please, don’t go here and order americanized chinese food like general tso or fried rice and then cry about how it wasn’t good. Try one of the dishes listed above!

About a 1 – 1.5: Rolling Cooking is somewhat a new Sichuan restaurant located in a plaza off of Rolling Road. The menu is pretty extensive (and, super cute, with the little kawaii characters! Their little mascot is this orange dragon blowing some flames!), offering items such as appetizers (BBQ ribs, shrimp dumplings, sesame cold noodles, etc.), soups (hot & sour soup, egg drop soup, house triple delight soup, etc.), chef specials (flaming lamb, beef, or chicken, chili chicken, scallion fried fish, etc.), lo mein, fried rice, chicken/​beef/​seafood/​pork/​vegetarian entrees, egg foo young, chow mein, and beverages. We were first given a complimentary little bowl of roasted peanuts, which I thought was pretty cute! To start off, we tried the Steam Dumplings (filled with pork and veggies, these automatically come steamed; the skin was super thick, and the filling was quite generous; slightly mushy, these were pretty okay dipped in soy sauce (I just wished that they had an option of it being pan-​fried and having the chili oil available to mix in with the soy sauce!); the Scallion Pancake (2 pancakes, cut in triangles; these were slightly overly cooked with not much oil, so it wasn’t that crispy; the taste was okay); Juice Steam Bun (I actually thought that this was a one-​piece pan-​fried beef bun; however, they were little soup dumplings-​esque with thicker skins; we weren’t fans of the filling, the broth, and the taste); and, the Sesame Cold Noodle (the noodles were bouncy, but a little too stiff; the sesame taste was okay, but a bit watered down; I just wished it was creamier and nuttier). For the entrees, we tried the Rolling Chicken (a whole spring chicken that happened to be pre-​soaked in some type of a sauce, then fried whole and then quartered/​sliced; the menu stated it would come with a side of homemade sauce, but it just came plain; the skin seemed super crispy, but the taste was off, as it seemed to be cooked in old oil; it had an unpleasant game-​y/​duck taste to it); a Salty Pepper Prawn (fried prawns with a diced onions and bell peppers (this wasn’t really tasty; it was actually pretty bland, no taste of the salt or the pepper, and the diced onions/​bell peppers had an odd taste to them as well and did not complement the shrimp; also, the shrimp didn’t taste fresh); and, the Scallion Oil Mixed Noodle (soft noodles mixed with a homemade scallion oil sauce, which you get to choose between shredded pork, chicken, beef, or a combination of all of the meats; we opted for the pork; this dish did not seem anything like the picture shown on the menu, as we thought it would be more like dan dan noodles; however, it was just a slight pork-​ier tasting lo mein noodles with browned scallions; adding soy sauce helped slightly, but not too much). Service was super nice, friendly, and welcoming, so I feel a bit sad that the food was just super underwhelming! T_​_​_​T It seems as if it’s a local favorite, and there were some catering trays being delivered while we were dining in. I’m glad I gave this place a try, but not sure if I’d go back.
+super friendly and welcoming staff!
+not-​so-​tasty food T_​_​_​T
+plenty of free parking in shared lot

One day potato boyfriend and I decided to ROLL up to this restaurant, get it. roll! The décor didn’t really match with its cartoon mascot or menu. I was confused with the theme, not sure who did this, but Y. Y U DO DIS? Is Rolling Cooking trying to be cute or elegant?
I got General Tso’s and my boyfriend got a tofu dish. I honestly thought both dishes were a little bland for my taste. On top of the mediocre food, the employees thought it would be good to start yelling at each other to add to the confusing ambiance.
I use to work at a Chinese Restaurant so I know how it feels to see a customer cringe at the sound of two Chinese women fighting in public, very loudly. I think that it would be wise for management to enforce rules about fighting in front of customers. Do it somewhere where we can’t hear you.
Our server was also playing on his computer while serving us, which I’m fine with as long as you do your job. He was not doing it, did not pay attention half of the time.

We’ve been back a few times and on our most recent visit were underwhelmed and also had some funky-​tasting beef. I mentioned it to the waitress and she said, «Oh, tell me if it happens again and we’ll re-​cook it for you.» That’s all fine and good, but if the beef isn’t fresh, cooking a new serving won’t make a difference…
The scallion fish is still good, but the other dishes we’ve had just haven’t been at the same level.
We will probably wait a while before we’d go back.

I ordered dinner via the Eat 24 app. In order to meet the minimum for delivery, I had to get a drink, appetizer, and entrée. I like how the Sweet Milk Bubble Tea was frothy and the bubbles were chewy. I wasn’t a fan of the Crab Rangoons as they were made with thick wonton wrapper and weren’t crispy. It was filled with a crabby coleslaw. The Sweet and Sour Chicken consisted of battered chicken breast, green pepper, and pineapple in a sweet and sour sauce.

We’ve been to Rolling Cooking twice now, once to dine-​in and the other for a catering order.
The first time we dine-​in, we ordered the Singapore noodles, crispy shredded beef and the salt and pepper shrimp. Food was a lot better than our expectation especially from a somewhat ghetto-​looking shopping center.
Typical mom and pop Chinese restaurant with not the best service and some language barrier from their wait staff. Service was especially slow since their delivery driver decided not to show up (the server told me). The boss ended up doing all the delivery and they were super apologetic about the slow service and gave us a discount on our final bill. Hopefully they have their act together now since it’s been a few months since they’ve opened.
We were hosting a housewarming last month and decided to cater from Rolling Cooking. Since we had 3 large tray items, they gave us a 20% discount. Again, food was good and the order was ready when we came to pick it up.
I would like to try their more authentic sichan food on their menu next time.

I will take one star off because of their service. Overall, the food was fantastic. It was fresh and good portion.
We got fried dumplings and meat and dough ratio was perfectly balanced. And I ordered sizzling beef steak, which came sizzling and delicious. My husband ordered the generals Tso’s chicken and it was nice and spicy-​FRESH! Ambiance inside is simple, decorated light, and kept clean.
However; I understand that it is a new business, but I think they need to improve on customer service, table attentiveness, and experiences waiters/​waitress. The guy sit at the counter which seems to control the phone and take out stuff, he was plain rude-​and rushing to get away from the table. But I hope to see improvement in customer service, and this will be my favorite place.

Pro: Good food. Tried out the $ 25 for $ 50 deal from Unilocal.The dish came out very authentic and fresh. The fried dumplings were very tasty (better than most of the Chinese places in DMV area). Their General Tso chicken and sizzling beef with broccoli was delicious. Definitely recommend this place.
Con: the server need to be more trained and be attentive.

If you’re driving around the little shopping center, trying to find where «Rolling Cooking» is… There’s a bigger sign underneath that says «Sichuan Café.» Same exact place though!
This restaurant is very casual. It looks boring in my opinion because there’s nothing that pops… But their menus are SUPER ADORABLE. Maybe it’s because I fall for cutesie things… But the way they presented their menus made a lot easier to know what to order!
I ordered about $ 55 worth of food to use up the $ 25 for $ 50 deal they have going on Unilocal.It was just me and another person and we ordered: steamed dumplings, flaming lamb, braised fish, seafood fried rice, and the string beans.
Holy moly everything was really good. For a Chinese place, this place exceeded my expectations. Everything is just thrown onto a plate. It’s not presented in any elegant way. However, the flaming lamb was really cool! It came out with a fire burning underneath it. (Just check out the pics I’ve upload)
The steamed dumplings have meat in it and came with six. I know some people don’t like their dumplings tasting too dough-​ey so FYI it does JUST A LITTLE.
The flaming lamb and the braised fish were really good. They both come with white rice. It was really tender and both are spicy. I looooved the fish especially because it melts in your mouth. The fish is soaked in sauce with tons of pepper thrown on top. Pairing these up with the seafood fried rice was perfect. The fried rice was cooked just right. It had a really soft texture. It had imitation crab meat, shrimp, and scallops thrown it. String beans were also really good. It had a light spicy kick to it and a little salty. All were really well balanced.
I really enjoyed this place! It’s sad to walk into such an empty restaurant that has amazing food.
Service is good coming from a Chinese restaurant. I’m used to seeing passive aggressive Asians shouting in their native tongue and not giving an f about the customers, but the employees here were sweet and asked us how everything was. :)

You know that feeling you get when you discover a new FAVORITE restaurant? So despite my past reviews, this is now my favorite Szechuan/​Chinese restaurant. This place did a great job in satisfying all of my criteria for what would make an excellent restaurant.
Atmosphere/​Ambiance: Simple, modern, and bright. Installation lights and additional lamps make it so you don’t get that awful highschool-​classroom-​fluorescent-​lighting feel. Wall décor were silhouettes and they juxtaposed the creamy walls really well. The tables, placemats, seating, and even the menus showed that they put in effort into aesthetically pleasing their customers.
Menu offered SO many choices, it was so hard to pick! Since my boyfriend loves meat, and I only eat veggies now, we were both able to pick and choose. I would recommend that there’d be a small description for some uncommon Chinese dishes, but the owner/​waiter was able to answer our questions to the best of his ability.
We ordered a lot, so I’m going to break it down by dish (at least what I ate):
VEGETABLE FRIED DUMPLING: For any vegetarian dish, I love seeing the actual vegetables in my food. The dumpling skin itself was both soft and crispy, but once opened, I could see the vegetable mixture with a bit of its juice still inside (YUM). The vegetable dumpling was light, and it paired so well with my vegetable lo mein. You could definitely taste what sort of veggie was in it.
SCALLION PANCAKE: I usually get scallion pancakes at many asian restaurants, and they usually make it so that I taste so much more flour than the scallions itself. Here, they made it in a smaller pancake (so more of the pancake got crispy and it seemed like there were more scallions bunched together) and cut it into «pizza slices». Crispy, great scallion-​to-​flour ratio, and after awhile, I was glad that it didn’t get soggy :)
VEGETABLE LO MEIN: By far, the best lo mein i’ve had in a long while. I don’t know what seasoning/​sauce they used for it, but wow, it definitely amazed me. They have the lo mein in meat and seafood choices as well, and this is the one dish I would recommend you getting first!
CRISPY STRING BEAN: My second favorite, it was crunchy and juicy in the inside. The beans inside were still soft once opened up. Great pairing with my lo mein too! It was listed as spicy but I didn’t find it so (and I’m a baby to spicy food). Tangy, it was a bit oily but it was a dish that I’d definitely eat by itself as well.
The owner of the restaurant was our waiter, and he was super friendly and attentive to our table. He was pretty accommodating and he and the older woman that served us our dishes were super polite! This place just opened, and I could tell that from the menu animations, interior design, service, and food quality, that this small family business invested a lot of effort into it! Definitely try it out! (You also get complimentary hot tea and ice cream)!