Lotus Garden

Great spot for a family meal. Kids love the bbq pork and noodles. Can be cleaner and old on the inside but it does the trick. We will be back.

This place makes me smile inside whenever I think of hand pulled noodle soup. Walking in, it’s a fairy good size place. The Parking is kind of small, so be prepare to stalk people.
I usually get the Duck hand pulled noodle soup. The broth is very flavorful, and it’s on the light side so don’t expect it to have huge amount of flavors, but they do have the chili sauce on the table and adding that makes it kick your mouth and adds a lot of more flavor. The noodles are perfectly cooked and blends very well with the duck and bok choy.
I also love watching the chefs work, pulling the noodles, just makes everything taste so much better. The place is very hole-​in-​the-​wall without being a hole in the wall. Will keep coming back here for delicious hand pulled soup.
They waiters do speak English. I will continue coming back here.

I have been to Lotus Garden many times now and the food is usually pretty good (hand pulled noddles, roasted duck, fish fillet with lotus root, etc…). However, the service is hit or miss, even when it is not busy inside. Three stars for a decent Chinese place that is open late each night in Vienna.

OMG, I just had the Gen Tso’s chicken and found a pubic hair integrated into the dish! Are you kidding me!?! Not sure if it was from someones underarm or pants, but I will never eat here again. It’s really too bad because the food was pretty good.

What a most disappointed lunch visit today. I had the duck noodle soup that I used to have, but this time they really shortchanged the duck (see photos I posted). There were only three tiny pieces of skin & bones! By they way, that bowl of soup cost more than $ 10.00! After I complained, they did give me two more small pieces & apologized. Well, not sure I will be returning to the place again. But I have to admit that they do have very tasty noodles.

If you want hand-​shaved noodles, this is the place to go in VA! I love their ground pork noodle with fermented soybean paste. Just add some spice to it and it’s amazing! The noodle amount is generous and they’ve always been consistent with this order! Love it!

Went there on Sunday at noon, this placed was packed. Only two big tables were empty, and there’s few tables were shared. That means this restaurant must been managed very well.
I haven’t visited this restaurant for a while, kind of didn’t remembered how the flavor was. I could only say the owner made the noodles better (more chewy), but the broth was just okay.
There’s one thing I noticed while eating, all the Chinese ppl in the restaurant ordered the noodles, however, all the Americans ordered «American Chinese» food.

Pretty darn good hole-​in-​the-​wall Chinese! The hand-​pulled noodles are so good — perfect chewy texture — and you can watch the chef making them inside through a window! Totally hit the spot on a cold rainy fall day. The roast duck and cha siu is delicious too. It’s located in a strip mall right off of Maple Ave in Vienna. The place could use a facelift inside; it’s pretty dark and dingy. But the food is on point and it was packed, even on a Monday afternoon, which has got to be a good sign. It’s as good as any good Chinese restaurant I’ve found in NOVA, which was exciting because there’s a serious lack of good Chinese around. Planning to come back soon to try more of the menu!

i can’t believe this place exists in vienna. whenever i am craving chinese (cantonese) food i always head towards falls church/​arlington.
lotus garden is located in a strip mall right on maple ave. just like all of the other stores along this road; blink and you will miss it.
i came here in particular to try their hand pulled noodles. it is cool that they have a window that opens to the kitchen where you can see the chef making the noodles. the portion is very generous for the price (~$ 10). i actually thought there were too many noodles. i will probably ask for less noodles next time or just share a bowl. i ordered my noodles with roasted duck which was a little fatty. their roasted pork though, which we ordered on the side, was awesome and i would order that instead on my next visit.
we also tried some other dishes that were pretty good: tendon and lobster.
winter is coming and i feel like i will be stopping in often for a warm bowl of noodle soup :)

A show with dinner for ~$ 10 (if you were to order just a bowl of soup)? I’m in! While slurping away, you can watch the chef magically stretch and pull the noodles in the big window. Although a bowl of hand pulled noodle soup would suffice, I went with some friends, so we ordered a few other things because… you know, who doesn’t enjoy getting full to the point of pain. We ordered the «pungent and spicy beef tendon» as an appetizer. I could eat tendon all day!
You can order the hand pulled noodle soups with different meats (roast pork, roast duck, bbq pork, beef brisket, the list is quite extensive). I would definitely share the soup next time since they load that bowl up with noodles. You definitely will not complain on the quantity of food given here. To compliment our soups, we also feasted on the «BBQ Platter 3 Selections», which we went with BBQ pork (Xa Xiu), Roast Duck, and Soy Sauce Chicken. I’d have to say that the platter contained probably the tastiest and least fatty meats that I’ve ever had at a Chinese restaurant. We also ordered the «lobster with ginger and scallion», another Chinese staple.
I would give this restaurant 3.5 stars if I could, because of the service. For the size of the restaurant and amount of customers that were present, the service was lacking. We were waited on by 2 different waitresses. One was very nice, and the other who took our order was a bit snappy. They barely came to check on us after the food was brought out. I’m trying to be lenient in this situation because I understand that there’s a language and cultural barrier.
Despite the service hiccup, the food was very delicious and the place was clean for a Chinese restaurant (statistically speaking of course). I kind of like how the restaurant is sort of hidden in Vienna; you could drive by on Maple Ave., and completely miss the turn. I’ll definitely be coming back on a cold rainy day.

So … it kind breaks my heart to write this review.
I really like the hand pulled noodles at this place, but when I find out that a restaurant is unhygienic, I’m done. I ordered takeout for dinner so the noodles and soup came separately. Now, I don’t know whether the noodles or the soup had the NASTY, because it all ended up in one bowl, yanno. Beef brisket broth + hand pulled noodles + bok choy + HAIR. I didn’t even find the hair until halfway through, so who knows if I gulped down some other hairs.
You guys. the worst part? The hair was squiggly… SQUIGGLY! Now I’m not aware of many asians with short squiggly hair, so I’m only assuming it’s a hair from down there, if you know what I mean.
Farewell, appetite
Farewell, dinner
Farewell, Lotus Garden

I came here after browsing Unilocal while looking for good late night Chinese. The lack of options after 10 pm in the Reston area is shameful but… thank goodness for Lotus Garden, open til midnight on a Friday just a town over! This place is what I would describe as more authentic Chinese, I could tell as soon as I walked in and saw the hanging ducks. I sometimes worry if I get food late at night it wont be as good. At Lotus Garden, this is not the case!
Every dish was made fresh, right before our eyes as they have an open window into the kitchen where I can observe the fantastic and fascinating process of making their most delicious noodle soups in mere moments! I wanted that roasted pork noodle soup from the Unilocal photo so I just showed them the photo and they knew right away what I wanted.
Moments later, it appeared in front of me, piping hot and looking identical to the photo and tasting nearly as good as I had hoped. The broth lacked much flavor, too bland to eat much of, but the pork was sweet and flavorful and the noodles were great. The General Tsos chicken was probably the best I’ve ever had as well. The sauce was exceptionally tasty and the chicken was crispy, flash fried. Only one suggestion, the dish needed to come with more rice to balance the rice to chicken and sauce ratio. Once you come here, it will be hard to want to go anywhere else for Chinese. The prices for main dishes seemed very high but they are very large portions and all the noodle soups were reasonably priced.

We came on a Saturday night and this place was pretty empty. They’re known for their hand-​made noodles, so we ordered the chicken hand-​cut noodle soup and beef hand-​pulled noodle soup. Hand-​cut noodles are wide and chewy, while hand-​pulled noodles are long and softer. Both are good, it just depends on your preference. The broth was authentic and flavorful, not too salty or oily like some Chinese noodle soup places can be. They gave a decent portion of meat in the bowl.
While the noodle soups were reasonably priced at $ 10 per bowl, I had to dock 1 star because the veggie dish we got came in at $ 16, which is way high for what we got.
I’d definitely come back, but just for their noodles.

From the start with spicy pungent beef to our main of squid in sour cabbage everything was quite tasty
Disappointing was having everything rushed out all at once. Hubby would have liked to finish his soup before everything else came out. Next time I will stagger my order myself.
Previous visits we enjoyed the hand pulled noodle soups. Great fun seeing them pulled to order.
A hidden gem with some surprising and tasty menu options!

The restaraunt has a tranquil atmosphere. We were greeted warmly by the wait staff. A small platter of salted peanuts and tea eased us into our appetizer of crab Rangoons which were yummy. The noodle soup here though is the true star. I got the knife cut beef spare rib noodle soup and was thoroughly impressed. The broth was delicate, the beef was tasty, and the noodles were perfectly chewy.
I was able to spy the seafood noodle soup at another table, which I will most definitely be back to try. For $ 9.95 the noodle soup here is a win.

While visiting NoVA, my family and I stopped by Lotus Garden for a quick lunch, figuring we would just order some lunch specials. But when we took a look at the full menu, we were drawn in by the hand-​pulled noodles. We ended up ordering the roast pork noodle soup, clams with black bean sauce… and General Tso’s chicken from the lunch menu. For our younger kids, they loved the egg drop soup and crunchy fried strips. (The egg drop soup in Seattle is much healthier and full of veggies, and they don’t serve the fried noodles — very disappointing for my kids!)
Wow — what a hidden gem this restaurant is in a bland strip mall on Maple Ave. The hand-​pulled noodles were delicious and chewy — the broth was fantastic, and the roast pork was plentiful and tasty. The clams with black bean sauce was also great — one of the better versions I’ve had in the area. My son enjoyed the General Tso’s chicken, although I believe it was rather average.
I’m so glad my brother and his family live down the street from this restaurant, because we will definitely be returning here in our future visits back to VA!

Mom knows her chinese food. Mom picked this place for our Mother’s Day lunch for the family and while it’s not the same as eating in Taiwan or China, it comes close.
We ordered Kung pao beef, black pepper scallops, combination Lo mein, steamed cod fish, combo meat platter of duck, pork and spareribs, and tofu with stuffed crab in egg sauce. It’s a good thing we all skipped breakfast cause all five of us devoured everything. My favorite dishes were the scallops which were served over broccoli in a black pepper sauce as well as the combo meat platter. If you’re a meat lover, get the platter; it’s nothing but pieces of roasted duck and pork along with sparerib meat. There are bones so be weary of that. The scallops were delicious: crispy yet tender. The stuffed tofu with crab was also delicious: tasted like a chinese stuffed seafood biscuit.
The Kung pao beef and lot mein was decent, nothing special. The steamed cod fish was tasty but it is a whole fish head and tails included so bones are in the fish. You may be grossed out by the head and tail involved but the taste is there. Don’t choke on the bones!
Service was very slow but it was Mother’s Day and they only had three servers. Plus no hostess, no food runners, and no bussing crew so the servers did everything. While it took time to get things up to speed, the food was worth it. I’ll have to come back and try their other dishes as they have some exotic items to try from. This is a nice «hole in the wall» joint so don’t miss out on it!

It’d technically be 3.5 stars.
Because I love their roast pork and beef noodle soup, but their other dishes were just mehhhh. Also, their roast pork soup isn’t as flavorful as the one at Taste @ Hong Kong in Chantilly. That being said, it’d still be my top 3 choices if I’m craving Chinese noodle soup depending on where I am in terms of location. Their handpulled noodle are very chewy. Service, like most Chinese restaurants, is okay. They might be a little nicer to you if you speak Chinese to them. I’m a fast eater and require very minimal service… so as long as I get what I want, I can’t complain. I can’t complain about this place’s service.
Oh, they sometimes give out complimentary salted peanuts. If they didn’t serve it, just ask.

Unilocal reviews brought us here and boy were we happy!
Drinks: complimentary pot of tea with the table. Water as requested
Apps:
1. crab rangoons: creamy and had a bit of sweetness already in them. They didn’t come with any kind of sauce (like the sweet chili sauce you normally get at some chains), but it wasn’t needed. We ate them so quickly, that they didn’t stand a chance.
2. shrimp toast: here’s where the service first impressed us. Our waitress didn’t speak much English, but as she presented the toast to our table, she was able to communicate to us that they fried too long and if we were her, we wouldn’t eat them! She said we could try it and see, but she offered to bring us a replacement in the form of pork pot stickers. WOW! 3. pork pot stickers: packed with flavorful meat and came with a side of dipping sauce (soy sauce?). Yum and more yum
Lunch:
1. We each ordered the roast pork soup with hand pulled noodles. The broth… the broth was so flavorful that we just wanted to drink it! The meat was cooked to perfection and they didn’t skimp on how much meat was in the bowl.
2. Shrimp with walnuts: These were beautifully cooked jumbo shrimp lightly battered, then tossed in the mayo-​based sauce… all topped with candied walnuts. Everything was presented on a bed of steamed broccoli. This is the food that you dream of, people! This was my first time having it and I was a little concerned about the mayo based sauce mixing with walnuts, but wow… this was deeelish!
Service:
The shrimp toast «warning» did it! Also, since there were two of us we each had a soup, but wanted to divide the leftovers for the shrimp. We kind of hesitated when trying to describe how to do the «to go» boxes, but our waitress just «got it»…she knew exactly what to do and that just completed the wonderful experience. Though we live ~1hr away, we have definitely added this to our list of «can’t wait to go back» places!

Came here late night w. my date. Jellyfish with shredded duck and pickled radish and carrots was a hit! The softshell crab was kind of bland and the hong kong style chicken with garlic and scallion was okay. My roast pork noodles broth was very bland and the noodles were overcooked.
Prob an off night, will definitely be back still!