China Garden Restaurant

Review by mcclive on December 19, 2008

I’ve never written a very negative review here before, but China Garden hems to a tight archetype of an ethnic restaurant—-one that treats you well if you’re a member of that ethnic group, and doesn’t if you are not. After many attempts to crack their shell over the years, I’m giving up. China Garden is only worth a visit if you are (1) there for a banquet, as their banquet food is miles away from the regular menu, (2) are part of a tour group from Asia, as buses pull up to the curb almost daily and disgorge scores of Asian tourists who are fed better food than the rest of us get, or (3) for weekend dim sum, although the consensus of the Chinese DC community is that their dim sum can’t compete with the Montgomery County places. The banquet food is worth the trip, particularly the spareribs appetizer, the winter melon or crabmeat soup, almost any seafood including the pan-fried fish “Cantonese style”, and even the Young Chow fried rice. And yet the regular menu disappoints. Everything sounds and tastes Americanized, and the servers, who mostly act as if they just want you to go away, are only too happy to steer everyone into General Tso’s chicken and eggrolls. Spicy dishes such as a Kung Pao or those with “hot garlic sauce” are instead slightly sweet, the dark sauce cloying and forgettable, with a few dried chilies tossed on top but seemingly not used in the actual cooking. It seems impossible to convince this restaurant that I actually like real Chinese food and want to eat it. Their one appeal is that the restaurant is huge; it’s the kind of place you can drop in with a party of 22 and they’ll seat you right away without problems. But for a romantic dinner? A power lunch? A tasty respite for a celebration of life? Forget it.