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Rockville, Maryland Restaurants


JennyUptown

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Hi All,

Any thoughts on the food scene in Gaithersburg? My company has decided to move my team there full time starting Mon and I haven't had a chance to explore the neighborhood - though I did hit a fairly decent seafood resto (name slipped from memory) when I got the office tour.

I was going to start a new thread to ask the question, but since Rockville's a stone's throw away I thought I'd just append my query here.

Thanks!

Chris

Drive to Rockville.

:laugh:

No, seriously.

:sad:

:biggrin: JPW, I found out rather quickly that you're right!

Thnx,

C

"There's something very Khmer Rouge about Alice Waters that has become unrealistic." - Bourdain; interviewed on dcist.com
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  • 3 months later...
Hi All,

Any thoughts on the food scene in Gaithersburg? My company has decided to move my team there full time starting Mon and I haven't had a chance to explore the neighborhood - though I did hit a fairly decent seafood resto (name slipped from memory) when I got the office tour.

I was going to start a new thread to ask the question, but since Rockville's a stone's throw away I thought I'd just append my query here.

Thanks!

Chris

Check out the chicken place or Mi Peru. Both are in gaithersburg and I personally think both are better than crisp and juicy.

18216 Flower Hill Way, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 (Mi Peru)

117 N. Frederick Ave.; 301-519-9100 (The Chicken Place)

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Check out the chicken place or Mi Peru.  Both are in gaithersburg and I personally think both are better than crisp and juicy.

18216 Flower Hill Way, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 (Mi Peru)

117 N. Frederick Ave.; 301-519-9100 (The Chicken Place)

Thanks for the tip. I have to drive to G'burg tomorrow and fork over some bucks for new shoes for the kids. Some good chicken might ease the sting.

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

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  • 3 weeks later...

This may have been mentioned already, but I used to enjoy Tokyo-Tapei. They serve decent sushi, but on the Chinese side of the menu, besides the standards (which I never tried), they offer great handmade noodle soups and homey dishes like leek cakes and such. But the soup alone is worth the trip.

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Where is Sam's Place? I like gelato, is it made in-house?

Sam's makes fabulous gelato in-house - both traditional Italian flavors, and always a few with a Middle Eastern tinge. Their food, however, is just ok. It's in the Ritchie Plaza shopping center on the Pike.

For kabobs, I much prefer Yekta Kabob. They're behind On the Border, also on the Pike, right next to Joe's Noodle (not Bob's). Their cornish game hen kabob is possibly the best kabob I've ever eaten. Attached to a nice little Persian market.

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  • 1 month later...

I go to Montgomery College in Rockville, but I don't have a car, so I try to get a good lunch in before my 1-6:30 class block that's within walking or Metro distance.

My regular haunts are the Quizno's, Potbelly Sandwiches, and California Tortilla around the Regal Theatre, but since these are well-known chains, I won't review them. Although right now California Tortilla is giving out these scratch off tickets where it seems everyone wins. I guess I will be eating there more often if I keep on winning free no. 2 combos ;)

China Bistro (755 Hungerford Dr)

This little Taiwanese cafe is located in the same strip as Pho 75, and about a 15-minute walk from school. I ordered carryout. For dine-in, there are about four small tables, each seating about 2-4 people. The main thing that attracted me to this place was the bubble tea and the dumplings. I ordered Mama's Special Dumplings (12 for $7.50). While I was waiting for my food, I could peek into the kitchen behind the counter and see a man about my dad's age carefully rolling out the dough and stuffing it with filling. I noticed about 3 people working at the time (including the dumpling-making man), but it took a while for one of the staff to notice a customer waiting to pay for her food.

The bubble tea here is offered in three sizes and even with the large, it's still a better deal than the bubble tea I get near work. It tastes better, too, although my favorite place to get bubble tea is still Eden Center. I actually didn't get to eat the dumplings until the middle of class, but it was still piping hot. The dough wasn't too thick or too thin. The filling was pork, shrimp, chives, and with enough napa cabbage to give it a bit of a crunch. It was really cold that day, so it was the perfect comfort food. Thinking back, it was a pretty pricey meal for just dumplings and bubble tea. The next time I go there, I'll probably just get their lunch special, which is your standard fare Chinese dish with rice and eggroll for $4.99.

Kam Sam Supermarket (300 N. Washington Street)

When I don't have a lot of money but I really need some kind of breakfast food, I like to get a bun or two from their bakery. In the morning their buns are still steaming hot. My usuals are char siu bao, green bean bun, red bean paste, or pineapple bun, but they have many others. The buns range from $0.85-2.00.

Taipei-Tokyo Cafe (1596 Rockville Pike)

The last time I ate at this place, I had just gotten into sushi and a friend took me here. That was back in '99. It looks like the place hasn't changed too much. The restaurant has two sections: Chinese and Japanese food. The lunch specials are affordable, and the portions are huge. $6.99 will get you a large plate of beef teriyaki, two scoops of rice, and salad. I like to eat rolls moreso than sashimi, so I can't judge the sashimi... but the eel rolls are yummy (they are my favorite kind :) ).

Three Sisters Cafe (20 Courthouse Sq #107)

Conveniently located across the Courthouse, this place is good for a quick bite. Like many mom-and-pop places, they don't accept credit cards, but there is an ATM inside. For $5.99, I had the pancakes, which included eggs and bacon. I couldn't finish it all, so maybe next time I'll just ask for pancakes. Despite the breakfast rush, it's a relatively quiet place to sit and read your morning paper. The people who run the cafe are very friendly.

"I need another magnum of your best champagne here and bring us the finest food you got stuffed with the second finest."

"Excellent, Sir. Lobsters stuffed with tacos."

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  • 2 weeks later...
Thanks for the rundown, Slygirl, and welcome to eGullet! China Bistro sounds worth checking out next time I'm in town.

China Bistro rocks, Rochelle, but the dumplings are the only food worth ordering there. The rest of their menu (other than a few A&J like snacks) is Moo Goo Gai Pan crap for the Americans. I take my wife and kids, we just order 3 or 4 dozen dumplings (maybe a soup), and feast. All you really do is pick the filling and choose fried or steamed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Agreed. Against my better judgement, I had the Mama's Special Chicken the other day. It was supposed to be crispy and hot. When it came out, I was kind of nervous because little pieces of red peppers covering the entire thing. Turns out, it was just bell pepper. The chicken was a little too crispy. The sauce coating it looked like a pale yellow honey. It was a little sweeter than what I'm used to, but at least it wasn't an abundant amount of sauce and grease.

On another note, someone in my family must have liked it, because when I went to find it to eat for lunch today, it was gone. I should just keep bringing Ethiopian leftovers home because no one would ever touch that! Haha.

Edited by slygirl (log)

"I need another magnum of your best champagne here and bring us the finest food you got stuffed with the second finest."

"Excellent, Sir. Lobsters stuffed with tacos."

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I work in Rockville, but the nature of my work doesn't allow for my lunches out. But when I'm not eating at my desk or in the lunchroom, I'll usually be found at one of the following:

Pho 75

Il Pizzico

Bombay Bistro

India Grill

El Mariachi

Cuban Corner

Taste of Saigon

There are some great restaurants further down the pike, but these are my faves close to my office.

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  • 2 months later...
I recently tried a decent sushi place in rockville called ni wano hana.  It's right next to ben jarong.  Crappy sake though.

I live right around the corner from this place and have never tried it - we order from Momo Taro farther up the Pike. What did you order, and how does it compare to Momo Taro (if you've been there)?

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

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I recently tried a decent sushi place in rockville called ni wano hana.  It's right next to ben jarong.  Crappy sake though.

I live right around the corner from this place and have never tried it - we order from Momo Taro farther up the Pike. What did you order, and how does it compare to Momo Taro (if you've been there)?

We regularly eat at Ni Wano Hana (or at least did until Wasabi Zen opened in Olney which is closer) The sushi here is quite good, especially the special rolls. They also make pretty good sukiaki and tempura. We have always liked the place because when our son was young (he's 18 now) we could take a Micky D's Kids Meal in with us and they didn't complain, in fact encouraged us to do so. Of course, by the time he was 5 he was eating sushi instead. We like it as well as we do Hinode further down the Pike, thought Hinode has a more varied menu of grilled items. I agree the sake is not the best, but what the heck, I'm a wine dork, not a sake sot.

Edited by dinwiddie (log)
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Having been born and bred in Silver Spring / Rockville, I have yet to find a respectable sushi restaurant in MD that comes close to the top NYC or Tokyo sushi restaurants. The best two that I've liked are in DC (Sushi-ko) and in VA (Tachibana). Tako Grill in Bethesda is decent enough to fix a sushi craving.

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Having been born and bred in Silver Spring / Rockville, I have yet to find a respectable sushi restaurant in MD that comes close to the top NYC or Tokyo sushi restaurants. The best two that I've liked are in DC (Sushi-ko) and in VA (Tachibana). Tako Grill in Bethesda is decent enough to fix a sushi craving.

There isn't a sushi restaurant in NY that comes close to the top Tokyo places as far as I'm concerned, but I'm not flying to Tokyo any time soon and if I go to NYC I have better places to go than sushi. Sushi Ko and Kaz are good in DC but we are talking about Rockville. There the best are (imho) Hinode and Ni Wano Hana. Are they great, no way, are they edible, yes.

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Next time I'm in Tokyo I will be sure to get a recommendation, cchen. But I ain't flying the kids there on a Friday when one of them wants their unagi maki and flying fish roe. :laugh:

What's to like on the Pike? I have eaten at China Canteen twice in the last three days. It's not a destination place, but if you're in the area it's a worthy option. An ordinary Chinese-American place has somehow morphed into a decent Sichuan option in the 6 years since I last tried it. The menu is not as extensive as Joe's Noodle House, but that's a good thing in my opinion as I find Joe's menu to be a little bit intimidating. Get the Cumin Lamb ChongQing style.

China Canteen 808 Hungerford Drive, Rockville. 301-424-1606. It's in a strip mall on the West side of the Pike, across the street from Caribbean Feast and Cuban Corner and just north of the Giant Food.

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

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I recently tried a decent sushi place in rockville called ni wano hana.  It's right next to ben jarong.  Crappy sake though.

I seem to go long periods of time without checking this site.

I ordered a roll that had scallops (in some sort of creamy sauce, the sauce almost had a mayonaisy flavor) on top. Bamboo rolls (i think that's what they were called they were covered w/ avocado), a sushi deluxe platter (2 pieces each of salmon, tuna, whitefish, 1 piece of roe roll, shrimp, and a california roll), a softshell tempura roll, and some standard rolls like tuna and california. All of them were pretty good, my favorite being the one w/ scallops (mostly because i love scallops). Don't get me wrong i've had better sushi, but for the price and location i thought it was definitely worthwhile.

heh i'm the opposite of you dinwiddie. I seem to love all rice based alcohol. (sake, soju, baeksehju) Maybe it's the asian in me. Oh someone mentioned Tako. If you go there try the okonomotsu sake (if you're into sake), and of course the spicy tuna tempura rolls.

I haven't eaten at Joe's noodle house in years and saw it mentioned a few times in this thread. Is it still good? (last time i ate there was around 2000)

Edited by houkah (log)
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  • 2 weeks later...

I drove “down the road” to Maxim’s for supplies and stopped by Pho 75. I had number 6 on the menu (beef and beef tendon) with non-iced Vietnamese coffee (café su da). Yes, I know it was 90 degrees.

It has been way too long since I have enjoyed good pho. Highly recommended.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As I live in Rockville, I rarely check this thread,BUT....once in a while I look in to see if I've been missing something. I think that some of you are missing...so here are a couple (maybe more as I get going).

Buffet lunch at Fontina in King Farm..eat great mussels until you can't eat any more, the other offerings are always tasty, finish with a big fresh salad from the same buffet.

Gracious service and very accomodating folks at Baronessa on E. Gude. It's Italian with a Spanish twist. This falls into the cheap eats category if you go 'tween 4 and 6:30..they offer a four course meal for $11.95 Is it Maestro? NO, but it's tasty and convenient...great place to take the Grand children too. Have we neen for the early bird? No, we go later and still enjoy.

Thai Farm in King Farm also is better by far the Benjarong.

A little furthur afield "all the way" up in Germantown there is a shopping center at (approximately the corner of 355 and Middlebrook) which has a Giant closest to 355....then it gets interesting. There is a very good (more authentic) Mexican restaurant, a pretty good Indian restauraant and best of all Yuraku, which is ALWAYS loaded with Asians (mostly Janpanese and Koreans) eating EVERYTHING!

This is a seriously good place to know, they appear to serve excellent sushi (not to me), as the plates (boatloads) that I see being served disappear rapidly.

Can't resist talking about a serious Hebrew National hot dog with a soft drink at Costco for lunch, and you do not have to be a member to buy this for $1.59, just load up with raw onion, relish and mustard and pig out. 'nough for now.

Ted Task

Rockville

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I used to tout Thai Farm a lot until I tried their larb. Yuk.

Bland and way too much toasted rice, which made it feel like you were eating coarse sand.

If someone writes a book about restaurants and nobody reads it, will it produce a 10 page thread?

Joe W

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