Ring A Meal - Ravensworth

I used to go to Rice pot allot. Me and my husband went for lunch for the first time after pandemic. after setting , we noticed that the tea cups are upside down on the table with out Saucer. my husband got up trying to change our cups, (all other tables had cups with saucers the waitress told us no u can’t change or have saucer because cup w saucer is only for dinner . btw we paid for lunch 12.95 each . I never heard of this before . We were very surprised and trying to explain to her because of health/safety it is not OK to leave cups upside down on the table without Saucer, special now days ! still she did not change it . our meal came at the same time with appetizers. Food was cold , very dark and thick sauce, beef taste like grass . waitress never came to our table . we were the only customers in the restaurant . finally I called her to bring the check . we were very disappointed, shocked . I will never ever go back . I think the management has been changed . Food and service was horrible.

While in the Annandale and seeking some decent, authentic Chinese food for lunch, I stopped in here. The young man who took care of me was very helpful and pleasant. The place is nice looking on the inside, they have these beautiful partitions everywhere to break up the tables and make it more cozy in the area where you might be sitting. As you walk in, there are many fish tanks next to the door, which appear to have fresh lobster and possibly other items that are on the menu. They have a HUGE menu, loaded with some authentic Chinese food as well as many of the typical American Chinese items that are popular. I opted to start with their tea, which had a decent flavor, but since it wasn’t strained, it had too many leaves floating in it, so it wasn’t a favorite of mine. I then ordered egg drop soup, but he brought hot sour soup instead and since I’ve never tried it, I decided to keep it and I really liked it. It was loaded with fresh veggies and the egg in it made for a nice textural balance. The broth was also very tasty; I could totally see getting this again! I also liked the stick style noodles that came with it versus the typical, flat fried wonton wrappers. For my entrée, I chose their dried chili chicken. It wasn’t as “dry” as I am used to with this particular dish and it was loaded with veggies, wayyyy more veggies than chicken, in fact. There was hardly any chicken in it, but the veggies had a nice flavor to them, clearly the dish was kissed by the flame as it was being wok’d up. The sauce was nothing but oil, and there was a lot of it. I’m used to the dry chili stir fries having oil, but this was too much. Overall, it was still a decent visit and if I were to return, I’d definitely choose a different entrée, but I could see coming here again for Chinese food. Oh, and I read several posts about them being very slow to serve, but I didn’t experience that at all… In fact, I was in a hurry, as I only had 35 minutes for lunch and I told them this up front and, even though they were really busy, they accommodated me perfectly.

My wife and I had gone a while back for dinner but wanted to try a quick lunch because we were both in the area in the middle of the week. We showed up after 1pm (post lunch crowd? , but were still surprised to see the place was empty. At least we got seated quickly and got our choice of table. ; The waitress was very friendly. We talked a bit, given that she didn’t have other tables to attend to. It appears the management has changed in the last several months, and they are trying to regain their customer base. (Had the prior owner let things get run down a bit? The place was clean and well organized. Anyway, the food we ordered was delicious: Hunan jumbo shrimp and salt pepper flounder with chili peppers. The colors on the shrimp dish were more appealing to the eye (see pics below , but the flounder had some great flavors, especially with the peppers and onions. As lunch specials, they are very reasonably priced, and given that they come with rice, a freshly fried spring roll, and choice of soup (not pictured , it was filling enough to have leftovers to take home. Would definitely return and even order the same dishes... or try something new. Parking is super easy.

This place is nicely decorated and has many very traditional offerings. It even has a Chinese waiter who seems to have no interest in true customer service. That makes it fully Chinese in my experience. But the food is quite good and I suggest you go off the 'normal ' Chinese-American fare and try something new and unusual.