Mr. Chen's - I can't believe I just discovered this place!
May 08, 2004
For years now, people have been telling me that I need to try Mr. Chen's Organic chinese delivery and for some reason I ignored them...until Thursday night. Oh my effen God! Best Chinese Amy and I have ever had!! Everything was fresh. Not to sound like a commercial, but you never would've guessed it was delivery. Quoted from the top of the menu, "At Mr. Chens Restaurant, we use organic fresh vegetables along with a health-conscious cooking style to prepare delicious Chinese cuisine."
I ordered the Chicken in Black Bean Sauce. It was just slightly spicy and the chicken wasn't overcooked --TONS of flavor (not MSG flavor). My only complaint was that there were not many black beans in the sauce, but it is only a tiny one. Amy got Kung Pao Chicken and loved it as well. Like mine, it was slightly spicy which just kicked the flavor up a bit. I always like that. We also ordered some spicy wontons which weren't all that spicy, but tasted a lot better than they looked. Definitely try the Curry Fried Rice. It was very different from any other fried rice than we had ever had. It is basically your typical fried rice with chicken, pork, shrimp (or vegetarian) and some curry and tumeric spices.
The menu gives you the option of small or large portions. If you want a ton of leftovers, order the large. We did and ate them the next day for lunch.
Mr. Chen's Organic Chinese Cuisine
2604 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 797-9668
Map
Jason, this sounds like a "must hit" restaurant. I love good chinese restaurant. Another place which I recommend is "Peking Gourmet Inn" in Falls Church on Leesburg Pike. It's a bit out of the way from DC (not too bad) but worth the trip. It's also Bush 41 & 43's favorite restaurant. There's lots of pictures of the Bushies, congressmen, senators and other Washington celebrities all over the place. Go with an extra couple or two and order the Peking Duck. They carve it tableside. Schezuan Beef Proper (like Crispy sesame beef) and Kung Pao chicken are also musts...Order a couple of suffering bastard cocktails or fog cutters (really any of their exotic drinks) and it'll set you up with a nice buzz for dinner. They're only $5 or so a pop. Trust me on this place. My wife threw my surprise b-day party there this year. Peace out, Dominic
Posted by: Dominic | Oct 27, 2004 at 04:28 PM
http://www.mrchens.com/
Posted by: miles | Mar 14, 2005 at 08:33 PM
Been ordering from here since they opened years ago (at least 7 years). Yesterday, the guy who delivered balked at the tip I gave him and asked me "That all you give for tip?" I wish I had handed him back the bag of food and taken back my cash, but instead, I ran and got him another dollar, explaining that it was all the cash I had (which was true). My tip wasn't poor to begin with. I seriously am considering never ordering from there again, but that might only be spiting myself. What to do?
Posted by: Miss Penny Lane | Sep 07, 2005 at 02:34 PM
Terrible- when they took out the msg they took out the flavor. I ordered Meat dumplings steamed- the dough was gummy and too thick, the meat flavorless. Orange chicken- cheap pieces of meat, ZERO FLAVOR, come on, this is orange chicken, this is supposed to be flavor country, it isn't that hard, deep fry, put in sauce. Singapore noodles were actually ok, not fantastic, but ok. The shrimp had some good flavor to them, but once again, not enough spices of any kind, I could barely taste the curry on the noodles.
I realize that these dishes were not the ones that got raves from anyone, and that they are quai lo food, but they are what I like, and I think a fairly good simple test of a chinese place.
On the plus side- delivery was fairly quick in relation to where they are from me, and even the small sizes which I ordered gave more than enough for leftovers.
Posted by: ed | Mar 08, 2006 at 12:56 PM
Not only are they good, they are so quick with the delivery that I secretly suspect the staff have ESP and are waiting outside my apartment when I make the call. Mr. Chen's rocks!
Posted by: Matilde | Jul 06, 2006 at 02:38 PM
nasty nasty food.
ive had my fair share of chinese and asian food (me being asian) and this can match the middle of no-where PA chinese food i had in colelge. god aweful. general tzo chicken is edible but thats about it
Posted by: gourmet | Feb 13, 2007 at 09:43 PM
Yeah, this place went down hill about a year ago. I stopped ordering takeout from them a while ago...
Posted by: Jason | Feb 13, 2007 at 10:04 PM
It's been 2.5 hours since I ordered and nothing...the guy said he got a flat tire. He said my food was going to be here in 10 minutes. It's been 50 and I'm still waiting for his call. Bad service. Bad, bad, bad. Will never order from this place
Posted by: yaqui | Jul 01, 2007 at 11:16 PM
C'mon DC! Who in the world really thinks Mr Chen's is even average? Not even close. The cashier/call center looks like Kathy Lee should be running the place. The food was barely fast food quality. I heard so much about this place. You're better off going next door to Chipotle.
Posted by: Just tried Mr. Chen's | Feb 21, 2008 at 10:34 PM