First time not a charm
My wife and I tried this place shortly after it opened. We were very excited that a restaurant was willing to serve dim sum all day. Unfortunately, on our first trip there, we both got very sick and barely made it home, I'm guessing due to unclean conditions. Everyone else I've talked to loves the place and has never had this experience, but I don't intend to go back, since the first experience was so lousy. I think we ordered poorly also, because most of the dishes were quite strange-- unseasoned spareribs covered in dry rice, a pork dish which was covered in aspic/gel and did not taste good, a dark beef soup with some of the stringiest stew-meat in it I've ever encounter    [11 May 2000 10:24:34]

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Recommended Dishes: Hot & Spicy cucumber salad

     ­Hawknoah   

A whole new kind of chinese food
A&J is one of my favorite restaurants and always does well with my friends that are at least somewhat adventurous eaters. Even if you're used to eating dim sum this food is probably unlike anything else you've had. It's northern style chinese and uses noodles (wheat) instead of rice. The dim sum format means you can try 2 - 4 dishes per person (they vary in size - the more expensive dishes are usually larger). It's a lot of fun to go with several people and try stuff you might not otherwise order.    [19 May 2000 17:05:46]

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Recommended Dishes: Pan fried pork dumplings, thousand layer pancake, beef soup (wide noodles)

     ­jnestor   

Worth coming back to Rockville
Until I went to A&J Restaurant I thought a scallion pancake was a rather dull afair, a bland dry crisp that sat like lumps on a buffet table. Now I've learned it's capable of being a sublime experience in savory pastry. A&J is Chinese food the way it was meant to be eaten--with chopsticks battling for every scrap of tasty food on the table.    [06 Oct 2000 16:21:11]

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Recommended Dishes: Scallion Pancake, Vegetarian Delight, Daikon Pastry

     ­Anonymous   

One of the best of its kind
The remodeled A&J now offers diners a pleasant setting for what was always a delicious meal. Bring friends and enjoy a little banquet of authentic northern Chinese dim sum.    [10 Sep 2002 11:09:52]

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     ­S. Surla   

I was introduced to this place by my Chinese language instructor. A&J is NORTHERN Chinese dim sum, not southern Chinese like Americans are more likely to have eaten.

To date, the items I have found to be worthy of return trips are:

1. Kao Fu - the wheat gluten and beancurd mix
2. Mustard greens with bean curd and boiled soybean
3. Tofu with Thousand-year egg (the egg is actually not as gross to eat as you'd think)
4. Thousand-layer pancake (NOT the scallion pancake)
5. Radish cake

I have found that the Vegetarian dishes way outclass the ones with meat. I would recommend you give them 1 more try, but stick to the vegetarian items. I believe you'd be pleasantly surpri    [03 Jan 2003 13:05:07]

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Recommended Dishes: Kao Fu, Thousand-year Egg w/Tofu, Mustard green w/Beancurd & Boiled Soybean, Thousand-layer panckake

     ­usmint   

Hit or Miss - A & J
I have had several great experiences here, but my friends and family have all had not so great ones as well, so that's why I deemed it hit or miss. I think it has something to do with the timing. This restaurant can be somewhat hard to find, the parking is bad, but the food is worth it! I have never had a complaint about the food. The noodles are homemade here, and you can choose from wide or thin. I think the key might be to go during off-peak hours, as this small restaurant gets crowded easily. The entire Chinese staff (99% women) are very money hungry (in my opinion) and so they love big parties. They provide good service at best. One credit to them is that they are pretty fast, including in clearing you out of there once you're done eating. For non-Chinese persons, their menu is translated pretty well and the descriptions are good. One last note, if you're Chinese, it might be better to speak English if you can. I've found that they treat you better that way, even though some of them barely speak it themsel    [14 Sep 2004 10:33:16]

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Recommended Dishes: any noodle dish, rice platters, appetizers

     ­Anonymous   

Not too spacious, Service terrible
No complaints about the food varieties and quality. I just won't return again because their service is consistently poor, on the 3 times I've been there there have always been problems. Three strikes and you are out!    [21 Aug 2005 15:08:58]

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     ­Anonymous   

Some of the best Chinese food in the DC area
I had the great good fortune to have lived 10 years in 4 Chinese cities during my USG career: In Taichung and Taipei in Taiwan; and in Hong Kong, and Beijing. I have eaten a LOT of Chinese food, both good and bad. Compared to the Chinese food you get at the typical so-called Szechuan, Hunan, Cantonese, etc., restauranta in the D.C. area, A&Js is in a class of its own. I have been going there since it opened and it is the only Chinese restaurant I have gone to in the U.S. over time, where the food has remained consistently good. Do not go at peak time or, if you do, be prepared to stand outside and wait for a table. Go early for lunch (1130) or after lunch (1300) or during the afternoon or before 1800 when it starts to get crowded again. Gunni    [01 Jan 2007 14:18:17]

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Recommended Dishes: 1,000 layer pancake, onion pancake, pot stickers, pao cai (pickeled vegetables)

     ­Gunni   

Excellent food, low prices, wonderful service
The northern style dim sum is delicious, the restaurant is scrupulously clean, and the staff is friendly, efficient and quick. The large soups are among the best food values in town. Everyone eats the potstickers, and rightly so. The restaurant has settled into a consistancy of excllent food and service, as the owner and servers care so much for good service and happy customers.    [25 Apr 2007 19:32:19]

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Recommended Dishes: anything with pork or chicken, most vegetable and beef dishes

     ­Jeffrey Frawley, Potomac, Maryland   

WILL NOT GO BACK
Went here to celeberate friends' b'days and it was a disaster. I don't like the "no cart" dimsum. The best part of dimsum is seeing all the great dishes pass you by...

The waitstaff was VERY RUDE, and she made us order everything at once (instead of seeing what we would need or what we liked)    [24 Feb 2008 01:16:49]

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     ­noway