China Garden - Arlington, Va

Today, I decided to try authentic Chinese food for lunch, instead of the Korean style Chinese food which is commonly found in Rosslyn.  I'm not a really big fan of Koreans serving Chinese or Japanese food.  I really think they should stick to what they know best, Korean food.

I haven't been to China Garden in years.  I ordered the Szechuan Beef Lunch special which came with an eggroll and fried rice.  The egg roll was pretty good for a Chinese Restaurant and so was the fried rice.  The Szechuan Beef was typical chinese food.  A little oily.  There was a ridiculous amount of red and green hot peppers, but the dish wasn't very spicy.  I thought the sauce could have had a little more flavor.  The portion was the perfect size, just enough to make you full.  Overall this lunch was pretty good and I will go back for authentic Chinese food.

Santa Fe Cafe - Arlington, Va

Today I ordered a taco salad and a chicken taco from Santa Fe Cafe.  I've been here several times.  There is nothing particularly impressive about this place.  The picture looks better than it tasted.  And  I had to pay an extra $.60 for jalapenos.  Overall, everything was a bit bland. The chips were soggy from the 5 minute walk back to my desk.  I didn't care for the beans in my taco salad.  The jalapenos add a little flavor and spice.  Even the salsa was bland.  It's about average for a meal in Rosslyn.

Baja Fresh - Arlington, Va

I haven't been to Baja Fresh in awhile because it's not one of my favorite places.  They redesigned their menu, which they really needed to do.  I decided to go there to try their primo tacos.  I got the blackened shrimp and lanogstino lobster tacos.  The lobster, didn't really taste like lobster, it tasted more like a crawfish.  But the lobster taco, was actually very good.  The blackened shrimp I didn't really like because it had cheese on the bottom.  Melted cheese with shrimp taco, just didn't do it for me.  The one nice thing about Baja Fresh is the variety of salsas you can get.  I noticed a new one too, pineapple salsa.  I didn't try it this time, but will next time.  Overall, this meal was much better than the usual Baja Fresh.  I might go back for the lobster taco, or something else.

La Chocita Grill - Leesburg, Va

We decided to try this place for lunch because I had a Restaurant.com coupon.  I don't think it is really a mexican restaurant, more like a Salvadoran restaurant.  The restaurant should have been called the La Chocita Fried because everything was super duper fried.  I ordered the fried fish.  It was a whole fish deep fried.  The fish was actually pretty good.  However, my not eating fried foods on a regular basis, it felt a bit greasy.  It came with rice and a side salad.  Overall the food was pretty good, however I think it could have had a little more flavor or spiciness.  The restaurant was pretty crowded, being a small restaurant in Leesburg.  The waitstaff/owners were very attentive.  Overall this was a good restaurant.  I will come back when I'm in the mood for more fried food.

Tequila Grande - Vienna, Va

This really isn't in our neck of the woods, but we were coming home from an event in DC and wanted to try something different.  The restaurant was pretty empty, but it was 3pm on a Sunday afternoon.  I'm not sure the food was authentic Mexican, but it was very good.  I ordered the Carne Asada.  It came with cheese on top of the steak.  I had never seen it served this way before.  The steak was cook perfectly with very good spices.  I came with black beans, a small salad, rice, tortillas and a chicken flauta.  I've never had a chicken flauta before, but it was sort of like a taquito but was filled with chicken much more flavorful.  My husband had a chile stuffed with seafood.  It was a good sized chile, but I'm not sure it went well with the seafood.  The seafood stuffing was good on it's own.  Overall we liked this restaurant and we will come back.

Chen's Kitchen - Herndon, Va

I've been to this restaurant many times.  Most often the food has been mediocre.  I went here for lunch and got the Beef Chow Fun and Singapore Rice Noodle.  The food was actually very good.  The Beef Chow Fun was close to the quality I used to get in Boston.  The only difference was there were no vegetables.  The noodles were cooked perfectly and the small amount of sauce was perfect.  The Singapore Rice Noodle was pretty good also.  Overall, probably the best Beef Chow Fun I've had both at this restaurant and in Virginia.

Oak Street Cafe - Arlington, Va

So I went back to the Korean cafe to get the Soondubu.  The owners were waiting for me when I got there.  It took awhile for them to prepare it, but not a big deal.  Overall the Soondubu was good.  It seemed like it could have used a little more flavor and definitely more spiciness.  I suppose they did not make a seafood based stock and it was just water.  They added an egg, which I didn't really like because it was cooked by the time I got back to the office.  The kimchi was also good, but could have been spicier also.  Overall, it was a good meal.  I would get it again, but probably not every week.