Vinh Kee Restaurant

Love this place. They have a Vinh Kee chicken that is great. Make sure to order it early and specify that you want it for later though, as large into the evening, they can get sparse. The food is always hot and the staff is always pleasant.

Still a regular customer. Still enjoying the well done Cantonese dishes and friendly service.
Updating to add a couple of recs (see my past reviews for other recs):
— Vegetarian abalone (on the Vegetarian page at the back of the regular menu). Where else can you find faux abalone?! I admit it’s been a while since I’ve had the real thing, but I thought it was delicious with a chewy feel that sort of snapped back. I picked the dish that came with greens (pea leaves?). Worth trying if you’re a vegetarian and miss abalone. The waitress said this was their best faux abalone after they had previously used one type that didn’t have as good of a texture.
— Turnip cake in XO sauce (on dim sum menu). This dish of turnip cake cubes is pretty darn fried. But each side of the cube was well crisped/​crusted from the frying and the flavor was deliciously savory. Caveat: I’ve never had this dish anywhere else (I’ve only had regular turnip cake), so I don’t know if this is how it’s «supposed» to taste, but I don’t care. It’s good.

Expensive for Dim Sum, and their Beef Chow Fun was extremely smokey and over cooked. Nope.

This is always my family’s go to when we want chinese food. Whenever my parents call me and ask if I want Vinh Kee, I can never say no. Their customer service is beyond amazing and they really take care of you. The food is very good and you taste the freshness in everything. We usually order family style and just spin the lazy susan around. I don’t know the exact name of each dish but I know what they consist of. Last night we went and as picture that is everything that we got. My personal favorite to start out with is the HUGE grilled oysters in black bean sauce, crab asparagus soup, and their cold jellyfish. For entrees, we got two lobsters, clams in black bean sauce, watercress stir fried with garlic pieces, chicken, and some other dish. I’ve have a lot of items off their menu and it never disappoints.

The Best Cantonese Fried Rice in the area.
in my opinion, the best kind of Chinese (and any variety of fried rice) is Cantonese fried rice.
smoky, and not the sticky kind unlike any other regions fried rice.
you can taste the smoke and the wok on the rice.
truly real work of art.
Delicious!!!

Beware the cockroaches running across the tables during lunch service! Food quality is no longer an item for consideration at this point.

love love love the dimsum at vinh kee! So authentic and its so hard to find good dimsum anywhere else! There’s a wide variety and I especially like the baked pork buns and rice crepes… always made fresh :)
Service is exceptional for a Chinese restaurant. I never need to ask them to add water to my tea pot and they will offer a clean plate every now and then. I always take my friends there and definitely recommend vinh kee to those who wanna have a good time enjoying dim sum!

I’m from Hong Kong and while interning in DC over the summer suffered through many disappointments with DMV-​area dim sum and Cantonese-​style cuisine joints, which made discovering Vinh Kee a godsend. Vinh Kee has a wider selection of dim sum than other dim sum joints in the area, and all of Vinh Kees stuff tastes pretty good and came out reasonably fast. You can either order it off the menu or order it off the push carts making the rounds around the tables. What really sets it apart though is its non-​dim sum menu, which carries a multitude of Cantonese dishes that no other DMV Cantonese place can match and is cooked in a style very reminiscent of HK diners/​茶餐廳. The food doesn’t reek of MSG and staff is friendly and generally alert. Prices are consistent with other DMV Chinese places.
Vinh Kee is as authentic as you’ll get in the DMV area for Cantonese food. Considering the location, gets 5 stars from me.

A hole in the wall that serves pretty good Chinese fare. Getting to this place is a challenge. Even though you can see it from the main road, you must backtrack, go down a side street, turn into a bowling alley and drive in the secret entrance. The place was decorated like it was 1960 or maybe they haven’t changed it since then. I’m lucky to have a Chinese friend who did all the ordering for us. She obviously did a good job in selection. I remember the fun time catching up with my friends more than the food though. But I also remember that everything was good but not great. I understand that the Dim Sum is outstanding here, but that’s only for lunch.

Very nice service, wait staff was phenomenal. Food was delicious. We ordered the salt pepper squid, shrimp. Crispy chicken was the best. Make sure you pre order the crispy chicken before going there. Also they have dim-​sum and my favorite XIAO LONG BAO!!!

This is my family’s go to restaurant when we’re all together, since we’re a large family. It’s one of your typical authentic Chinese restaurant with the fishes and lobsters in a tank and the hanging roasted duck, steam chicken and pork in a heated box window as soon as you enter. The dining area is very large and opened.
The place is family owned and has been running as long as I can remember. The food is always consistent, good, flavorful and with just the right amount of seasoning. The prices are decent and affordable. And the service is good and attentive.

Plus: free tea, free white rice, free soupie desert, food came out quickly, waitress knowledgeable, can speak English, Cantonese and Vietnamese, service was good and great selection of vegetarian dishes.
Food: hong kong style pork chop was good, the veggie chow foon was good, the half fresh chicken ginger and scallion was ok and the veggie of the day, chinese spinich was ok as well.
Minus: roach on the wall. Luckily for us it stayed away from our table.

The service here is really friendly and attentive, which is rare for a Chinese restaurant.
We ordered from the dim sum menu, bbq pork bao, shrimp avocado spring rolls, both of which were hot and flavorful.
We shared a bowl of roast duck wonton noodle soup. The broth had a slight sweetness to it, but was light and aromatic with enough saltiness to balance out the sweet. The noodles were firm and remained so until consumed. Because nobody likes soggy noodles.
We ordered a bit too much food, but the shrimp lo mein was perfectly prepared and tasted great the next day.
I didn’t know the name of a dessert I like, so I described it and our server brought it out. It’s a hot, sweet, tapioca soup flavored with bean. It’s an acquired taste but I like it a lot, and it’s not something I can replicate at home, so I’ll probably be here often.

The food is good if you order from the menu. The dim sum is not very good comparing to China Garden/​Fortune.

Not too bad. Ok for a close-​to-​home option. Tastes like they are less heavy handed with the msg which is the only thing saving them from a one star review. But some things were bland or tasted like they were a sitting in the steamer a bit longer than it should have been. Tripe was completely and utterly bland, but they kept saying that they make things with a milder flavor – refusing to try it or admit that it indeed tastes like just water. I had to keep adding soy sauce to everything, which I never do…
The hanging meats were not fresh. They were mushy or had a weird taste or both

I am in love with this place. I live about 2 minutes away so yeah I go here a lot. Their food is so good. My must have dishes are: heo quay and pha lau-​roasted pig and marinated intestines. The other dishes are delish too but homegirl here gotta have her pha lau.
The service overall is great. The staff is friendly and they’re not constantly on your ass about stuff. I spilled water once and none of the waitresses bitched at me! You know that means a lot when you’re at an asian restaurant.

First time here wanting some dim sum. Came in and was handed a paper order for dim sum, which I couldn’t truly enjoy, given that I am a more visual person. However, we were out of two other families so I couldn’t expect delicious carts to run through. We were also offered a regular menu for family style dishes. First off, shark fin dumplings, house style shrimp dumplings and steamed pork buns. All were good, no different from the other like restaurants that serve these dishes.
Next the family-​style dishes. We ordered the combination congee (winner), snow pea leaves with garlic sauce (winner), sesame chicken (loser), beef with crispy noodles in black bean sauce (loser), and combination rice (winner).
Congee had great texture and could use a bit more flavor but would be good on a cold sick day. Snow pea leaves? Ahh delish especially with the sautéed garlic? Combination rice, pretty norm. The beef dish was served with green and red peppers with onions, my most unfavorable accompany veggies unless it is a cheese steak sub. The sesame chicken? I have no idea what the taste is but not what I am used to.
Cart? It came by once in our whole seating. Grabbed the taro pancakes with shrimp paste, sesame balls and potstickers. Taro pancakes were good. Very crunchy and had flavor, but can taste some grease. Sesame balls, overcooked. Potstickers? No complaints.
Well, dim sum can run expensive. So including hot tea and no sodas, the tab ran to $ 83.
I would come for other dishes. Like any place, it’s either a hit or miss on the first try.

I liked this place.
The pork fried rice was good. Fried pork chop said it was spicy but not spicy at all .but good flavor. The Peking duck half was good told it up but or mistake we didn’t eat that while it’s hot. And the duck is pricey we won’t order that one again.
Dim sum all good fresh, good timely service polite.
Pork buns were good on the outside but empty on the inside what up with that VInh?
We will be back gotta try some more dishes.

I’ve been a long time fan of Vinh Kee and for my money, they have the best Cantonese style food in NOVA. IMHO I think their wonton noodle soup rivals anything I’ve eaten in NYC or California and I am especially fond of their beef w/​Chinese Vegetables on rice and their mixed seafood combo over pan fried noodles.
My sources within the ANN (Asian News Network) informed me that Vinh Kee recently started serving Dim sum. So with eager anticipation and an empty stomach my buddy (also a fellow Dim Sum connoisseur) went to check it out this morning and were more than pleased with the results.
Before going into the details of our meal, a few notes. First, I would say that the food was definitely not as «salty tasting» which I attribute to less MSG in the food. I also say this because I didn’t have a raging «cotton-​mouth» thirst while eating and wasn’t reaching for water every 5 minutes. Secondly, because Dim Sum is relatively new here and word hasn’t gotten out yet, some of the food tasted like it had been sitting around for a bit. Which is not to say it wasn’t still delicious, but at some of the busier dim sum joints like Hong Kong Pearl or Oriental East, food is constantly being cycled through. Lastly, Vinh Kee doesn’t have a mobile cart with a heater to pan fry items table side, they have an ingenious idea of having a separate «special Dim Sum» table. So walk up to the table and just point at some of the interesting items and the chef freshly fries it up.
So we tried:
Shrimp Dumplings (har gow) — nice pieces of shrimp and not too much pork fat filling, which I liked, since I could taste the shrimp. However, the wrapper was a bit too thick, but overall still very good.
Shu Mai — Mmmm, very tasty with a good ratio of shrimp to meat mixture.
Steamed black bean spareribs — tasty, but honestly the ribs were a bit too fatty. a leaner cut of rib with some more jalapeño would also help
Asian style beef ball — did not have an overwhelmingly processed taste, which is good since it should taste like an Asian meatball and not sausage.
Rice Crêpe stuffed with shrimp — all of these rice crêpe items we had were excellent. The rice crêpe skin was glossy but had perfect texture with each bite. And the accompanying sweet/​salty soy sauce dipping sauce also very good.
Tofu rolls filled with shrimp and pork (sin jook gyun) — my all time favorite dim sum. Vinh Kee’s version has the filling first fried and then served with a light Oyster based sauce. DELICIOUS.
From the special Dim sum table:
Chive and meat dumplings — delicate rice flour dumplings were pan fried providing a nice crispness. Nice filling of chive and meat, but could’ve used a bit more seasoning.
Deep fried cruller wrapped in rice crêpe — a Hong Kong and Taiwanese staple usually served with congee or warm soy milk. It’s best to eat this dish before the cruller (savory flour stick pastry) gets soggy and when done fresh, it is superb.
We finished up with an order of egg tarts and while the egg filling was great, what was really good was the flaky pastry that surrounded it.
As I mentioned, since Vinh Kee is just starting up with Dim Sum, if there is something you don’t see on the cart that comes around, just ask one of the servers and chances are they have it and will make it fresh.
The Dim Sum here is not quite on par with Hong Kong Seafood Pearl yet, but it is a welcome addition to the NoVA Dim Sum landscape.

Whoa, Vinh Kee serves DIM SUM, now?! We’ve been here for family lunches a few times with large and small parties and one thing that I remember is the service has always been very nice.
My family tried some simple dim sum dishes: shumai (pork and shrimp dumplings), hargow (crystal shrimp dumplings), roast pork buns, and tofu topped with shrimp. All were delicious, hot and fresh and seemed like higher quality than some of the other dim sum spots in Falls Church. They’re starting off really well and I hope that they keep it up with the quality.
We also ordered Roast Duck, Crispy Garlic Fried Chicken, and Beef Pan Fried Noodles. I don’t know if we were just particularly hungry that day but we devoured all of that. We were all satisfied to share ¼ roast duck between the 4 of us since we had so many other dishes. Ok so earlier I said there was one thing that I remember… well, make that two things because the crispy garlic chicken is my JAM… if you know me, then you know my undying obsession with garlic and crispy thangs. This chicken unites both of my loves. Sometimes the white meat pieces are a little overcooked/​dry but more often than not, the seriously crispy skin and garlic will make you forget all of that. Pan fried noodles is a family favorite and Vinh Kee’s version is pretty spot on.
Yeah that’s right, people… Vinh Kee has finally joined the Falls Church dim sum game. I’m convinced to come back and try some of their other offerings.