I've been going here since I was a baby, some of the workers still recognize me despite me not going for years! I have to admit the quality has gone down a tiny bit (some of the food's a little dry, slightly smaller portions, namely the scallion pancake duck roll was mostly veggies instead of meat), but it's still a spot I really enjoy going to for some homey food. You can choose between thick and thin for your noodle soups and I honestly like both even tho I usually like thick noodles. Their soups are nice and brothy, not too rich which I like. I've tried most of the food on the menu and it covers the bases for when you're feeling something more light or something more filling. read more

We tried A&J and liked it a lot! This is not a typical Chinese-American restaurant. A&J has quite a few pleasantly unexpected dishes. Service was welcoming and efficient. On a mid-Saturday afternoon, the restaurant was about ¾ full. We started out with the Wonton Soup and the Spicy Wonton soup. The Wonton soup is just okay, but the Spicy Wonton Soup is wonderful and highly recommended. For another appetizer, we ordered the Scallion Pancake. It has a nice dense texture and I really liked it. It would've been even better if it came with a dipping sauce. We also ordered the pickled cabbage. It was good, though lacking seasoning. Our first entrée was ground pork in a delicious sauce accompanied by sprouts and thinly sliced cucumber (or was that zucchini?). Recommended! Our second entrée was a Pan Fried Beef Bun. The beef was flavorful but the bread was kinda dry. Our last entrée was the Beef Wraps. These were great! Who woulda thunk that beef and fresh carrots would go together so well?! Oh, the chili sauce in a jar on the table is extra tasty. At the end, before we got our check, we were given a plate with sliced cucumbers in a light tasty sesame chili sauce. Excellent! But the hot tea was an epic fail. It had no flavor whatsoever. Peeking inside the teapot, all I could see was a micro tiny tea bag floating or sort of sinking. One other thing I kinda don't want to bring up in light of the great food we enjoyed, but need to in the spirit of full disclosure, is to mention that A&J shares space in the building with several other businesses. The restrooms are common to all the businesses. A&J needs to lean hard on the property owner/manager to do a deep cleaning in those restrooms. I'll leave it at that. read more

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I really loved the consistency of their noodles, you can tell they're homemade as many of the reviews said. I also LOVE their prices, you can't beat it. We paid $39 for my husband and I, each of us got entrees and appetizers, beverages. Each table also gets a fresh pot of green tea with your meal. You have a choice of wide noodles or regular, we both got wide noodles. We ordered: Dan Dan noodles (sesame nooodle) 10/10 Spicy beef noodle soup 5/10 - the soup had a really weird off putting urine scent to me. I couldn't find eat it. Scallion pancakes 6/10 not the best ones we've had Spicy cucumber 7/10 by mild spice nice flavor The service: Fast and helpful. It gets very packed, and it's a very tiny location. However, the staff do a great job at flipping the tables. We only had to wait 5-10 mins. They can accommodate bigger groups. Overall we will definitely be coming back. It's a casual spot for dinner. read more

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Well I wanted something to eat takeaway. And since I'm in asiandale I decided to try this place. The highlight of the meal was the 麻辣黃瓜 MA LA HUANG GUA* Cucumber Salad in Hot Garlic Sauce. It's something I would come back for. The beef bun was decent and I enjoyed it but not return-worthy. The 麻辣耳絲 MA LA ER SI** Sliced Pork Ears w/ Hot & Spiced Seasoning Are shaved super thin which is nice and all but not really crispy like I would prefer. I am glad I got them take away because I could fry them up in a skillet and they became a delish meal. But served cold and floppy I wouldn't finish them. The service was exceptionally kind and fast. The ladies who served me didn't care that I am a total white man in an authentic Chinese restaurant. read more

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Came on Christmas Day for some dinner and was pleasantly surprised. Dumplings (not pictured) were fabulous and the potstickers had a perfect flavor burst filling with crispy outside. Sesame noodles were good but tasted more peanutty. The beef soup with wide noodles was flavorful and it was apparent that the broth had been made from scratch. Quick service and food came out super quickly. read more

A&J - Beef soup - Taiwanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

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Famous for affordable food (and it's original Maryland location). Wanted to give it another chance but unfortunately the quality wasn't what I expected. Got take out once and dined in once. Service was perfectly fine, nothing special to add here. Casual crowd so feel free to bring family/friends. The dishes ordered include: Beef noodle soup (Clear broth): Was what I'd expect from this restaurant and the price wasn't too bad. Would order again probably (7/10) Braised pork rice: Not bad, just okay (7/10) Potstickers (pork): Was probably better of the dishes (8/10) Thousand layer pancake: Not bad, this was the better dishes (8/10) Steamed spareribs: Not good at all, definitely stale (4/10) Was this place amazing? Not exactly but some dishes were good enough for the price! Would return only for the wheat-based dishes (eg. noodles, dumplings, flatbread). read more

A&J - Taiwanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

I was surprised how small the restaurant was but we were still able to find a table! It was busy on Friday evening and people were coming in and out endlessly. At first I was a bit worried because of the pictures they are not as aesthetic looking but man i was wrong! I usually dont like the thick noodles type but these were perfect the chewiness, the flavors and the softness of the meat? Heck i would get more meat next time!! The scallion pancakes are small servings but it was perfect because the we got to try other side dishes like the cucumber salad (the best one i got it was actually saucy and crunch and great spice.) Service was friendly, gave us water when ever it was needed and tea was also available:) Loved my experience will definitely go back read more

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I love this authentic Taiwanese noodle shop! Come early at 11:30 am when they open, bc once it hits noon, the crowds come! They are quick with their service and the complimentary Jasmine tea always hits the spot! It is sooo good! I ordered their cucumber salad which is always so crunchy, with a spicy. The seaweed salad was not what I expected. The texture was off bc it was in larger slices. The Szechuan beef noodle soup with thick noodles hit the spot on a rainy day. It was soo spicy but so good. The beef was tender! I wish it had more vegetables in the broth. read more

A&J - Szechuan beef noodle soup, cucumber salad, seaweed salad - Taiwanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

One of my favorite taiwanese restaurant up to date. The braised pork bowl cost about $6 and their side dishes are amazingggg! The pork ears, the specialty noodles... chef kiss! The cucumber side dish is crispy, spicy, a bit sweet and cold.. PERFECT! We got two because it was so good. The beef noodles that we got was so good. The beef was so soft and melt in your mouth. Noodles are chewy and soup are a bit spicy! The crispy pork was also delicious. Everything was so good I don't even know how to describe it anymore. Staff are friendly but a bit harder to ask for things as you have to repeat it a few times. Restaurant is small enough that it's giving family restaurant vibes. Not a lot of tables available so just a heads up that it might be busy during lunch time or dinner time! read more

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An all-around fantastic Chinese restaurant. We went in on a busy Sunday afternoon but were seated immediately. The space is small but laid out well enough to feel like you're not on top of anyone else. The first thing you notice is how good everything smells. It's all uphill from there. The staff is welcoming and helpful, the food is as fresh as it gets. A&J delivers all of the robust flavors and textures that you expect from quality, authentic Chinese food. The cucumber salad, scallion pancake, & braised egg are must-haves to start your meal off right. Go from there and enjoy! read more

pork dumpling and cucumber appetizers great. beef noodles yummy, will be back! quick service

Met up with some friends for dinner here as it's been on my list for a while. Interestingly, they gave me the menu and said to mark off what we wanted. Everything was pretty easy to figure out aside from the "what kind of noodles?" They asked thick or thin, but when I tried to get an understanding of what the sizes were there was a bit of miscommunication. What's nice is the menu is pretty reasonably priced and there's a lot of variation. The uniquely shaped, pan-fried pork dumplings were really good. I had thin noodles with shredded pork and pickled vegetable soup, which was really nice. The noodles have a great chew to them. I also highly recommend the Dan Dan noodles and the Chinese fried chicken. Honestly everything we got was delicious. The scallion pancake is really simple but I loved how chewy it was on the inside. I think we ended up with about 9 times and with tax+tip, I think we were at $100 for four people and a lot of leftovers to take home. Planning to head back soon. read more

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Very yummy comfort food! My friend and I came around a Sunday afternoon and it was fairly busy but we were promptly seated. The restaurant is a little small so there could be a long wait during busy hours. We ordered the scallion pancakes and dumplings to share and they were both delicious. I decided to get the dandan noodles and I think this was more on the peanut buttery side and I wish it had a better balance between sweet and savory. I preferred my friend's dish more which was a beef dry noodle. I will say that I liked the quality of the noodles because they were thick and had a nice bite to it! Food was pretty affordable and I will most likely be coming back!!!! read more

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Super delicious and a great value! Our group ordered the cucumber salad, scallion pancakes, and pork pan-fried dumplings to share. The cumber salad was perfectly fresh and spicy, and the large size of the dumplings was a fun surprise! The scallion pancake was a bit thick for my liking (made it a bit chewy) but came out fresh and crispy on the outside. The soup was so incredibly good! I absolutely suggest getting the thick noodles - they're hand pulled and make for such a great hearty dish. The broth was super flavorful and the portion was HUGE. I was psyched to have another meal's worth to enjoy at home! read more

A&J - Pork and Szechuan radish noodle soup with thick noodles - Taiwanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

everything was for the most part yummy! i've been wanting to try taiwanese style breakfast, so i was really happy that i got to here. the soybean milk was nice and sweet and the fried dough stick was so big, i couldn't finish it! i liked the scallion pancake of the beef roll, but the filling wasn't very balanced, with too many carrot shreds. the greens provided a nice palate cleanser and i liked the collagen and noodles in the noodle soup. read more

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Super friendly staff! The beef noodle soup was really salty but the meat was super tender. I loved how you can choose what type of noodles you want in the soup. The dumplings were good but the spareribs were not my favorite. I think it's just a flavor I'm not particularly used to. read more

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Cash only as usual... Always a go to for Taiwanese beef noodle soup and dim sum options. This time, Beef noodle soup with tendon and beef, pork potstickers and spicy garlic cucumbers. The cucumbers were deliciously refreshing. Cold, garlicky & spicy. Great start. The pork potstickers were next. A disappointment. The potstickers felt like they were sitting for a few minutes. Not piping hot. The pork filling was not seasoned well and dry. Worst off was the skin. Way too thick. Doughy. Not thin and crispy as it should be. The beef noodle soup was good. Comforting and warm. Chunks of beef tendon and tender beef. The noodles were ramen like thin. Not as good as handmade noodles. The broth was spicy and numbing. It was good but not great as usual. The service was good. Again, a small space and not too loud. Lots of to go orders too! read more

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Extremely disappointed. When I went to pick up my food, the cashier explicitly told me, 'You need to give a tip.' Tipping should be a choice, especially for takeout when I am doing the driving and pickup myself. Being told I must tip is unprofessional and rude. I will not be returning. read more

First time coming back to A&J since I was a kid, and their food isn't as good as it used to be. Got the yang chun mian (noodles in chicken broth with vegetables), spicy beef noodle soup, bean curd skin w/ mustard greens and soy beans, and steamed spare ribs with five spice powder. The only thing I'd pay for again is the bean curd skin with mustard greens side. Noodle soups were very average; the noodles were overcooked and the yang chun mian broth tasted mostly like sesame oil. read more

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Have heard rave reviews about this spot for years and decided to try it for myself. Overall, I thought the food was ok, no where near the hype it gets. The Braised Pork Rice and Spicy Beef Noodle Soup were good, but the apps we got were pretty bland. This place will definitely satisfy a craving, but there are better options in m opinion. Apps: Peking Beef Wrap and Shredded Bean Curd Salad Entrees: Braised Pork Rice and Spicy Beef Noodle Soup read more

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10/10 Food - I always feel like I'm eating at Mama's here! This is the go-to comfort food spot for my girlfriend and I. Our favorite go-to is the Spicy Beef Noodle Soup + the seaweed salad + the beef rolls read more

The service is great and the ambiance is quaint. But the food is just okay. Maybe we orders the wrong things, but everything we tried just fine and lacking in flavor. If I do come back here, I will try other things on the menu. The main highlight is how affordable everything on the menu was. read more

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A family favorite for authentic Chinese food. We basically order the same things every time. Sesame cold skin noodles 8/10 Edamame and greens 8.5/10 Fen Zheng ribs 7.5/10 Zha Jiang noodles 9/10 Chili wontons 11/10 (MUST GET) Pork potstickers 9/10 (highly recommend; dip in black vinegar) Pay with cash to get a discount! Casual place that fills up quickly on weekends, and the beautiful origami swans have been there since I was a tiny kid. read more

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Amazing price for the food in the NOVA area. Authentic Chinese food which is rareeee to find. Quick and fast service which is fantastic. Family oriented location that's on the smaller side for restaurants. Overall a great experience and will gladly be returning! read more

A&J - Taiwanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

Very comforting food! Was recommended by many friends and coworkers and I must say, it's pretty good. I didn't really like the beef rolled in scallion pancake but other dishes were good. Will try again! read more

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I love the cucumber salad most. I can eat that as a snack everyday if I could. Service is super exceptional and they're always so nice. Great place for friends and family to have lunch and dinner. read more

We found a good spot! This place serves really good taiwanese-chinese cuisine - we ordered beef dumplings, beef noodles with thick noodles, cucumber salad/pickle, beef short ribs, and beef biscuits. I am expecting different taste from beef short-ribs, it is different from what I am used to for taiwanese method but still okay. While everything else was really good, feeling like having a comfy food. The service here is awesome, we just entered and we are assisted immediately. The menu does not have any photos so you may need to rely on photos on yelp but there is some description on what it is the food about. (that's when you know the food is good) Place is inside of a building but also have entrance of their own. There is only indoor sitting and have quite spacious parking space. Once you enter here it is a dungeon of different culture so it could be an added factor that you are immersing yourself in. Overall this is a good experience and surely will come back! read more

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Really good dim sum! Everything tasted fresh and homemade. All the staff are very friendly and welcoming, and you can tell from the ambiance it's an authentic and family owned place. Four of us shared 7 dishes and it filled us perfectly. We got the cucumber salad in a hot garlic sauce, spicy wontons, crispy pork dumplings, scallion pancake, spicy beef noodle soup, fried chicken with rice, and suan la mian which were noodles in a spicy hot and sour sauce. For a drink I got the creamed ice tea. Everything came as it was ready, and it's very clear they're made to order. The spicy wontons, suan li mian, and the fried chicken pieces were my favorites. For our noodle dishes we asked for the wide noodles since they're the hand pulled ones. Service was great and there really are no complaints. Everything was also priced very reasonably. We will definitely be back! read more

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Every single place in the plaza has shuttered and reopened in the last 20 years and they even chopped down the forest next to the plaza to build houses, but A&J still stands strong. This is probably the only place in Northern Virginia serving this specific kind of traditional Taiwanese comfort food in a casual yet not street-food manner, unlike the plentiful beef noodle soup and dimsum-adjacent places I've grown familiar with in California. I can't say I'm super familiar with the extremely extensive menu because we genuinely get the exact same things every time, but our favorites include the guo tie (鍋貼), pi dan dou fu (皮蛋豆腐), liang ban gan si (涼拌干絲), and yang chun mian (陽春麵). I rarely find potstickers with the same shape and dough except for here, and I LOVE their thicker noodles. We've been going for so long that my dad says the beef noodle soup has literally tripled in price since he first came, but I think this will genuinely always be our go-to whenever we are missing Taiwan. Some of the waitresses have been around since I was a kid and they still can't believe I'm all grown up. They are cash only though to my recollection! read more

We've been here many times to dine in and takeout. Take out is obviously not the same quality given travel time to home in the Togo containers but it is still VERY GOOD. They are very accommodating with any questions or requests. It is a small shop in an Asian shopping center with ample and easy parking for quick pick ups. read more

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I hate to do this to you, but A&J, we're taking you off from our dining rotation. We have been coming here for years, but it seems as if the quality and the consistency have become an issue on our recent visits. Some dishes seemed to not have the usual seasoning, the preparation seemed to be haphazardly done, and the flavors are just not there anymore. On our most recent visit, our fried chicken, that we usually love, was raw. When this was 're-done', it seemed as if they just threw it in the fryer again to cook it longer, but it was just overcooked and inedible. Service has always been friendly and efficient. No dice, A&Js. +RAW chicken served +inconsistency in food preparation read more

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One of my favorite Chinese spots in the area! They have great appetizers and smaller dishes like soy sauce egg, seaweed salad, red oil wontons and their mains are also very good. The rice dishes are all great and come at a good price. Some favorites to pair with congee include the tofu and century egg and pan fried dumplings. The Peking beef wrap is also really good, with great textures. read more

Love their dan dan noodles (spicy sesame noodles)! My boyfriend and I always get the thick (you can choose thick or thin) dan dan noodles whenever we order. It's creamy, nutty, and the noodle texture is great. We've never eaten inside (at either of their locations), but wouldn't be opposed to it! It's just more convenient to pick-up. Other dishes I like to get occasionally are the vegetarian delight, fried pork chop and fried chicken, which I've only tried from their Maryland store, but I assume they're the same here. The thousand year egg with tofu wasn't my jam, but it wasn't bad! Highly recommend A&J for great food! read more

A&J - Thousand Year Egg With Tofu and Dan Dan noodles - Taiwanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

Definitely a hole-in-the wall type of place to offer some Taiwanese comfort food. Service is quick and the food was good. I definitely will look forward to coming back and trying more items. PORK CHOP NOODLE SOUP: This comes Chinese Style Fried Pork Chop on the side with a simple Noodle Soup. It came with more Pork Chop than I thought and the flavor/texture was perfect. BRAISED PORK ON RICE: Definitely a comfort choice for me. This is a bowl of rice with braised pork on top and topped with a braised egg. Recommend mixing the pork all together with the rice and adding spice to it (if you like it spicy) as I find it complements the marinated flavor of the pork. SPICY WONTONS: These are wontons with hot red sauce (Szechuan style). Recommend you mixing and covering the wontons in the hot red sauce as they typically come sitting on top of the sauce. These were okay and came out as expected. read more

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Just the way I like it, a little hole in the wall place but the food is legit authentic, the service is friendly. They make they're own noodles here so of course I had to try it. There were four of us so we got several different things. Scallion pancake-fried, good with or without sauce Thousand layer pancake-almost like Chinese version of a croissant, not a lot of flavor but I could see myself snacking on one while watching tv Pork dumplings-very tasty, longer in length than what I have seen before, think they make these too Ground pork with noodle-this hit the spot! Lots of ground pork and noodles, served with bean sprouts and I think it was cucumber. Coming back again to try more! Yes, cash only like the others have said. It was pretty busy on Friday night too. Very reasonably priced, a lot cheaper than some other places I have been to. read more

OG spot always consistent. Service always friendly. They have the usual rush during lunch and dinner times. They have one table for party of up to maybe 8 people the rest is 1-5 people. read more

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I'm from California and there's an a&j location out there that I love to frequent because of its tasty food and cheap prices. Once I moved to nova and found out there was a location here, I was so excited to try it out! The menu items are pretty much the same so I went with my go to sour and spicy noodles, xiao long bao, etc. I thought they were pretty decent, but the pan fried pot stickers tasted kind of like chemicals/soap...but other than that the food was good. I wanted to shout out the service there. The lady working there was so nice and cheerful despite tending to almost all the tables alone! read more

A&J - Taiwanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

Delicious and authentic food at a great price. We loved everything but the Dan Dan noodles and spicy beef noodle soup were especially tasty. Atmosphere is casual and the service was very friendly. Definitely a more affordable meal without compromising on flavor. read more

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the short - as someone who is not Taiwanese, the menu felt a bit overwhelming because I was unfamiliar with the types of dishes. The service staff isn't the most accommodating for those types of needs, but overall the food was decent. You walk in and it feels like an old school Asian restaurant (I'll leave it up to you if that's a good or bad thing). There are outdated tables and chairs and the decor feels pretty 90s. The service staff seats you, but after that, our experience was that we kind of had to wave down people if we needed help (it didn't feel particularly busy when we went). They offer a pretty large array of items, so as someone who isn't familiar with the cuisine, it feels a bit overwhelming and there are no pictures or guidance otherwise to help. Basically used Yelp as a menu name - picture guide to help order. The flavors of the dishes were ok. My favorite was probably the braised pork over rice. After that, the noodles in the dishes were probably my favorite. They seem handmade and have a good chew to them. The broth of the dishes felt like they were missing a certain savory depth to them (you can add your own soy sauce, but it wasn't just a saltiness that was missing). I could probably pass on the pan fried pork bun next time. It kinda just felt like a soggy pan fried dumpling. Okay experience overall. read more

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Incredible food -- we stop by every time we're in the area from Baltimore. Your meal always comes with hot tea. Cute, calm atmosphere compared to the strip mall restaurants around it. And the staff is always pleasant. read more