Food My family and I have been going to this restaurant for over 30 years, today was the most disappointing day. ( side note we have been ordering the same dishes for the same amount of time) Quality decline was exponential!!! The fried soup noodles that were brought to our table were drowning in grease. So much so they were had to eat. When we asked for a fresh batch, the waitress got upset and told us that the batch was fried that way and there was nothing they could do. We requested a non spicy sesame chicken due to my aunts allergies and when the dish came out to our disappointment it was spicy. When we informed the waitress and asked for the owner to help us we were ignored. I had to pull and tug for assistance. They spoke their language ignored us and then stated that we never requested not spicy for our dish. Let me state again we have been going here over 20yrs and always ask for the same thing. :/ The waitress was cold rude and mean. Here is my "in a nutshell" after 20-30 yrs of coming this is my last time stepping foot into this place and my families last time too. If you want a relaxed nice dining experience this is not the place. You will be treated better at the McDonald's drive through read more

OMG the worst experience ever! Okay when we walked in we waited for an hour to get seated for a table. I would not have complained if people who walked in after us did not get seated first. The lady was seating people she knew before us and we had to keep getting pushed back. It was getting to the point where I felt like it was ridiculous. Not only that, but when we were seated, we had to wait forever for anything! We did not get water, so my sister had to walk up and get us all a glass of water. Then, we sat there waiting for dim sum and seriously there was nothing to pick from. We were farther down in a table far from the kitchen, so every time the cart came to us, there was nothing on the cart! OMG! Just a crazy and ridiculous experience. I would just go to another dim sum spot next time. It is not worth the ridiculousness. read more

I love this food and the service is amazing, I love the taste of their egg drop soup and all the other amazing dishes at this wonderful restaurant. read more

Very average dim sum experience. However, for a dim sum trip during Covid, I gave it an extra star. The service was really slow, but I don't blame them because of having so little business. They had all the usual dishes but there was nothing that really stood out from the rest. The rice rolls were really thick instead of being paper thin, the shrimp dumplings stuck to the steamer because of a lack of wax paper and the fried dough fritter were really dense and lacked the airy feel. What I liked was the generous portions they gave. Every dish was loaded and had more food than we expected! For having some dim sum during covid it is an ok experience. Would recommend! read more

I was very disappointed in this place. My family used to go there all of the time. The people that work there have gotten very rude. It is like they are doing you a favor. I didn't know that it was that difficult to do your job!! I got my order and took it home. I was eating my wonton soup. Inside of the wonton was a long strip of plastic. I couldn't believe it!!! Luckily I didn't swallow it!! What happened to quality control? I will never go back there again!! read more

Excellent service and a lovely dinner for two at a very affordable price. We will definitely return.

Excellent food. Our Chinese neighbors introduced us to it and we've been going back ever since. Good food, good service and nice ambiance.

Came for dim sum with the family. Some items were good: shrimp in flat white noodle, shu mai, squid, shrimp and scallops dumpling, steamed pork dumpling and sesame balls. Ones to avoid: fried rice wrapped in banana leaf had very dry chicken inside, Singapore noodle very dry, dumpling with peanuts inside did not like flavor. It is hit or miss. Service was fine. read more

Terrible, disgusting food. Ordered from the Chef Specialty and I could not eat it. Even the fried rice was terrible. The egg roll had no vegetable and did not taste fresh. The sesame chicken was too sweet. Really bad food. Never going there again. read more

I've ordered several times from this establishment and am very pleased with their being precise with orders, courteous, clean and professional. Some items are expensive but worth the price. The food is very good. read more

I have had dinner SF in Silver Spring 6 or 7 times in the last 4 months. An older standby such as Shrimp with Snow Peas is delicious. If you try the Royal Steak Kow it's great and is one of my favorites. This is a dish I have not often seen offered in other local Chinese restaurants. My last trip to SF, I tried their Shrimp Tempura. The appetizer was outstanding. The service at SF can be a little slow but it's not unlike many large restaurants. If you have the time to expand your choices, the SF menu is enormous and is a great choice. read more

We decided to try a new place for dim sum for this past Chinese New Year. The food was fine -- a number of dim sum dishes have not had before, and by and large out old favorites were done well. I give particularly high marks on two levels - the servers were pleasant, not surly as we often see in dim sum places where the food comes around on carts, and we did not have to wait on line to get in read more

The dim sum is delicious from here. Also the chrysanthemum tea I could drink all day! The pork buns are great too.

I haven't eaten Chinese food in over 2 years before trying this place. I was close and I was hungry. I ordered the sweet and sour chicken combination platter. My old "go-to." I took it to go. When I brought i back to work and opened up the egg roll, oil spilled everywhere. I don't know who fried this thing, but something went wrong. Somehow, half of it was filled with oil and leaked all over the bag, my hands, the table, etc. I grabbed half a dozen paper towels and cleaned up. Despite my best judgement, I tried it anyway. Bad idea. I bit into the top half away from where the oil pooled, but it was just a mushy mess. The rice was bland w nothing added in it. It was just brown. Well most of it was. There was some clumped together that was still white. The chicken itself was mushy, but just the coating. Inside, the chicken itself was fine. White chunks of breast, no mystery meat. There's a lot of choices around here. Just do yourself a favor and check around. I didn't and that's my fault. read more

They are great for dim sum and I have eaten here many times and I will continue to come. I am now writing a review on their catering. I was planning a party at my home and needed enough food to serve 40 people. I rely on the establishment to tell me how much food is needed. Unfortunately, that assistance was lacking. First, there is no catering menu. You have to guess from the regular menu how many portions of a single dish would serve 40 people. I decided on three dishes times 10 for each one. Theoretically, that should serve 30 people. I stressed the entire week worrying whether that would be enough food. I mean, who orders what supposedly only feeds 30 people when she plans to have 40 people in her house for dinner? When we arrived to pick up the order one week later, it was ready and boxed at the front. The restaurant also had a push cart for us to use. Lessons learned: There was way too much food. There were two catering trays of each type of food. I laid out only one each of the trays of food and was planning to bring out the second trays once the first tray was finished. My guests finished the first trays but there was not a need to bring out the seconds. I literally paid for too much food - two times more than what was needed. Another lesson learned is that I should have ordered dishes that would sit before serving. It would have been helpful if the staff had helped me pick out the dishes. For example, I ordered General Tso's chicken. Because of the batter, it got mushy by the time guests ate. As the dish sat in the restaurant waiting for pick up and as it sat in my oven waiting for my guests to arrive, the batter was no longer crunchy as if it was served immediately at the restaurant. This was my mistake. My guests had no complaints and I'm sure the restaurant does a great General Tso's chicken when dining in. read more

This place is so odd because sometimes a dish can be so good and the next minute a dish can be TERRIBLE. And what is even more odd is, a harder dish like the Hot & Spicy Pork Chops are usually really good. Same with the Dumplings. But then the more simpler dishes like the Lo Mein & chicken wings which are waaaay overpriced. $9.95 for 4 wings??? were so bad, you couldn't even finish eating them. So overall, this isn't a place i'd recommend. Just way too inconsistent. read more

Since I'm Chinese (Canto) my grandmother use to live in the Wheaton area, this was the go to spot for a good amount of years. As I got older and started to travel and eat at other Cantonese Chinese Restaurants like in New York or SF Chinese food in Maryland isn't even close, but I'm going to review it based off of Maryland standards and comparing it to other Cantonese Chinese Restaurants in MD. Just a heads up when chinese people have a family dinner they order A LOT and my family of 5 ordered A LOT! Fried Crab Claws-Classic appetizer at a chinese restaurant especially during special events and stuff. This was actually delicious and the crab ball portion size on the claw was a little bigger than usual which is GREAT! Ginger Scallion Lobster-This is a heavily ordered dish for during family dinner. The lobster was honestly overcooked so the lobster was rough and it was quite difficult taking the meat off the shell too. Fried Salt and Pepper Shrimp- After eating this dish at different resturants all over the US and in Hong Kong, there's only one way to critique this. It's a make or break situation. If the shells of the shrimp are soft enough to eat without peeling more than likely it's good and a success. Here it wasn't fried that well and the shells aren't edible so to me it wasn't that good. Shrimp, Chinese Broccoli, Squid, Mushroom, with Lobster Sauce Noodles- First off the then noodles were suppose to be pan fried longer and crunchy! They were barely crunch and basically tasted like the noodles were just boiled and then they sprinkled the sauce on top. I wouldn't recommend getting this at all! Pocket Tofu with Lobster sauce and Spinach-This was probably my favorite one of the meal. The pocket tofus crunch of the skin was just right and the flavor was delicious too! The veggies help provide a good balance. Peking Pork Ribs-Childhood favorite! Kind of phased out of it, but it's still delicious to have once and a while. I've definitely had better at other restaurants, but I can't complain with this one! Poached Chicken w/ginger scallion oil-Family favorite especially during a large gathering. The chicken was a little rough, but with the scallion ginger oil it came together pretty well. Again I've definitely had better, but this wasn't too bad! Overall if I were to eat authentic Cantonese food I'd go to Rockville Pike and eat at East Pearl. In the end, the best authentic Cantonese Chinese food, you'd have to go to Grace Garden located in the Anne Arundel County! Worth the drive if you're far! read more

See all

This WAS my favorite local restaurant. My husband and I used to frequent this place many years ago, and upon returning to this area recently, we've ordered carry-out several times. SO disappointing. The quality is just NOT THERE. The kitchen needs a total overhaul. Food is "left-over" quality, often overcooked, burned, tough. Nowhere near the delicate enticing flavors of REAL Chinese Food. The soups are good, though, but everything else is unfortunately marginal, esp the Spring Rolls that are embarrassing - they need to leave them off the menu entirely. Very Very Sad to write such a horrible review for a once-fabulous restaurant. I hope the owner/management finds the strength to pull this restaurant back from the brink of extinction. They are busy - but how many people REALLY return? Probably not many, sad to say. read more

No words, disgusting food...combination fried rice with old hard rice; combination Singapore noodles extra mega super SALTY

For dim sum in the DMV, you could definitely do better elsewhere. For Westernized Chinese food, Silver Fountain is also not the best but will scratch the itch. For more authentic Chinese cuisine, you should go with someone who can speak Cantonese and ask for recommendations. Be prepared for service misunderstandings due to a language barrier and try to be patient. read more

One of fresher tasting places for duck and their pork ribs. Lots of awesome selection for seafood, I was delighted to see they had crab and shrimp. Seemed kinda disorganized as far as service and our guy brought us no soup container when getting our leftovers to go. "Uh--we ordered a soupy casserole???" In the beginning, they only rolled out porridge and a bunch of fried/sweet items like custard. It took them awhile to get to the savory dishes. And I didn't see the shrimp crepe until we left. As with any dim sum place, my tip is sit as close as you can to the kitchen, aka first dibs. Stay away from any dead zones like the far ends/corners. Also find the greeter person. Ours was a lady. She'll radio to the servers what you need. We made eye contact with her and she was pretty good at reading, "ready to order" for special items, "check please", etc. Only my first time, so I don't know if I agree at all if this better for dim sum than Hollywood East in Wheaton Mall. They didn't bring a lot of shumai or dumplings so hard to say. Every dim sum place has their MVP dishes (same goes for general Chinese food) so it will vary depending on what your likes are. I prefer Hollywood East (HE) for the less greasy food, more sedate ambiance, and better service. I'd go there if you like shumai and dumplings and here for seafood and pork ribs. Here it was very authentic, crowded, loud and a little hot. But if you're feeling like seafood this is where it's at. My family also noted they give you big portions. So our normal amount of $ spent went further here than HE, where we have no leftovers or a dumping/roll or 2 left. read more

See all

Came in for Dim Sum. The food was pretty decent but the wait time for the cart to come around was too long, felt like no one paid attention to our table. Front desk was upset because of tip that I base on service. read more

The food was ok but the service was trash. We waited for more food to come around and never did. The lady at the front also yelled about the tip we left. Honestly better Dim Sum places out there. read more

Been going here since I was a child.. always guaranteed to be good! I love to sit down but carry out is just as good !

Enjoyed 2 visits to this restaurant. The food is excellent & the Dim Sum interesting. Portions large enough to take home for another meal. Service is a bit slow & waitresses don't speak much English but it is a fun experience. Enjoy!! read more

Although it's more out of the way for me compared to other dim sum joints, I might be tempted to report that this is my new favorite spot for these Chinese little dishes. We toyed around with the idea of grabbing lunch at Joe's or Bob's, but it ended up being Fenny's review that swayed me to pick Silver Fountain, and we weren't disappointed. The first thing that stood out to us long before we even go to the food was that the space itself is well appointed. Wood paneling and backlit etched glass frescoes adorn the walls. It just looks open and upscale in a way that other dim sum joints in the area don't. While the food options at Silver Fountain don't seem to be as impressively diverse as over at New Fortune, what they -do- serve they make well. Items aren't excessively greasy and everything we had seemed to be freshly made. I wish that the sha chong fun (wide rice noodles wrapped around shrimp) had a little more consistency to the wrappers, but I really liked the giant blocks of luo buo gao (radish cake). Sadly, they didn't seem to have any fresh greens on carts, or guo tie dumplings as I've seen at other places. It's possible that one could order them from the kitchen, but we ended up going the route of just plucking items off the rolling carts. Stuffed to the brim, in and out in about half an hour, and oozing delicious chrysanthemum tea from my pores, we ended up getting out for roughly $25 with tax and tip for two people. Pretty darn good, I'd have to say! Random aside: The parking lot was kind of a deathtrap when we were here, due to an apparent old school car show of some sort. This seems like an irregular event, but it definitely made entering/exiting the parking lot extremely challenging (and dangerous, considering how many Asian drivers there were). read more

The food is always reliably good here. Even the take out fishes. Staff is nice and attentive, but over worked as staffing is tight.

First of all, this place is far!!! Way past downtown Silver Spring. DC people you're looking at a 40-50 minute drive in no traffic. (On a side not this is a sad reflection on the state of DC dim sum considering that I am willing to drive 50 minutes to get dim sum rather than take a 10 minute metro ride). F-You D.C. dim sum! Unfortunately though it was 50 minutes that could have been better spent. This place has all of the classics, but not of them spectacular, just good enough to keep you from going into dim sum withdraw. The sui mai was very serviceable and tasty as well as the taro puffs. The haw gow was pretty deflated and a bit too chewy, and the daikon cake was supper gummy and about as flaccid as a_____(mad libs). Taste aside, the food was served either room temperature or slightly warm, perfect example is chow fun, and there wasn't much variety. One of the best parts of dim sum is seeing something unfamiliar that the dim chef has created himself and authentic to that particular restaurant. The cart's come by pretty infrequently and when they do it's the same cart from twenty minutes ago. You can only eat haw gow so many times.....On the plus side you can always flag down a maitre d and order what you want from them, but only if you know cantonese which unfortunately I don't :( All this being said, and maybe I'm grouchy because I now have dim sum blue balls, this place is far from the worst dim sum ever. This place really does feel like real dim sum place. I totally loved the ambiance, with lots of Asians families gathered for lunch brunch(I miss you mom), and the waitstaff was pretty friendly. Parking is super easy and the wait was minimimal. Oh and the price wasn't too bad at all as compared to 6 bucks for haw gow in DC...yes I'm talking to you ping pong! The search for decent dim sum in the DMV continues....... read more

Silver Fountain - Dim Sum Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

There are some people who, if they don't get their ketchup at exactly the same time as their burger, will have an existential crisis and turn the entire ordeal into inspiration for an episode of "Girls." Those people should not have dim sum, because waitresses at dim sum restaurants are notoriously brusque mofos. Seriously, they will deflate your self esteem faster than you can say har gow. Silver Fountain goes beyond that though. I literally had to sound the Horn of Gondor to get a cup of water, and it was never filled again. After putting in a request with one of the waitresses, she gave us a really exasperated look, and then repeated our order by imitating the whiny baby voices we apparently have, and then rolled her eyes. The food here, while good, doesn't make up for the shortcomings in service. There were two major letdowns via the radish/taro cakes: which had a gummy texture, and the rice noodles around the shrimp crepes, which were thick and mushy. I was with a party of 6 old Asian women (don't ask) and they didn't think anything of the entire situation. But as an entitled Gen-Y-er, I certainly deserve better than this. read more

Dim sum!!! But soooo slow!!! Things take forever to come out of the kitchen and if you're sitting by the window forget about getting any food. Sit inside by the kitchen... if you can. Probably just better off ordering from the waitress.... This place says it opens at 11 but food doesn't really get going until after Noon. Then the place gets packed and you'll have to wait.... Things are somewhat clean... Chrysanthemum tea was my choice and they give you a little dish of rock sugar to go with it... one or two lumps will do just fine... Everything is homemade here. However some things are better than others... use your judgment when you look at the food going by... but some of the food is really good. Mmmmm... the tripe is good but could use a few peppers. The fried dumpling with potato in the dough is good. Chicken feet not that great looking. Don tot not great looking. Rice rolls with meat/shrimp inside not bad. Fried taro not bad. read more

Its been a while since I have been here for Dim Sum. I don't know what it is about holidays that puts me in the mood for the abuse I know that I will be subjected to. Even though its changed management its still really busy much the same pushing and shoving and people acting like they have never been around other people in a social setting. What is it about a bunch of asians in a small area all vying for a table that just brings out the beast in us. Little old ladies trampling small children so that they can move up in line. We were seated in relatively short amount of time being as busy as it was. Two people always have a better chance at a table than the usual 10 and up. In the end it's worth it for these tasty little morsels that bring me right back to the the small child I was eating with my parents surrounded by extended family. Worth 4 stars for the fond memories read more

See all

You know, Silver Fountain is listed as Dim Sum in it's category. Yeah, it's got Dim Sum, and yeah, it IS delicious. But, as is with most restaurants, that's the deal for lunch. (Just try getting in the door on the weekends for lunch- you best get there when they open if you don't want to wait- but the wait does go fast....). But. I prefer to go there at night, where the food is simply spectacular. I try to try a new dish every time, but I've gone there so often, I've run out. I'd encourage you to try to expand your normal fare here- I've always been happy. My favorite dishes? Mongolian Beef, salty fried Shrimp(for a little extra, they make it with the shells off), Beef Chow Foon, Roast Pork with mixed vegetables, Chicken with Cashew nuts (I know, a staple), Mu Shu Pork. The restaurant moved to it's current location from just a couple of doors down about 4 years ago, and the interior is really delightful. The choice of colors and textures extend from the pattern in the carpet to the ceiling, and it helps make the dining experience all the more enjoyable. So, what's the downside? Unfortunately, there is a small one. The owners never seem to hire enough wait staff. They run around like crazy getting everyone served, but there never seem to be enough of them. Or, they like to look really really busy. Sometimes, that detracts from the environment, sometimes it doesn't-- it depends, I suppose, on how busy it is, and how much staff are there at that time, on what your wait staff experience will be like. Update- They've added speakers in the ceiling and curtains in the back, as well as a projector. It's now a much better venue for those considering wedding banquets here. read more

Silver Fountain - Dining room - Dim Sum Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

See all

I had heard that Maryland has some of the best Dim Sum in the DMV so naturally I had to make my way up there to try for myself. Silver Fountain unfortunately did not make the cut and failed to live up to the hype. The restaurant is pretty big and can probably seat 50-60 people which makes it seem like their operations is setup to support that many customers. Upon entry, we were seated within 5 minutes despite it being a very busy day. After that, we waited probably 10 minutes before the server brought us water and offered us hot tea. Then it was probably 30-40 minutes before the first round of Dim Sum came out. It was almost as if the restaurant did zero prep work and started cooking when the restaurant opened up. The Dim Sum that came out got claimed immediately because everyone was so hungry. We didn't get any food until the 3rd or 4th round. The speed of service was awful. However there is a thin silver lining because we eventually got some food and it was actually pretty good. We got the rice crepes with shrimp, turnip cake, fried taro balls, and char sui. Everything was as delicious as expected but very hard to come by. As soon as we were ready for the second round, we had to wait another 30 mins. The food was delicious but does not outweigh the terrible service we received. I want to think this was a one time bad experience but not willing to go out of my way to test that theory. read more

See all

Hands down, best dim sum and dinner offerings around. Service was top notch.

A good alternative for dim sum. Silver Fountain was located in the aspen hill area it was a medium sized restaurant and was not as crowded as the other popular restaurant. The interior was Modern Chinese looked clean in general. First of the restaurant was not full and secondly there were more 6 or 10 tops tables. We were two people and the mdm hostess wanted us to sit at the bar?? Dah?? There was even a table of two getting ready to leave. Behind us was another couple with an infant so she asked us to combined at a table. There was a good way to handle this or a bad way; that mdm hostess tried it all. The food was average. The spring rolls tasted they went from frozen to flash fried and the shrimp dumpling's crystal dumpling shell tasted doughy and cakey. The egg custard looked under but tasted ok. The sesame balls were good and the shrimp in rice crepe was good. Another poorly executed dish was the crystal skin triangle dumplings with chinese green vege - the corners were loose. The custard buns were good! Overall, decent dim sum especially if you overlook the imperfection or dont know what you are eating or if you just wanted something convenient. Havent found a place that properly execute dim sum other than OE. read more

I've been going to silver fountain since it opened in the 70s and today the food is as delicious as it was then and taste the same.

As customary for most dim sum locations, arrive early for the good tables. This is another spot where family and lifetime friends suggest as a solid 3-star experience and I agree. Their ham sui gok (deep fried meat dumpling) was interestingly surprising to my palate. The doughy exterior was gummy-chewy sweet that married well w/the savory meaty filling. Didn't expect to wow me but truth be told it did. Nicely done w/the steamed bean curd skinned dumplings. Flavorful inside mixed w/meats and greens. Be sure to eat these quickly since the skin hardens once uncovered. Deep fried taro w/meat dumplings are one of my faves and 'twas good y'all. I fancy the contrast in textures - crispy crumbly outer layer w/mushy mashy fleshy inners. Ho yeah. Score! Egg tarts were uber fresh so we nabbed those stat. Grab those immediately. No joke. Honestly, since most of my descriptions will seem similar, take a gander at the food porn. Lastly the carts roll by slowly so act and commit because you may not see the same selection when they return. I missed a few buns along the way. Lesson learned. read more

See all

Years ago before changing chefs, this restaurant was really good. Occasionally I come back just to check, but the food is still terrible now. Tastes like a really cheap cafeteria style buffet. Mediocre westernized food is what you get here. Find a better place to spend your money. read more

Awful. The "crispy" beef had the consistency of eating a slug. The taste was almost as bad. I honestly cannot say for certain if that was even beef. The orange chicken was disgusting also. Slimy, lacking in any flavor, and overall terrible. What happened?? I was last here not too long ago and it was at least decent. A sad state of affairs... read more

Silver Fountain serves pretty good Dim Sum. It's definitely 1 of the better Dim Sum restaurant around the area. 1 of the thing I really like about this place is you can order the Dim Sum dishes if you don't see the food that you want coming around in carts. I usually just order it through the owner; He's very nice and attentive. The dim sum food's pretty good & fresh. They have quite a bit of selections as well. I especially like the hot sauce in this place; It's spicier and better than most places! The only bad thing I could say is that their Turnip Cake's way too soft; It needs to be crispier. Overall: Good service, pretty good & cheap for Dim Sum. I'll give this place 3 1/2 stars. read more