Mama Chang: A Culinary Gem in the Heart of Fairfax, VA

Mama Chang has been a favorite of mine for years... The food is always delicious, and the service is always wonderful. I thought I'd share a very kind gesture from my favorite waiter Tommy at Mama Chang, in honor of my mother Dorothy. Mom passed away last Sunday, one week before her 94th Birthday. She lived an amazing life and will be deeply missed. A couple of days after her passing, my triplet sisters and I, along with one of my brothers in laws, went to Mama Chang for dinner to honor Mom. We were seated at a lovely booth, and then our favorite waiter "Tommy" came over to the table. He and I looked at one another, and I asked him, do you recognize me without my mom? (I took Mom in her wheelchair to Mama Chang just about every month for the past three years... and Tommy and a sweet waitress named Jenny were usually our servers.) Tommy said, "Of course, I remember you. In fact, Jenny and I were talking about you two just last week and wondering why we hadn't seen you recently." I explained that Mom had passed on Sunday Nov 9, and Tommy immediately reacted with tears in his eyes, and saying condolences for our loss. I introduced him to my family and said that we were there to eat my Mom's favorite things. Tommy immediately reacted by stating, "Well, I should go get a bottle of your Mom's favorite Pinot Grigio." He then said, "Should I bring 5 glasses?" - even though there were only 4 of us. He went on to explain that it is his family's tradition to always add a place setting for the deceased and pour a sip of wine for them... which is exactly what he did! Tommy also remembered all of my Mom's favorite dishes, and then I added in a few more items to enjoy a feast with my family. When he brought the wine over to the table, he poured a splash into Mom's glass, and he joined us in cheering to her. It was lovely. Our dinner was comprised of: ◦ Pork and Shrimp Spring Rolls ◦ Scallion Bubble Pancake ◦ Combo Lo Main with Beef, Chicken and Shrimp ◦ Sautéed Shrimps with Asparagus ◦ Sesame Golden Mountain Beef As always, we had a delicious meal at Mama Chang. And as I was leaving, Tommy gave me a big hug. I told him to please let Jenny know about Mom, and he made me promise that I'd be back, and of course I will. Few restaurants go out of their way for their customers like Mama Chang does. (I'm including pix of our recent meal, along with a favorite picture of Mom taken at Mama Chang last year.)

Editing this review to add photos from my recent visit. Okay, before I get to raving about the food, I just want to say I loved it! The whole experience was amazing, so much so that I forgot to take photos of the dishes we had. But this also gives me an excuse of going back to try more food and take photos. To begin, we were a group of four plus a baby, and we started off with some Amish chicken wonton soup (loved the clear broth with the simple chicken wonton) and the pork soup dumpling which tasted good but I loved the chicken soup. :) Then, we tried the Hunan chicken chowmein, green beans, ghost chilly beef, and grandma’s sizzling pork belly. And, we loved it all. The chowmein was so yum that we ended up ordering a second plate. The ghost chilly beef was numbing hot (please check with your server about the level of spice before you get this). I have had the bhooth jhalokia (ghost chilly) before so I really enjoyed this dish. The pork belly tasted amazing as well. Also, the portions were generous and can be easily shared between 2 -3 people. The service was exceptional! I wish I had asked our server’s name before we left. The baby with us dropped her tiny spoon on the ground and our server immediately offered to wash the spoon and get it for her. This was such a super sweet gesture. All in all, we loved the whole experience at Mama Chang.

I brought my friend to try Mama Chang and she loved it. She liked all the food we ordered. Great service as well!

Where to start? How about the fact my taste buds had a panic attack over how delicious it was. We ordered a bunch of things and shared. Spicy and numbing beef jerky 9.8; Pepper Chicken 9.6; Crispy Beef 9.6. The list goes on. Service was excellent and our guy took exceptional care of our group. Parking was scarce but it was also a Friday night. Reservations were key tonight. Our table was comfortable and spacious. This was Chinese food on another level. I can’t explain because I don’t understand what I was missing before. Mama Chang’s has ruined me for other places forever.

Our group of 13 came to Mama Chang for a birthday dinner, and we were seated promptly with our reservation at two large tables. The restaurant is spacious, clean, and comfortable. For our table, we ordered Red Chili Oil Beef Tendon, Scallion Bubble Pancake, Fried Cauliflower, Taiwanese Salt & Pepper Fried Chicken, Mala Hot Pot, Fresh Green Sichuan Pepper Fish, Pork Belly with Qianye Tofu, and Combination Fried Rice. All the dishes came out quickly and were flavorful and delicious. Our favorites were the fish and the mala hot pot. The hot pot was tasty and fragrant, with shrimp, chicken, beef, veggies, and lotus root. The fish dish is more like a soup; the fish was tender and came with noodles and veggies, and it had a nice kick to it. I can only handle mild food, and even though both dishes were marked with two peppers, they were very manageable. The other table ordered different dishes and said everything was great too. Our server, Tommy, was attentive and friendly throughout the night. The staff stored the birthday cake we brought and brought it out after the meal. Tommy also provided paper plates and plastic forks, which we really appreciated. Everyone in our party agreed the food was excellent and the service was great. We highly recommend Mama Chang for group dinners and celebrations!

My family has been to Mama Chang once before but this time we went to celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year and the food was soo good! The highlight of the meal was the seasonal item Flounder Fillet with Black Bean and Chili, which was an entire fish, and the Three Pepper Beef Tenderloin, which was super tenderloin with a mix of sweet and spicy. Along with that, we ordered the scallion bubble pancake and Pineapple Buns. I would say skip the vegetable chow fun, it was basic but if you like chow fun get it. If you do choose to come here a lot, I think you should always get those two items because the pineapple buns are really sweet and delicious and the scallion pancake you can use it as a wrap for your other dishes. Altogether, loved everything!!!

Five stars across the board! High end establishment serving Chinese Cusine, with a great ambiance and wonderful service. Our server Ann P. was very kind and attentive. Also the manager who was at the front noticed I needed help and came over to ask if I needed anything, that's great customer service. There is a private event dining room near the restrooms, and a full service bar. All the dumplings were well stuffed and delicious, the Pork Sui Mai, and the Yuan Dumplings were spectacular. Loved the light and flaky crust of the BBQ Pastry, it's a must try. The balance of the Crab & Asparagus soup was especially delightful, with a light suttle flavor, however it is quite embarrassing to be served in a cracked dish, it's not safe for consumption, and I should take away one star I enjoyed the spice in the Fried Chicken, the hint of Schezuan peppercorns was perfect Definitely coming back to try more!

It was my first time here and the atmosphere is so nice. Everything was clean and bright. Our waitress Anna was so amazing and we really appreciated her explaining some menu items to us. She even recommended a few items and they were all delicious. I would definitely come back.