Sampan Cafe

we go real often. the ladies treat you like family, everything we overbuy tastes great in the air fryer, and the food quality really peaks around holidays and celebrations. it's always full of loud asian people. i recommend going now.

This is a hidden place, unless you did a search on Google. The service (Chinese ladies) were great because they liked to talk and can talk to anyone for anything. If you don't the fancy or modern looking of Chinese restaurant, then you will find this place felt like normal Asian American place. There are at least 7 to 8 big tables and few smaller tables. As for the food, they are very likely fresh made, especially their dim sum. I was surprised that they have dim sum for dinner : ) The menu offered many traditional Hong Kong style disk plus some other popular Asian disks. The soup Dumplings were dry (no soup at all), lamb claypot was good (can be better if they have fermented bean curd, roasted pig intestine (tasty), and the pepper steak was lack of pepper. I believe they can do better and make improvement. Overall good experience and they accept credit cards. Parking is easy, but make a left turn to opposite direction could be challenge during day time.

Pretty good spot for closer to authentic Chinese food. The anytime dimsum is a plus! However everything was missing that added touch of green. Whether green onion, scallion, or cilantro. They add a distinct flavor and although it's for visual effect they greatly alter the taste of everything. So sad, everything would have tasted much better with a few sprinkes... except for the dry beef chow fun, that was definitely missing scallions as a main ingredient!

Sampan Café is now clearly our favorite dim sum eatery.The staff are so friendly, attentive and patient. Really about the best restaurant staff anywhere.Almost all dishes are not just good, but really tasty. On our last visit the custard egg yolk buns were spot on, a great dessert! The pork buns have a fluffy exterior and have a great just a little bit sweet pork sauce tucked inside. The ribs are really good. Same for the shrimp balls, they have a great flavor!The Chinese broccoli is certainly a healthy option. This just my own personal preference, but I like my broccoli more cooked and with less garlic.The sticky rice is an interesting tale of two cities. The sticky rice in the toasty warm banana leaf was really good. But the pork in the center was pretty musky. And yet, in the sticky rice was one li'l Chinese sausage that was really delicious!Comfortable atmosphere with plenty of tables.

Everything looked ok until I ordered to go 1/2 ginger chicken. Chicken was very cold, skin was rubbery and they made the cardinal sin of chopping it up so I have to find the splinter bones. The ginger scallion sauce was weak in flavor with enough for one piece of chicken and too top it off, NO DAMN RICE!!! What Asian establishment serves any entre without RICE!! Thumbs down for me and I will never be back.

Sampan Cafe is located in the Franconia Center, and they offer an extensive menu that includes apps, soups, congee, lo mein, chow mein, beef/pork/chicken/seafood/vegetarian platters and dishes, chow foon, Hong Kong style BBQ and noodle soups, and an all-day dim sum menu.We came here for an earlier lunch, and we ordered:+Dry Stir-Fried Beef Chow Foon - this was pretty good, as it had a nice wok-fried taste and of a generous portion; don't forget to add some soy sauce and chili oil+Steamed Shrimp Dumpling - aka, har gow; the skin was a little sticky, but I liked that it came out piping hot+Zha Liang Noodle Crepe - the crepes were just okay+Beef Rice Noodle Crepe - the crepes were just okay+Chive Dumpling with Shrimp - the exterior skin was a bit too sticky and tore easily; the filling was a little lukewarm+Scallop Dumplings - the exterior skin was a bit too stick and tore easily; wasn't a fan of this filling, as it was bland and had a weird taste to itStaff were welcoming, friendly, and efficient.I was surprised at how large this place was, and could see how this place fills up on the weekends. There were locals coming in to pickup orders throughout our dining experience.Plenty of parking in the large lot.+good chow fun+friendly service+located in the Franconia Center+ample parking

Good food. Good fried rice, good veggies. Dim sums are good. Standard dimsum. Very good. Nothing to write home about. we went at 4:30. good service. Large portions. Affordable price.

Note: This review is based on a DoorDash delivery order from Sampan Cafe so does not address the restaurant experience, service, etc. Holy moly, some of the best dumplings I've had. I ordered the steamed roast pork buns, steamed shrimp shaomai, soup dumplings, and the salted egg yolk cream custard bun. Everything was so dang good. I overate because I literally could not stop stuffing my face with these plump lil dumplings. If you haven't had soup dumplings before, do yourself a favor and order them from here. The pork to bun ratio was perfect... a bit of pork in every bite. The Salted Egg Yolk Cream Custard bun was pure delight. I don't think I've had a more delicious sweet style bun. I could go on and on. Honestly I think I'll have to roll myself to bed from how much I ate because I'm so full but it was all so dang good.

We live Near Kingstowne and this is our go to. Solid every time, honestly the best egg rolls we've had in the area. For this area 5/5, price is fine but quality is usually if not always there. Been ordering here for the last 2 years.

Came to Sampan around 1:30pm on a Saturday afternoon. It was about half full when we arrived so we were seated right away.I think this is a relatively kid friendly spot. We had no issues getting a high chair and saw one other baby/toddler in one. My son was hangry with it being passed his lunch time and having been active/playing in the park before. Dim sum was therefore perfect because the food arrived right away--you just pick the containers off the cart.The chashabao pork buns were good. My 2 year old had 4 of them we had to order another one. I got chicken feet and beef tripe it was bringing me back!I ate those both on my own because my husband is white. Jokes aside thoughEverything we had was pretty good. They have soup dumplings that were juicy with good filling and dough. We also got beef tendon noodle soup. I think all the noodle soups are hong kong style. Soup arrived piping hot which is a good thing for me. The owners seem like they could be cantonese. But this is just a guess.The shrimp rice crepe pretty good as well. They have lots of different types of shrimp dumplings and balls. Where my prawn fans at?!I did not get pics of everything we ordered because i was focuses on eating while the food was still hot.Verdict is we will return.