China Star - Fairfax, VA

My cousin took me to China Star - her favorite Chinese restaurant ever. There is plenty of parking in this suburban shopping center, and the closest metro would be Vienna on the orange line. She is a lover of authentic Chinese food and is the same person that introduced me to stinky tofu. Once again, I forgot to take a picture of the front! I think I've been so hungry recently that I just run in without thinking.

The interior isn't too decorative, but there are lots of large tables for big groups.

The menu has "American" Chinese food as well as over 100 of authentic Szechuan dishes.

They started us off with a small portion of room temperature beans that were slightly sweet. Good snack.

This was the famously addictive dish we came for. The Fish with Bean Curd ($11.95) has numbing properties. I didn't know what that meant when I saw it on the menu, but apparently the Sichuan peppercorns "numb" your taste buds slightly. This causes a different sensation when eating the rest of the dish, and used to enhance flavors. I honestly didn't even notice it! My cousin thinks it feels really cool and makes her water taste different too.

Spinach with garlic wasn't on the menu, but my cousin asked for it, and it was AWESOME. So simple, but made perfectly.

Happy Family (beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, scallop, and lobster with assorted vegetables sautéed in chef's special sauce) $13.95. It doesn't come with noodles, but we asked to add them because we actually ordered the wrong thing. It was tasty and fresh though!

I don't eat as much Chinese food as my cousin does, but this place had some special dishes I haven't seen before. Cheap prices, nice service, and I would recommend coming to try any dish that has numbing spices in them!

9600 Main St
Fairfax, VA 22031
(703) 323-8822
www.chinastarfood.com

Todai- Fairfax, VA

Hi everyone! My close family friends and I went out to a sushi buffet in Fairfax called Todai. It's located in Fair Oaks Mall near the Macy's. It's a really big and nice buffet that is worth the price. There is a free parking garage right in front of the restaurant. The closest metro stop would be Vienna on the orange line.

The outside of the place is so nice and inviting! We were one of the 1st people there, which is why it doesn't look so crowded.

Here is a pic of the interior. There are a lot of tables, and even a small area in the rear in case the front gets too packed. I liked how bright and open the place feels even though it can get crowded. They actually take reservations so feel free to do so for your large group outing.

Unfortunately I was told I couldn't take pictures while in line, so these are from my table. We sat right next to the sushi (yes!).

Cost per adult for dinner: $26.95 (Mon-Thurs) and $28.95 (Fri-Sun). It's pretty expensive for a buffet, however sushi can cost a lot on its own, and there you can eat all you want. The quality and selection of sushi is superb. Over 40 types, including rolls, sashimi, sushi pieces, raw, vegetarian, and cooked. They also have over 15 different hot entrees, huge salad bar and a wide variety of desserts.

All the stations behind this lady is the rest of the hot food that I couldn't take pics of.

Onto my plate! Doesn't everything look so fresh? They had snow crabs legs and raw oysters near the salad bar. 

Oysters were awesome, but the snow crab legs were ok. I think because they were on ice the expirience wasn't what I expected. I'm used to eating hot or room temperature crabs, so it was an issue of freshness or texture. 

I enjoyed the wide variety of sushi offered. Some of them were wrapped in thin slices of cucumber, others had crazy herbs on them, baked with meat, etc. There are descriptions for every type of sushi, so that was helpful.

This was my 2nd plate of the night. I tried more of their sushi, but I really didn't get to try all of them because that would be way to much for me to eat. I think that'd be a cool idea though to eat one of every type =)

I don't remember the name of this item, but I didn't like it at all! It's really pretty though. I appreciated the food presentation at Todai because it makes you want to try everything.

The big seller of the dinner buffet is the lobster and shrimp. Rotating every 30 minutes, either the lobster or shrimp gets served in the hot food section. Only a certain number of lobsters or shrimp are handed to the customers per cycle. They only give one per customer, so get in line. They're both cooked with some sort of white sauce, which makes the seafood a bit sweet. I liked it, the bf didn't care for it and gave me his. 

This was the bf's plate from the hot food section.  I didn't want to fill myself up with non-seafood items. They have Korean BBQ, Chinese dishes, cooked seafood, etc. He said all of the dishes tasted really good. 

There's always food for dessert in my book, so I filled up a whole plate from their large selection. They had different types of ice cream, soooo many (like over 20) tiny little cakes and pastries like tiramisu and cream puffs.

What's also nice is the crepe station. There's a lady that will make you one on the spot. Mine was banana-filled and I poured chocolate syrup on myself. Both the green tea and mango ice cream were really good.

I thought this was the best buffet I've been too in the area. The quality is very high, food  presentation is good, and everything tasted great. It is a more expensive buffet, but if you can eat a lot then its worth it.
There's a promotion where if you dine-in on your birthday, you will receive a free voucher to come back and eat for free.
I don't believe they do the lobster/shrimp thing during lunch, which is why its more $ to eat during dinner.
Also at many other buffets you pay per person as you walk through the door, but here you are billed per table after your meal is done.

Fair Oaks Shopping Center
11717L Fair Oaks Mall
Fairfax, VA 22033
703-273-0120
Website

Lunch 11:30am - 2:30pm (Daily)
Dinner 5:30pm - 9:00pm ( Mon-Thurs)
5:30pm - 10:00pm (Fri-Sat)
5:00pm - 9:00pm (Sun)