Vegan
Chinese
Buffet
Take-out
Rockville vegan restaurant serving Chinese food. Offering dishes using tofu and seitan as meat-substitutes. Open Mon-Sun 11:00am-9:00pm.
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Last update on 24 Oct 2024 by Guest
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112 Reviews
First Review by kimmie2072
H2OAddict
Points +686
Good veggie Chinese options. - Edit
I am currently living in China and constantly miss the Peking "duck" from Yuan Fu! One of my last meals in the states was here with my vegan parents specifically for that dish. We all find it very funny that one of the things I miss most in China is an American Chinese restaurant's vegan Peking "duck," but it's seriously delicious.
Read moreI've had hit-or-miss experiences here. Sometimes things are over or under cooked, but usually my meals are flawless and the waitstaff is incredibly sweet. The wonton soup is just okay. The menu is pretty extensive. Omnivores and vegans alike can find something to indulge in. The seitan and tempeh is front-and-center in most dishes here, so they specialize in meatless meat dishes. If you are SOS-free like my parents, you will probably find very little here that is suitable and nothing if you follow a raw diet.
Overall, the food is always decent and priced suitably for what you get. The Chinese style of food sharing is probably the best way to experience this restaurant as that way you can try so many different flavors!
I would recommend it for a try!
Pros: Suitable pricing, Friendly staff, Tasty meat substitutes
Cons: hit-or-miss
Guest
JimHerndon
Points +171
Wish this was near my house - Edit
As a vegan, it was odd to order Kung Pow chicken and then eat a dish that was very convincing as the real thing. Perfect for new vegans or vegan veterans who want something different.
Read moreGuest
boysen_bean
Points +554
Great service, great price. - Edit
I can't believe i didn't know about this place. I had wonton soup for the first time! It had a mostly standard Asian menu, but everything is vegetarian and (as far as i can tell), vegan. The staff was very friendly. Service was quick. I got the lunch special, which was a soup and an entree for $10. The noodle dish i got was delicious. It was a generous helping that lasted me two meals. I don't eat at restaurants too often, but Yuan Fe is close to my school so i see myself stopping by for lunch frequently.
Read morePros: great lunch special, friendly staff, quick service
Guest
IAmvegannotmydog
Points +147
yum! - Edit
I love the food! The menu is awesome! Many dishes to choose. It takes time for me to pick out one! The service is awesome, too! Bathroom is always clean and tidy. The parking lot is small but I managed to have one easily. Yes, the price is reasonable!
Read morePros: menu...a lot of dishes to choose. , friendly and patience , no waiting
Guest
slsbates
Points +311
SO glad we stopped into this hidden gem! - Edit
The menu is huge and although they call themselves vegetarian the detailed menu description reveals it is vegan; all faux meats, no dairy. The food was fresh & delicious plus the service was on point. We had the wonton soup and Moo Shi Vegetable dish. Both yum!
Read morePros: All vegan options!, Casual, not too tiny yet not big.
Cons: None...not expensive,
Guest
BrittanyMeow
Points +16
Excellent food & service - Edit
I visited Yuan Fu while traveling. I was happy to find an all vegan restaurant. I found the food to be delicious, some of the best mock meats I've tasted! The service was excellent, all of the people working there were very kind. The food came out faster than we could have ever expected. Overall amazing place and if I'm ever in Rockville again I will definitely revisit!
Read morePros: good food, fast service, kind employees
Guest
greenleafyveggies
Points +36
Amazing food and service - Edit
A great little hidden, unassuming restaurant in the heart of Rockville. The food is incredible and the staff make you feel at home. Everything is vegan and the mock meats really taste amazing. The soups are great too. Fast service!
Read morePros: Vegan everything
Cons: Not close enough to where I live
Guest
daroff
Points +1620
LOVE LOVE LOVE - Edit
By far one of the best vegan Chinese restaurants on the East Coast! Food is delicious and the service, led by co-owner/hostess Mary, is spectacular!
Read morePros: Amazing food, Warm, caring service, Well priced
Cons: Very suburban
Guest
Semitones
Points +35
Great Restaurant! - Edit
It's amazing what they can do here! I have had some great meals here. I've taken some non vegetarian friends, and they loved the all veg menu!
Read moreOne advice someone told me and that I've passed along is to say, "when the menu says chicken, or beef, don't expect it to taste like that. It's much better!"
The price is more than vegetarian options at other Chinese restaurants, but it's worth it for a special occasion. Although I can tell that there are many regulars. Once I saw a table of Chinese monks eating there. Great place, and the staff are really awesome too.
Pros: Taste, All Vegan
Cons: Price
Guest
GiaMarieSharer
Points +21
Fantastic and Quaint Restaurant - Edit
So happy to have found this little gem. What an amazing treat it was to eat here! An entire Chinese menu that is completely cruelty free and delish. Recommend highly, you won't be disappointed!!
Read morePros: Attentive, Excellent Food, Great customer service
Guest
lovekaletravel
Points +78
Yummy Chinese Food - Edit
This is the only 100% Vegan Chinese restaurant in the area and I go about once/twice a month. Overall the food is good but not the best that I had. I like the spinach noodle soup the best. The roasted duck appetizer is delicious. The dishes are low in salt and oil which is great.
Read morePros: reasonable prices, friendly staff, quick services
Cons: lot of fake meats
Guest
BaltiVegn
Points +260
Friendly and Fresh - Edit
Easy parking, clean atmosphere, very friendly and prompt staff (womyn). Extensive menu, explains what mock-meats are made of.
Read moreQuality food doesnt make you feel gross
Menu has pictures of many dishes
Pros: womyn staff, friendly, Extensive menu
Guest
kim2121
Points +449
Great Food and Friendly Service - Edit
I've been to Yuan Fu a few times and visited again last week for lunch. The food was tasty and the service was really friendly. The lunch specials are great if you don't want to pay the slightly higher dinner prices.
Read moreMy sister ordered the wonton soup and raved about it. I ordered the spring roll and thought it was good, but pretty much your standard, deep-fried spring roll (apart from being a generous size). We both ordered the crispy orange chicken, which was a slightly more expensive lunch set at $9.95 (before tax and tip). We both thought the crispy orange chicken was really good, although an admittedly indulgent option, being fried and covered with sauce. This is definitely a great restaurant for vegans and vegetarians who want to indulge a bit! No complaints here and I will definitely be back!
Pros: Friendly Service, Tasty Food
Guest
brosner
Points +63
Great food - Edit
I have been going to this restaurant for a long time (sorry, I don't remember how long it's been since I first went here). I went here even before I became vegan and it was still good. Now it's an amazing place for me because I can order whatever I want. Here are some of their food choice I love: Wonton soup, peking duck, pineapple chicken, Sechuan green beans, spinach and sesame pancakes. There's a lot of other choices I like too, but that's a good start. If you haven't been there before, get the peking duck.
Read moreDon't go on Christmas! It's a Chinese restaurant in an area with a high Jewish population. It gets very crowded and the only way to get anything would be to carry out. That's the only con I can think of.
Updated from previous review on Wednesday July 16, 2014
Pros: Excellent food, Great value, Good service
Cons: Can't go on Christmas, Parking can be tough
Guest
HappyToo
Points +131
Many Years of Good Eating - Edit
I have been bringing friends and family here for years. The food and service is excellent.
Read morePros: Food, Service, Atmosphere
Cons: Parking, Too Many Tofu Dishes
Guest
trimblecaster
Points +39
A Great Meal Can Be Had By All! - Edit
Carnivores, don't worry. You'll never miss the meat once you get your hands on the Crispy Black Mushroom Appetizer. Vegetarians/Vegans, you'll find no cruelty here. Yuan Fu is 100% vegan! My wife and I had a fabulous meal. I got the faux beef and broccoli, she got the General Tso "chicken". The use of animal names is only to help newcomers around the delectable menu.
Read morePros: Service, Great Food!, Prices
Cons: Decor is outdated
Guest
ohemgee
Points +824
love it - Edit
So many options!
Read moreGuest
zanotab
Points +45
Eating here for 15+ years! - Edit
One of my favorite restaurants. It's unpretentious and low-key, has pretty quick service and you really can't beat an all-veg restaurant. The menu is pretty heavy on the fake-meat but it is done well for the most part.
Read moreWhen I lived in DC, we used to come out for special occasions but now that I've moved to Rockville, it's hard to not go here every week. When I used to come every few months, I'd always get my old favorites, but now that I've been coming more often, I've branched out and tried some new things. Some new favorites: Curled and Carved Shiitake with Asparagus, Eggplant with Tofu Skins Rolls Hot Pot, Hong Kong Style Pan Fried Noodles.
Pros: great food, low-key atmosphere
Guest
TRaeCH
Points +384
Among Better of its Kind - Edit
Yuan Fu is one of the better vegan Chinese restaurants you'll eat at outside of New York City. The prices are extremely reasonable, service is fair and preparation time is not long. It's not a glitz and glam type location, but, hey, it more than makes up in taste and value.
Read moreI have sampled many of their types of entrees; the mock duck is very good. These guys know how to get the best of out their seitan.
Pros: Price, Good Food
Guest
YuliyaGuliya8
Points +55
A great alternative on a night out - Edit
I am not a fan of Chinese vegetarian in general since it tends to be too saucy/almost greasy for me. But Yuan Fu is a great alternative to a non-vegetarian restaurant on any day. They have a very wide selection of tasty items and their fake duck is very tasty.
Read morePros: Vegetarian, Location
Cons: Chinese vegetarian (not for everyone)
Guest
RichPeppin
Points +80
Vegan and tasty - Edit
A regular with me- eat-in or take-out. large menu. average meal about $9.00 excluding starters. Friendly staff
Read morePros: large selection, all good
Guest
J B
Points +36
Hole in the Wall - Edit
It's a small, unassuming building from the outside (to put it nicely), but once you get inside, it's a nice-looking place (still small). There are big picture of vegetables for decoration. The menu is entirely vegetarian. I'm not interested in mock meats, so I get typical tofu dishes and soups. The prices are not bad. An indication of quality at any ethnic restaurant is whether people of the appropriate ethnicity eat there, and there are almost always Chinese people at Yuan Fu when I go, frequently large families at the one big table in the center. The owner is usually there, and is very involved and friendly; she will converse in Chinese but certainly makes American customers feel welcome as well.
Read moreMost of the standard Chinese tofu dishes are represented: Kung Pao, Home Style, Hunan, Ma Po, Budda's Delight etc. None of them are the best I've ever had, but all of them are good, and usually with very generous portions. They offer brown rice and do not charge extra for it like some places do. They have an excellent miso soup (and it's nice to be sure it's vegetarian). The sizzling rice soup was a bit of a surprise; basically a tomato base with lots of vegetables. My chief source of disappointment is that the spicy options aren't spicier (I like the hot stuff). I always feel good about eating here.
Compared to the Vegetable Garden down the road, I'd say that of the two vegetarian Chinese places in the area, Yuan Fu is more Chinese (in terms of menu options and atmosphere) and Vegetable Garden is more health food oriented (with their macrobiotic options and some of their more creative vegetable entrees). Both are good, but if you told me I could only have one, I'd probably take Yuan Fu, by a hair. Fortunately, we don't have to make that choice.
Pros: varied menu, attentive staff
Guest
NIBsmf
Points +1339
Did not disappoint at all! - Edit
I live in Baltimore and do not pass through Rockville often, so when I knew I was going to be passing through Rockville I knew I had to try Yuan Fu or Vegetable Garden. Well, I chose Yuan Fu because the reviews made it sound better than Vegetable Garden. I am not disappointed by my choice!
Read moreI started with the sizzling rice soup, thanks to another reviewer's suggestion. I loved it! It is like hot and sour soup minus the spicy flavor and with chunks of yummy vegetables and the rice patties. I ordered sweet and sour "chicken" while my friend who I was with ordered sesame "beef" with walnuts. We shared the entrees. We both loved each one. I preferred the "chicken" because it was sweeter. Both had realistic textures to me, but I haven't had meat in about 14 years so that's not saying much. However, my friend is not vegetarian and said it was pretty realistic, especially the "chicken". I like that everything on the menu is vegan, that the menu is so extensive, and that the entrees have a decent amount of vegetables along with the mock meat (as a lot of places have only about 3 pieces of broccoli or peppers with the mock meat). We had leftovers to take home, meaning there were large portions.
The staff was very friendly, and the food came out pretty quickly. Parking was not at all a problem.
Seriously, if this restaurant were near where I live, I'd be there at least once a week!
Pros: all vegan, great tasting food, reasonable prices
Cons: none that I see
Guest
BeXXX
Points +349
Pretty Good - Edit
I liked this restaurant better than Vegetable Garden. Some of the dishes tasted "fake", like you could tell it was tofu skins or seitan but it still wasn't bad. Service was good. Nice big menu to choose from.
Read morePros: good service, big menu
Guest
orchid53
Points +58
Yummy - Edit
I think Yuan fu is much better than Vegetable Garden. Try the duck! The Americanized dishes (General tso, orange beef, etc) aren't so great, but I don't like those anyway. My friend said the general tso's was alright. The staff is very friendly here and the food is reasonably priced.
Read moreThe only negative I find is that their selection of veggie only dishes is smaller than Vegetable Garden.
Pros: excellent food, good value, friendly staff
Guest
travler2
Points +34
Best Vegan Chinese Restaurant in the area - Edit
This has got to be the only and the best purely vegan chinese restaurant in the entire DC Metropolitan area. cannot compare Vegetable Garden to Yuan Fu because Vegetable Garden is not 100% Vegan. My faves are the Hot and Sour Soup and the Crispy Orange Beef.
Read morePros: great service, excellent prices, nice portions
Cons: need more locations
Guest
DC Vegan
Points +345
Another Lovely Option for Vegans in the DC area - Edit
Yuan Fu is just a few miles north of the Vegetable Garden and is also a delightful (if smaller) restaurant. It's also about six blocks from the Rockville Metro station, while Veg Garden is right across the street from the White Flint Metro. But both places are good.
Read moreOne thing you must get at Yuan Fu (unless it's 90 degrees out) is the Sizzling Rice Soup. Crispy rice cakes are placed in a bowl, and the server pours a hot broth over them, stirs it up, and dishes it to eveyrone at the table. It's a somewhat viscous broth with vegetables and you have to be careful when eating it so as not to burn your mouth. It's also quite filling and addictive! The first time I had it, I dreamed about it for days afterward.
Their "beef" and "pork" are made of seitan, but when I tried it yesterday, the beef dish we got was kind of mushy; maybe it's that way in the dish. The "chicken" is made with soy protein and also varies from dish to dish. I'm a fan of the Chicken Snow Peas dish. The "duck" is made of layers of pressed tofu skin and is delicious. Both the duck appetizer and the duck hot pot were utterly delicious and is equally good as leftovers the next day.
If you become a regular, Mary, the owner will recognize you and be especially friendly. It pays to dine with regulars when you go there.
The only thing that truly bothers me is that there are no refills on iced tea. I can understand not refilling beverages served from a can, which is how they serve their sodas, but I like a lot of iced tea when I'm eating, and that doesn't come from a can, so it should be easily refilled.
I still will try to eat there every few months--as I live in the District and don't own a car, it's not always easy to get up there. But it is worth the trip.
Pros: Good food, Mostly friendly service
Cons: Far from a Metro, No refills on iced tea, Rather small space
pyatrus
FYI:
Read moreYuan Fu is a half-mile south of the Rockville Metro Station. According to Google Maps, an 11-min. walk. There are two bus routes, buses run every 8 min. for a 7-min. bus ride. :-)
And you can stop by and pay homage to F. Scott Fitzgerald (i.e., his grave) along the way at St. Mary's. :-)
Rockville Pike is a busy, noisy street to walk along, I agree.
Guest
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