Mama Cafe officially opened its doors on Wednesday, November 4, at 9900 Key West Avenue in Rockville/N. Potomac, taking over the longtime Mama Wok space next to 7-Eleven. The new restaurant, which operates under new ownership, offers a menu featuring Chinese and other Asian dishes, sushi, and a variety of house specialties. We stopped by on opening day for dinner, and a first-look video featuring the restaurant and everything we ordered is available below.
Mama Wok originally opened in Montgomery County in the early 1990s with a location on Hungerford Drive. The local Chinese/Taiwanese concept, which also served cuisine from other Asian countries over the years, operated at several locations in Rockville before its longtime Key West Avenue restaurant closed earlier this year.
The new restaurant retains much of the familiar setting while introducing an extensive menu that includes traditional Chinese dishes, dim sum, sushi, sashimi, specialty rolls, noodle dishes, fried rice, and more.
During our opening-day visit, we ordered egg rolls, pan-fried dumplings, wontons in chili sauce, combination fried rice, sesame chicken with white meat, mapo tofu, and Mongolian beef. The meal, which fed six people, came to $117.39, including tax and a 20% service charge. Everything we tried is featured in the video below.
The menu includes a wide selection of appetizers and dim sum, including vegetable spring rolls, crispy scallion pancakes, beef teriyaki, crabmeat wontons, crystal shrimp dumplings, pan-fried dumplings, wontons in chili sauce, cucumber with garlic sauce, dan dan noodles, and several varieties of soup dumplings.
Entrees include familiar favorites such as General Tso’s chicken, sesame chicken, orange chicken, kung pao chicken, Mongolian beef, beef with broccoli, and a variety of pork, shrimp, and vegetable dishes. The restaurant also offers a sizable selection of house specialties, including Peking-style dishes, crispy duck, tea-smoked duck, Sichuan-style preparations, seafood combinations, and whole fish options.
Mama Cafe also has an extensive sushi menu featuring traditional maki and hand rolls, specialty rolls, sushi and sashimi combinations, and individual selections. Additional offerings include Sichuan noodles, Taiwanese beef noodle soup, lo mein, fried rice, tempura, boba tea, smoothies, and desserts.
Lunch specials are available Monday through Friday from 11 am to 2:30 pm, excluding holidays. Chinese lunch specials are priced at $11.95 and are served with fried rice and a spring roll. Japanese lunch options include sushi rolls, sushi assortments, and sashimi combinations.
The restaurant offers dine-in, carryout, and catering services. According to its menu, Mama Cafe is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 am to 9:30 pm and Friday and Saturday from 11 am to 10 pm.
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