James L.
Yelp
Agree with the aggregate 3.5 rating, but bumping up an extra 1/2 star partly for nostalgia and partly because it's always good to have more as opposed to fewer dim sum restaurants.
Mark's Duck House has been in operation so long, I wouldn't be shocked if it was serving up dim sum and barbecued meats around the time when the earth's mantle was cooling. Like many restaurants before it, the "ORIGINAL" original Mark's Duck House started in Eden Center in the early 1980's (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2000/07/30/soup-to-ducks/5d894fe5-a15a-40b7-9458-f450389158e5/) and then in 1995 it relocated to it's current home in the Willston Center in Falls Church. Of course, since Mark's Duck House's 40+ year run, it's had a few different owners and falling in and out of favor as dining trends have changed...but it's still around, so I gotta give credit where credit is due.
I've been coming to Mark's Duck House for 20+ years and IMHO, nothing much about the place has changed. The "décor" is straight up old skool 1980's Chinese restaurant motif with bland stain resistant carpeting, industrial orange/brownish paint, and tables seemingly haphazardly spaced in the dining room. As is the case with these types of joints, the center is reserved for round tables with Lazy Susan's, to accommodate large families and groups.
While most people simply refer to having a dim sum meal, technically Hong Kong and Cantonese folks more accurately use the term "yum cha," - which literally translated means "drink tea." Of course, there is much more to the experience of going out to yum cha. My dining companion on my recent visit, used the analogy of "Chinese Brunch," which I mostly agree with.
Upon being seated, one of the servers will ask if you want tea, with Jasmine (pronounced "heung peen" in Catonese) being the default. If you want to try something different, I prefer the PU-ERH (or Bo-Lay). Pu-erh tea is a "bit" stronger and has a reddish tint, but I personally find it to be a good contrast to salty and spicy flavors.
Mark's is one of the few places which still offers "cart service," meaning servers will wheel carts of dim sum from table to table, allowing diners to choose from a selection of small dishes. And TBH, this is one of the detractions I have for Mark's and agree with some of the other reviewers; food can be tepid to downright cold, depending on how long it's been circulating around the room.
I generally will stick with stuff that is constantly in the steam carts such as the old timey favorites like har gow, shu mai, tofu skin rolls (sin jook gin), shrimp and pork rolls, etc. The flavor profile of items in the steam carts is good and one reason people keep coming back to Mark's is that unlike at many newer dim sum joints, most (if not all) of the food is handmade. I've said it before, that unbeknownst to many diners, often times dim sum at other places is mass produced in a factory, frozen, and then simply reheated.
Other items such as the deep fried shrimp balls, the taro cakes, and noodle dishes, it's the luck of draw when it comes to your table whether it's freshly prepared from the kitchen, or if it's been sitting out for a while. If a server passes my table with a dish, and I'm not seeing at least trace amounts of steam, I decline.
I'll also say that I've been disappointed with the provided chili oil on the tables. To add umami and spice, most (but not all) diners typically will mix the chili oil with a bit of soy sauce to lightly dip the dim sum dishes. The past few times I've visited, I find the chili oil to be extremely bland (needs salt) and not spicy at all. While it may be considered gauche, I've actually resorted to bringing my own Lee Kum Kee brand of DOUBANJIANG (spicy bean sauce, which is actually what most Hong Kong folks prefer) jar with me and then using that for dipping.
While there are newer and more updated dim sum places to go yum cha, Mark's Duck House remains a stalwart in the Asian community. Are the prices higher now than they used to be? Yeah, sure...but then again, dining out in general has gotten more expensive in general.
From the time they open on the weekends around 10am until 2-ish, the place is usually packed and especially between 11-12pm, expect at least a 20-30 min wait. But that's cool. If this really is Asian Brunch, bring a big group of friends, sample lots of different foods you normally wouldn't eat, and sip pots of hot tea in the process.
There are worse ways to spend an afternoon.