Full Key Restaurant

Full Key serves the best Hong Kong style siu mei (roasted meats), noodle soups and congee in the region. They also serve good Cantonese style dishes along with some Americanized options. Literally every other Chinese restaurant from my childhood has shut down but Full Key has been the one dependable, consistent source of some of my favorite dishes.
If you look through the reviews, you’ll see a lot of people who have dined here for years or sometimes, decades. Add me (and my family) to the list as four generations of my family have been here in the past 30 years. It’s as close as you’ll get to Hong Kong without the 15 hour flight.
Get: shrimp dumplings (sui gow) or wontons with egg noodles or wide noodles in soup and add a side of vegetables and a side of roast pork (cha siu)

I was hopeful given the good reviews and more traditional menu, but the food lacked flavor and the meat was surprisingly tough.

Ambiance: 2 stars
Service: 2
Food: 3
I live in Wheaton, have eaten at Full Key numerous times over the years. It is not expensive, no big waits, but the indifference of staff is depressing, even for a Chinese rest. This week I ordered roast duck with rice and got a disgusting portion of skin and fat only. In response to my disappointment they just said people like it that way. I’ll go back in a pinch, but this is no 4 star eatery.

I don’t understand the butthurt reviews!!!
Really good Siu Mei and other Cantonese style dishes!
Patron since I was 3yrs old. Same great food with updated décor.
All the Siu Mei is good:
Roast pork, duck, chicken
Congee with preserved egg and roast pork and the shrimp dumpling soup are both great for the winter time!

Roast pork is so baddd
It likes they cook from the old pork that they have in stock
And the worst thing is about the employees who are so rude
This is my first time and the last too
We will not back again.
If I can give star to minus I will give them –5 star for their employees.

The chicken and roasted ducks are great. I recommend the duck blood and congee — usually people don’t order them but they are really tasty! It’s not expensive also, and it’s a good place to hold a party.

Aesthetically Full Key does not set up what is to come for the food that is to be had. Full key is small and in a typical strip mall. Once you get past that is where Full Key really stands out. The soups are very good with a few different choices. The wontons are not your everyday carry out wontons and have a shrimp /​pork mix. The roast meets are really good with the pork being a hit every time. Sweet and perfectly cooked with a light glaze. The beef pepper pot is also a can’t miss. Delicious flavor, the beef is tender and just enough black pepper in there to stand out but not overpower the dish.
Take the trip here is it well, well worth it.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
This is a Cantonese restaurant, so don’t come expecting really spicy food. It’s often full (of Chinese people) and they often run out of BBQ all the time, so that tells you something.
My favorite dish is the congee with the preserved eggs and pork. I also love the BBQ (chicken, pork, and duck). The congee is the best I’ve had in the area, and I really like the flavor with the preserved egg. If you like food with a lot of umami, then you’ll like the congee. If you think it’s a little bland, try putting in a little soy sauce. I saw a Chinese friend do that, and I’ve been doing it ever since.
I’ve also really liked their fried rice, and they’re generous with the meat and trimmings.
The pepper beef is seriously bland, so don’t get that.
The BBQ duck is really delicious but it is overpriced. Full Key charges $ 30 for a whole duck. If you really want duck, go to Peking Gourmet Inn. It’s $ 35, and you get the trimmings, the fanfare (they carve it tableside), and the fine dining environment.
You can lessen the pain of the duck price by saving the bones and making broth. You can even make your broth with half duck bones and half chicken bones (say from leftover Peruvian chicken), and that will be really yummy. (I’m a big fan of bone broth, it’s like taking turbo charged supplements for very little money). I also gave some to my dogs and they won’t leave me alone now, and trust me — they’re spoiled.
The pork is the best value — $ 12 a pound, and it’s really tasty.
The ambiance isn’t great, so consider getting takeout.

This place is my childhood. I can’t recall the endless times that I’ve had lunch/​dinner/​takeout here with my family. I remember coming here as a 7 year old after we had half days at school. This place will always be nostalgic to me and their food is amazing. Pan Fried Seafood Noodles, Wonton Noodle soup with Pork, Clam with black bean sauce, Salt and Pepper Seafood, soy chicken and rice were all my go tos. Can’t wait to be back home for the holidays to enjoy!

Very solid place for Cantonese food. Their décor and ambiance sets them apart from most others, as it’s much cleaner and better decorated than similar restaurants in the area. The bbq meat being in the back means you can’t see it from the window before you come in, but it didn’t matter for us since it was pretty good quality. Both the duck and pork were tasty, and while the duck was a bit greasy and fatty, the bbq pork was top-​notch. The clay pot had a lot flavor as well, and although there was a lot of sauce there were also a lot of eggplant and meat contents. While this place is a tad pricey, the value is worth it overall, especially with such a large menu.

Love this place! Small yet cozy Chinese restaurant in Wheaton that has the best roast pork/​duck in the area! It was a gloomy rainy Sunday afternoon so my friends and I were craving a hot soup… this place was perfect! We couldnt decide between the roast pork and duck… so we all ended up ordering the roast pork noodle soup and added the duck as extra meat. We also asked for vegetable (which costs extra as well). Man oh man, this REALLY hit the spot! Broth was amazing, clean and refreshing. Both pork and duck were unbelievable, so tender and flavorful! They gave us so much meat, I had to take the rest home! The egg noodles were perfectly cooked and they are extremely generous with their portion size. Overall, I felt so satisfied with our meal! They have a variety of other dishes on their menu, I highly recommend this place!!! Their congee, Chinese broccoli, and any roast pork /​duck entrees are amazinggg!

Full Key is an unassuming place in Wheaton! I grew up in MD and never came until recently, with my mom and grandma. They ran out of the signature soy sauce chicken.
I ordered the braised beef noodles and loved it. We ordered a few other things, like seafood and veggies. The prices are affordable and the portions are huge.
Left feeling stuffed! I would come back again to try other dishes.

One of my favs. I come here often and have only been disappointed once. Not a fan of the duck. Soups are a must try. Service is old school, just get the job done.

I came here because it was on the way home from NYC and i read some great reviews about this place. I said why not give another try to chinese restaurant (as if we didn’t have enough in NYC Chinatown).
The place is located in a shopping center that has probably less than 20 parkings all total, but it’s okay to park near CVS since the parking isn’t strictly reserved for certain restaurants. The place is small so when we came here on a sunday night, it was a little crowded and tight.
We ordered several dishes, but surpringsly they don’t have like things we want, just typical and simple chinese dishes. So if you want some authentic chinese food, don’t come here as they just have simple and more like Americanized dishes.

Unilocal is odd sometimes. What is all the fuss about here?
Service was decent enough, and the place is clean and relatively comfortable. No complaints here. Nothing special, nothing bad.
I ordered the roast duck-​pork combo, and some rice with minced beef. The duck was just okay, and the pork was dry and not very flavorful. The rice with minced beef was terrible — just boiled rice with some sort of school cafeteria slop on it. The portions were huge, but I had no motivation to try to finish them.
Not horrible, but below average.

Had dinner here last night with my stepmom and sis. I asked if they could make a duck lo mein, as duck noodle soup and lo mein (chicken, beef, shrimp, combo) were all on the menu. But they told me no. Not thrilled at that response, but so be it. So I ordered the duck noodle soup, because I really did want some duck. The duck was… duck. Nothing extraordinary. The noodles were good, and the broth was a solid Chinese soup broth. They gave a lot for the price, but it didn’t seem like anything special to me.
Good bargain.

Came in on a Wednesday evening for dinner with my husband. All of the booths and two seat tables were taken, so we were put at a table for 4. After a few minutes, they sat a stranger at our table since he was there alone. It was incredibly awkward.
The food was good. We shared a soup and the husband had the Chow San Shien. Both were delicious.
I am just not a fan of the fact that they sat a stranger with us. We had been looking for a quiet dinner so we could discuss a house we had just looked at and it was incredibly awkward.

Great Canto Chinese food. Excellent, friendly service!
Triple Combo: BBQ pork, soy sauce chicken, roast duck ⁵⁄₅ — great deal to get these three meats all on one plate! Very tender and flavorful with the soy sauce and fat from meats
Salt and Pepper fried pork ⁴⁄₅ — fried nicely, but lacked some of the seasoning
Baby clams in black bean sauce ⁴⁄₅ — clams cooked perfectly, but did not have enough sauce
Cod fish and bean curd casserole ⁴⁄₅ — great combination of fish and tofu. Wish they deboned the fish though
Service ⁵⁄₅ — the waitstaff has become well acquainted with my family over the years at another local Chinese place, and they have clearly brought their friendly good hearted nature here with them.

Ok so only had a few things here and they weren’t bad. Since I am not from this area, I wouldn’t make a special trip back… there are other places in the area I would rather go…
So had the roasted duck noodle soup with added wontons. The broth was good and the duck was also good. So I would get this one again. Had the sizzling pot with assorted meats. It was ok. Not my favorite. Not a lot of meat. Not sure what the hype was about… also had the spicy eggplant. Not bad. A lot of food. Not that spicy at all… would need to add a lot of chili oil… would not get this again.
Service was good. People friendly. Not a huge place. Parking can be a challenge.

Wait… I’ve never written a review for the Holy Grail of Chinese food? What have I been doing?
I’ll save you the ridiculously long and overly thought out review I would write for my beloved Full Key but I’ll keep it as short as possible.
I have literally eaten at Full Key for as long as I’ve been alive (with teeth for eating, of course)
There are always things I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS get when I’m here. When I lived in Silver Spring I’d picked and choose since I knew I was close enough to get more ASAP. But now I’m in Frederick, miles away so when I come here… I get ALL MY FAVORITES.
1. wonton soup with vegetables, add duck, add Char Siu. (No other way to eat it.)
2. Baby clams in black bean sauce (Rock your taste buds, baby)
3. Sour Cabbage with intestines (I don’t even eat the intestine but the sour cabbage is killer!)
4. Soy Sauce Chicken (I’ve never had better)
5. Roasted Duck (greasy shiny oh so fatty goodness! I’m literally going to scream about how good this duck is)
6. Salt & Pepper Squid (so tasty yet so simple)
Those are my all time favorites… I’m sure everything else is heavenly as well but man… Those 6 items are sure to rock your socks!
Don’t ever say you’ve eaten chinese food if you’ve never been to Full Key, I love Panda Express but baby… This is like the NFL and panda is like the local middle school squad.