I came to Full Key based solely off of the recommendation of Chinese American restaurant owners who said that they go to Full Key to get authentic Cantonese food, specifically the wonton noodle soup.
When you pull up, Full Key resides in what I would call a bit of a run down strip mall in probably not the best part of Wheaton. Parking is available either in front of the restaurant or in the back in a large open lot.
Walking into the restaurant you immediately notice the high ceiling, wood paneling, and the roasted ducks hanging in a warmer through the cut out for the open kitchen. While the decor is a bit dated it all works for the delicious experience you’re about to have.
Full Key’s menu is not identical to say every other Chinese restaurant you go to in the area. While they do have some staples of American Chinese food (general tsos, sesame chicken) a majority of the dishes are unique to the restaurant.
The first things we ordered was the egg rolls and the shrimp dumpling wonton soup. The egg rolls came out piping hot, albeit a touch oily, inside the filling was fresh with an array of cabbage, pork, and glass noodles. While it wasn’t what I expected, it was delicious. The wrapper was thinner than you would expect but it was still perfectly crispy.
The star of this course though and I would say the whole meal was the soups. The shrimp dumpling noodle soup Hong Kong style and the regular wonton noodle soup Hong kong style were both divine. The first thing to know is that the serving size is enormous so if you’re ordering the soup I would recommend sharing it if you plan on getting something else. The broth is a clean broth that is delicately seasoned and not overly salty. The noodles with are actually thin are fresh and have the perfect ratio of soft to al dente. The shrimp dumpling is a thin dumpling with a nice chunk of fresh shrimp inside, very good. The soups are worth the hike.
As we downed the soups the other foods arrived (timing was also a bit of an issue, as orders just came out rapidly). The sesame chicken was delicious, it has less breading than what I am used to and the sauce was less sweet, but it still hit the spot. The beef chow foon was divine but a little too greasy again. We also ordered the roast meat combo platter, all of the meats here are tasty my main gripe is that they don’t debone the duck or chicken prior to butchering it so you have to be a little careful
not to bite into bone.
Overall Full Key is very good and if it was my local spot I would be very happy. I can’t give it 5 stars because the greasiness of some of the items. I prefer Hunan Legend for the classics, but Full Key is worth it, if not just for the soup.
