Chinatown Express — Restaurant in Washington

I visited Chinatown Express twice during a recent trip to DC for a conference. It's a no frills place with extremely quickly prepared food as per the name. Their flavors match my palate and I had two pretty tasty meals here.

The first time, I ordered the shrimp chow foon but they gave me tofu veggie chow foon. It was still good! There was a lot of different types of tofu and vegetables and the vegetables were fresh and perfectly cooked. The noodles were a bit overcooked on average, which doesn't matter too much for this type of noodle, but it was a bit gloopy. The sauce was thick and savory. It was a very large amount of food, but I'm not sure that it should be $20 given that there was no meat. I also loved the chili oil and scallion ginger sauce on the table -- my dish didn't really need more seasoning, but I used some anyways because it was delicious.

The second day, I ordered takeout on the phone during my 7 minute walk to the restaurant, and the food was ready when I arrived. I got the stir-fried fresh noodles with seafood and made sure to ask for the sauces on the side. Man, it was a ton of food. I was absolutely stuffed about 2/3 of the way through. The noodles were in between chow mein and udon noodle thickness and well-cooked. I would have preferred more toppings relative to the noodles (shrimp, squid, fish cakes), but alas inflation. They also gave me a lot of chili oil, scallion ginger sauce, and pickled garlic, and I used it all. I would hold back on the garlic next time since the acid is powerful, but I can't get enough of the chili and scallions -- it really transforms the dish. It was a very hearty meal for $12.

I would definitely come back here again. Next time I want to try the dumplings, since I saw them...

Some best & worst foods memories and the poorest services in demanding higher % tips on the receipt even just in a few minutes into eating with the worst 3 main dishes on the worst outdated 2nd floor dining room, including its entire entity. When the main dishes were served over the table on our 3 adult visitors, I was so embarrassed to treat my guests like this! We all shocked to observe that's not foods at all! Fresh 🥦s were all raw on the side cycled plate with awfully cooked meat in the middle & other dishes. Almost inedible in ALL! I took my guests came down here by its 1st floor's impressive eatering but not realized its main dish entries, led by its host, went on the 2nd floor in such a poor food, services, shady interior & greedy, aggressive in tips demanding printed on receipt served you even just started to eat by a waitress stale faced!? I's too kind & "behaved" to stay there back then, not know we could leave (2012) Otherwise should leave immediately then went to another typical Chinese cafe just cross the street who served authentic Cantonese foods for which I soon later also introduced 2 others to go, & never minded this one anymore! (2013) . An old memory but hope a recent visit could change this review. 🌹🐍🐲

Wonder the male owner proudly showed his huge stomach but spent much less 💰 in updating his restaurant for decades? Only 1st floor's noodle soups, Bao & dumplings are truly tasty though full of lard as a magic ingredient in traditional tasty Chinese dishes. Long line waiting here piled up for its magic foods on the first floor only and I introduced others coming here too but unfortunately... Hope the owner could consider updating its entire entity to match this Chinatown's new & modern...

Took the family hoping to relive a great experience of an authentic Chinese restaurant my wife and I enjoyed back in 2011-2013.

They did not open at “10:00 AM as posted on their door and online. But we told our kids it was worth the wait and walked around a few blocks exploring until they turned on their lights. We then ordered hoping for the best.

Much to our disappointment, the food was horrible. I had “fresh” noodles with roast duck. The noodles were absolutely not fresh, and the chunks of duck were mostly gristle, bone, and rubbery cold meat that had been cooked on some previous day. I just removed the chunks of duck, which were not what I consider edible. I tried to salvage the meal by just eating the noodles. The noodles were oddly hot in the middle and cold in parts, and salty.

Each member of my family had similar experiences - food that was hot in some places and cold in others. No one finished their plates. The only best part of the meal were the spring rolls, which tasted ok.

The bathroom was “out of order” and apparently had been for a while. Guess they didn’t care about customers enough to just call a plumber.

Our waitress also stood and just stared at us for the last five minutes. Which was just weird.

Overall, a place that at once been “amazing” a decade earlier was, quite honestly, gross and disappointing. And for a family of five with two small children, cost about $100. It wasn’t worth more than five bucks, which was the cost of the spring rolls.

I will not be going back, as everyone in our family agreed that Panda Express is cheaper, closer, cleaner, has working restrooms, better service, and simply tastes...