Hong Kong Carryout — Restaurant in Washington

DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT give this "restaurant" your business. Never in my life have I been verbally abused, berated, and condescended as I have by the woman who owns this place. Prior to today, every time I visited my sister in D.C. she would take me here. She loved this place, and I am only writing my review due to this lady's reasoning for VERBALLY ASSAULTING ME being to prevent this from coming out. Seeing as how the food was okay the first time, I decided to order again. When I opened my order of General Tso's chicken, I was horrified to discover a LIVE BUG in my chicken. It was a small winged beetle of some sort, and as soon as we found it, we called the place to let them know we would be returning everything (including the unopened sodas) in their uneaten and untouched conditions. When we walked over, my sister went in and handed the lady our food, which she takes to the back at first (I am assuming she did this to get rid of the bug) and then comes back out and demands I show her the bug. I was like "what? How would I even know where the bug was??" She then proceeds to pick out individual pieces of chicken, and then once she couldn't find it, make me pick out every piece of chicken to find the bug. As I have no idea where it went, and no reason to return uneaten food, I tell her that I'm not going to continue looking through the food to find it. She then accuses us of lying, and demands we apologize to her chef for lying about finding a bug in my food. Lady are you okay? Why would I walk over and return food and drinks I haven't even eaten? After continuously saying we were lying and needed to apologize (at this point she's shouting at us, calling us liars to the point where people on the street were stopped to see what was going on, saying we came here to review it or something, and then saying she doesn't care if we leave a review or about our business), she goes back behind the counter. At this point we were just continuing to request a refund and saying we were not going to stand here and be screamed at, she finally concedes, then gives us the refund. I assuming this was only done to make us leave. Mind you, there were two other employees in this shop who did NOTHING to stop her from screaming and berating us for lying, and she continued yelling as we walked away. I don't even care we got the refund. I'm disgusted that this lady saw it fit to scream at us, insult us, and treat us a subhuman beings, because we wanted a refund for the bug that was found in my food. Deplorable behavior. In hindsight, I should've taken a picture of the bug but when I saw it crawling, I immediately spit out the piece I had just put in my mouth and closed the top (this was done so they would see the bug when we...

Yelp Write a Review Austin G. Hong Kong Carryout Rating Yay! I'm a fan.

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While chefs and restaurateurs despise Yelp, if there's one place no one can argue is reviewing carryout. It's the food of people and no matter how refined palate, your cravings cave you into going at least once a year. It's the type of food that unites people.

That said, the average person could and should review carryout spots. If you browse Yelp, you'll notice most carryout places have fewer than 3 stars and many first hand accounts of food poisoning. So, when you stumble upon a 4-star carryout, you MUST go.

That's how I came across Hong Kong Carryout. I used to live around the corner and it never ever caught my eye until Yelp pointed me there. After having dinner there, I see why it's rated so highly. It delivers you an experience, which us millennials love.

It's a tiny house next to a bodega in Hill East off of the popular East Capitol Street. Despite the outside looking dirty, the inside is surprisingly bare and clean. There is a random picture of a city skyline inside and then the takeout window with a friendly guy behind it. Order a special or any item off their extensive menu and watch the older men make it through the window. There's a bench to sit on while you wait for your food.

My friend ordered the chicken and broccoli per the cashier's recommendation, but the flavor fell flat. What did NOT disappoint was the sesame chicken. It's perfectly cooked and is full of flavor. Bot dishes came with rice and the large was more than enough for dinner AND lunch the next day- both just over $11.

They have a fridge full of unhealthy drinks and the only water they have is bottled water you have to pay for (isn't that illegal to refuse free water to a customer?). Note: It's cash only, but there's an ATM just outside.

It's been a full 36 hours and neither my friend and I are sick. That's winning in the...

I've had plenty of Chinese takeout in my years on this earth. There's always something comforting that, even away from home, there's a familiar smell and the same printed menu options in almost every takeout place. You know that when you order sweet and sour chicken, it's chicken, rice, and sauce on the side. Crab rangoons that taste the same, in a good way. Every time. And that is very comforting.

BUT WOW. This place not only met those expectations, it's some of the, if not THE BEST, I've ever had. Sweet and sour chicken was SO CRISPY and perfect. The crab rangoons could have been actual crab; they were that good. And the sesame chicken was just plain delicious. To the point that my wife and I were full but couldn't stop eating.

I'm sad that I now have to go back home and trudge through mediocre Chinese takeout knowing there is someone out there setting the bar so high.

Cash only, which isn't really a problem since that order above ran...