Queen’s English — Restaurant in Washington

Friends who live in the area brought us here to DC Eater's July 2019 number one nominee on their Top 15 List.

ATMOSPHERE: The cozy spot can dine about 35 souls. We got seated at the bay window, others dined at the bar and on low tops, with the kitchen in plain view to all. It got pretty smoky inside as the kitchen vents couldn't keep up with the chefs.

MENU: Nothing British about this place with its arsenal filled with shareable, Asian-influenced dishes.

BEVERAGE: Happy Valley - $13.00 My first whisky drink as I'm usually a vodka guy. Delish! Perfectly strong blend of sweet and citrusy.

FOOD: Celtuce & Cucumber - $14.00 I couldn't find any celtuce (Chinese lettuce) in the dish, just lots of thinly-sliced cucumbers dressed in a light soy-vinegar sauce and topped with trout roe for a triple hit of freshness, salt and tang.

Salt & Pepper Blowfish - $16.00, four pc. I'm sure this is a non-poisonous variety as there weren't any disclaimers on the menu. The small, headless fish were lightly battered, simply seasoned with salt, pepper and a sweet drizzle, with meat similar in texture to trout. The tails were crispy enough to eat too, and the only bone you'll find is the spine. Recommended.

Chili Clams - $15.00 The clams were too small to be noticeable, so the majority of the dish seemed like ground pork with empty clam shells. Pass.

Soy Braised Enoki Mushroom - $15.00 A pool of sweet and savory sauce enveloped each mushroom, topped with a poached egg and what I thought to be chicharron was actually a crispy tapioca. Mushroom lovers will rejoice.

Sizzling Asparagus - $17.00 My least favorite of the night. The dish did not arrive sizzling, no biggie. Oddly, I couldn't detect any taste of asparagus in the mishmash of sweet and tangy flavors. Pass.

Naked Dumpling - $14.00 Void of any shell, spongy cushions of mashed up seafood made for an unusual twist on the traditional potsticker, instead transforming it into fishcake. I passed on the spicy paste and ate it plain as it seemed overly hot by others reactions. I'll take a conventional dumpling and dipping sauce any day.

Twice Cooked Lamb Rib - $16.00, 4 pc. Fork-tender, subtly seasoned and finished with a seared, black crust that was surprisingly not bitter.

Daikon Fritters - $16.00 I had to taste the pork sung (meat product) topping separately as it looked so interesting, like dried moss on a rock. It tasted just like shredded beef jerky. The mashed up daikon could've passed for fishcake, with the radish's earthy notes marrying well with the creamy/oyster sauce drizzle. Recommended.

Bok Choy - $14.00 Whatever the salty meat stir fried with the Chinese cabbage was, made the otherwise boring vegetable pop with life, creating an appetizing combination of flavors.

Typhoon Shelter Shrimp - $22.00/five Definitely crunch on the legs and battered shell to garner the seasonings with every bite.

Hand Cut Noodle - $21.00 I've never seen noodles with bi-colors of black and beige before, which is perhaps where the squid ink comes in. Bits of tender squid gave this dish subtle notes of ocean-y and savory. Recommended.

Crispy Rice - $16.00 Easily my favorite dish of them all. Every grain of jasmine rice was coated in bold flavors of savory and char and enhanced with chicken, peas, catering and earthy shiitakes. Not your average fried rice. Highly recommended!

DESSERT: The official name escaped my memory, but it was essentially Japanese-style mochi drizzled with caramel and dusted with sesame seeds and chopped peanuts. Gooey, sweet and nutty.

SERVICE: Our waiter was very attentive, patient and professional. Drinks were never empty and we were checked on numerous times throughout our meal.

TIP: No reservations are taken. We walked in without issue at 6:30p on a Tuesday night.

OVERALL: Intimate menu, a bit pricey for the portion size. That crispy rice will be on my mind...

Amazing food, outstanding service and a new gem in DC. Recommended by a friend and came here on a Friday night. Waitlist was about a little over an hour long so explored the area and grabbed a drink nearby. What is nice is that the hostess will text you when your table is ready so you don't have to wait at the restaurant the entire time.

Menu is limited, there is an extensive list of drinks, however the food is slightly limited, but that's okay! As long as the flavor profiles are delicious right? RIGHT!

Drink: Wang Cheung Tonight - Queen's English's version of the old fashioned. My first sip I thought...how unique this flavor is! Recommend if you are a whiskey/old fashioned drinker.

Victoria - was very tasty and I was quite jealous of my friend that I didn't get the same drink. A little on the sweeter side, but super delicious!

Food: Chili Clams: I was very excited for this dish because this is a popular dish in Hong Kong and I just had it when I visited a few months ago. My opinion, I wish it was much more spicer, which is how chili clams is supposed to be, with that wok charred soy flavor. These clams were a little underwhelming and some of them were cleaned out well enough (still had some grain of sand in them). It was stir-fried with ground meet and green chilis. I think it needed a bit more flavor to really get that punch on the taste buds.

Soy-braised Enoki Mushrooms: Quite delicious and flavorful and very simple. Served with a poached egg and pork cracklings (i think). I don't know if it was worth the price, since the ingredients were simple and the portion was small, but the flavor was all there.

Daikon Fritters: This was good, but honestly it's done much better at a dim sum place. The texture was not as smooth as I am used to, but I did like how there was a lot of ingredients in it and on it. I also had hoped it was pan-fried much crispier because that's the best part! (I typically ask for it to be crispy when I order it at dim sum). Flavor was good, but the price was a bit steep for this dish.

Hand-cut Noodles: HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT! This dish was hands down the most flavorful of the night! So delicious and the noodles' texture was on point. We basically devoured this right when it came out. It's a bit on the saltier side so we ate it with a bowl of rice. yummmm.

Service was outstanding and the guy was so attentive and engaged throughout the dinner. Definitely a pleasant experience.

Overall, I'd definitely come back again and try the other dishes. Although the price is a bit high, it's pretty typical of DC and can't really get good Chinese food in the city. Great place for a date night or just a get together...

We visited this restaurant as it is close by and looked appealing. Four dishes were ordered: Shrimp Croquettes, Truffle Dumplings, Duck Drunken Noodles and the Chicken Boba. Unfortunately, only the Shrimp Croquettes had any sort of actual good taste. The remaining food was quite disgusting, despite the beautiful presentation. The Dumplings were doused in a sludgey, heavy cream truffle sauce that overpowered any flavor the dumplings had and was too heavy. The Noodles were bland and devoid of any seasoning with a strange level of spice with poorly prepared, tough pieces of tofu and duck. The chicken tasted sous vide in the worst way possible, again bland and devoid of seasoning, doused in a disgusting gremolata of scallion and ginger in what appeared to be the method to try and rescue a boiled chicken thigh from being a gross piece of meat.

We also ordered several cocktails- all of which were good. So they have that going for them.

We were seated outside- when we made the reservation there was no option to choose sitting outside vs inside. We were not given a choice yet preferred to sit inside and were under the impression that by making a reservation we would, so it was surprising to us when the host led us outside to our table. There were no tables inside being that the restaurant is so small, so there was no possibility to accommodate that request at the time, which is a big miss.

The service was generally sub par, with the server generally missing for most of the meal. Most of the staff including the food runner seemed to have some type of snooty stick up their you know what, which wasn’t warranted given the quality of the food.

All in all, went once to try it, wont return- ever. Especially after finding and reading the owners unfathomably rude and clearly insensitive replies to bad reviews. If we had seen just that ahead of time, we would have never made the reservation. I truly hope they come after me too for scolding their absolutely shameful attempt at preparing food. I would be surprised if this restaurant lasts much longer than another...