Eh, the Vietnamese gang activity has seemed to get significantly better over the years. I think it’s fine for dinner. Back to the food: Rice Paper has a good bun rieu, There’s an amazing Thai place run by Thais inside the mall, the Banh Cuon place has amazing rice crepes with meat filling. Tons of Vietnamese bubble tea to try. I recommend avocado and coconut. For takeaway, Thanh Son tofu has amazing lemongrass tofu. There are tons of shops that sell all kinds of snacks. Gio Cha Ngoc Hung has amazing patties and meat products. |
Well you just broke my heart. That’s my DS’s favorite restaurant (and one of ours), and he comes home from college for the summer on Wednesday. |
| Btw, OP, I live in Chevy Chase and agree with you that Bethesda is a good wasteland. Mediocre food at crazy prices. That said, Planta was surprisingly very good. |
| Arlington is the worst. |
| Sadly the DMV is nothing like San Diego. You will have an expensive journey down disappointment lane looking for the gems around here |
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I'm originally from CA.
I find Rockville, Silver Spring and Wheaton to have some good options. ITA that Bethesda is over hyped. I don't find it all that interesting. The best places are "hole in the wall" type places. For Vietnamese, we like Pho Nom Nom in Rockville. Sushi - Love Sushi in Gaithersburg/Rockville We found a little Mexican/Latin American place in Rockville after many years of living here - Las Primos Latin American -- La Limena, La Brasa There are some good places in Wheaton/Silver Spring, but since I'm local to Rockville, and I'm a bit lazy to drive, I stay local to here. One place I am willing to go further out is for 2fiftybbq in PG county. OMG.. hands down the best bbq I have ever had, anywhere. |
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For searfood, Live Crawfish & Seafood Restaurant, in the same plaza as Kinn Imm Thai.
That plaza also has Korean Fried chicken - CM chicken Two good Latin America/Mexican restaurants Oms Indian restaurant A Japanese place I haven't tried ... and IHOP 😆 |
| Loads of good Ethiopian food in Alexandria! |
Oh, please. I'm a San Diego native and call this "DMV is nothing like San Diego" a bunch of BS. Both cities have their gems and the DC suburbs offer more variety than the San Diego suburbs. |
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I have two days off during a week and go looking for restaurants. Last week I went to La Limena Grill and El Patio. Both were nice, but El Patio is more my kind of place with salads, meat and empanadas. They had a lunch special with soup/salad and two empanadas for under $8 I believe.
Tried to get to an Ethiopian place in Silver Spring but parking was non-existent. Any recommendations in Wheaton/Rockville with easier parking? |
| What kind of food? Annandale or Centreville VA for Korean food. |
+1 Rockville, Gaithersburg, Silver Spring -- some of the most diverse small cities in the country And I used to live in CA |
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Wheaton has some of the best Thai food around - Ruan Thai, Nava Thai, Thai Taste by Kob.
Silver Spring for Ethiopian - Langano, Lucy, others Frankly Pizza in Kensington is terrific, if you're ever in those parts. Dish and Dram is fun for a drink and a bite to eat. The problem with downtown Bethesda is that the real estate is so expensive that it's hard for independent restaurants to get a foothold, especially when there's so much competition. Kadhai is terrific for Indian. Black's Bar and Kitchen is good. Raku. People who whine about the dining scene in the DC area don't realize how absurd they sound. |
This is absolutely right. But, the answer is never Bethesda (and I live in Bethesda). There are a couple of places that are passable, but it's just not a good food area. |
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At one point bethesda was known for having the highest amount of restaurants per capita or something like that. But, it's had mediocre food for about 20 years. Super disappointing. Persimmon was a good one back in the day, though.
I'm in gaithersburg and it's also slim pickings although there are some good ones: Chennai Hoppers (indian), some good sushi, vasilis. Silver spring has some good ones, too. El Sapo is great. |