Mediocre food scene in DMV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What places have you tried that were not up to snuff?

OP here - I am an avid diner, but off the top of my head:

Blue Duck - Very mediocre (used to be better), but always extremely overpriced.

Red Hen - Fine but simpleton. I've been three times (in my neighborhood) and the menu always lacks a sense of adventure.

Rasika - here I will make a NYC comparison. In NYC I would go to Tabla (now closed) which made Rasika seem like a mall franchise.

Le Diplomate - I consider this the number 1 "hype" offender. These dishes wouldn't make it past the hostess stand at Balthazar (which Le Dip is trying way too hard to be).

Founding Farmers - Organic Applebee's.

Del Campo - mediocre from top to bottom.

My takeaways are this:

- Mid and high-end DC establishments are offensively overpriced. Is there a reason for this?
- many big production restaurants where food is second to ambience.
- DC is big on commoditization, as soon as a restaurant is popular, the immediate reaction is to build another. (Why? this does not happen anywhere else)

For Indian, have you tried Woodlands in Langley Park, MD? Not fancy, and much more traditional than Rasika, but as an Indian myself, that's the only place I go for Indian food in this area.

Woodlands! +100

[Anonymous]

The housing is offensively overpriced. Why wouldn't restaurants be?

[Anonymous]

Op you listed a bunch of places I take clients for lunch. Basically pleasing to the flyover country crowd. You need to go further east whether in the city or burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op you listed a bunch of places I take clients for lunch. Basically pleasing to the flyover country crowd. You need to go further east whether in the city or burbs.

OP here - this is another one of my gripes. Why are our most hailed restaurants the corporate, Disneyland types? I've always just assumed that for some unbeknownst reason, DC natives enjoy eating like lobbyists.

[Anonymous]

good chinese restaurants in DC proper:

Szichuan Pavilion on K St
Great Wall Szichuan on 14th
Shanghai Lounge in Glover Park

Personally I prefer Szichuan Chinese (it's the spicy stuff). I've never been able to find good Cantonese food.

If you have a hankering for duck, go to Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church.

For decent dim sum:
go to Mark's Duck House, A&J, Oriental Eest restaurant.

But agreed, there's a lot of crappy Chinese, but that's because they're American Chinese and most people can't tell the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We definitely have crap Chinese, but very good Thai and Vietnamese. Good everyday Italian is non-existent.

I am laughing at the person who said that our restaurants are bad here compared to New York because of the high rents.

What kind of food do you like, OP?

Savio's in the Landmark section of Alexandria does pretty good italian (according to my italian neighbor.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op you listed a bunch of places I take clients for lunch. Basically pleasing to the flyover country crowd. You need to go further east whether in the city or burbs.

I'm from what you so provincially call "flyover country" and I would take the food in flyover country any day over the food here. My flyover country city has amazing Italian, Mexican, Thai, Greek diners, tapas, burgers, pizza, bar food, delis, bakeries, breakfast places, neighborhood bars and cafes, ethnic markets, etc., all things that are sorely lacking in the DC area. And it also has a high end dining scene that would impress even the biggest East Coast food snob, including multiple restaurants with James Beard award winning chefs. To top it off, all of these culinary riches can be yours for fair, or even very low, prices. As I said, I would take this anyday over the the bland overpriced food here. So many overhyped places here wouldn't even make it in my hometown because people actually have discerning tastes for food and hype is simply not enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What places have you tried that were not up to snuff?

OP here - I am an avid diner, but off the top of my head:

Blue Duck - Very mediocre (used to be better), but always extremely overpriced.

Red Hen - Fine but simpleton. I've been three times (in my neighborhood) and the menu always lacks a sense of adventure.

Rasika - here I will make a NYC comparison. In NYC I would go to Tabla (now closed) which made Rasika seem like a mall franchise.

Le Diplomate - I consider this the number 1 "hype" offender. These dishes wouldn't make it past the hostess stand at Balthazar (which Le Dip is trying way too hard to be).

Founding Farmers - Organic Applebee's.

Del Campo - mediocre from top to bottom.

My takeaways are this:

- Mid and high-end DC establishments are offensively overpriced. Is there a reason for this?
- many big production restaurants where food is second to ambience.
- DC is big on commoditization, as soon as a restaurant is popular, the immediate reaction is to build another. (Why? this does not happen anywhere else)

PP, you're listing all the sceney restaurants, with the exception of Red Hen, which I think is really good. Who cares if it's simpleton food?

You won't find amazing food at sceney restaurants, especially for the price.

I disagree with you about Le Dip though - I think the food is really good. And the prices are Balthazar are crazy; and I don't think they're any better. I've been to France dozens of times and Le Dip reminds me of many neighborhood bistros. The food is comfort food, so I don't think you should expect anything outrageous.

Le me give you some suggestions:

Indian: try Kadhai Boutique Indian in Bethesda. I'm sure there are some good places in DC, but I've been hanging out in Bethesda a lot due to husband's family, and we often go there. I think Rasika is good, but I don't think it's the best.

Blue Duck is really good, and I agree it's expensive - but what do you expect? Itt's a fancy restaurant in the most expensive part of DC.

If you want adventurous go to Rose's Luxury or even Compass Rose. Compass Rose is a little restaurant doing amazing things on 14th st.

There's also the Dabney, which just opened. If you're a meat eater, go to Partisan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are you from that you expect much better food/service? I'm from CA, and I find that there isn't as much diverse ethnic foods here, especially really good Mexican. I miss good Mexican food.

OP here - NYC. That said, I am not basing my comparison on NY. I'm thinking of Charleston, New Orleans, Philly, Richmond, Asheville, etc. In all seriousness, I think a lot of residents here lack culinary awareness.

Time to move. I don't find the food all that wonderful in NY. Or, open your own restaurant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the food options here to be pretty good, overall. You can get almost any ethnicity of food you could possibly want without having to drive very far, and there are plenty of solid American places for taking less adventurous diners.

I have heard from friends that we don't have good Chinese here. I couldn't care less because i don't find it Chinese food that appealing anyway. (I'm more into Thai and Indian.) Though I can say that Peter Chang's in Arlington is probably the best I've had, and friends agree.

Sorry, there is no good Italian (and I know because I am Italian).

+1 I just cook all my Italian food at home. What really sucks is the lack of good Italian salumi or bakeries in this area! I have to order online or go to Philly or Pittsburgh to get ingredients sometimes.

[Anonymous]

LOL, OP:

"All the restaurants in DC are awful! Oh, just to let you know: I only go to boring hyped up restaurants."



Why don't you go to a restaurant that's not aimed at old white male lobbyists sometime, OP? Or maybe you can move to the bustling metropolis of Asheville, which I'm sure has authentic Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, Ethiopian, Spanish, Japanese, Salvadorian, etc food in spades with their huge, cosmopolitan population of 90,000

Sounds like you want white people food where people kiss your ass. Sounds like you need to live somewhere with cheaper rent so your money goes farther and you seem like more of a big spender than you do here.

[Anonymous]

DC does not have a large old Italian population nor a Mexican. That said most people when looking for Mexican food want tex-mex. There is Chinese, Vietnamese, El Salvador etc, but they are not the place most of you would go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are you from that you expect much better food/service? I'm from CA, and I find that there isn't as much diverse ethnic foods here, especially really good Mexican. I miss good Mexican food.

Don't know where you are, but Alamo on Kenilworth Ave in Riverdale MD is pretty good.

Where the heck is the good CHINESE?

Rockville, mainly. A&J in Annandale.
Almost all of the ethnic food is in the burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the food options here to be pretty good, overall. You can get almost any ethnicity of food you could possibly want without having to drive very far, and there are plenty of solid American places for taking less adventurous diners.

I have heard from friends that we don't have good Chinese here. I couldn't care less because i don't find it Chinese food that appealing anyway. (I'm more into Thai and Indian.) Though I can say that Peter Chang's in Arlington is probably the best I've had, and friends agree.

Sorry, there is no good Italian (and I know because I am Italian).

+1 I just cook all my Italian food at home. What really sucks is the lack of good Italian salumi or bakeries in this area! I have to order online or go to Philly or Pittsburgh to get ingredients sometimes.

I am the PP. I cook mine at home too, but, as you say, it is hard to find quality ingredients. Where do you order from? I get some stuff when I go home, but not everything travels well.

[Anonymous]

The whole Chinese embassy eats lunch at Shanghai lounge in glover park. Not sure if they changed name to dumplings and beyond. Also right a cross the street is Sprig and spout. I hate telling people about these places.