Because you made a very rookie mistake. You made the subject of your post different from the first post. The subject is what the entire thread is about, hence the thread is about "Mediocre food scene in DMV". Your first post was a comment, which can be just one aspect of the subject presented. If you only wanted to discuss the top rated restaurants in DC, you needed to put that in the subject line.
Most posters will opt to read a thread based on the subject line that comes up in the forum topic lists, the hot list or the recent topics list. Even if they don't read the OP, they may still comment on the subject. You included all of the options including the chain restaurants and HITW gems by giving a significantly more generic subject than the content of your first post.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP, seriously, Enjoy Applebee's! You don't sound like the type of person who has much of a palate, and therefore you will of course be disappointed by the mac-n-cheese or whatever you call food at whatever you call restaurants.

In fact, this response just makes me think you are an awful troll. Etete is a gem, and you're a boring turd.

+1000

I can't believe you don't understand that there is a lot of middle ground between not thinking that the DC restaurant scene is God's Gift and liking Applebee's.

I know ... It is inexplicable, like they have never been anywhere else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

If you're willing to go to Montgomery County, there are a number of good restaurants. For authentic good southern Chinese style, Tony Lin's (http://www.tonylinsrestaurant.com/) is quite good. I'm Chinese and we had a Chinese wedding banquet dinner as our rehearsal dinner there for our wedding. Even my Chinese-born mother and my parents' Chinese friends liked the food there. Years ago, my mother knew the then Chinese Consul at the Chinese Embassy in DC (she had gone to high school with him in Beijing). When she was visiting me, we were invited to dinner and he took us to Tony Lin's. That's how we found it and how we ended up with it for our rehearsal banquet. We don't live in Montgomery County, but we still travel there occasionally to eat at Tony Lin's.

For good Dim Sum, you can go up to Gaithersburg to New Fortune which is the best Hong Kong style (carts) Dim Sum. If you don't want to go that far, Hollywood East in the Wheaton Mall is a close second. I know a number of American friends like Oriental East in Silver Spring, but my Asian friends prefer Hollywood East in Wheaton.

Anonymous wrote:

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 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No you are not alone! Although it is getting somewhat better, DC pales in comparison to Philly and NYC. I think it is because rents are higher here and people are just less demanding. Maybe the best restaurants here are as good as other cities, but on the middle and lower end (i.e. Where most of us go most often) it really lacks. For example everyone crows about Maketto and it is really just meh.

OP here - In addition to being less demanding, I find that, at least in my social circle, people are very eager to hop aboard the hype train.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP here - I get it but I don't see why "expense account" should have anything to do with it. There are "expense account" restaurants in NYC too, but they are kick ass (Perry St., Ai Fiori). These are truly exceptional restaurants and provide for top dining experiences. In my opinion, the restaurants that garner similar notoriety here simply do not live up to many peoples expectations.

Good, then retitle your post to be more precise. You're complaining about a small subset of restaurants in DC, when actuality restaurants like Etete or Dukem (Ethiopian), Thip Khao (Laotian) and Little Serow (Thai) are far more acclaimed by foodie magazines than most of the ones you mentioned.

Op here - LOL to reading about Dukem or Etete in a "foodie magazine". Please spare us. I will also concede that you can find some tasty indian lunch buffets in Arlington strip malls.

Here's an article about Etete in Bon Appetit. But no worries--we understand OP's taste runs more towards the Olive Garden.
http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/unexpected-ethnic-eats-in-the-united-states

OP here - I am not fond of the olive garden, my mother never let me eat that trash. A mention is Bon Appetit is great - though it does not seem like they visited (they would probably be let down!), I think Cher Cher is better.

OP, you need to cut back on eating so much. Eating too much with such a large hard blockage up your alimentary canal could make you seriously ill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I can't believe you don't understand that there is a lot of middle ground between not thinking that the DC restaurant scene is God's Gift and liking Applebee's.


I know ... It is inexplicable, like they have never been anywhere else.

I can't believe you don't understand there is a lot of middle ground between not thinking the food scene in all of DC, Maryland and Virginia is "mediocre" and recognizing that there are restaurant gems all over the area. But yes PP, it clearly must be that everyone posting on this thread that OP should recognize the ethnic gems of DC has never been anywhere else but DC

But the OP has only listed places in "DC" that are in NW. To bash the "mediocre food scene" in the city, when the OP has not been able to get his/her entitled ass over to any other area besides downtown and maybe Cleveland Park, says the OP hasn't really explored DC at all.

Washington is more than just Le Diplomate and Clydes.

Op here - I can't even comprehend the previous few posts. How did Olive Garden and Applebee's get wrapped up in this? My very first post read "Top rated restaurants in DC always leave me wanting more ..." Why do I need to discuss the HITW ethnic spots, this thread is not about them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I can't believe you don't understand that there is a lot of middle ground between not thinking that the DC restaurant scene is God's Gift and liking Applebee's.


I know ... It is inexplicable, like they have never been anywhere else.

I can't believe you don't understand there is a lot of middle ground between not thinking the food scene in all of DC, Maryland and Virginia is "mediocre" and recognizing that there are restaurant gems all over the area. But yes PP, it clearly must be that everyone posting on this thread that OP should recognize the ethnic gems of DC has never been anywhere else but DC

But the OP has only listed places in "DC" that are in NW. To bash the "mediocre food scene" in the city, when the OP has not been able to get his/her entitled ass over to any other area besides downtown and maybe Cleveland Park, says the OP hasn't really explored DC at all.

Washington is more than just Le Diplomate and Clydes.

Not the OP, but I have eaten all over the metro area at a wide variety of places and I have to say that the food scene is pretty mediocre compared to that in other parts of the country and so overpriced.

Anonymous wrote:
Op here - I can't even comprehend the previous few posts. How did Olive Garden and Applebee's get wrapped up in this? My very first post read "Top rated restaurants in DC always leave me wanting more ..." Why do I need to discuss the HITW ethnic spots, this thread is not about them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I can't believe you don't understand that there is a lot of middle ground between not thinking that the DC restaurant scene is God's Gift and liking Applebee's.


I know ... It is inexplicable, like they have never been anywhere else.

I can't believe you don't understand there is a lot of middle ground between not thinking the food scene in all of DC, Maryland and Virginia is "mediocre" and recognizing that there are restaurant gems all over the area. But yes PP, it clearly must be that everyone posting on this thread that OP should recognize the ethnic gems of DC has never been anywhere else but DC

But the OP has only listed places in "DC" that are in NW. To bash the "mediocre food scene" in the city, when the OP has not been able to get his/her entitled ass over to any other area besides downtown and maybe Cleveland Park, says the OP hasn't really explored DC at all.

Washington is more than just Le Diplomate and Clydes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP here - I get it but I don't see why "expense account" should have anything to do with it. There are "expense account" restaurants in NYC too, but they are kick ass (Perry St., Ai Fiori). These are truly exceptional restaurants and provide for top dining experiences. In my opinion, the restaurants that garner similar notoriety here simply do not live up to many peoples expectations.

Good, then retitle your post to be more precise. You're complaining about a small subset of restaurants in DC, when actuality restaurants like Etete or Dukem (Ethiopian), Thip Khao (Laotian) and Little Serow (Thai) are far more acclaimed by foodie magazines than most of the ones you mentioned.

Op here - LOL to reading about Dukem or Etete in a "foodie magazine". Please spare us. I will also concede that you can find some tasty indian lunch buffets in Arlington strip malls.

Here's an article about Etete in Bon Appetit. But no worries--we understand OP's taste runs more towards the Olive Garden.
http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/unexpected-ethnic-eats-in-the-united-states

OP here - I am not fond of the olive garden, my mother never let me eat that trash. A mention is Bon Appetit is great - though it does not seem like they visited (they would probably be let down!), I think Cher Cher is better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I can't believe you don't understand that there is a lot of middle ground between not thinking that the DC restaurant scene is God's Gift and liking Applebee's.


I know ... It is inexplicable, like they have never been anywhere else.

I can't believe you don't understand there is a lot of middle ground between not thinking the food scene in all of DC, Maryland and Virginia is "mediocre" and recognizing that there are restaurant gems all over the area. But yes PP, it clearly must be that everyone posting on this thread that OP should recognize the ethnic gems of DC has never been anywhere else but DC

But the OP has only listed places in "DC" that are in NW. To bash the "mediocre food scene" in the city, when the OP has not been able to get his/her entitled ass over to any other area besides downtown and maybe Cleveland Park, says the OP hasn't really explored DC at all.

Washington is more than just Le Diplomate and Clydes.