# Best Chinese restaurants in Chinatown (Washington, DC)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776 "2008-11-02T22:25:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Momofgirls](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/momofgirls/32/21798_2.png) [@Momofgirls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Momofgirls)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/1 "2008-11-02T22:25:50Z")
My husband and I are going to see The Who in concert tomorrow night at the Verizon Center, and would like to go out to dinner first. Chinese food is his favorite cuisine, but he’s never been to Chinatown and I haven’t been in probably 25 years. Any recommendations for us? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/2 "2008-11-02T22:29:55Z")
I like this place: [http://www.washingtonian.com/restaurantreviews/797.html](http://www.washingtonian.com/restaurantreviews/797.html) ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/3 "2008-11-02T22:46:33Z")
**Full Kee** used to have the (excellent) reputation of being where other chefs hung out after work. ---
**Author:** ![Momofgirls](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/momofgirls/32/21798_2.png) [@Momofgirls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Momofgirls)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/4 "2008-11-03T01:28:13Z")
Thank you! Both of those sound really good. I’ll leave it up to my husband since he’s the Chinese food fanatic. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/5 "2008-11-03T03:51:22Z")
Full Kee. No question, no competition. It’s awesome. I recommend the roast pork and noodle soup or the spicy crispy head-on shrimp, but pretty much everything is good. (Chinatown Express is second-best.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/6 "2008-11-03T03:58:44Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/7 "2008-11-03T11:14:41Z")
Chinatown in DC hasn’t been a real Chinatown in over 20 years. If you want a distinctive DC dining experience, go to Adams-Morgan and try one of the many fine Ethiopian restaurants ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/8 "2008-11-03T17:41:47Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Chinatown in DC hasn’t been a real Chinatown in over 20 years. If you want a distinctive DC dining experience, go to Adams-Morgan and try one of the many fine Ethiopian restaurants If you want Ethiopian food, go to U St., not Adam’s Morgan. The best Chinese in DC is probably [City Lights](http://www.citylightsofchina.com/) of China in Dupont. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/9 "2008-11-03T17:57:56Z")
If you want to stay in Chinatown,[Tony Cheng’s](http://www.tonychengrestaurant.com/) has great dim sum, and their food is pretty good too. If you want to move away from Chinese, there are better restaurants in a 5 block radius. I would recommend [Zaytinya](http://www.zaytinya.com/), [Inde Bleu](http://www.indebleu.net/), [Rosa Mexicano](http://www.rosamexicano.info/), or [La Tasca](http://www.latascausa.com/). The [Washingtonian](http://www.washingtonian.com/sections/restaurants/index.html) provides good reviews for all the above, as well as other restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![Momofgirls](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/momofgirls/32/21798_2.png) [@Momofgirls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Momofgirls)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/10 "2008-11-03T18:14:07Z")
Thank you for all the recommendations! Like I said, I’ll let my husband decide since he’s the Chinese food fan. I like it OK, but he LOVES it; has to have it every few days. **Krokodil** and **brickbacon** , our plan is to park at the Verizon Center and walk to Chinatown, so we have plenty of time to eat before the concert. Thank you anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/11 "2008-11-03T18:19:21Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > If you want to stay in Chinatown,[Tony Cheng’s](http://www.tonychengrestaurant.com/) has great dim sum, and their food is pretty good too. If you want to move away from Chinese, there are better restaurants in a 5 block radius. I would recommend [Zaytinya](http://www.zaytinya.com/), [Inde Bleu](http://www.indebleu.net/), [Rosa Mexicano](http://www.rosamexicano.info/), or [La Tasca](http://www.latascausa.com/). The [Washingtonian](http://www.washingtonian.com/sections/restaurants/index.html) provides good reviews for all the above, as well as other restaurants. I recommend Proof, PS 7’s, Poste, or Matchbox far more than any of the above. But tastes differ. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/12 "2008-11-03T18:37:47Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > I recommend Proof, PS 7’s, Poste, or Matchbox far more than any of the above. But tastes differ. Matchbox is ridiculously crowded and highly overrated. Your other suggestions are good, but the ones I mentioned are either ranked higher, or are ones I’m more familiar with. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/13 "2008-11-03T19:21:50Z")
Our go-to restaurant these days in DC is Marcel’s - but that’s because we seldom dine in the city, so doing so is an event for us. They never disappoint. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/14 "2008-11-03T20:00:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Matchbox is ridiculously crowded and highly overrated. Your other suggestions are good, but the ones I mentioned are either ranked higher, or are ones I’m more familiar with. Which of the ones you mentioned are ranked higher? Zaytinya’s almost the first restaurant that comes to mind when I think of “ridiculously crowded and highly overrated.” 🙂 Rosa too, come to think of it. (Matchbox is not high cuisine by any margin, but its prices are affordable and both the mini-burgers and most of the pizzas are reliably tasty.) Rosa Mexicano and La Tasca\* are (in my opinion) discernible chains with discernibly chain-y food, and while I had some fantastic tuna at IndeBleu, in my experience the quality there is very inconsistent from menu item to menu item. But, again, it’s possible we just have different tastes, which is fine. \*Now, Tosca up near Metro Center is one of the best restaurants in the city, but it’s not overly close to the Verizon Center, and it might be more expensive than the OP is looking for (although only marginally more so than most of the restaurants I mentioned, admittedly). ---
**Author:** ![Momofgirls](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/momofgirls/32/21798_2.png) [@Momofgirls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Momofgirls)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-chinese-restaurants-in-chinatown-washington-dc/470776/15 "2008-11-04T05:49:15Z")
Just wanted to say thanks again for all the suggestions. We ended up going to Tony Cheng’s and had a great meal. We don’t get into DC much (we’re in Frederick County, Md, pretty close to the WV border), so this was a treat. I do plan on noting the other restaurants for other occasions. And by the way, The Who was _awesome_!