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In all honesty, our first stop in D.C. had great reviews which they
just weren’t going to live up to. The place is the quintessential
strip mall Chinese, lots of chairs, nothing as clean as you would
like it to be. I’m unsure if the service was as uncomfortable as it
was due to cultural differences or just personal ones but our server
stood at the table staring at us (I took as impatiently) all while
talking loudly on the phone plugged into her ear. I almost randomly
pointed at the menu and accidently ordered the intestines and duck
blood with chili sauce just to make her stroll away for a second. Of
course, once we got our order in…she was completely done with us. |
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Our first arrival is my litmus test for this kind of menu, hot and
sour soup. And based on the soup alone I was ready to ignore the
sticky table and uncomfortable service. Great depth of spice,
intense broth, forceful sour, loads of floating flavors, I was
starting to feel happier and happier. Nothing was actually terrible,
but the happy wouldn’t last.
The remaining ingredients were more standard local delivery in my
opinion. The thick noodle soup was full of round slippery noodles,
but the broth was missing everything that had made the hot and sour
so good. The spicy stir fried lamb could really have been any
protein and there was nothing but spice making it less interesting
with every bite. The spicy pork dumplings had a peppery red oil
coating them, which turned out to be their saving grace but not
enough so that I would order them again. |
 The Hot & Sour Soup Brought Hope & Promise |
 Thick Noodle Didn't Deliver |
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 Could Have Been Anything |
 Peppery Sauce Only Positive |
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The crab & pork XLB’s (soup dumplings) were the thing I was looking
forward to, never having had them before. They were interesting in a
mildly disconcerting way, kinda like your first pop rocks or bubble
tea, you pop the entire thing into your mouth and there is a literal
x-plosion of fluid but the crab didn’t taste fresh and had that
light ammonia lilt which soured the whole ordeal. If I were ever
back, I would get a bowl of hot and sour soup, but I probably
wouldn’t be there of my own volition. There are much better options
in the area. |
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 The XLB's Look Safe |
 But Are Loaded With Danger |
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 Fun To Watch Others Eat |
 But Not Good Enough To Want Another Yourself |
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| Ratings | |||||||
 Food |
 Service |
 Ambiance |
 What's Best |
 What's Worst |
 Overall |
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| D | F | C- | B+ | F | D- | ||
| Hot & Sour Soup | Off Crab | ||||||
