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Chinatown DC -- Cool / inexpensive Restruants?

We are neighbors! I liked El Camino before, but the bar service was so damn slow. Haven't been since reopening; have you been to Cantina Marina yet:

Also, got Himitsu reservations for our anniversary later this month, stoked!

Cantina Marina down at the wharf? That place is long gone. Are you meaning Republic Cantina on the Unit block of N? I haven't been yet, but I want to. The breakfast tacos are supposed to be good. If you haven't hit up El Sol on 11th you should. It's legit good mexican food. And Himitsu is great, but every time I think about the place it makes me miss Crane & Turtle, which was in the space before. It was one of my favorite places in town.

Went to Seven Reasons last month and really liked it: https://www.sevenreasonsdc.com/menu. Since there were 4 of us we were able to order a ton of dishes.

My wife has this month planned for my bday, not sure where we're going yet. Unconventional Diner and Federalist Pig this weekend for sure though.

I've been curious about Seven Reasons. Looks pretty good and seems to be getting a good amount of positive reviews. Will defs have to check it out soon. Still haven't been to Unconventional. For some reason I just can't get excited about it. And I'll likely never hit up the Pig. I'm sure it's better that DCity (though it's by the same dude who opened DCity), but (a) I can get to DCity in about 7 seconds from my front door and (b) the pulled pork and the wings are both so good that I don't need to shop around. The brisket is typically not awesome, but the wings are good enough that IDGAF.

I'm going to plug my boy, but if you haven't checked out Gravitas in Ivy City for a nice meal then you defs should. It's really good. Also Primrose in Brookland is one of our go-to places now. We get hugs and kisses and free champagne at both places now, so that does create a bit of a bias, but whatever, they're both great.
 
Nothing particularly special about Unconventional Diner, just solid. Fed Pig is good though.
 
Cantina Marina down at the wharf? That place is long gone. Are you meaning Republic Cantina on the Unit block of N? I haven't been yet, but I want to. The breakfast tacos are supposed to be good. If you haven't hit up El Sol on 11th you should. It's legit good mexican food. And Himitsu is great, but every time I think about the place it makes me miss Crane & Turtle, which was in the space before. It was one of my favorite places in town.



I've been curious about Seven Reasons. Looks pretty good and seems to be getting a good amount of positive reviews. Will defs have to check it out soon. Still haven't been to Unconventional. For some reason I just can't get excited about it. And I'll likely never hit up the Pig. I'm sure it's better that DCity (though it's by the same dude who opened DCity), but (a) I can get to DCity in about 7 seconds from my front door and (b) the pulled pork and the wings are both so good that I don't need to shop around. The brisket is typically not awesome, but the wings are good enough that IDGAF.

I'm going to plug my boy, but if you haven't checked out Gravitas in Ivy City for a nice meal then you defs should. It's really good. Also Primrose in Brookland is one of our go-to places now. We get hugs and kisses and free champagne at both places now, so that does create a bit of a bias, but whatever, they're both great.


Yeah my bad, good catch, I meant Republic Cantina. I've also heard the same things about it. Will check out Gravitas. Have you been to the Mexican place in Ivy City, La Puerta Verde? I've been meaning to go there too. And the meaty palmer from DCITYSMOKEHOUS is where it's at! I've only been to Primrose once, will have to go back. We've been going to Red Hen about once a month, hard to beat that place, especially the desserts!
 
Puerta Verde is great. I like El Sol better, but I know a number of people that think it's the best in town. The Hen is great for sure. Our current move is to go to the Hen and see if there are two seats at the bar, and if there aren't then we grab an Uber at First and RI and head to Prim.
 
Front Page (duPont Circle) is closing this week after 32 years. Building is being redone. FP owner says he will reopen in a new location in 2020.
 
Buffalo Billiards too. Watched many Panthers games there and the infamous Wake-VT 0-0 game there. The Tech fans sitting at an adjacent table were super pissed they lost and sort of looking for a fight even though we kept to ourselves since the game was so damn embarrassing. Got out of there pretty quickly after.
 
Saw that about Himitsu. I'm kind of excited to see what the new chef can do there. Doi Moi has some good stuff. And excited to see what the Himitsu dude's new place is like.

Finally checked out A Rake's Progress the other night and thought it was fantastic. Will definitely be going back.
 
Finally got a Bad Saint reservation. Their every Wednesday at 11 reservation system is annoying. But I've heard great things.
 
El Camino, the mexican spot in my neighborhood, reopened under new ownership a week or two ago after being closed for a year and I finally went in last night and it's so much better than it was before. I'm super cised. Literally everything was better, from the service to the price to the food to the margs to the non-stickiness of the tables. I really hope it survives this time around, because all I want in this world is a halfway decent mexican joint that I can walk to.

Cool we all live in the same neighborhood, but we're all different people. My opinion - El Camino was terrible before and is now slightly less terrible. Weak $12 margaritas, 12oz cans of Tecate for $7, dry, store-bought tortillas, al pastor with...barbecue sauce? And chunky salsa with stale chips. The one thing that will always make your tacos better is homemade masa tortillas, this is not hard. I had 3 margs and a Tecate and was lightly buzzed at best, mostly just tired.
 
wtf that’s my neighborhood too.

i’m with boom as i also thought el camino was mediocre. pretty bad cocktails served in cheap glasses i think. im even someone who gets burrito cravings but i think probably prefer rito loco which is also mediocre.
 
my fav places are probably poca madre and spoken english, which is in the line hotel also (same as a rakes progress). food has been inconsistent but it’s a sweet atmosphere (one room which includes kitchen and bar, standing room only with shared tables with other guests)
 
Finally got a Bad Saint reservation. Their every Wednesday at 11 reservation system is annoying. But I've heard great things.

first time i went was amazing, second time was still cool bc of atmosphere and service (sat at the bar and they basically gave us a vermouth tasting) but didn’t love the food. a lot of it was too saucey which i personally am not a fan of.
 
I really liked Poca Madre.

Think the two best taco spots in town are in Columbia Heights right next to each other, Mezcalera and Taqueria Habanero.

I've barely scratched the surface of all the central american spots up around me, there are so many of them. Tiny Salvadoran takeout spot on Georgia ave near me is really good, though open strange hours and pretty sketchy.
 
Poca Madre is pretty great. I love the taco omakase they do, though it’s always way too much food. And their ceviches are excellent. My biggest complaint of the place is that the bar is extremely slow and has been every time I’ve been in there. In the future I think I might just have to order a new drink once the most recent one is delivered to the table.

Never been to Mescalero or Habanero, but my favorite nearish to me is El Sol on 11th. Same owners as Mescalero. It’s been good for years and got even better with the renovation last year.

Haven’t been back to Camino since we went a couple weeks ago but I hope my good experience wasn’t an aberration.
 
Poca Madre is pretty great. My biggest complaint of the place is that the bar is extremely slow

cocktails are good though

i feel like they're also really complicated and the bar is so tiny they only really have room for one person back there
 
any bdale folks check out hopscotch? feels like a place that’s not gonna make it. id like to support them but hard to make an excuse to actually go there
 
Having El Sol, Espita and Poca Madre/Taco Bamba blocks away is a great problem to have.
 
any bdale folks check out hopscotch? feels like a place that’s not gonna make it. id like to support them but hard to make an excuse to actually go there

It's not great. Just like Crisp before it. My buddy was a semi-regular at Crisp and started going to HopScotch, but now that he's moved out of the hood I don't think I'll ever go back in.
 
any bdale folks check out hopscotch? feels like a place that’s not gonna make it. id like to support them but hard to make an excuse to actually go there

I haven't been b/c the menu looks yawn-worthy. I do miss Costa Brava though. This thread reminds me to hit up Tyber Creek though, owned by a WFU grad I think?
 
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