Chinatown Express

My 3rd visit to DC and every time we come, we make sure to eat here. Authentic and delicious! My must haves include the fresh made noodles and dumplings. The portions are large, so great value. Due to a fire last spring, they closed and used that as an opportunity to renovate. How fortunate are we that they just reopened yesterday! The place is beautiful!! They updated the atmosphere but they are still the same in heart! It is a family run restaurant and some of their non-family staff have been with them for 30 years. Truly a must visit in DC!

I was really disappointed with my overall experience. The food was not fresh and the service was poor. The "crispy" pork & ducky was soggy, it was not at all crispy. The "soup" dumplings was dry & hard, with no soup at all - I believe all these foods were leftovers and was heated up by microwave... and the service was below average... the waitress keep telling us it was the freshest food, keep watching us eat like hawks cuz they didn't have any business and we were the only table inside... and watch me to see how much I tip at the end... made it extremely uncomfortable…... This was the only bad experience visiting DC. Avoid this place if you can.

Recently renovated, Chinatown Express is just as delicious as before, with a much nicer and cleaner ambiance. Get the fresh noodle soup and then pick another entree and you'll be set!

What I liked: the fish we ordered tasted really fresh. What I did not like: the waitress kept us waited for about one hour before our dishes get served. Other tables that ordered later than us already had their dishes served and almost finished eating when our dishes were ready. Then look at the picture: we only found out that there were two spoons lying underneath the fish when we turned the fish upside down (as we finished one side of the fish). It is disgusting, but we were already eating and hungry, and also because we were already unhappy with the waitress when asking her about our orders, we did not discuss with her about the issue. The fish cost about 50 dollar, and this was what we got after waiting for one hour. Will never come back, plus the taste is just very average, although fresh.

I recently ordered Singapore noodles at this wonderful restaurant. They were the best noodles that I ever had! They weren’t too spicy, but had enough kick to be absolutely enjoyable! I will definitely order from there again!

I recently visited Chinatown Express in DC and had a great experience! The food was delicious and reasonably priced. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food considering the affordability. Additionally, the staff were very friendly and accommodating. They made sure our experience was pleasant from start to finish. The food arrived quickly and was fresh and piping hot. Overall, I recommend Chinatown Express if you're looking for a tasty meal that won't break the bank. The combination of delicious food, friendly staff, and quick service made for a fantastic dining experience. Four of five stars!

Get the Egg Rolls! Get the Egg Rolls! Get the Egg Rolls! I am not kidding you. You absolutely need to order yourself an egg roll as these chunky fried morsels of deliciousness are what dreams are made of but dipped in duck sauce! Trust me you will be craving these things for days. As for the rest of the food, PERFECTION! Especially their Peking Duck. You have got to get some of that and my favorite the orange chicken. The food is so flavorful and the right amount of spice. Quick tip, if you want a dish that is spicy make sure you tell them you want it spicy because they may make it less spicy thinking you can't handle it. The prices are absolutely affordable and perfect for families and big groups. The food comes out super fast and the wait staff is very friendly. Try all the condiments on the table especially the pickled garlic! Oh man I could eat the entire jar in one meal! A friend and I actually did! We put it on everything. The lady waiting on us chuckled and taught us how to make it at home very easily. I have been in DC for 12 years and this is my absolute go to spot for Chinese food in all of the the DMV area. I've driven up from my house in Alexandria just to buy egg rolls from them to serve at a house party. All my guests raved about them. So please visit them and give them the business cause I hope to never see this place close down.

I have been waiting for this Restaurant to reopen and as the Blessing come pouring in I was able to celebrate my Birthday Jan 4 eating with my sister at my favorite place. The new space is Beautiful. I glad to see the same staff. Theses folks are family to me and I Love them. Welcome back and Thank you for the Awesome Food, Service and sticking with the community.

I've visited D.C. four times and I've found my way to Chinatown Express on three of those trips. Ok, the place doesn't look like anything special but looks sure can be deceiving. The food is so flavorful and they have a great selection of. dishes. Aside from some handmade noodles, how about Peking duck or perhaps a fish prepared right from the aquarium. The servers hustle with not a lot of space and the place is usually quite busy. Great food in the heart of D.C. Chinatown. I'm happy to make Chinatown Express a stop when in the neighborhood.

I'm shocked by the ratings of this place. This review is a few weeks overdue. After seeing the delicious looking Peking ducks in the window, I told my partner we should stop by. It was after a caps game so lots of fans were rolling in but this place is larger than it appears. We were seated in the main dining area. Though seating is a bit tight, we made it work. We ordered Peking duck and the handmade pork dumplings. This was my first time trying Peking duck and I must say wow. Both the duck and the dumplings were delicious. The skin on the duck was crispy and everything tasted light. Be sure to ask that your duck is served extra hot/warmed up a bit longer. The owner was super nice and friendly and staff was attentive.

Came here for lunch on a weekend with a friend. We ordered their Shanghai steamed dumplings, kung pao scallops and vegetables mei fen (I.e., wide rice noodles). Total ca,e out to approximately $52. What's hot - Menu variety. There's something for everyone, including vegans. Variety of meats, seafood, veggies, and tofu. - Quality. Reasonable. Good portions. The kungpao scallops had a good amount of vegetables. Their mei fun (wide rice noodles) was decently sauced and had a good amount and variety of veggies, such as baby corn, tofu, broccoli, Napa cabbage, and snow peas. - Location. Conveniently located in Chinatown and is located near many other Chinese restaurants in the area, which is why my friend and I picked this location. - Price. For the portions you get and the quality, it's a reasonable exchange. - Payment. They take credit cards and will split the tab. That's not something every ethnic restaurant will do, because cash is king for many immigrant run restaurants. What's not - Quality. Their Shanghai steamed dumplings are lacking. The dough wrapper is too thick and there's absolutely no soup from the steaming. The kungpao scallops were lacking in number of scallops. - Service. It's not terrible, especially given that they're a staff of immigrants catering to a customer base mostly of tourists, which translates to meaning that service is not a priority. They're catered to volume. When we were finished and after we finished paying, they cleaned the table and thanked us (I.e., meaning we should leave and make the table available for other customers). - Layout. It's a cramped layout, so be prepared to bump into others. It appears they have seating in a basement area in addition to he main seating area. Final answer Not someplace I would recommend. Not bad, but have definitely had better.

We stopped here for dinner on a Friday. Didnt have an issue getting a table. We were seated in the back room, which is could use an update. The space was small so everything sounded really loud. Our server was fine. She came by, took our order, and food came out pretty quickly. We ordered lemon chicken, salt and pepper pork, and beef chow fun. Our favorite was was the chow fun. The noodles were not super greasy, they were soft but not overcooked and seemed fresh. It was cooked with beef, bean sprouts,and green onions. Lemon chicken was ok. The breading was a little on the thick side, but the sauce wasn't as lemony as I'm used to for this dish. The salty spicy pork was also ok. I liked the fry/cook on it, but the seasoning was inconsistent. Some pieces had more seasoning than others. Not bad for quick Chinese food.

This place makes really really good delicious food, but the appearance and low maintenance of the restaurant don't sit well with the visitors. But you haven't done the Chinatown experience right, if you don't eat some duck and traditional Chinese dishes in a half basement establishment :P We got pecking duck, lobster, eggplants, rice of course and had a full on feast. Duck was so so good. The lobster with garlic sauce is exactly what I want it to be. The garlic sauce eggplant was pure joy. The people at the restaurant were super nice to us. But the restaurant does lack in proper maintenance and appearance. The entrance and front side is much nicer than the back room dining tables. But I am happy ignore all that for the delight of my heart and tummy :)

I'm disappointed to write that my friend and I didn't enjoy our recent visit to Chinatown Express. The menu looked good outside the restaurant and there were a good number of people instead, plus we love when Chinese restaurants have fish and lobster tanks at the front, so we decided to take a chance and go in. There is an upstairs space that has more seating according to signs, though we were seating in the first level so I don't know how many tables are upstairs. The service was very fast, we were in and out in less than an hour. The waitress came up to us very quickly and we ordered steam pork buns, steamed chicken dumplings, combo chow fun, and the shrimp in cream with walnuts. The food came out very fast which was nice. But about half of the pork buns were dense while half were fluffy, and all of the chicken steamed dumplings were really dense and we did not enjoy eating them. The chow fun was good but was a little greasy, though the shrimp was good. We felt the total cost of did not match the quality of food, which was a bummer.

This was the only Chinese restaurant open in Chinatown at 11:40am-ish on a Sunday. I was also drawn to the big bold sign boasting hand-made noodles and the guy prepping the dough in the front window. (That and the blown-up newspaper articles from 2013 and 2016). I'm not sure about some of these high ratings, which just goes to show taste is very subjective. The dumplings seemed like a steal ($7.95 for 6) and it probably is because the wrapper was so thick there's barely any filling. The xiao long bao was served lukewarm, like it's been waiting to be served. The filling was tasty tho. Better to ask for deep fried dumplings, then they arrive warmer (who knows if they're actually fresher, though?) Hubs asked for roast pork noodle soup but instead of roast pork it was hard char siu which stained the noodles pink. The kid ordered won ton soup. The wontons were 95% thick wrapper with a sliver of filling and bland broth. Service was... questionable. We were greeted and seated by someone friendly enough, and I ordered the dumplings and told her we're still looking. Someone else came along to take our order (noodles and wonton soup), and asked rather rudely, "Just noodles and wonton soup? That's all?" After I told her we've ordered dumplings she walked away without a word. So what if we ordered only two things?!? Their prices are low but service is bad and quality is acceptable if you don't mind doughy dumplings with barely any filling. I feel terrible for this poor review but I can't in good conscience fluff it up.

This place is your typical small, mom and pop-type Chinese restaurant. It's very low frills - no big decorations around, a live fish tank right up front (as well as the ducks hanging by the window), tables packed together and a very efficient wait staff. This is the exact type of establishment that I grew up with; you'll find very similar service in Chinese cities. There are some complaints from other reviewers about the service: while it's true it's not your typical American friendly greeter, it's very authentic for a Chinese place: straight to the point, which I really appreciate. My regular order is the duck hand pulled noodle and the duck doesn't disappoint. It's excellent duck (though duck usually is) - and mixes very well with the flavor of the broth. I always savor every bite of the duck. I've had the dish many times and often, the noodles are bit overcooked and end up with a soggy/way too chewy texture so the star off is for that. But the broth and duck are excellent and the price is incredible. I would highly recommend to anyone, both local and tourist - I would especially recommend this for people looking for an actual Chinese place in DC's gentrified Chinatown.

After 14 hours of being on airplanes and airports, I felt like a hot bowl of soup. Duck noodles? That should hit the spot! Well, sort of. It was "okay", and having come from a place with lots of Chinese places, based on this one dish, this place would be below average. Roast duck seemed a bit dried out, broth tasted almost beefy. Noodles were okay. Limited amount of veggies in it. But for the price of 11.95, I guess it was okay. A no frills, "what you see is what you get" place to have Chinese food... It is right across the street from the Marriott Fairfield Inn. A little sketchy area so I made sure I ate while it was still lighted...

I just love this little dive... I've been coming here forever. They have some of the best roast pig in town.. this is what I think about when I'm in Salt Lake!

We were heading into the city and looking for a quick dinner before a concert. Such a good choice. Since we had plans, I tried not to overdo it because we couldn't take leftovers. I went simple and stuck with the stir fried fresh noodles with roasted pork, my wife had roast pork lo mein, we split fried pork and leek dumplings, and I had wonton soup. While the stir fried noodles weren't extremely different from the lo mein, I noticed some small differences. The noodles were more of a single portion while the lo mein was a larger, "share" platter. The lo mein had onions, where the stir fried noodles didn't. I also noticed the lo mein had a bit more of the wok hei smokiness. With that, they were all delicious. Large pieces of pork and the noodles had such a great chew to them. The fried dumplings were delicious! Good size and the right amount of dough for me (I like them with a little chew and on the thicker side.) The wonton soup was good with a clean broth, though the wontons themselves were a decent, standard wonton you'd see in a good takeout shop. I would love to go back and try more of their noodles. Maybe one of the soups on the next visit.

2... possibly 1.5 star I wish I could write in all caps, cause I wanna yell. This place is severely overrated! This is located in the heart of the tiny Chinatown, that DC claims. This is the restaurant that has the dead ducks hanging, which I don't recommend in getting. $49 for an old duck that's been hanging for days with flies swarming it, no thanks! Overpriced Americanized Chinese Cuisine. I ordered simple stuff. General Tsos and Sweet n Sour Chicken, sounds pretty simple right? Instead, I got some stale chicken tender chickens that was chewy and old, slathered its own sauce. Service was pitiful. Place needs a good scrub down. The fancy fish swimming in the tank, doesn't make the place any better. Prices are hiked up for what you get. My mistake for not checking Yelp b4 coming here. If anything, next block over, go to Tony Chengs. You'll have a better experience and get to see all the hall of farmers from DC on the wall, like Adrian Fenty fine self. Again avoid this place.

It was raining and we quickly needed to get inside a place. Saw some people waiting for takeout and I asked them (the customers) what's good here. A Caucasian guy in business suits thought for a second and answered "everything." Well, that was enough to convince us, but we were wrong. The hand pulled noodles were good, but the place lacked heart. What I mean is the Chicken Clay Pot dish was filled with breast filets. Which is soooooo not how it's supposed to be. If I wanted breast meat I would've ordered a different dish. This is supposed to use chopped whole chicken, you know, bone and skin in, and what not. It was at the end of the day, perhaps they ran out of whole chicken, but they should've told us instead of just changing it up, for the much worse. We wanted to get Mantou to go and they were all out. The Youtiao we took to go instead were so oily and hard, they must have been sitting out for long. I'm beyond disappointed.

Welcome to this hidden gem of a Chinese Restaurant. Don't worry about the mood and atmosphere. The moment you walk in the waitress is like your mom yelling at you and tell you to eat everything. The food prices are standard and not at all expensive. I ordered the wonton shrimp noodles to start. The soup is excellent and memorable. The next dish is some typical beef chow fun being a true American. Finally, the main event which is the roast duck. Savory and crispy skin truly delicious. Overall, the experience was great and very traditional Chinese. I recommended if you are in Washington D.C.

Decent Chinese food. The steamed pork buns were dry on the inside, although tasty. The peking duck's texture and skin were good, but the flavour wasn't as robust as other restaurants in the DMV area. The beef chow foon was perhaps the best item we ordered for this meal. Everything about it was good: the texture, taste, and amount and there wasn't anything bad about the dish. The service was good, with many waiters coming to check on us when we needed and provided us with whatever utensils or extra condiments that we needed. Although, when we had a mistake with our order they insisted that we eat the dish they brought out rather than the one we intended to order. The seating area is your typical chinatown seating area, tables on a half-floor down from street level sort of crammed together, but it isn't anything against the restaurant. Despite that the area was clean and homey.

Solid, classic Chinese food. The pork dumplings were very good. Clearly hand made; dough was of varying thickness, slightly different consistency from one to another. Quite good, especially with the dumpling sauces. I got the sweet-and-sour chicken (yes, I know, very white of me), and it was very good. Crispy but not dry. Sauce was excellent. Pineapple chunks, onions, and green bell peppers, but not quite as much of those as I like. Service was great. Very quick to get seated. Quick to take my order. Brought drinks and food quickly. Refilled my water frequently. Overall, excellent service. I asked for an itemized receipt, and they printed one for me (in English). I don't understand some of the negative reviews. Some said they were charged for water, but I was not (I had water and tea, and was not charged for either). Some complained about the food quality, but I found it very good. Not the greatest Chinese food I've had, but very solid classic food. No complaints from me (I only give 5-stars for truly excellent places, so my 4 stars here means I thought it was very good). I would come back again whenever in town, and would send friends here.

This place is so bad. Came in expecting authentic chinese food and it disappointed so hard, I can't even express the level of disappointment. Disgusting "soup dumplings" that were mis-shapen and seemed microwaved. Twice cooked pork was literally NOT that at all. Eggplant was sour and just trash. All trash. They also charged us $1 for water. Nothing here was good. No wonder the only 5 star reviews were all from old white women. I shouldve checked yelp before coming

always a hit with my family. the food is delicious and the staff is always kind. dumplings are a MUST when going.

tl;dr: Decent Chinese comfort food. The noodles and dumpling wrappers are famously handmade. I enjoy the no frills vibes, and quick turnaround service, and would go back for other foods in the future! Congee - 4/5: Kinda pricey in my opinion. I thought the bowl would be larger for $11, especially since congee is just so easy to stretch when making it! Normal proportions for congee is like 10 cups of water for 1 cup of rice. But the taste was really good, and I was feeling under the weather, so it was yummy and soothing for my tummy. Dumplings - 3/5: the dumplings wrappers are handmade, but they were really thick skins and the skins sort of fell apart around the filling. The filling itself was pretty good though. We chose the steamed version, but you can also get them fried.

Maybe my expectations were too high... buy, fresh noodles and dumplings, say no more, Im there! Unfortunately, the food was totally mediocre, it was crowded, and needs a good deep cleaning. We got the fresh noodles in soup with duck - apparently, they're kind of famous for this dish. It was not special at all. It wasnt even good. The broth was bland and luke warm - literally the worst two ways to describe a soup. The noodles were fine, but I really questioned the value of "fresh noodles" after tasting these. I guess Ill take dehydrated, frozen, any other noodles that can bring flavor and texture over these any day. We also got the beef chow foon, which was basic. The dish didnt even have that smoky wok flavor you get when your food is cooked on a too-hot-to-handle wok. I dont know, I was so disappointed in the entire experience. And there was a line out the door when we left! WHAAAAAT?! There's no reason to ever go back.

I love this place. Sure, it's not the newest, shiniest place in the city, but the food is delicious. The owner has always been courteous to me, and the prices are great. It's temporarily closed, but it looks like they'll be reopening soon. I can't wait to go back and get the fried noodles and dumplings with their delicious sauces.

I visited Chinatown Express twice during a recent trip to DC for a conference. It's a no frills place with extremely quickly prepared food as per the name. Their flavors match my palate and I had two pretty tasty meals here. The first time, I ordered the shrimp chow foon but they gave me tofu veggie chow foon. It was still good! There was a lot of different types of tofu and vegetables and the vegetables were fresh and perfectly cooked. The noodles were a bit overcooked on average, which doesn't matter too much for this type of noodle, but it was a bit gloopy. The sauce was thick and savory. It was a very large amount of food, but I'm not sure that it should be $20 given that there was no meat. I also loved the chili oil and scallion ginger sauce on the table -- my dish didn't really need more seasoning, but I used some anyways because it was delicious. The second day, I ordered takeout on the phone during my 7 minute walk to the restaurant, and the food was ready when I arrived. I got the stir-fried fresh noodles with seafood and made sure to ask for the sauces on the side. Man, it was a ton of food. I was absolutely stuffed about 2/3 of the way through. The noodles were in between chow mein and udon noodle thickness and well-cooked. I would have preferred more toppings relative to the noodles (shrimp, squid, fish cakes), but alas inflation. They also gave me a lot of chili oil, scallion ginger sauce, and pickled garlic, and I used it all. I would hold back on the garlic next time since the acid is powerful, but I can't get enough of the chili and scallions -- it really transforms the dish. It was a very hearty meal for $12. I would definitely come back here again. Next time I want to try the dumplings, since I saw them wrapping them fresh.

I got fresh homemade noodles with duck, vegetable and soup. I took it to go because the restaurant was very small. They separated everything in different containers, duck, vegetable and noodles in one container, broth in another container and various sauce in different containers. The duck was tasty, but not much meat , mostly bone and skin, (however for $10.95, it was good. The broth was good, but the noodles were bland. I added the pickled garlic to the soup with noodles and that did the trick. The rest of the sauces I didn't care for. It was hot and filling, can't go wrong for $10.95

Exploring Chinatown today and the meat handing in the window of Chinatown Expressed beckoned me over. From outside the meat looks pretty fresh and the sign indicates that a plate will run about $9. So I was a little surprised when I ordered and the total was $12 and change. I also watched as the to-go box was heaped with rice and BBQ pork and then placed in the microwave for reheating... it's not the end of the world, but showed me that the meats aren't fresh or kept in any sort of a warmer either. Flavor was nice and the meat was still reasonably tender. Should I come back, I might go for noodles or something different to try more of the menu.

The best option around I guess... What I got myself the house made dumplings, the house made noodle soup and also a veggie lomein. My father got the BBQ noodles which came with roast duck and Char Siu. I got the dumplings steamed, I was not a fan... The wrapping was pretty thick.. and the sauce was mediocre. The veggie noodles soup was also a little tasteless, I added the spicy oil.. and that helped. The veggies they used in the soup didn't taste fresh.. some of them tasted spoiled... The noodles were good though. The lomein was too oily... My father noted that the BBQ was too salty... so salty it was bitter. The freshness of the BBQ can't be tasted since it is in a soup. Environment This small restaurant is located right at the beginning of Chinatown. There are a small amount of tables inside. There is the BBQ chop station by the door. Niceness of the staff Very typical of chinese restaurants, they are ready to take your order and ready to get you back on the road. Someone is always available to help, just make eye contact! Very fast paced... not a customer service place, if that is what you are looking for Dollar It was okay. everything was around $10. My bill was $50 and this was for the noodle soup, lomein, BBQ noodle soup and the dumplings. Yes I am not local to DC. It was a trip.. if I crave the noodles I would.

Chinatown Express is convenient to Gallery Place metro. There are two eating areas. Service is quick and efficient. We were immediately seated and our order taken. We got the chicken Yat (noodles soup), sweet and sour chicken, Singapore rice noodles, and an ice cold Tsingtao beer. The soup came out first. It was so good and flavorful. The Singapore rice noodles was very good also. Nice sized shrimp and loaded with green onions. Back in the day the noodles were hand made in the front window. The sweet and sour chicken was piping hot but could have been flavored better. I will return. This is one of the few Chinese establishments that I will eat. Prices are pretty decent. The only thing I didn't like was the prices were not on the ticket when we paid.

My go-to place for roast duck noodle soup. Make sure you order the soup with the fresh noodles. I also order the dumplings too and I add some to my soup. The restaurant is simple, full at times & the food is good. The waitstaff are mostly Chinese and they are very cordial. I'm a regular here.

Duck Meat Noodles & Mustard Greens Soup. Tasty, good portion, fresh! Keep up the good work. Continue serving the Duck Soup with Mustard Greens! Yummy!

I love this place. Simple gruff service & delicious flavor bomb food makes this spot my go-to lunch when I am in DC. No bells & whistles. Not Americanized. Simple & tasty. Squid with Sour Cabbage is my fave. Dumplings are a must.

Walking around late at night in Chinatown looking for good food and I found it! Found this gem that was amazing. Walking in I knew I was in the right spot. Majority of customers were Asian and speaking their native language to the wait staff. That's a good sign the food is authentic. I started with an egg drop soup to warm up and it was hands down the best egg drop soup. I then decided on the roasted duck as the table next to me had one and it looked good. I orders a side of fried rice to go with it. The duck was amazing! So tender and juicy! I couldn't stop eating it! The fried rice was good but the star of the meal was the duck. It was obvious this duck was cooked for hours. Can't wait to be back in DC to have this again!

*Review stars are mainly for Roasted Duck Noodle Soup!!* After a long day, came here for dinner! You can either order in the front and then sit or sit down and order. They have indoor and outdoor seating. HEADS UP: pricing outside on the window may be different than the actual prices! We ordered the fried rice thinking it was $8.95, but turned out to be $13.95 after getting the bill Overall, a standard "hole-in-the-wall" Chinese food establishment. Service is quick! Most of the food will come out in disposable containers unless you order a soup. When we sat down, the server also handed us 4 sauces: garlic in vinegar, laoganma (hot chili oil), watered down soy sauce? (Couldn't really taste it), ginger scallion sauce Roasted Duck Soup with noodles (4/5): The duck is AMAZING! Comes with brown meat and melts in your mouth. HOWEVER, there's not a ton of duck. The noodles also don't cling onto the soup broth as well as I'd hope *unless* you add the sauces in! I recommend adding in the hot chili oil and green ginger scallion sauce to add more flavor + kick! One side note is I may have found a hair in my soup? But not sure if it was mine or someone else's Chicken Fried Rice (2.5/5): Was really salty and an overload of soy sauce. Not bad if you're craving fried rice, but probably wouldn't go out to get again. How I rate my stars: 1 - Yikes. Will never be coming back. Usually raw food, terrible service, etc 2 - Maybe it was just this time. Didn't like what I ordered, bug in the food, bad experience, etc 3 - Meh. Nothing special nor awful about it, but not super memorable. 4 - Liked! Would happily come back to :) 5 - Must-Try!!! I will becoming back to this place every time I'm in the area. Oh

The fools that give this place anything lower than 4 stars need to just admit they love Panda Express and not even bother trying anything else. This place is as real as it gets. Right down to the atmosphere. If you order the noodle soup go with the duck. I ordered the veggie and it was a bit bland without the meat. Highly recommend ordering the pork dumplings, ripping open with your chopstick and submerging in the soup. Also adding a bit of chili oil to the broth is the way to go. As others have said the service is super quick.

2.5 stars It's been a while since I've visited Chinatown Express, so I was excited to have my favorite fresh noodle soup again. Unfortunately, I was let down. The soup was quite bland and not at all how I remembered. Maybe I built up the soup in mind in the past, and because of that, I was disappointed. The fresh noodles were perfect! They're thick, chewy and just overall good! The chicken was okay, nothing to write home about, and the broth, as stated earlier, was bland. Sadly, I don't think this will be a go-to spot anymore.

The food is delish. The pulled fried noodles are epic and we've been eating here for almost 20 years. Anytime I'm back we always hit them up for lunch. Place looks exactly the same. Don't let the looks fool you. It's a reasonably priced meal and is delish. Also recommend the dumplings. Service is what it is - but it's worth it.

They sale the strew duck but they pretended called it as " Roast ducks " This is not a roasted duck. The way people serve the roasted duck be sliced only a meat duck without bone. This shop sale fake roast duck serve with all of bone. The taste and color are stew duck . And I ordered the lobster the ways they serve is not professional. It hard to eat . It is not right .

Prices are affordable, but quality is lacking. My friend and I came on a Friday between lunch and dinner, and we were seated immediately. Their daily specials included house made noodles (fried or in a soup) with different options for protein- beef, roasted duck, chicken, seafood, vegetable, or roasted pork at 9.95. It's hard to find a restaurant meal entree at this price! However, the broth was bland and the noodles were overcooked. The noodles that were supposed to be the star of the dish had no chew on them and was overly soft. Wish the broth was seasoned. I did like the bok choy to get some greens for the day. The garlic chips and slices of green onions helped to put some pops of sharpness from the monotonous bowl of soup. We also tried the steamed pork dumplings that were just okay. The dumpling wrapper was on the thicker and chewier side, but the pork filling actually had flavor.

Food was just horrible. I don't get the glowing reviews. Maybe we ordered the wrong things, but doesn't excuse how bad it was. Orange Beef. Very dry and stiff meat drowning in thick goopy sauce. I couldn't eat it. Spicy Salty Pork Chop. Again the meat was just so dry and hard but at least it tasted a little better than the orange beef. Pan fried bun thing. So horrible, thick wrapper and little filling. Beef Flat Noodle. Quite possibly the saving grace if not for...dry and hard meat. Seeing a trend? The noodle is actually great howeve and I can believe it's freshly made. Very unhappy. Maybe I should've stuck with noodle dishes but I won't be back. Go to Tony Cheng instead.

I visited this place while attending a conference this weekend. When our food was brought to the table, I saw a long strand of hair with pieces of food on it hanging off the side. I immediately brought this to the attention of the owner. First, he didn't not apologize or provide a replacement. He tried to cover it up by pulling the hair off the plate and directing me to the waiter because he didn't want to deal with it. He even said "customers always complain, go write a yelp review, a Google review! Go complain! I have been here for over 12 years and nothing has happened." Needless to say, this was not a pleasant experience. I subsequently filed a complaint to the DC dept of health. The dept of health went on a site visit recently and emailed me saying that "I have investigated the complaint and observed food employees not wearing hair restraints while working with open food...Many violations were recorded during the complaint investigation. 5 and 14 calendar day notices issued to correct the violations." To the owner, this is yelp review you threatened me to write.

Absolutely terrible soup dumplings (xiaolongbao). The soup dumplings were a misshapen, lumpy mass of dough that tasted like they had been frozen and reheated multiple times. Also, there was a person sitting near the counter who was playing a game of his laptop, ipad, and phone. If this person is the owner, he should seriously be checking the quality of the products coming out of the kitchen. If he's not related to the owner, then why is he there taking up a table to play games?!

Doesn't live up to the hype but it's decent! I got the roast duck noodle soup and felt like that itself was just okay.. there was less duck in it than I expected, and the broth was pretty average compared to other restaurants. I could tell the noodles were hand-made though. However, their sauces were FIRE. The noodles came with 4 sauces for duck (described to the best of my memory): ginger-garlic (normally hainan chicken dipping sauce), some variation of soy sauce, chili flakes/oil, and garlic/vinegar(?). I literally ended up pulling the noodles out of the broth and pouring the sauces on the noodles after finishing the duck. My favorites were the ginger-garlic and the garlic/vinegar, and wish I had some leftover to bring home... so delicious You order by going to the side window - sometimes it takes a minute until someone comes. It took about 10 minutes for my food to come out since there were several other parties waiting. There are also several tables outside for outdoor dining!

My go-to Chinese restaurant in DC. A no frills what you see is what you get establishment. I like that they have ducks hanging in the sidewalk window, and you see the chef making the dumplings in real time. I'm a fan of the duck noodle soup.

Surprisingly, there are not a lot of asian restaurants in D.C.'s Chinatown. This place markets itself as the best Chinese food in D.C., so I thought I had to try. Unfortunately, this place was mediocre at best. The atmosphere reminded me of the sort of rustic Chinese restaurant that you would experience in Oakland. The service was quick and the portions were decent. I ordered the fried noodle plate with roast duck and it tasted like an average dish. I had come back another time and ordered soup and it was incredibly bland. Overall, I would not recommend this place unless you're looking for a quick meal in the area.

I'll give this place a 4 stars... even though I think the food is a 3star... I came here for the infamous Duck Noodle Soup & ordered a side of Fried Pork Dumplings. Duck Noodle Soup: i absolutely did not like it, i couldn't even finish it. there was no flavor in the broth. no complexity... It needed something more, so lacking. The duck was lacking too. I expected it to be a sweeter glaze on the duck... maybe marinated with oyster sauce?? it tasted so bland. i had to pack my bowl with random condiments i found on the table. I guess the only great thing about the noodle soup was the noodles. i could tell they were handmade, which i appreciated. imagine Japanese udon noodles, if u have ever tried that... Fried Pork Dumplings: i didn't really like it. they served it room temperature to me. i wanted it hot... the outside dough a chewy, rice flour texture. usually dumplings are made from egg wraps like wontons, but they made theirs out of rice dough. Kind of similar to their noodles in their duck noodles. It was fine to eat, just needed more flavor... i tried to drench it in the soy sauce but it was still lacking overall, i appreciate the customer service. Staff seems like kind Chinese people and I love supporting local businesses. I just would suggest maybe trying something else on the menu, or if u have a bland taste palette, then try the dishes Ive tried.

Noodles were great "duck" was not - all I got were big pieces of bone with no meat. Egg rolls were all right but kinda bland.

My friend and I stopped by on Christmas morning and ordered the Hot & Sour Soup and Roasted Duck Rice Noodle Soup. Overall, I was extremely disappointed by the lack of flavor in their dishes. There was no sourness to the hot & sour soup (no joke, it just tasted like hot spicy water, no sourness nor saltiness) and the noodle soup was extremely bland. A server was loitering around our table and took my friend's chopsticks away, thinking he couldn't use it, so we had to ask for it back--my friend hadn't even taken a bite yet. Safe to say that I will not be coming back.

This place was delicious! We went here on a whim and were impressed by the food. The service was slightly intimidating but it was ok because the food was great.

I also walk by this store and now realize why. The food was absolutely horrible. I ordered double cooked pork and it was the most bland dish I've ever had from a carryout. the curry shrimp and eggroll were slightly better but still awful. I will NEVER return

* Pre-pandemic experience. I got one order of the Roast Duck on Rice to go. ($10.95) I watched as the lady looked in her container of roast duck and picked some random pieces to put on the rice in the to go container. She popped the whole thing in the microwave for a couple of minutes, added some duck juice, and a few pieces of broccoli to the container. (The exact order of how she did this may not be exact, but that's generally what happened.) When I got back to my hotel and opened my dinner, let's just say it was a pretty sad dinner. There were very lean pieces in there with minimal meat and it could have been a lot better with some choice pieces that included more fattier bits. Flavor-wise, it was just okay. I had so much rice leftover from there being so much proportional-wise to the meat. Maybe I would have gotten better pieces if I was dining in or ordering a whole one maybe? The only highlight was all the sauces they included with my order. The ginger oil sauce that is usually reserved for chicken was included with all to go orders and I was grateful for this since my duck lacked flavor. On a side note, I ordered a whole roast duck this evening from a local restaurant and I'm reminded how amazing roast duck can and should be. At Chinatown Express, this was not the case unfortunately.

The restaurant is a JOKE. Waitress was impatient even to offer us ice water. We noticed their southern accent so we ordered steamed soup dumplings and beef noodles. Look at what we got! The skin of the dumpling was more hard and thick than a wall, almost choked eating it. And the noodles they claimed to be freshly hand made was clearly did by machine, not chewy at all, taste like jelly.