ChinaTown Express (DC Chinatown)

Fresh noodles. So I'm a sucker for any place that is making something on site like noodles, pasta or even dough fresh/handmade. A colleague suggested this place, as I was craving noodles. The DC area seriously lacks for a good noodle place. This may not be the place, but it wasn't bad.

We ordered noodles (L = noodle soup; friend = fried noodles). Also, we got the steamed pork buns, which were okay. I prefer fried dumplings but whatever. I wouldn't order them but I wouldn't not eat them either.

The noodle soup:  Noodles were thick, which was a little surprising. They were slight overdone, too, but I prefer overdoneness on thicker noodles, so this wasn't an issue.  What was an issue was the bland flavor of the soup. This isn't anything to write home about, but at the same time, the noodles themselves were good enough that I'd come back if I had a craving or someone wanted to come here.

The fried noodles: He said, "The noodles were good; not great."

Cost
$-$$

Cleanliness
Didn't really pay attention and not sure I want to.

Service
Servicable.

Pluses 
Price
Fresh noodles

Minuses
It's overall just an average experience

Overall value
Not bad. Again, would come back in a pinch or if someone else wanted to go. It's not terrible, though.

Primanti Brothers (Pittsburgh - Strip District)

Don't quite get the fuss. Okay -- so cole slaw and fries are all IN the sandwich... *blink-blink* Curious if they've changed the cole slaw over the years to be less !!cole slaw!! and more cabbage and mayo.

 

The prices are pretty reasonable (approx. $6/sandwich) and the meats were fresh, tasty, and plentiful. So kudos to them for that. But again, what's the fuss? We've tried it, and at the original shop (though HIGHLY renovated to more than double the size and very tourist friendly), so we can now say, "Yeah, we've been there, too". But, we're not going out of our way to go back.

The murals were awesome and framed newsprints from famed sports icons took M back years.  The remodel was beautiful but removes the "old diner" flavor.

Cost 

$-$$

Cleanliness
Pretty clean. It's a diner-style place; hole-in-the-wall. Immaculate in that case. We sat at the bar so we saw first-hand the main cook area.

Service
Uncool. We should have stayed at the bar in the other area. This isn't The South, so expectations shouldn't be high. See sentence 2 in "cleanliness", though surprising for a tourist joint. 

M says back in the day, there was an old man yelling and there was a diner-esque charm to that -- "I'm eating down with the WORKERS." That charms gone -- sterilized.

Pluses 

Large portions of meat.

Fresh and hot off the grill.

Mostly open kitchen.

Quick service.

Minuses 

Cash only.
Sterile feeling despite local color and visual character. Maybe we should have sat on the other side (bar side)...

Overall value

Price-wise, it's average to good. It's an experience. For us, there's nothing calling us back.
MAY go back for the breakfast special, but Lidia's breakfast special (on the Strip near the new Wholey's) looked very intriguing.