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Chalin's Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
1912 I St NW(between N 19th St & N 20th St)
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 293-6000
- Nearest Transit:
-
Farragut West Metro Station (Blue, Orange)
Farragut North Metro Station (Red)
Foggy Bottom Metro Station (Blue, Orange)
- Hours:
Mon-Thu, Sun 10:30 am - 10:30 pm
Fri-Sat 10:30 am - 11 pm
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Quiet
- Has TV:
- Yes
19 reviews for Chalin's Restaurant
19 reviews in English
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Review from Mitch G.
11/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
I am pretty picky about my Chinese. For the DC area, I think I am gonna go with this one because they offer speedy delivery in the 10 mile radius and they are thoughtful when you order. Their Manchurian chicken is not for those watching their sodium, but it is deliciously spicy without being overly heat driven.
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Review from Dasha G.
Washington, DC
12/11/2011
Came here for a quick dinner, and left highly disappointed.
I ordered the Vegetarian Sesame "Chicken".
It was a plate of deep-fried balls of soy protein soaked in sweet and sour sauce with some sesame seeds sprinkled on top, and a few stems of raw broccoli.
I ate it out of guilt for wasting food, but it was barely palatable, and now my energy is sapped.
Never coming back here again. -
Review from Glenn C.
Germantown, MD
6/15/2011
I love this place!
Pros: Great friendly service, nice environment, delicious food, reasonable price
Cons: Really can't think of any cons.
Highly recommend!! -
Review from Lauren C.
2/25/2011
This place is now apparently called "Chalin's", even though the signs outside still say "Charlie Chiang's" and it is under the same management and cooks. I decided to give it a try for lunch yesterday because it's close to my office and they seemed to have a good selection of vegetarian dishes. I called my order in for the lunchtime special of vegetables with bean curd, substituting brown rice for the fried rice. It also came with a veggie spring roll. For $9, I thought that was an okay deal.
They told me it would be ready in 15 minutes. I get over there in 20 and it's not ready. I take a look around to see what the hold up could be and there are exactly two tables in the place that have people at them. And three servers. And someone at the bar. And someone else bringing food from the kitchen to the tables. And someone working the cash register. Hmmmm. This does not bode well. After ten minutes of waiting my food comes out of the kitchen. If they had just told me it would be 30 minutes and not 15, I would've waited and walked over later.
On to the food. The rice is so overcooked that it is more the consistency of mashed potatoes. The bean curd is deep fried and loaded with oil. It's sitting in a very salty nondescript gelatinous brown sauce and is completely cold. The vegetables in "vegetables with bean curd" were a TON of celery, one piece of carrot and one mushroom. The contents of the spring roll? Just cabbage. Also cold.
Next time I feel like eating Asian food, I will walk a few extra blocks to Nooshi or Mai Thai. I won't be going back here. -
Review from Tina H.
Falls Church, VA
7/21/2008
After three solid days of eating burgers, hotdogs, movie-theater nachos, popcorn, and pizza, the girls and I were hurting for some non-American, non-crap food. As born and bred, true blue members of the yellower nation, none of us can go more than a day or two without rice before getting the shakes, so we knew that we needed Chinese food, and we needed it QUICK.
We rolled into Charlie Chiang's at 12:30 and found the place was completely empty. The whole time we were there, only one other group came in. Is Chinese food out of favor with Foggy Bottom-ers? Blasphemy!
We ordered family style: Mapo-dofu, Spiced Salted Trio (shrimp, scallops, squid), Sizzling Beef, Green beans with soy-chicken, and, of course, 5 bowls of rice. The first three dishes were brought out with amazing speed, but the portions were surprisingly stingy for a Chinese restaurant. The fourth dish probably wouldn't have come out at all if we hadn't reminded the waiter that we ordered something else. Excellent customer service, Charlie.
The spiced and salted seafood was very tasty but pretty basic -- breaded pieces of shrimp, scallops, and squid sauteed with garlic and peppers (I actually would have liked this better with pork, but salt and pepper pork wasn't an option). We all loved the sizzling beef, which was tender and savory and came with loads of vegetables (which we were also craving), but only some of us (read: everyone but me) could handle the unbelievably spicy, chili-sauce-drenched tofu. I had to drink about 10 glasses of ice water before my tastebuds were sufficiently recovered to taste the green beens, which were decent but unspectacular -- my mom does them better.
Definitely not the best Chinese food I've ever had, but it's good enough to temporarily satisfy my craving. How should I put it? Charlie Chiang's is to my Chinese food craving as Advil is to a raging fever -- it numbs the pain but cannot cure the disease. -
Review from Adoley J.
1/13/2011
Anyone who has read my past reviews knows my love for all Asian food. I have searched the district high and low for that too good to turn down spot. After many failed attempts in Chinatown my buddy recommended Charlie Chiang's. While this was a step above most of the Chinese restaurants I've had in DC I must say it was still just OK. I ordered the spring rolls, shrimp fried rice and sesame chicken. The spring rolls were pretty tasty but small. The shrimp fried rice was ok, nothing special but not bad. The Sesame chicken was pretty good. All in all a decent spot in the district and it didn't hurt the pocket. Will give it another try and maybe sample something else.
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Review from miss s.
Washington, DC
9/19/2010
Sadly not too excited about the food that I ate here.
I saw that this restaurant had Vegetarian Proteins other than tofu. I was excited because, although I loved the vegetarian chicken protein from Peking Garden, I wasn't impressed with the sauce. So I decided to try out the vegetarian chicken here.
I ordered kung pao vegetarian chicken and the vegetarian chicken and cashews. The proteins themselves look as if they are just hydrated soy curl rounds that you'd buy at any asian market, not homemade. It didn't have much flavor at all. What is laughable is that both the dishes have the same two boring vegetables in SMALL quantities, small broccoli stocks (probably leftovers from entrees that use broccoli florets) and water chestnuts. I kid you not. The only difference between the two were the fact that the cashew dish had cashews and kung pao had a few peanuts. Both extremely sparingly in comparison to the provided food. The kung pao sauce was mild and bland, when I asked for hot. The Cashew sauce at least had some garlic in it, but other than that, bland, bland, bland.
The only redeeming thing I had was the vegetarian spring rolls that were actually fresh crispy vegetables (mostly cabbage), but not too greasy and perfectly crisp.
I am beyond disappointed and will not be ordering from here again. No chance I'd give them a second chance. -
Review from Jenn H.
3/29/2009
I have to say, I have a pretty high standard for asian food--and in my experience, good asian food is hard to find on the east coast. much like Tina, as a member of the "yellower nation", I live off rice--the east coast has not been nice to me. Charlie Chiang's however, is a pretty solid Chinese restaurant (if you know how to order *authentic* asian food). If I had a choice, I'd say 3.5 stars--the extra half a star because it's a decent option on the east coast.
I was a bit skeptical walking in, the restaurant was empty when we walked in (granted, it was a bit on the late side). My boyfriend and I took awhile to decide what to get--meanwhile, another couple came in, and immediately ordered some appetizer assortment that included fried wontons, which put me on my guard. After seeing that, I was not expecting anything amazing here.
the waiters don't communicate that well in english, I feel--we spoke to the waiters primarily in Chinese. THis tends to happen at Chinese restaurants for me anyways, it breaks my heart to hear things pronounced inaccurately, or some lame-sounding translation of food names.
We ordered the (hong you chao shou, wonton in hot oil, or something--sorry not sure what the english translation is), which were pretty good--pretty basic, nothing crazy, but solid. the (xi hu niu rou tang, "west lake" beef soup) was also pretty solid, but again, nothing special. we ordered two dishes--one was a mix of chicken, beef, shrimp, and veggies on a stone plate--it was pretty good, well flavored but not too salty or oily (as some "chinese" restaurants can be). portion was rather large. The second dish was a (ma la, spicy) dish...that was definitely not spicy enough to deserve the title "ma la". even so, it was a well prepared dish, the chicken was tender, and the shrimp were pretty good...despite being not that hungry when we walked into the restaurant, we finished all of the dishes and several bowls of rice.
Service was good, though the waiter really only had to deal with two tables. Very prompt in refilling water, and they treated us rather well.
Definitely not the best asian food I've had, but among the best in the DC area (though I'm at school in Baltimore, which despite being a good sized city, is an asian food desert, apparently). -
Review from Bahareh M.
San Francisco, CA
10/25/2007
Pretty decent Chinese food. The even have a "diet" section for those watching their weight. The hot and sour soup was surprisingly good. We got the szechuan beef and the kung pao duo and both were pretty tasty, though very heavy.
This place is not that cheap but the portions are heaping. I'm about to eat it for a third meal right now. So it breaks down to not being too expensive. The service is quick and decently friendly. They don't really check on you after you have your food but they do refill water glasses promptly.
I'll be back. -
Review from Zac D.
Monterey, CA
7/7/2010
3.5 stars
Went to this place with some friends who basically like the Americanized Chinese food. I'm Chinese and used to go to China at least once a year so I know the difference. This place is authentic which means for certain dishes it will be very different than what Americans are used to. That being said, if you like Panda Express, don't come here. But if you want the real thing this place is an alright example of that, but not the best. I had the hong kong style chow mein which was a pretty good example of what you will get in China. The price is also about $11 for a large plate meant to share. -
Review from Kristina D.
Los Angeles, CA
3/8/2008
The Szechwan style dumplings were great and the service was extremely attentive.
However, we ordered the moo shi beef and it came out with tortillas! Even though the filling was tasty, the best part of moo shi is the thin crepe-like pancakes. Who knows, maybe they ran out of the pancakes and got the tortillas from Baja Fresh across the street. -
Review from Tania M.
Washington, DC
4/1/2011
There is no other place where I can find all the different varieties of chinese food prepared for vegetarians!! unlike other places where your only choice its sauté mix veggies, or some kind of fry vegetable. My favorite has got to be the General tso vegan chicken. Very inexpensive, place its very classy, and its worth the money. Great for getting together with friends!
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Review from Raina D.
Washington, DC
3/26/2010
I ordered from the take-out lunch combo: you'd also get a spring roll and fried rice for less $7. Let's face it, that's very cheap for DC lunch standard!
I had the No. 5 pepper steak. It wasn't bad; they actually give you quite a bit of meat. My complain is the fried rice: which is not oily but blah tasting.. maybe it has been fried one too many time... -
Review from David L.
12/23/2010 1 Check-in Here
I was pretty satisfied with this. The inside is nice. The prices are decent albeit a little inflated by being in DC. There were five of us, and we all shared our dishes. So I got a pretty good lay of the land. My orange beef had good heat and flavor.
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Review from Alexis P.
Chicago, IL
9/1/2010
So many interesting vegetarian options! Forget plain vegetables and tofu, Charlie Chiang's does a lot of typical meaty dishes with wheat meat substitute, like broccoli and beef, kung pao chicken and crispy sesame something or other. Everything tasted radically different and everything I tried was good. The servers were really nice and the atmosphere was pleasant.
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Review from Andrew K.
San Francisco, CA
8/14/2006
Really good, really cheap combinations of Asian food, from respectable bulgogi to teriyaki. This was the best, most affordable airport (DCA represent) food I have consumed -- big portions, small prices.
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Review from Jess K.
Updated - 10/16/2009
I ate in here with two friends last week. It was late and they seemed to be looking to close but they sat us anyway. We ordered lots of food including the appetizer sampler. They give you large portions and the food is high quality. I had lo mein which is so heavy but so yum.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/3/2009
I ordered from here with a friend during finals madness. We got crab rangoons, dumplings, and each… Read more »
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Review from Lesly S.
4/24/2007
Definitely in need of a makeover--for the food and the dining room. I could feel the trans fat dripping off my kung pao chicken. That's not always a bad thing, but in this day and age that is not gonna cut it! I expected the place to be packed at lunch, but there was plenty of room. I think that's a sign...
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Review from Raymond B.
Oakton, VA
5/11/2010
No stars for the food: bland, bland, bland. Pan fried noodles were half raw. Dumplings were 90% dough and 10% cabbage. No flavor anywhere. No use of herbs and spices, just soy and undefined brown flavorless sauce. Portion size too big for lunch.
Four stars for the service - very attentive, accommodating and friendly.
