Dragon Express is few steps away from the CVS Pharmacy at 1855 7th St NW, Washington DC. It is perfect if you love to sleep late on a Friday or Saturday night because the place is filled with people till midnight. It may appear to be a small restaurant standing next to tall buildings but it is much more than that. You can also order online so that you can enjoy Chinese food at the comfort of your home. While other options for delivering food, might not be up-to-the-mark, Dragon Express makes the difference by delivering fast. If you like Americanized Chinese food, this should be your choice for takeout.
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When it is about Chinese food in the DC area, you cannot rely on anyone but yourself. Dragon Express will sum it up to another level. As a result, this is what you have come to expect from them: tasty orange chicken, fried wontons at really reasonable price and plain fried rice and much more. Service? Strictly the best kind of hospitality. The whole thing reaches fast and you can have your meal quicker, unless you have a lot of time to spend.
If you like spicy, take the hot and sour soup. Most of their dishes lack the spiciness. You can ask them to make it hotter but still it will not be enough to make your taste buds swell. The soups are all around $2.95 except for the Chef Delight which is $6.85. When you are a seafood lover and craving for rice, there is only one thing to do! Take the lobster fried rice which is $10.50. The Singapore Rice Noodle is spicy compared to other noodles or chop suey. Skip the pork section and hop onto the Chicken, seafood and vegetables section.
Dragon Express stuffs dense meat into their rolls and wontons. They also love the way they prepare the shrimp basket, fried oysters and scallops. The combo comes with crab stick, scallops, oysters, shrimps and one fish. The chicken is prepared till it is juicy and caramelized, then presents it with bold flavors and light touches.
The menu is small but contains instants of inspiration and variations. The gizzards are truly something spectacular. They contain so much nutrients yet people throw them away or do not know how to cook them. They can have that at only $4.95. The Chicken Teriyaki is juicy and tasty and if you have it once, you will not forget how it tastes. The surprising part is that while it is bringing variations in the menu, you will stumble upon “Jumbo Cheeseburger”. It is weird to find that on a Chinese menu. Nonetheless, who does not love that? Not the surprise but the burger. We all love it. You can get that as well if the Chinese food does not get rid of your hunger.
Ordering through credit card, there is a minimum amount. Therefore, you can take the burger so that you can eat it later on. From time to time dishes are more clever than respectable, as in the underwhelming chicken wings that comes with honey or BBQ honey. Do not complain about the cold sub if they are not warm. They have Turkey and cheese, ham and cheese, tuna fish and cheese sub in the category. If you like it warm, there is another huge list where the prices revolve around $6. The Chicken Cheese Steak comes with fresh green lettuce and beautiful tomatoes with lots of mayonnaise. If you want it to be spicy add the hot pepper.
There are many items in the Chicken section that is hot such as the Chicken in Hunan Style, Chicken with garlic sauce, curry chicken, chicken with black bean sauce and Kung Pao Chicken. The stereotype that Chinese restaurants are uninterested to, or simply less knowledgeable at, desserts does hold true for Dragon Express. It only includes the Bean Pie, Cheese Cake and Sweet Potato Pie.
By this point, the clean and sharp flavors will no longer surprise you. Instead, they will make you reevaluate every uninspiring thing you hear about Americanized Chinse food. Many people praise it for being fast and not making mistakes during delivery. The other reason is that it will deliver food to places where most restaurants deny. Washington DC needs restaurants like this—a pure appearance of the brilliant people behind it. It is not following the traditional Chinese food nor is it copying any other place. It is serving something we can call “food that is tasty and will not disappoint you.”
Some customers wish the menu could include more offerings like seared tuna with tomatoes and avocadoes, plus fish curry. They could at least include something related to duck such as Peking Duck. A little more variety on the menu will make this place much nicer and attract more visitors.
