New Big Wong Restaurant

New Big Wong is a Chinese restaurant located in the Chinatown area of Washington D. C. . The specific types of cuisine that they serve at this restaurant are Cantonese and Szechuan.

It's a medium-sized restaurant, but could possibly be considered to be small for some people. If you are planning to dine there as part of a large group, it's best to book a table before going, just to be on the safe side. Some of the waiting staff wore traditional Chinese dress, which makes you feel like the atmosphere is even more authentic.

The tables are round, and in the centre, there is another superimposed round table that moves.

We had hardly even sat down before they brought us over a complimentary glass of water (like at the majority of restaurants in the US) and then you have a little cup with a teapot that you can pour for yourself. If I have to be honest, I didn't really like the tea that much.

As there were a lot of us, we took a fair bit of time in deciding what to order, but it certainly didn't take very long for them to serve it to us.

The menu is loosely divided into starters, chicken, pork, noodles, soups, vegetables, seafood, beef, and house specialities. They also have set menus that you can order, but they are a little bit expensive. Of course, if a dish is considered to be spicy, there will be a little pepper next to its name to warn you.

I ordered one of the chicken-based dishes, "Chicken with Cashew Nuts", and it wasn't bad at all. They serve the dish with a bowl of boiled rice as an accompaniment. I actually didn't eat much of my meal because I was eating it extremely slowly with chopsticks, which psychologically makes you think that you are full, hahaha. If you don't feel comfortable using chopsticks, they can give you a fork, but you have to explicitly ask them for one.

The best part of dining here was receiving a fortune cookie. I was really excited about this because it was the first time that I was dining at a Chinese restaurant, and I had seen the cookies in many TV series and films. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were actually really tasty and sweet. In all honestly, I think that it was the thing that I liked the most out of all the food I tried. I also like the fortune that came in my cookie, it read: "Wisdom is only found in truth".

The service given is standard: one of the waitresses who served us wasn't very friendly, and then specifically asked us to give her a tip... Here in the US, aside from the prices of the dishes that you see in the menu, you also have to add on taxes and a tip before reaching your final total. The tip is almost "compulsory" in those places where they have provided you with a service, like in hairdressers, taxis, and restaurants. In this case, we were not forced to give a tip because we weren't at all happy with the service that we had received. Bear in mind that the tip will be either 15% or 20% of the cost of your bill.

One point in favour of the service given here at New Big Wong is that they divided our bill up separately, so that we could each pay individually with either cash or card. That way, we didn't have to work it out amongst ourselves and get ourselves in a huge mess with the change. Oh, and another thing that we liked was that they offered us a box and a bag to take our leftovers home in, which is somewhat typical here in the United States; the portion sizes are enormous and it's common practice to take the rest home, considering that you have paid for it. I personally didn't take mine with me, although there were plenty of leftovers... I am just not a huge fan of Chinese food, nor of heating it up in a microwave, but the gesture is certainly appreciated by those who genuinely like it.

In terms of prices, I wouldn't know whether to say that they are cheap or expensive, as this is the first time that I have dined at a Chinese restaurant. Although, with that being said, I think that there were relatively normal for being in the United States, but expensive if we compare them to those of Spain. With taxes added, my meal cost me $14. 25 (plus a $3 tip), coming to a total of $17 just for chicken, rice and a fortune cookie...

The restaurant's opening hours are from 11am to 3am, and these extend until 5am at the weekend.

To get to New Big Wong, the best thing to do is to take the metro and alight at the stop, "Gallery Place/Chinatown", which is served by red, green and yellow lines.