Cafe Asia - Farragut West, DC

A few weeks ago I met up with my cousin and my closest girlfriend for "girl catching up" time. We all went to college together, and as we get older it's harder to find time to hang out. We decided to go to Cafe Asia in DC. It's a casual/trendy place that serves Pan Asian (Asian food from across Asia) cuisine.

Parking was a PAIN! There are meters but one quarter gets you 8 minutes. Who has that much change on them? It was a Saturday, and the meters said parking fees were enforced on Saturdays too, but many meters didn't have $ in them. On top of that, we asked the host at Cafe Asia for change and he said he didn't have any. We then asked our waitress and she told us to ask the guy up front because he has A TON of change. So I went back and asked for $3 in change out of a $5, and he asked if he could keep the $2 as a tip...ever heard of customer service?! So the closest metro is Farragut West on the Orange line. I'd highly recommend that, or remember your quarters.

There are 2 floors inside along with a very mod/white interior. Lots of plastic and sitting on ottomans. It looks like there are real chairs upstairs.

Here is the bar. I think it becomes a pretty happening place at night, but for lunch it wasn't anything special.

They have a fairly big menu. My cousin ordered the 'Drunken Noodles- Thai brown sauce with minced chicken & fresh basil on flat rice noodles' for $10. The portions were large though, so she took a lot of it back.

My newlywed friend ordered the 'Chicken Satay- 8 skewers of satay served with Indonesian fried rice, topped with peanut & fried shallots' for $12. I tried one and the chicken was very tender. Good large portioned dish.

I was in the mood for sushi, so I ordered a 'Ninja Roll- Eel, Fresh Crab Meat, Spicy Tobiko and avocado inside with Black Tobiko outside' for $7 and 'Yellowtail Roll' for $4.50. I thought the rolls were very mediocre...

The highlight of the meal was the dessert though! Women love dessert, so we shared a 'Combo Banana- Vanilla ice cream & Indonesian fried banana topped with dry coconuts, peanuts & honey' for $6.

I don't know if I would go through all of the traffic and parking troubles to go there again. Maybe it's different at night, because during the day its like any other normal restaurant. Perhaps if I go back I'd get something other than sushi because it was very mediocre. The prices are very fair with the amount of food they give you. Our waitress was fine, but the host was being difficult.

1720 I Street NW
Washington, DC
202-659-2696
www.cafeasia.com