Magic Gourd Restaurant

If you’re going for Americanized Chinese food, this place is pretty good. It’s take-​out quality food, not fine dining. If you do visit the restaurant, they have a pretty decent bar with cheap drinks!

Sadly, I truly would give this place 0 stars. You would find a better Chinese dish in the middle of a bean burrito than you will get here. Crab/​cream cheese wonton– chewy, fried at low temp and saturated with oil. Spare ribs– not a speck of 5 spice seasoning– served with American style bbq sauce. Beef with broccoli was bland, no sauce and beef was chewy. Globs of cornstarch in every bite because they had no sauce in the dish. Two blocks north is George Washington University– make the trek! You’ll find plenty of choices there.

Yesterday was my first time ordering from here and I ordered the general tso’s chicken to-​go. It was just ok. I’m used to this dish being a little spicy but it tasted like orange chicken. I assumed because I ordered carry-​out it would’ve been fresh but it tasted like it was scooped up from the buffet before I came to pick it up. Needless to say I wont be back :(

Ordered orange chicken for pickup along with a vegetable roll — horrible! Half of the chicken wasn’t even edible because it was so chewy. As this was my first time going here, it’s certainly going to be my last.

My favorite thing about this place is the name — Magic Gourd. I picture a beige squash cooking with only a wand and a wok. [Note to restaurant owners: Please reply to my message if you’d like to see some new logo designs.] The actual food here is kind of like Chinese food but totally like food. Yum!

We stumbled upon this gem after touring the Lincoln memorial. It was off track but we’re glad we made the trek. Crab wontons were mostly fried wonton then crab. However; the service and orange chicken is worth a little rave. Orange chicken was not too spicy just enough tang and taste.

I go here with my friends at least once every few weeks or so. Great food at reasonable prices. The green tea is free, pork fried rice is solid. The service is wonderful, really kind and welcoming staff. Check it out!

One star and one word… nasty. Everything was greasy and not tasty. It has gone downhill from the last time I was there and before Unilocal.

Stop for a quick lunch. Food was below average with a decent service. We were shown a menu with a few lunch specials that included soup. We ordered a recommended daily special and one other special from menu. Waitress charged us for the soup which she should not have. I didn’t want to argue with adamant waitress about the soup … just won’t eat here again.

We thought they sold pot here. I wish they would do better than «Magic Gourd» for a name. As a disclaimer, I work in the area and visit State every once in a while.
Couple of colleagues and I were looking for a place to eat after a presentation. The décor is dated. It isn’t dirty, which is my standard. Couldn’t tell where the host/​hostess stand was, so we meandered by the bar for about 3 minutes before we were greeted and seated. Menu was pretty standard Chinese fare.
The service was FAST. Like as soon as we were done with the appetizers, out came the entrée. As a lunch deal, it is pretty hard to beat unless you are eating from a truck. Food is better than passable and the portion size is fairly healthy. If you are a big eater, you aren’t going to take any home, but I didn’t leave hungry. Kung Pao wasn’t overly spicy, but at least it wasn’t covered in syrup like some lower class places.
3 stars, but mostly because of the lunch price. There are better Chinese places in the DMV, but if you are around Columbia Plaza you can certainly do worse.

Prices are reasonable ($ 9-​$ 12/​person), food is okay. Everything was really fast, which is probably why the food was just okay. The staff were rushed but not rude. They serve free hot tea at every table upon arrival. They have lunch specials during the week that seem to be a pretty good value. You probably won’t leave this place feeling like you just had an amazing meal, but you probably won’t leave feeling ripped off either. Very average.

My husband’s family comes here every Christmas season out of nostalgia from when they were growing up in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. It’s actually kinda rare for DC where it seems like there are not many regular sit down Chinese restaurants (takeout joints also affiliated with subs and fried chicken and seafood are plentiful). It’s nostalgic and not updated inside, but has managed to stick around for decades so they are doing something right.
The food is fine and I would probably take out from here much more often if I lived in the neighborhood. It’s very fried and heavily sauced — So if you’re on a diet, this is not the place for you. Highlights were the crispy green beans and hot and sour soup. We ordered plenty of chicken/​beef fried in sauce dishes too and they were gobbled up.
Don’t make a special trip for the Magic Gourd, but if you live in the neighborhood and are looking for takeout, then this is your place.

Ordered the tofu vegetable soup and the Dan San noodles. Both were very tasty. Other dishes ordered by my party-​pan fried noodles, General Tso Chicken, steamed dumplings and combination soup noodles were enjoyed by all. Our meal came to the table quickly. The tea was good and hot and our server was very attentive. We will definitely make a return visit!

The owners are nice, but the food is terrible. I can cook better Chinese food than this. The food is generally saucy. Steam dumplings look like they have been sitting around for awhile. Not fresh.

If you don’t work at the State Department or PAHO, go to GW, or live in Colombia Plaza, you really have no reason to come here. The space is arguably nicer than your average Chinese-​American joint, with soaring ceilings, an 18-​seat bar, (and a design aesthetic that cries «late 70’s»), but the food isn’t anything to write home about.
The lunch specials are a decent value: $ 9.90 gets you a soup (hot and sour or egg drop), a main course that changes daily, and fried rice. The Tuesday I stopped in it was Hsiang River Pork with zucchini (!?!), bamboo shoots and carrots in black bean sauce. The fried rice was just that: fried rice, with nothing in it and the pork was a tad on the sweet side. Certainly there are better Chinese options out there. For something more authentic nearby, try Szechuan Pavilion on K Street.

My wife came here for lunch with co-​workers and mentioned it was not only reasonable in price but that the food was very good as well. After happy hour with some co-​workers, decided to fulfill some late night cravings. We all shared crispy hot wings, kung pao chicken, and chicken fried rice. For a party of party of six, it hit just the right spot. No complaints here

I’d recommend the food here for take-​out, but probably would stay away from a sit-​down meal.
Inside the restaurant is VERY dated and dark. I joked to my boyfriend that it would be the perfect candidate for that TV show «Bar Rescue». There are tacky white xmas lights around the bar, the lighting is poor, the bar area itself looks like it has seen better days and the furniture is probably twice as old as I am (not in a good way). Also, the waitstaff are not terribly responsive the one time I did go in for a sit-​down meal.
I usually do order a chicken dish for takeout on the weekends from time to time. It is a HUGE portion of food and I can usually pack some of it up for lunch the next day. As far as the food quality, it’s typical Chinese. Nothing special to write home about, but it’ll do the job if you are craving some General Tso’s chicken!

Does anyone remember the show Cheers? Of course. When I think of this bar, I think of that show. Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name… This is a neighborhood bar, right across the street from the State Dept. I came to DC on a vacation and stopped at this bar on the way back to the house. We got there before everyone got off work so it was good. There are 2 TVs at the bar, and in the back, there is a restaurant area where you can sit if you want to have dinner. The bathrooms are nice and clean as well. The bartender was very nice. I would come back here when I go back to DC.

Nice environment, but terrible food. The dishes are all drenched in syrup and are sweet even though some of them may be labeled «spicy» on the menu. There’s no Chinese on the menu, nor is there a separate menu in Chinese. Once I went with a Chinese family and the parents couldn’t even order food.
The service is lackluster, too. I had to ask repetitively for my Corona AFTER the food had been served. Servers rarely check back on you, if at all.
A total letdown compared to other Chinese restaurants in the area like Sichuan Pavilion or even Meiwah. Lunch is busy because of all the professionals in the neighborhood, whereas dinner is much quieter.

So, only because it’s conveniently downstairs from my boyfriend’s place in the Columbia Plaza apartment complex, I had to eat here for a second time last night.
This place would be fabulous for a karaōke night venue, or maybe a party rental for it’s Vegas-​like atmosphere. I am a big fan of the booths and dusty-​looking bar. But, this is a restaurant not so much a bar.
BUT, this is definitely not fine dining, nor fine nor authentic Chinese food. You know it isn’t good Chinese food when you don’t see any Chinese customers in the place. Everything seems to be battered, deep fried and then finished with a thickened (probably by corn starch) sauce. No matter what, you will wake up in the next morning parched and with the morning-​after-​MSG feeling in the mouth…
The owner and staff are nice and friendly, but the place is definitely not a China Garden. The waitress also was short $ 10 when returning change for our bill… so make sure you count your change!