Mie N Yu

Several years ago, there was a great uproar (well, as uproarious as foodies get) when Georgetown's Mie N Yu won the RAMMY award for best DC restaurant. I'd never been there, but it didn't really seem like the kind of place RAMMY judges would like - it's just as much about the "scene" as it is about the food. I guess it was continued reports of mediocre and overpriced food that kept me from visiting, until last Saturday night.

The interior is... weird. It has sort of an asian theme going on... but asian circa 1985. It does seem a bit dated, much like a stereotypical old chinese restaurant.

Service got off to a bit of a bumpy start, but to be fair the waitress had her hands full with a table of 6 next to us that took 20 minutes to order, then said they needed to be out of there ASAP. When she did visit, she was apologetic and attentive for the rest of the meal.

The menu is definately asian-focused, and I really liked that there were dishes containing influences from Afghanistan, as well as the more traditional chinese menu items. Small plates, appetizers to share, entrees, proteins to split, sides to share, and the addition of a restaurant week menu provided plenty of options.

After the complimentary edamame, we started out with the beef lettuce wraps, which were fantastic. Chunks of shredded beef came in a brown garlic sauce with crispy thai basil, presented with bibb lettuce leaves and a sweet chili dipping sauce. I could definately order these as an entree.

For my main, I had wild mushroom and soy tofu fried rice. The fried rice was good, but not great - very greasy. My +1 had the appetizer pepper-infused crab cake, which I wasn't a fan of. The crab was watered down, and all I could taste was black pepper with very little sweet crab flavor coming through. She also had a side of the (non-tofu) fried rice, which was a bit sweeter than my version, and frankly I liked it better. I had a side of edamame succotash, which had a smokey flavor with the addition of bacon without being too heavy. We skipped dessert - too full and they didn't look that great from the table next to us.

The beverage list we were given was outdated, which kinda sucked because the beer pricing was very odd. Stella for 6$ but Heinies for 10? It made me nervous to order the list of beers the waitress ticked off as new options. And the wines by the glass seemed excessively expensive (none for less than $10).

The food is exactly what I expected, good but not great. Then the check comes. $110 pre-tip seemed a bit excessive considering we split an appetizer, my entree was fried rice, and she had an app as an entree.