Penang

See Shields’ review, as I mostly agree. The only thing that I can add is that I’ve eaten at the Bethesda location three times (I think), and can’t remember a thing about the food. That in itself says something.

Bethesda has some tasty food and reasonable prices, but terrible decor. It’s huge and sprawling and cold. DC gets the decor right but nothing else.

Malaysian chain restaurant. Dave and I visited the Bethesda location shortly after it opened, and it was not bad at all, with a long and novel menu and large portions. But the M St location, when I checked it out a few months later, inattentively served some of the blandest Asian food I’ve had in years. It’s packed with beautiful people at night, so I guess the bar is good; but at the time I was just looking for lunch, and they fell down on that.

Penang has many locations in many cities, but they seem to locate in restaurant districts. I don’t see much reason to go there, then; you have many alternatives in the neighborhood. In particular, Oodles has locations in both Bethesda and downtown that have similar menus and are completely superior.