X.O. Taste – Hong Kong Style Restaurant

X.O. Taste
6124 Arlington Blvd.
Falls Church, VA 22044

After going to the same Chinese restaurants that we always go to, I wanted to try Hong Kong style restaurant. It was recommended by my parent's friend. I have this vision that it will be so much better and different. I was expected to be blown out of the water. But what a disappointment! From the outside, X.O Taste looks like a typically take out restaurant, but the interior is not so much. The restaurant is overcrowded with table and chairs. The wall colors were purple, blue and orange. Not too sure what the owner was thinking (or not thinking at all). At first I didn’t know how to describe this place, colorful walls with no decor, high purple ceiling with square-y not too pretty chandeliers. Industrial, that’s the word David said. So we ordered hot and sour soup, wonton noodle HK style soup for appetizer and smoked duck and spicy frog for entrées. The hot and sour soup came really fast; it was a little sour than usual. What I like was the fried wonton wrappers that came in a fancy looking bowl. Unfortunately, the fancy china did not cut it for the cuisine. The smoked duck has nice flavor, smoky taste. The only flaw about it was the salty sauce. If the chef didn’t put about half a pound of salt in it, it would have been the best duck I’ve ever eaten. The wonton noodle soup was also salty. And it took a while for it to come out. Either the chef has a heavy hand for salt or it was on sale for real cheap! Surprisingly the frog weren’t salty at all; it actually has nothing going on for it beside the fried garlic and onions that was sprinkled on it. David didn’t like how it was the whole frog. He said he would rather have frog legs that have a nice amount of meat on it. Maybe frog was not the best choice to try at a new restaurant that you never been to before. Having said all of that, it wasn’t the worst place I’ve been to and definitely not the best Chinese place. Perhaps, the only place to find a decent Hong Kong style food is in Hong Kong. But I’ll keep trying.