LeeLoo Lounge & Restaurant

At first I wasn’t going to write a review, because I’ve never been here. But then, when I realized that other people seemed to have overcome the same predicament, I figured «Go for it!» From what I’ve imagined about this place, it’s amazing… homemade corn tortillas and some of the best salsa verde I’ve ever had… even a simple meal of beans and rice is exceptional. They have great service provided by well trained parrots and simply programmed robots… no frills with the robots but they get the job done. I highly recommend coming here. Thanks Ebonne B. For giving me the confidence to write a review of a place I’ve never been to!

CLOSED he Cumin Lomo Saltado is a delicious steak served with fries or rice and veggies. The recipe is excellent. The cumin does not overpower the other spices or detract from the texture of the steak, but instead gives just enough depth of flavor to keep it interesting. Presentation is excellent. This was one of the best steaks I’ve had in DC in a long time. The salad was fresh and colorful.
Now, the bad news: This place is relatively new. It’s only been open about six months. I worry that the quality and faithfulness to the recipe may soon slide, as happens so often in DC. The kinks are not yet out of the system as far as the beverages go. A keg of beer delivered Friday morning was not yet chilled for Happy Hour. Non-​alcohol beer unavailable.
Parking: Street parking and «parking nearby» — but the nearby is kind of expensive. You share with the Verizon Center, or the daily parking. But it’s two blocks from the 7^th Street Convention Center Metro stop, so just hike in.
The place is a bit smallish, but on Friday evening there were plenty of empty tables, so I guess you would be fine without reservations.
So why am I giving this place Four Stars? That steak was really, really good!

A place with atmosphere for the unveiling of a commissioned portrait, and Lomo Saltado on the menu… these are two of my favorite things. The black walls, red accents and mirrors made a great stage for presenting the portrait to the client. The client also enjoyed the food.
We went all out for this celebratory lunch. I had guessed that the place was Peruvian influenced (Peru is THE hot ticket these days), and the location seems to be where the rotisserie chicken joint is still listed on other food finding websites. I had been circling this place but had not gone in… too pricey looking for lunch, too loungy for noon, too many steps up… the two-​upstepping does make it feel a little more «exclusive» as does the darkness inside. And yes, there’s not a lot of space between the tables.
Now to the food: Calamari is my litmus test dish. It was fine. Not chewy, lightly breaded, and served with the cilantro lime chili dip (I said that I don’t like marinara). The samosa/​puff pastry/​empanada with beef was puffy. That’s good. The apps are large servings ($ 8 or so). The lomo (which is a Chinese Peruvian — lots of Chinese immigrated to Peru a centuries ago and influenced the local food culture) is usually a chopped meat with veg and soy sauce, and the important part is that there are potatoes AND rice is served on the side. LeeLoo makes theirs as a steak (I like steak) with lots of chopped veg in sauce, some yucca fries (for the carb-​infatuated, these were yummy — a chewy über-​carby carb!) but NO rice! The yucca were a little greasy and I wouldn’t call this dish Lomo Saltado. It was steak frites a la Peru.
The pilaf with lamb was good (they spelled it «pilau» or some such thing) with the lamb stew in a tiny bowl. It was tender and good. My dessert of puff pastry with fruit was done right with the pastry cream being creamy and sticky. But it was better when I mixed in the other dessert of chocolate cake (dense like a bog!) with ice cream and whipped cream!
So, $ 33 excluding alcohol and tip. This Peruvian/​Pakistani? lounge is the way that Gallery Place is going. Not really Chinatown anymore (for that go to Little Vietnam out in Eden Center).

I was thinking about going there however once i walked into the place and saw how tiny it was i decided against it.
Lee Loo lounge is so small, it looks like someone decided to convert their master walk-​in closet into an establishment. There’s no way to manevuer around the tiny restaurant without bumping into someone or knocking their chair and the like. we couldn’t even walk from one point of the restaurant to another — we had to go outside then walk to the other side of the restaurant because it was so small.
so i give it a three, being generous. the food did look good so maybe the meals are worth it but don’t come here on a weekend when it is teeming with people. Perhaps when its slow and quiet it would be ok to eat in.