XO Taste Express

It is a smaller restaurant with about 4 tables where you order, and the self serve with sauces and plasticware. The service was fine and the food came out in a timely manner. I ordered the Dan Dan noodles and it was entirely too oily and the serving size was too small for how much it costs. The sauce area was generally messy and they expect you to clean after your table when you're done.

A no frills, "take your meat and go" type of spot.Hidden in a Latino-Asian market, XO Taste Express chops and serves Chinese BBQ meats. Char Siu Pork, Crispy Pig, Roast Duck etc. all the classic meats my family has grown up eating. I am of Vietnamese and Cambodian ancestry and my dad comes here to grab lbs of BBQ meat for the holidays. If my dad comes here, it is a good sign! Some of their unique offerings that are popular by locals are the Pepper Duck and Ginger Chicken.Make sure you guys go and support this business because we need them to stay open for future generations to enjoy!

Roast pork was okay. Skin was really crunchy but the pork itself was lacking in flavor. Priced pretty fairly to other roast pork joints around.

It's a dangerous game to order catering from a business you've never frequented before but I trust Cam H's taste buds and decided to take a gamble!I called XO Taste Express to inquire about catering for fifty and the owner was SO helpful in helping me decide on a menu for our guest list. We decided to go with the seafood fried rice, stir fried vegetarian noodles, shrimp and papaya salad, lemongrass chicken, soy sauce chicken, and when she found out we were Filipino....ALLL ZEEE roasted pork aka: lechon. She was proud of her food and it showed. She also offered delivery for $25 which was really, really helpful since we would be rushing from church to our home to set up the party. This ensured that the food was delivered hot and fresh. Favorites of the party included the lemongrass chicken (as Anne C mentioned, that scallion sauce is totally crack), the extra crispy lechon, and seafood fried rice. Everyone was excited to try something new and coupled with a various other items we catered from other restaurants, the whole baptism was a hit with little effort on our part. I'll definitely work with them again!A few notes:- This is actually a stall inside a grocery store- They don't have a website with a catering menu so just take the time to speak with the owner. Her English is great and she is very friendly.

Literally the best lemongrass chicken ever!! I've had their salt & pepper, soy sauce chicken, crispy pork, and roasted duck. My favorites are the chicken! The garnishes they put on top of the chicken are out of this world good. Be sure to go early or call ahead as they do sell out towards the end of the day!

XO Taste Express [XOTE]. (1 star).BLUF: If you want globules of FAT with very little meat or flavor, and a side of Shut The F*ck Up [STFU] if you say anything to the lady about your order, COME HERE!! All others, STAY AWAY!! ESPECIALLY IF YOU DO NOT SPEAK THEIR CHINESE DIALECT!!"To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living." - Anthony Bourdain----------DID YOU KNOW #1? XOTE weighs your requested roasted meats (bones and all), and claims their scale isn't properly calibrated, shows you a price on the scale, and then charges you a higher price??When they chop your roasted meat, they remove the ginormous bone, but charge you the same price they quoted you earlier (different from the price on the scale).If you ask them to reweigh it or to validate you received the amount of meat you requested (in my case 2 pounds of siu yuk), they say NO. Along with "get out".Even with the bone, my siu yuk order was only 1.4 pounds but she was going to charge me for 2 pounds?? When I called her on it, she changed the price to $27. The scale said $25.40. Then she finally said, "Fine, I give you for $25!"After all of that drama, she started ranting to her fellow Chinese friends while snarling at me and pointing to me. She also used her ungloved hand to touch the rest of the roasted meats.Lovely, don't you agree??!!DID YOU KNOW #2? XOTE is located inside Fresh World (Korean market) next to Poongnyon (Korean food) and Pancho (Tex-Max) food stalls.DID YOU KNOW #3? Don't go to DC Chinatown for roasted meats. There might be 1 or 2 places that still sell them but Falls Church, VA seems to have the best selection, albeit a small selection.----------Anyhow, while the service alone was atrocious, if the food was really THAT good, I would still come back. That's just me. But it is NOT!!Although I don't rate service for food establishments. I do comment on them whether I had a positive or negative experience.----------Now on to the review of my order...Siu Yuk (Crispy Roast Pork) - (1 star).I would NORMALLY agree with the late great Mr. Bourdain, but what I received was unacceptable.Even though all the red lights and bells were signaling me to just walk away, we did take a drive to try this place so I figured I would just accept what I got.After all Yelp DC's CM raved about this place not but a year ago so I was excited!!When we got home, I opened the box of roast pork and my heart fell.ALMOST EVERY PIECE WAS AT LEAST 70% FAT?! I was so disappointed but I figured I would try a piece just to make a final decision.Verdict: The pork skin was a little crispy but the meat was flavorless!!?? Lack of salt. Not even a hint of Shaoxing wine or Chinese Five Spice?? Waaaahhhhhh??!!Oh and of course I saved the best for last...The gentleman in front of me, who is also NOT Chinese, said to me he felt we were being treated differently.I told him I agreed.We were told they barely had any crispy pork left and whatever was out was what we were going to have to accept.LITERALLY after we both ordered, a BRAND NEW HOT OUT THE OVEN WHOLE HOG was brought out and the rest of the customers (who are all Chinese and spoke it to each other and the lady (owner)) got their orders they had been waiting for.Mind you, majority of them were AHEAD of us in line, by a few seconds, ORDERED LESS ROAST PORK THAN I DID, but none of them got the leftovers from the slop tray?!----------Sadly, I'm sure XOTE will continue the business motto they have because Chinese roasted meats is a delicacy that is quite difficult to find here in NoVA.Since majority of their customers are loyal customers, speak the language, and are treated well, I'm sure this place will stay in business.I posted my hideous photos in the tips section because Yelp forces me to keep them on my Yelp photo page if I add it to this review. :(I wish XOTE all the best...

Awful! Rude woman working there who snaps at you and insists on giving waaay more than the amount of meat you ordered (in order to charge you more). That's in addition to the price per pound already being extremely expensive compared to similar Asian BBQ meat places in the area. And the food isn't even good! What should be crunchy skin roasted pork had no crunch at all. It was tough, chewy, and had a weird after taste. Gross. Save your money and go somewhere else.

Horrible owner, never come back. First time and will be last. A lot people warn me about this store but I want to try out . Got a bad attitude from a lady Vietnamese, I think her name is Dung. No brain when talk to customer. If you want to shut down yr store soon , keep your old way when talk to customer. It will come soon and very soon.Don't go here

Good reliable place to pick up delicious freshly made Chinese barbecue pork, pit, chicken SMD duck or Vietnamese party trays and smacks. Love the owners.

I would give this place 0 star!!! Terrible Vietnamese owner and bad attitude that how she's treat customers, she's needs customers to pay cash instead of pay by credit card which is you got changed more if you pay with credit!!! Be careful!!!