Agree with the above. We live in NW DC. The only restaurant we tend to go to in DC is Pizza Paradiso for its beer and good pizza, and that's only 1-2x/year. For Korean, we go to Annandale, especially Lighthouse Tofu. Vietnamese is Eden Plaza. Chinese we go to Rockville to Joe's or further north if we're feeling adventuresome. Haven't found an Indian place worth going back to, or a Mexican place with more than OK tacos.

Wife is a Chicago native, where we met and go frequently. DC has none of the ethnic enclaves that cities like Chicago have, with the good restaurants.

I've heard that a big part of the problem with DC's restaurant scene is high costs, both for real estate, but also for getting through DC's byzantine permitting system - too many palms to grease, I suspect. So the good stuff is in the burbs, but getting to them can be a pain.