Originally Posted by
AlanInDC
I'd say that the obvious cheap places are some of the Chinese restaurants, some in Chinatown (Gallery Place / Penn Quarter / Chinatown). Chinatown Express is one example in Chinatown. For a moderately-priced meal, there are some reasonably priced tapas places, such as La Tosca and Jaleo also in this area.
Real cheap: Julia's empanadas, but more of a take-away place, not sit down.
Malaysian Kopitam, downtown, is also reasonably priced and is a regular sit down restaurant.
The Cosi chain is in D.C. (higher end sandwiches). There's Five Guys (hamburgers, etc.).
Luna Grill in Dupont Circle.
Gotta respectfully disagree with a few of these sugesstions. As I noted in another thread, Jaleo (and, for that matter, La Tosca) doesn't hold a candle to Zaytinya (same neighborhood, both have tapas, so easy comparison). Also, Cosi is a chain and not worth going to if you want to sample a unique DC experience. Julia Empanada's is late-night after leaving the bar food.