Heh. That reminds me when I went there for a conference many years ago.
Me, to taxi driver at 8 pm: I want to go to Chinatown
Taxi driver: Really? Are you sure?
Me: Yes, I feel like getting some Chinese food tonite.
Taxi driver: Uh ok.
First of all that Chinatown sucked in terms of selection of restaurants, and at least the place I chose sucked as well. Second, there were some big dudes busting each others heads just down the street of where the taxi driver let me off.
Being a stupid Canadian tourist, I didn't realize just how rough DC was. I found out later that Chinatown at the time was one of the rougher areas, esp. at night, albeit nowhere near as rough as many other areas in DC.