Great food and atmosphere, but not family-friendly. NiHao is a good spot if you're looking for flavorful Chinese cuisine with a modern twist. The food was delicious, and the atmosphere felt vibrant yet refined, making it a great choice for adults looking to enjoy a nice meal. However, if you have young children, be prepared for some challenges. We visited with our young child, but unfortunately, it didn't feel family-friendly. There were no high chairs , water, or utensils offered, and we didn't see much accommodation for families with little ones, which was disappointing. My kid had to sit on my wife's lap for the whole time and we were also put right by the front door, which was open the whole time on a cold evening. Overall, I'd recommend NiHao for adults or date nights, but families with young kids may want to explore other options. read more

The menu looked very familiar at first as we were not aware this was another line from Peter Chang's chain of restaurants. Advertised as Chef Peter Chang's creation of newest adventure of bold flavors on small plates. Bold flavors and delicious indeed, but no different than all their line of restaurants in my opinion. The difference is the plate presentation and pricing. The service was very friendly and catering to all our question and requests. The food came out freshly prepared and when ready. May need to order several plates as the smaller "Spanish tapas" is not fulfilling, which then can be pricey. Parking can be challenging as there are limited paid spots along the road or garage parking. A nice experience and will be back when in the area. Enjoy! read more

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Been eyeing Nihao since it opened and was excited to finally try it out! In the summer they have a window by the bar that remained open, so I wondered if it was warm inside. Now that it's cool, it was very warm inside with the window closed. We were seated immediately with no wait time, which was great because it does get busy. They have seats and booths, mainly for small parties but it seemed like they had bigger groups in the back. I like to walk to my table and see what other patrons have ordered. I couldn't get a sense of it and when I saw the menu I understood why. The place is sold as "tapas", but unlike Taiwanese street food (also "tapas" style served individually or in combo platters), or Chengdu spicy street food (a collection of small plates served together), Nihao is a mixture of popular Chinese cuisine. A portion of the menu is just dim sum, priced at about $6-9 a plate. Theres popular Sichuanese dishes with sichuanese peppercorns (the numbing kind) and chili oil, there's dry hot Chengdu style foods, and then there's foods like chao fen and clay pot rice. It's an interesting mixture that means there is something for everyone. I wanted to go spicy for my visit just because it is harder to find than your noodle, wonton, or dimsum. We ordered cold plates (beef tripe & tendon, cucumber salad), a spicy fried chicken (like popcorn chicken), and a shrimp dry pot and some rice. It was a good amount of food for two adults even though the plates were smaller than a typical restaurant (as they were tapas style). The service was fast and our cold plates were delivered by the time we took our first drink sips. The rest of the dishes came rather quickly as well. The cucumber salad was the biggest surprise. The taste was good, but the texture was like eating an avocado covered cucumber. I don't think I've ever eaten a cucumber salad prepared and presented with this pasty texture that's been blended. It had slightly bitter taste (likely from the cucumber peel) but otherwise I did enjoy this. The beef and tripe was also presented in a pile in a small plate instead of a long plate with an even ratio of each type of meat clearly presented (the expectation). This meant our dish seemed to have a lot more tripe than other pieces, and especially very little meat, which was disappointing. The dish itself was well-seasoned and authentic tasting. The fried chicken was good, but it seemed stale/old like it wasn't freshly made but just heated. The pieces were also irregular side and dry both inside and outside. The shrimp dry pot was probably the best and most authentic out of everything we ordered. It came with French fries sprinkled in and the green onion. Ordered beer and cider to go with the spice, but they have a really nice cocktail menu Id like to try sometime. They have a happy hour deal from 4-6pm on weekdays where you can have a cocktail + 3x tapas for $24 that I think is a great deal worth taking advantage of. My only concern is there's a lot of sweet cocktails on the list and not many sweet or appropriate snacks to match. Would try it regardless! read more

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Great spot where my girlfriend and I stumbled. If you like the Chinese American style, I highly recommend it. The dan dan noodles have the spicy numbness that I like, not overwhelmingly spicy though. The shrimp was perfectly sweet. The braised pork was tender and delicious, mapo was our favorite dish of the night. All in all great food at great price read more

NiHao - Mapo tofu, braised pork belly, dan dan noodles, coconut shrimp - Chinese Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

I wanted to like this place because it's hard to get good Chinese food around here but there were some disappointments: - duck spring roll: just a spring roll with basically only duck inside - good but boring unless you really like duck - beef with peppers - I thought this was too salty but my boyfriend loved it - garlic eggplant - standard good - scallion bubble pancakes - standard Peter Changs, wish there was more scallion flavor - husband and wife lung slices - biggest disappoint, this is one of my favorite dishes ever and it was the worst parts of beef/tripe and hard to chew, don't take this as your first impression of this dish read more

Dinner last weekend was crowded and noisy, or rather 'energetic'!? We were all the way in the back where the acoustics amplify and trap all the sound. Service was great. They were busy but we were well tended to with a constant whirl of dishes coming and empty plates cleared. The dishes were good, yes small but filling and the variety was nice (the dishes we ate off of were really small though - would be nice if they were a tad larger). Tried so many good dishes but the standouts were wood ear salad, whole mandarin branzino, walnut shrimp, fried eggplant, and spare ribs. The dumplings were also good and didn't seem to take 15 mins to prepare as the menu suggests (prob faster on a busy Saturday). Another yelper mentioned no spoons but we asked and they had spoons galore. Go with a bunch of friends and order (and share) everything on the menu! read more

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Just too much - too much salt, mainly. Unfortunate, because the underlying flavors could be so nice, but too much salt makes it hard to eat. The dry fried eggplant also had so much batter and had been fried so hard that it was difficult to bite into and there was nothing left of the soft eggplant skeleton inside (could have been amazing with a better balance of texture. And less salt.) The drink was heavy handed on the mixer, making it too sweet. Didn't get any flavor of the scotch or vermouth at all (or maybe it was only juice?) And the lighting is way too bright. Service model doesn't really lend itself to questions or direct feedback. "is this the drink I ordered?" might have been helpful, but basically would have to tackle somebody to get their attention despite it not yet being busy. And the drink came out after the food anyway. I guess on the flip side they also give you way too much per plate for a tapas model. And it's relatively inexpensive. It could be so good if they just used more restraint. **I checked other photos and they definitely gave me the wrong drink. read more

No Hao was such an adorable restaurant! The wait staff were super prompt and respectful which made for a pleasant experience. The food was absolutely stellar! read more

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The restaurant was not busy, seemed to have adequate staff who just walked back and forth asking if we wanted to order more but did not bother clearing the table. as new dishes were brought out . The whole table was filled with used bowls and plates the entire evening. The Peking duck was small , the skin not as crispy and the meat chopped in small pieces. All the other dishes ordered were average in taste and presentation. We were very disappointed with the non existent service throughout our meal. No ambiance either. read more

The food here is absolutely amazing. The chef knows his Sichuan peppercorns, chilis, and puts them together beautifully. There are so many options there will be something for anything your tastebuds are craving. I had the Sichuan spicy crispy chicken, soup dumplings, dry fry green beans, and dry fry eggplant. I will always come back to eat here when I visit Arlington. The restaurant is beautiful, clean, and the wait staff was always on point. read more

NiHao - Soup dumplings & dry fry green beans - Chinese Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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Went for an early lunch to catch up with an old friend. The restaurant was clean, not busy, and my friend was already seated. She warned me that the blonde hostess who seated her seemed grumpy, but I didn't think much of it at first. This woman mostly stayed near the bar. We ordered an appetizer and two main dishes. Service from the other waiters was fine. The green beans were excellent, the Chongqing spicy fried chicken was flavorful but a bit salty (great with rice), and the shrimp dumplings were just okay. The same grumpy lady came by and asked if we needed anything else. I asked about the dessert menu while still taking my bite. Instead of bringing a menu, she curtly listed only three dessert options, making me feel like she would rather we didn't order anything. I declined. She then brought out the payment device right then and there and asked how we wanted to pay--while I was still eating. We hadn't even been there 30 minutes. My friend told her to wait since we were still finishing food and having tea. When we finished, my friend asked to pay, but the server ignored her, handing the payment device to me twice until my friend spoke up. No smile, no basic courtesy--just the attitude of a pouting teenager. Despite this behavior, my friend still tipped 20%. As Asians, we felt unwelcome and will not be supporting this business again read more

Came here during lunch on a weekday. It was not busy and street parking was easy to find. We ordered several dishes to try. Everything came out quickly which was nice however the food was very salty, even the non spicy dishes. Wanted to love this place but probably would not come back again. read more

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Let it be known that I love dining at Peter Chang and often cook sichuan food at home, so I was highly anticipating trying this sister restaurant! We stopped in on a busy evening and were greeted warmly and quickly and told we could hang out at the bar while a table opened up. We waited at the bar for a little while and decided to just go ahead and dine there. This was an intimate experience; perhaps too much so because we could easily see and hear the staff's struggles to keep up with the demands of the evening (understandable as there are growing pains in the early stages of a new restaurant opening). Our bartender for the evening, however, did his best! We shared several small plates, including the dry fried fish, chongqing chicken, "husband and wife" tripe & tendon slices, pork dumplings, and mala pork ribs. I thoroughly enjoyed the spike potatoes that were served with the ribs, and the cold beef dish. However, the fish was too salty even for us, and the chongqing chicken erred on the same wavelength. We found ourselves chugging water and relying on the dumplings to balance out the saltiness. I would come back to try other dishes, and maybe a couple of the previous ones if I have a craving for Sichuan cuisine! read more

3.5 stars. Peter Chang has a heavy hand with salt, and doesn't mess around with heat - if the menu indicates 2 peppers, the dish is very spicy; if it indicates 3 peppers, I suspect it is numbing, but we didn't order any 3 pepper foods after tasting our first two pepper plate. And we love spicy food. The saltiness of some of the dishes is why I opted for 3 stars vs 4. The cold spicy chili oil chicken was outstanding. Tender slices of chicken bathed in a spicy chili sauce, sitting on a bed of cucumbers that help cut through the heat. The dry-fried green beans are tender, homey, and a great way to get some veggies! The dry-fried fish was crispy, tender, and nicely spiced. It was SO salty, however, that we went through almost an entire carafe of water. Still delicious, but would be better with less salt. The mala pork ribs were perfectly tender, with an interesting, spicy sauce. Again, delicious, but very salty. The Sichuan-beef was full of very tender slices of beef and sliced green onions in a mild sauce. A welcome respite from the spice and salt. The wine list is well-curated, and the cocktails very creative. We loved the Fallen Angel. The restaurant is lovely with a moderate noise level. Service was very friendly. Food comes out fast. Our server was also the bartender and at times struggled to keep up, but he served all with a smile and kept everyone happy. Overall a great meal, but we will have a salt hangover tomorrow. read more

Pretty regular/basic Chinese place but they get 4 stars from me because good quality, (non traditional) Chinese food is hard to find in this area. I grew up eating Chinese food like this, so I was very pleased to find this place. It's conveniently located next to the Alamo drafthouse, perfect for the girls like me that are always at the movies! They have all the classic options, but the atmosphere gives slightly elevated unlike the Chinese takeout places I frequented growing up. I had the Sichuan Dan Dan noodles, the garlic cucumbers, and the salt and pepper shrimp. Everything was good and I'm glad I've finally found a Chinese place for takeout! read more

NiHao - Salt and Pepper Shrimp - Chinese Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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We were here for Christmas Eve dinner. The food was incredible and service was quick & friendly! Best soup dumplings I've had in the DMV. Definitely check this place out read more

Food was outstanding. Simon was very knowledgeable and helpful when helping with menu.. I love the setups with the open air bar. I definitely recommend. read more

I had no idea this member of the Peter Chang family was in this area and stopped by for a late dinner. There's plenty of parking in this part of Arlington and a lot of the nearby parking decks are free on weekends. Food is good and sizes are perfect for sharing. The Chinese Odyssey is great for those craving a Chinese baiju but wanting to avoid the sharp liquor taste and the Barbie Negroni is fun and fruity. Green beans are fantastic and fresh, red braised pork belly too sweet and syrupy, homemade sausage full of mala flavor, and duck rolls are crispy but not super duck-y. read more

NiHao - Green beans, duck spring rolls, pork belly - Chinese Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

I really enjoyed my food . It was spicy I just hated it had no sauce. No one wants dry brown rice lol. The chicken was so good though. Quick customer service. Food was 9/10 because they had no sauces and they gave no utensils for a checkout order. read more

Great alternative to traditional dim sum. My neighbor recommended this place for brunch a a group of us went today. Everything was pretty much amazing. If you are looking for a treat, go for the family style Mandarin Branzino - visually stunning and delicious (don't forget to ask for a spoon so you can go after the sauce at the end). The garlic cucumber salad was very refreshing, while the Woodear mushroom salad was out of this world. The dry fried green beans were delicious, the Farmers Stir-fry with egg's might have been the hands down favorite meal. Also yummy were the scallion bubble pancake and the duck spring rolls. The sweet and sour pork ribs were a tad too sweet; and if you order the Dan Dan noodles watch out for the heat- one neighbor announced that his tongue had gone numb, another start sweating so profusely it looked like he had just worked out. And when the bill came, it was a great price for that much food. Great experience, we will definitely be back. Sorry no pictures, was too busy enjoying the food! Other pros: generous water bottles on table, free parking in the garage on Saturdays read more

NiHao - Chinese Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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The food was really good and the waitress was really nice. I would suggest the mushroom salad. We had to go to the airport, and needed somewhere to be for a long time, and they did not trip out about us staying a long time. I would definitely give this place a try. It is particularly fun to go to a Chinese place that has cocktails, especially with very flexible hours. read more

1st time, nice & simple new Peter's! Lovin the small plates, so can try many out! Duck spring roll, duck skin was not crispy, won't order again. Husband-wife cold beef, the cutting was too thick, still not close to Chengdu style. The green pepper with double cooked pork, needed more time in wok so the pepper skin can be fired up, it was too raw and didn't bring the best out. Also wish the pork belly was more fatty not dry. Will try one more time! read more

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Fantastic beef lo mein. You have to start with the hot and sour soup. Great service too. The music playing is good too. I will definitely be back here when I'm in Arlington read more

NiHao - Chinese Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

It's confusing to me that they use the term "fusion" when it's clearly Chinese cuisine featured here. Out of the half dozen dishes, which were all good, Salt & Pepper Shrimp was the favorite. They're very similar to Cajun Popcorn Shrimp. Service was very attentive and we all enjoyed the meal. Although the place was full, it didn't sound noisy. It's comfortably chic. read more

Ni Hao is a new Chinese food spot in Arlington VA by Peter Chang. Peter Chang has several spots in the DMV area, all very solid. There's familiar dishes at Ni Hao, though I think Ni Hao focuses on tapas or smaller plates. Dishes are well priced (especially for the Arlington area ‍) and decently sized. Id say for 2 ppl, ordering 3-4 items would be perfect. We ordered: Fried cumin fish - I get the fried cumin fish or equivalent at every Chinese restaurant I go to. This was not it. Mala pork ribs - delicious, definitely recommend Chicken noodle soup with rice noodles - nice aesthetic presentation, soul warming noodle soup, chunks of chicken inside, noodles with nice chew and some spicy sauce on the side. There's an option for wheat noodles which id definitely try out next time. Ma po tofu -not too spicy (could be spicier tbh so if you're into spice, request for spicier), a slight kick of mala numbing Chicken slices with snow peas - looks healthy, tastes good, though I probably wouldn't order it again Glutinous rice cakes dessert - this was very nice, crunchy sweet chewy. My only issue was with the dipping sauce, which reminded me of Chinese cough medicine that I used to have as a kid. If I never had that nostalgia, this would be a wonderful dessert dish. Overall solid Chinese restaurant addition to the Arlington area. read more

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Food was fantastic. Simon's was amazing his recommendations were all on point. Great experience

I ordered takeout. The food was too oily. The taste was Ok. I would enjoy the food if they didn't put too much cooking oil in. The receptionist was cold, and not friendly. I didn't feel I was welcome here. I feel like I bothered her just by being a customer. She didn't show any emotion or bother to respond even when I said thanks. The service was quick. I was able to get my food within 15 mins. read more

All dishes were delicious. Prices are reasonable. It was busy and that may have affected service.

I rushed in around 5pm to get some veggie rolls to go. Everyone was amazing, kind and very understanding. I was seated and greeted with water, my rolls were ready in under 5 minutes! I recommend 100% read more

First time to a Tapas style Chinese Restaurant. Interesting concept. Food was good. Service was excellent.

Just walk in before 6 pm, beyond our expectation, good food, small plate/amount but give me a chance to order more dishes. Little greasy for me ( I am a Chinese who doesn't like greasy food). read more

NiHao - shrimp pork vegetables - Chinese Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

SO obsessed and lucky me this is a new spot in my neighborhood. Everything we ordered was delicious, my favorites were green beans/sweet sour chicken/ dan dan noodles. So much spice and flavor. Big portions which is always a bonus! read more

NiHao - Chinese Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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I ordered the Chongqing Spicy Chicken for takeout. It was incredibly salty. Salty to the point it was inedible. I emailed them, giving them an opportunity to make the situation right. I did not hear back. Even an apology would have helped. read more

NiHao - Chongqing Spicy Chicken - Chinese Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

I decided to check out this Chinese tapas restaurant for lunch because a friend of mine highly recommended it. The food is really tasty here and it comes to the table quickly. I enjoyed 4 dishes along with a pretty stiff cocktail. Not bad for about $45. Will def try this spot again and select new dishes. read more

Good was prepared freshly and was delicious. Good service. The ambiance was clean and comfy.

First time here, everything was fantastic! Service was top notch as well. Will most definitely be back.

My fav Asian go to right now...this location & all the Changs restaurants...one in all letters of the DMV! Good food & great service...

First off, the dan dan mian was the spiciest dish I had today. Never had dan dan mian like that, so it was a surprise taste-wise, but it was delicious. Everything was delicious! The portions are bigger than you expect for a "tapas"-style restaurant. Eighties music a little loud but it was lunch-time. No hot tea on the menu either. Odd, but not a big deal. read more

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绝对正宗的味道一秒回国，来华盛顿玩不要错过这家中餐！不喜欢那种分量很大的餐厅，都不好点菜，这家国内分量不是那种很大的，可以多点几个，享受美味！环境很好！服务不错，菜单有中文！大赞 read more

NiHao - 农家一碗香味道非常好！武汉热干面很正点！川式葱曝牛也好吃！水晶虾饺全是大虾仁，还点了季节百香果蛋糕都非常好吃！可以冲！ - Chinese Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Great service and good food! The ambiance is amazing and very pleasant. Highly recommend coming for light dim sum.