I looked at both NoMa and the Warf and settled on NoMa. While there are some bad parts in cities, as one can expect it's not that dangerous. Anywhere you pick will be right on the Red line. If you like to bike, it's a great area, the major biking coorridors intersect around here: the MBT which is an off-road bike path that connects most of the NE and has a number of pubs and the like; and Q and R streets which connect you to the western side. It's also easy to get to the national mall. There's also a ton of grocery stores which the Wharf lacks.

You probably won't need a car in either place unless you're commuting somewhere that walking/biking/transit is impractical, which is rare.

As for the Wharf, I felt that it's more of a good place to say you lived than actually live. Most of the restaurants tend to be more tourist-oriented and pricey. Union Market in NoMa tends to have food that isn't as pricey but still very good.