This was an absolutely great spot to stop and get a quick drink! Drinks were fabulous and bartender John was top notch!!! We would have eaten there but we have reservations elsewhere. Great vibe, great attitudes, great spot. If I didn't say it already or enough - John was AWESOME! Ask for John. read more

I was excited to visit the new Foggy Bottom branch of Bindaas, having had an amazing dinner at the original location last year. Unfortunately this experience was not as memorable. The food itself was ok - rice pancake was excellent; cauliflower pakora and gunpowder fries acceptable; the lamb goli unfortunately tasted like a pre-prepared tv dinner. However, the restaurant was so busy that the servers were over-stretched - it took us fifteen minutes to get our server to come over for our drinks order, despite us asking twice. In the meantime, we were brought lattes that we hadn't ordered (they were meant for another table); they also got our own drinks order wrong. Our server was friendly and made a real effort to help navigate food allergies, but our overall experience was disappointing. read more

Recently had a fantastic dinner at Bindaas in Foggy Bottom for a friend's birthday. I was unsure of what to expect after reading some reviews that indicated some issues with service, but either we were there on a good night or the restaurant has worked out the kinks. The service was wonderful, as was the food and drink. Best of all, we enjoyed this great experience for a very reasonable price. The design of the restaurant provides a modern upscale street-chic ambiance that seems fitting for their Indian street food concept. It's casual enough to be comfortable while still upscale enough for a fun night out like a birthday dinner. Our group of 6 shared a wide variety of dishes for dinner. It would take forever to adequately describe them all, so I'll just list them for reference, because we thoroughly enjoyed them all, and provide a few highlights. So for openers, from the Chaat (savory small plates) section of the menu, we had the Masala Popcorn, Gunpowder Fries, Avocado Golgappa, Shrimp Bezule, Cauliflower Pakora, Roasted Sweet Potatos, and Ragda Patice. From the Kathi Rolls (wraps) section, we had the Chicken Kathi Roll. Of the Pao bun options, we got two orders of the Kheema Pao (spiced minced lamb). Of the Shashlik (kebabs), we had the Chooza (chicken) and the Chili Salmon. From the Street Karee (curry) options, we got the Vegetable Curry. And of the Uttapam (rice pancakes), we got the Butternut Squash. To go with all of this, we also tried three different types of their naan offerings -- the spinach paneer, the garlic cilantro, and the olive oil. Everything was truly delicious. There wasn't a single dish that we didn't enjoy or wouldn't order again. Having said that, some of our particular favorites were the Masala Popcorn (this inspired me to try experimenting with Indian spices on my popcorn at home!), Cauliflower Pakora, Ragda Patice, and the Kheema Pao. (Note on the Pao buns: we ordered two servings for our group after they told us that the dish came with only two buns; however, this ended up being more food than we needed. The bowl of minced lamb is very generous; it's just that you only get two buns split in half to accompany it. In hindsight, we could've just ordered some extra naan for scooping up more of the lamb and that would've been plenty. On the other hand, yay leftovers!) The portions here are pretty generous, so this turned out to be a ton of food. We were all stuffed mid-way through the meal (yet we persevered and ate as much as we could because it was so good!), and we had leftovers to send home with the birthday girl. We also enjoyed some interesting cocktails and nice wines with our dinner, and for those who don't drink alcohol, they also have some nice mocktails to choose from. Despite being super full from dinner, we decided the experience wouldn't be complete without dessert, so we stuffed ourselves more by sharing their three dessert offerings. There was a chocolate sticky pudding cake, a chai spiced flan, and a kulfi that consisted of an interestingly spiced ice cream on a stick served on a bed of sweet noodles and topped with a rose sabayon. While we didn't love any of the desserts as much as we enjoyed the savory dishes, we did like the sticky pudding cake, which was our favorite of the three. We really didn't like the noodles with the kulfi; it was rather confusing to be eating noodles for dessert and we couldn't quite get past it. The flan had nice flavor from the chai spices, but most of us weren't big fans of the texture -- which isn't a flaw in the dessert, as the texture is probably as it should be, it just wasn't our thing. So it's not that the desserts weren't well-executed, perhaps, just that two of the three didn't really suit our particular tastes, and none inspired the same overwhelming level of enthusiasm as the savory dishes. Finally, the service throughout our meal was generally attentive, efficient, and courteous, even gracious at times. We were seated at a high-top table -- basically an extension of the bar -- where we were able to enjoy a front row view into the open kitchen. Also, in addition to the proficient service provided by the regular servers roaming the restaurant and delivering most of our dishes, a man with a delightful British accent and wearing a suit jacket -- presumably a manager -- regularly checked on us, and he was gracious, engaging, and funny and really pushed the service over the top, confirming that we had a 5-star experience. Lastly, we were pleasantly shocked when the bill for our group of 6, divided among just 5 of us since we were picking up the tab for the birthday girl, came to only $60 per person, gratuity included. Our entire group was incredibly happy with our dining experience here, and I've already recommended the place to several friends and colleagues. read more

This restaurant was meh at best. Gol gappa with pineapple. Ya kidding me? Thats some gora millennial stuff.And the kati roll needs more toppings than just meat. If this restaurant was a Bollywood actor, then it would be John Abraham. It looks good. But the performance blows. You gotta be Amitabh Bachchan bro. Always be Amitabh. read more

This is Indian Street food --not Rasika lite or junior --so the food comes fresh and with creativity and a unique simplicity. Order a few items and just go with it. You won't be disappointed. The ambience was relaxed and comfortable; not noisy at all and I found all the service attendants patient and courteous. I also found it reasonably priced. read more

I was excited to try Bindaas for lunch. Unfortunately, the overall experience was disappointing. We made a reservation for 2 for lunch at 12:30 - when we got there early, the place was starting to fill up. We got to the front of the line to see the hostess (yes, there was already a line!), and were told to "wait until they seated all the 12pm, we are quite busy". The hostess waived in the direction of the bar and told us "you can wait over there if you want". We decided to have our lunch there, and the next step was finding the menus - that wasn't easy! In the end, we ended up going back to the hostess and getting the menus ourselves. The food that we tried was underwhelming. We had vegetarian curry - there was a lot of rice with a few veggies and chicken kebab - same thing, a lot of rice with a little bit of chicken. We also tried Avocado Golgappa - for $8 you get 4 tiny pieces of something with avocado squeezed in the middle. We also tried the pop corn - which tasted like regular pop corn, but with cumin sprinkled on top. After all that, we decided to try the shrimp appetizer - shrimp bezule. The shrimp was probably the best dish out of all of these, and in the end, I wish I'd only had that one. On the positive, the waiter was great, and the service is quick. But I won't be back. read more

The food is fair, as is the value. In particular, I think the naan at $4-5 is overpriced. In two visits, I have been underwhelmed and am not sure there will be a third. Service has been good both times. read more

I have never written a review for any place but I registered just to write this review. My first and last visit to this place. Not for the food but for some of the conversation I had with the staff. Visited the place with friends (6) on a saturday evening. We ordered the three STREET KAREES and 6 Naans and other stuff. First incident - On receiving one of the orders we saw that the Karee came on top of rice, in a bowl. As it was our first visit we never knew that we had an option of ordering the karees with rice or naan, neither were we told by the server who took our order. So we asked for help from one of the staff who helped us get seated, to sort the situation for us. I want to quote myself here as my request was clear I guess - "As its our first visit here, we did not know the Karees come with rice, so now, based on our order, we would get 3 karees with rice and 6 naans, we just want to make sure we have 3 karees and 6 naans, no rice. Can you please help us sort this situation?" Her reaction to our request was - "Obviously Karees come with an option of rice and naan. So you do not want to pay for the naan ?" - I really did not understand what she meant by this. 1) NO - its not obvious that Karees come with rice or naan as an option. and even if it does at your restaurant, it should be on the menu or the server that took our order should inform us about it, and whats with the comment about "not wanting to pay" - Did not make sense to me as our request wasn't even about payment, we just wanted to make sure we don't end up with naans and no karees to eat them with, but as I did not want to spoil my mood I let that go. Incident 2- so we finally sorted the issue, moved on to enjoy the food, which was actually good. We informed one of the servers that we wanted to order more naans, her reaction and I want to quote her here - "So, now you want more naans?". I am still in shock and lost on words on how to react to that. We just had the food and left the place after paying the 20% gratuity for the excellent service we had. (sarcasm) I don't want to jump on any conclusions on what caused the staff to treat us this way, but this is what happened to us, just our story. I am not one of those who thinks customer is always right, as I really do understand that the staff does have to deal with a lot. But I really did not understand what did we do to have such a reaction from the staff. I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else. read more

Amazing food and really tasty but is pricey. Tried omellete pao bhaji, chicken curry (which is served with rice fyi) naan with bacon and cheese (okay) and kathi roll (amazing!) read more

Couldn't get a table at the very popular eatery across the street, and boy I am glad we didn't. The food contains fresh ingredients, packed with flavor and just the right amount of heat. The cauliflower pakoras were divine and the bindaas salad had a great balance of sweet fruit, sour tamarind and crunchy chickpeas. The chicken tikka mandala wrap contained flavorful pieces of chicken in a creamy tikka sauce. The chili salmon kebab was nested atop a mountain of fragrant, creamy saffron rice. Heaven. Service was friendly and they appeared at right time to clear away the table. Totally recommend. read more

I was so happy that this restaurant opened downtown at last! The food is truly quality and prices are reasonable considering the amount and flavor. I liked the cardamom ice cream dessert. Will be coming back often. read more

Just get the lamb Kati roll or the meatballs. We came on a DC snow out day and tried nearly everything. All of the food was good but the two items above were the best. I wonder how the service would be on a busy night as it was a bit slow on a night without many customers. read more

Wonderful selection of small plates and entrees. Our family of 4 ordered a variety and all left filled. We love Naan...order plenty! Some sauces were a little salty, but overall excellent. read more

As an Indian-American who has been a vegan for 20+ years, I give Bindaas one star for having no vegan options outside the chaat section. Additionally our waiter was not very helpful in helping us figure out what items were vegan and if the chef could veganize dishes already on the menu or create a simple dish that was vegan friendly. Normally Uttapam, Pao Bhaji, etc can be easily veganized, but not at Bindaas. It's 2018, but looking at their unmarked menu and their waiter being surprised to get questions about what items were vegan, I felt it was 1998. Their menu was not marked to help folks figure out was was vegan (or gluten free which another member of our party was looking for). We had chosen an Indian restaurant thinking it wouldn't be difficult to find vegan and gluten free options!! Also a note to the chef (given lots of Indians were in the restaurant on the day we went and I know they and many other vegetarians would care) - please keep separate fryers for your meat samosas, etc versus your vegetarian samosas, pakoras, etc. Please do note: vegetarians are grossed out by meat food items being fried in the same oil as vegetarians ones. I'm glad I asked and found out that you use the same fryers for both your meat and vegetarian food options. read more

Nice hip restaurant with really nice cocktails and food. Perfect for a casual date or a nice get together with friends or colleagues. The staff is very friendly and give excellent service. Very clean and organized open kitchen. So you can see how ur food is being prepared. It is centrally locates between Washington university and the metro station. If you feel like shopping afterwards, the location provides cute boutiques and other little shops. read more

If you understand Indian street food, you'll like the food here. If you're looking for chicken tikka masala or paneer makhani, this is not the place. The reviews below seem to have missed this nuance. We had the vada pao, bhel, lamb samosas, and chicken kathi roll. Not everything was a hit but there was enough good food to make me visit again. read more

Excellent fusion-ish Indian food. The gunpowder fries were excellent and I would highly recommend them (be ready for some Indian level spice though!) The chaat is great also but I would say only slightly above average. The service is excellent and the ambiance is hip, especially for Foggy Bottom. I would definitely recommend this place for a cool evening out with friends. read more

Food was great! Tried the appetizers and kathi rolls. The uthappams were nice and crispy. avocado pani puri was the highlight. Deducting one star for the erratic service. The food came quickly, but it took a while to get dessert and the check. read more

Amazing Indian street food in a clean restaurant with great ambiance,​ love their chicken/lamb Kathi rolls, avocado​ golgappa, and ragda pattice. Tried their Goan Pork Pao and Kheema Pao but it was too tangy for my palate​. The Masala Chai Creme Caramel is a must try. read more

Were told that this restaurant was supposed to serve Indian street food so we were hoping for unusual dishes, however, there was nothing special or distinctive. Dishes were small and served tapas style.Very noisy and chaotic atmosphere because of activity at the bar and television with Bollywood themed movie playing on in the background. More of a drinking place for people who work in the neighborhood. Those wishing to eat Indian food, should stick to Rasika or Marsala Arts read more

I went there during the restaurant week and tried everything on that menu. I grew up eating Indian street food, but this place was mediocre, and not really worth the price. Won't recommend or go back again. I have had better Indian food in a less crowded restaurants. Mango Lassi tasted like Cardamom Smoothie! read more

Best Indian food ever... this is definitely the place you want to go and Njoy the food. Great service great atmosphere and best staff. Food presentation was great with great taste. Very lively attitude of service. read more

Bindaas - Indian Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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Great vegetarian options! Had the Pao Bhaji and the Avocado golgappa. Ambience was fun but also classy (with cool art). Great spot for a range of occasions. Bartenders were attentive and nice. read more

I went here for the first time yesterday for lunch and was so pleasantly surprised. They had a packed house but my To Go order was still ready in under 10 minutes. I got the Chooza Kebab and the spinach naan and both were delicious. read more

This place was ok if you are looking for authentic India food. I liked the appetizers better. The main course was average. We ordered curry and it came on top of the rice and with little gravy. In the appetizers we liked the wada pav. We ordered kebab and that was also topped gravy which usually comes dry. It has too much of decoration but the taste is just okay. The portions are really small and not fulfilling. read more

Everything here was good. Not sure what everything we ate was called other than delicious. Staff was great and curated our lunch for 11 people perfectly. read more

Very authentic flavors with a modern twist! The ambiance was very cozy and intimate. Loved the Acacado golgappas for apps and the cocktails are definitely a must try. read more

We tried Bindaas after we heard from others that it was good. We were really disappointed, mostly by the service - we didn't really ever seem to have a waiter and when someone finally did come take our order (after 30 mins) we had to keep flagging them down each time to just to get some more water. It was really disappointing. The food was okay, but there are so many other places in DC with decent food and better service. read more

Great food, terrible service. We went for what we were hoping was a hour long weekday lunch, which ended up being two hours long. First, the diet coke I ordered inexplicably took forever to arrive and the waiter (who was nice enough) kept apologizing for its lateness (what is their system that the server can get the fountain soda??). So finally I said - just bring out two at the same time (so that I wouldn't have to get it refilled - saving both me and him time when it eventually came). The food was very slow, and my co-worker received a wrong order (necessitating us to wait even longer for her food and I had to eat mine while she watched). OK, I was actually willing to overlook all of this (like I said, the food was good and the server was nice) until the bill came (which we also had to wait forever for). I was charged for three diet cokes! $12! So, I pointed out the mistake to the server, and he "fixed" it by taking off ONE of the diet cokes. So I am assuming there is no free refills (and he just didn't tell me) or he charged me for two since I asked for both at once. Honestly, I should have been charged for zero diet cokes for the amount of time it took to come out (like 20-30 mins for a fountain soda). I will NOT be coming back, which is too bad, because it is good, cute and close to my office. I don't treat myself to a lunch out very often, so it is upsetting when the enjoyable experience turns sour. If you really want to go, I would recommend sitting inside, maybe the service would be better that way. read more

Awesome food, great service but highly over priced. Love their Parsi chicken sandwich.

Vegetarian food esp the pao bhaji was lip-smacking. After a full day of wandering in DC we were really happy to have a wonderful meal at Bindaas. Really enjoyed the authentic Indian cuisine modified slightly but for good. Its now our go to place every-time we'll visit DC. Whole preparation was fresh and served well.Must try if missing indian food. read more

Bindaas on Penn Ave arose from the ashes of Johnny Rockets like a Phoenix in Greek mythology. Billed as an "authentic Indian street food experience," Bindaas delivered flavorful food at an affordable cost. I got the chicken curry because 'twas my first time there and I feel like you just have to start at square one. If they couldnt deliver the goods on chicken curry then they should just close up shop tbh. But they did deliver- spicy, flavorful curry with a perfect amount of yellow jasmine rice. The server was very informative when giving a breakdown of the entire menu, which is simple. Furthermore, he noted two of the entrees were brand new recipes that they were "trying out." I dont remember which two they were but that's not really important. What's important is that the head chef is willing to try new things and management is allowing them. I've seen general managers/owners on Kitchen Nightmares far too many times not let the chef have some freedom to be able to thrive and it just leads to low morale and low-quality cooking from the chef, poor customer experience, servers taking the heat, servers getting demoralizes, poor customer services, even worse customer experience. Unlike tax cuts for the rich, these types of things do indeed trickle-down and cause a vicious cycle. I was the last to order and no one ordered any naan so it was one of those "I guess the table is anti-naan so i wont get any either." Turns out we did want naan and when a server-in-training brought us some garlic-cilantro naan, we didn't correct her mistake. "Never look a gift-naan in the mouth" -John Heywood, 1546. The naan was good. Decor was post-cultural-modern. Very welcoming, open setting. Will certainly go back to try some other items. For those who know sponge bob- Bindaas is to Rasika as Weenie Hut Jr's is to Weenie Hut. read more

Good food, the portions are absolutely tiny. As in very small, lunch cafeteria sized. I got the Masala and it came in bowl the size of a bowl of cereal (on the smaller side) most of the Menu is practically appetizers. The kebabs are also very small, and the sandwiches too (from looking at the food around me). Every other Indian place I have gone to has had larger servings than this place.... I think they can do better. Don't come here and expect a full stomach read more

Overpriced for the quantity.taste was just ok.I come from Delhi and food wasn't authentic

Had come in yesterday, had Pao Bhaji but the Bhaji was cold. Obviously it was prepared before but it should have been at least served warm. Plus because it was prepared beforehand, the sourness level was too high. Go for the Cleveland Park Bindaas, its the best. Plus the Manager in charge isn't courteous. read more

We visited Bindaas this friday and ordered spinach kofta and garlic naan.To our disappointment , this only came as 4 kofta balls with no curry/gravy at all .It was like we were being served ketchup sauce with a mcd burger . I wonder why they even give rice along with it when practically there is no curry to eat with it. Bindaas was totally not worth its rates and not recommended at all . read more

Finally had a chance to check out this place. I was really hoping to giving it 5 stars but after going there on Sat night, I would say it's just plain old OK. Operations: It seems like the place is still trying to figure out what works operationally. Some notes, we called & made a reservation but seems like there was some communications. They wrote down incorrect name so we had to wait till the reservation wait time period expired before we can be seated since they weren't sure who the reservation was for exactly. There is a bar but don't think it's a traditional bar as every space is used as a dinner seating. So while we were waiting, we decided to get a drink but the bar had no drink menus because there is only one type of menu in the restaurant (the main menu). Trying to get a menu to see the drink list, so we can have a drink while we waited turned into a 15 minute ordeal. So we gave up. Menu. Looks like they have some print errors on the menu so we ended up having different menus (correctly & incorrectly printed). The decor was very nice. What you would expect for a place of this caliber. The staff were friendly & accommodating. Drinks were interesting. Some good, some really good. - Instant Dharma drink was terrible. I'm sorry but Tamarind & Tequila just don't go well together. Waiter was nice enough to take it back & bring another drink. - Green with Envy. Amazing drink. The kick from the Jalapeno was just perfect. - Spicy Green Soda. This was amazing as well. The food was hit and miss for us. Some good & some could use some serious help in terms of flavoring. Bhel Puri: This was decent but I felt it lacked some flavor. It also was little too dry. Dahi Papdi Chaat: This was OK. Again lacked flavor. Avocado Golgappa: I really wanted to like this but overall it was OK. The main issue I had with this dish is that I think the restaurant misrepresented this dish. It lacked the main ingredients of an actual Golgappa. I think they would be better off calling this dish "Avocado Dhai Puri" because that's what you are actually getting with this dish. I also found the price of this dish to be ridiculously high. It's almost $10.40 after tax & tip. That's little over $2 per item on the dish. I'm sorry but if you are going to charge that much for a single Golgappa, it better be the best Golgappa anyone has ever eaten. Chicken Kathi Roll: Again I think this dish is misrepresented. It's def not a Kathi Roll because it didn't have any of the flavors of a Kathi Roll. This dish was more like Chicken Naan Wrap. It was decent & eatable. Pao Bhaji: This was decent & eatable but lacked the flavors that would make this dish amazing. Wada Pao: Now this dish was absolutely amazing & the best dish we had during our dinner. I would high recommend giving this dish a try. Right texture, right size, right flavor, etc. Everything seemed perfect for this dish. Spinach-Paneer Naan: Very nice take on a plain old Naan. Flavorful & tasty. I would recommend this dish. Overall, I felt Bindaas was just OK. I would go back to try the rest of the menu items I didn't get a chance to try. After that if I had to go back I would only stick to the menu items I ended up liking. The place is bit over priced for the food you're getting but then again this is by same people as Rasika which is very high priced (but at least there the price is justified by the amazing food you're getting). Finally, I think this restaurant is geared towards people who don't really know too much about Indian food so I guess the lack of flavors & high price is justified since their average customer would think that's how the food is supposed to taste & think the price is right given restaurant options in the surrounding area. read more

Very tasty and damn close to authentic Indian dishes you won't find in most Indian restaurants. Has the home cooked flavor that I'm used to for some dishes. I've been to the Cleveland park one several times and always loved it. Recently visited the foggy bottom location and they seem to have a few more items and also this great cutting chai happy hour I am dying to check out! If you've never had pao bhaji I strongly recommend this dish. Also ragda pattice. These two dishes were so flavorful and reminded me very much of my mom's cooking. Everything else I had was also great but as these are two of my fave dishes ever they stood out to me the most. The menu is tapas style so pick a few dishes to share so you get a full taste of everything. I would also recommend some combination of: Avocado golgappa, bhel puri and Papdi chaat. I would skip the basics like the fries and the popcorn. So many better dishes to try! Highly recommend this restaurant and can not wait to go back! Service was really good too! And the alcoholic drinks had some read more

First time diners at this restaurant. We were looking for something different before an evening show at the Kennedy Center. The restaurant is in the former location of Johnny Rockets near 2000 Pennsylvania Ave. if you're a person with a disability, the accessible entrance is inside the small mall; the street entrance has steps inside the restaurant. Small restaurant, mostly 2 tops with an open kitchen plus seating at a small bar area. We ordered the shrimp appetizer, garlic naan, lamb and chili bao, and chicken curry. All semi-small plates, though portions larger than tapas. The shrimp appetizer and the garlic naan were winners, and recommend ordering them. The lamb bao was like an upscale sloppy joe and pretty good. The chicken curry (served with rice) was blah -- you can get better elsewhere. The dishes averaged about $12 each, with the exception of the naan. Interior of restaurant and the restrooms were wheelchair accessible but the interior may be a bit tight if you use a power chair or larger mobility device. read more

My partner and I very much enjoyed our early dinner here. The service was fast and friendly and we sat at the little counter by the front door, allowing us prime people-watching real estate. The salmon shashlik was incredibly tasty and far exceeded my expectations. read more