I loved my experience here. I came for lunch on a Sunday after hitting Eastern Market; it was pretty empty and the staff was very kind to me. I am a vegetarian, so I ordered the spinach pide, which was absolutely delicious - I have had daydreams about it. I can understand why some people would comment on the service, but that sort of thing doesn't bother me. It was a lazy Sunday and I prefer not feeling rushed. read more

This place started out a little rocky on the service, perhaps it just takes a while to get things down. The food has always been outrageously good but myself and several neighbors have commented that getting the food on the table could be difficult. This place has continued to improve service every time I have been in over the last year but I still see recent 1 star reviews because of the spotty service. I hope they will get it together because the place really is unique and food still outrageous. read more

We've been here a couple of times. I would definitely recommend it for dinner. I would recommend the lamb. That being said, the brunch we had was very disappointing. I felt that I could have made better food in my own kitchen without the wait. Go for dinner. For brunch, stick to rash or mezze. read more

I have no idea how this place is rated so highly. I had a bad experience from start to finish here. Got here on a Friday evening a little before 7pm. First, a friend and I walked in, and no one was there to greet us, so we grabbed a table (most were empty). Then a lady (waitress/host?) came over and asked if she could help us. Not in a friendly way, like a surprised she had customers way. Then we had to ask for menus! like hello! that should be an automatic. My friend ordered a drink right away and the lady still looked confused like that wasn't a common request. 5 seconds later she came back with the drink and my friend said it was not mixed well, which made me think it was pre-made and sitting there. Next, came time to order food. I was torn between the three seafood options (salmon, swordfish and shrimp-which my friend recommended) but the lady (who still didn't address us as a waitress), recommended the salmon so i went with that. About 40 minutes later our food came. I eaten A LOT of mediterranean food, have studied and lived in the region, so I know good mediterranean food when I see it. I didn't even have to taste it, I looked at my place and could tell it wasnt good. 1- I got HALF a filet of salmon 2- I got plain white rice with a baby sized portion of mixed microwaved vegies 3- my "mixed vegetables" was 4 slices of carrots, 3 broccoli florets and maybe 2 cauliflower florets. PATHETIC. Not only was the portion extremely small (so much so that I was thinking of ordering an appetizer as well), the food was not that tasty, and got cold fast. Cold plain white rice is disgusting. I had to do a lot of doctoring up with salt and pepper. After I finished, the guy came over to clear my plate (weird to do while my friend was still eating). 10 minutes later the waitress lady came and asked how everything was (after my plate was gone), the first time she checked in since she took our order. Next, I asked for water without ice and it took 20 minutes for that to come out. I give them 1 star for reasonably priced shisha, although they only give you one coal (its pretty standard to get two coals), and you have to ask them to change it, instead of them just doing it periodically as a courtesy. The other star is because it's a pretty good sized space with indoor and outdoor seating, BUT... BEWARE -- they add a 20% gratuity! Based on this review, you can guess that my tip was not going to be favorable, but they didn't even leave that to my discretion, which to me, even further disincentives good customer service. Bottom line- this is one of the rare places in DC where you can get food, alcohol, and hookah, but they abuse that privilege. I've had WAY better mediterranean food for WAY cheaper (see: the many DC area food trucks). I will not be back read more

Perfect place and awsome food love it and our server (turkish girl) was very nice we would definitely come here again..... read more

Cafe 8 - Mediterranean Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Ohhh Man I loved this place. Its a nice looking family restaurant and also they have the best hookah in the city. I never smoked any hookah better than theirs. I tried their Turkish Delight Pizza and it taste amazing. I truly recommend people to try this place won't lose anything. read more

Three of us had a very nice dinner last week. This review is affected by the beautiful late summer weather, but even in the rain it is a very nice, high quality place. Several people had hookas, but we declined. Lamb shank was great, moist, perfectly cooked and the meat fell off the bone. Good choice of wine. Wife had a big and very fulfilling salad. Bread very good, surprisingly the hummus was bland. read more

(3.5 stars) I spent a pleasant sunny Sunday afternoon sitting outside a Cafe 8 recently and in all had an enjoyable time. The outside seating was great, although there were some problems with the umbrellas shifting due to the wind. The food was good, but we only had a trio of spreads and I would like to go back sometime to try some of there other dishes. The wine was also good with very generous pours! The service was only ok, though, as it was a little slow at times and they forgot to give us plates or napkins at first. Despite this, it was an overall good experience and I do plan on going back. read more

I think they have great food and amazing employers.they were friendly and greatfull. We felt Like we were eating at our own house. Another think was beyti it was yummyyyyy.we will def. Go back read more

Food decent, absolutely horrendous service. This place takes it down to a whole new level. I would've thought that being in one of only two parties in the whole place that we would've have some of the best service ever. Quite the opposite For those that love this place, enjoy it while you can. This place will not last much longer in this area with that type of service and those kind of numbers. read more

just moved to eastern market, came here last night for dinner and hookah with some friends. the food was great (the only reason for the single star i am leaving with this review) and so was the atmosphere but our waitress was either stoned out of her mind or drunk, not sure which one. i regret not complaining to the manager when it came time to leave. not only did she have the least professional attitude i've ever encountered when dining in DC, she had to verify our orders with us no less than 10 times. when she took our orders, she just scribbled on her pad and didn't actually pay attention to anything we were saying. my friend ordered a dirty martini to drink, and she came back after 15 minutes and said they don't have martinis and asked if he'd like something else. 10 minutes later she brought him a martini, laughing about it. she harassed my friend (who is well over the age of 21) multiple times for having a young looking face. i'm all for witty banter between server and customer, but the service was completely unacceptable. i was shocked into silence for the majority of our interactions with her. after taking our credit cards for over 30 minutes, she also haggled us over the tip we left her once we signed our checks. unrelated to the service, the hookah was sub par. never. again. read more

This place has gone down hill. We used to love to come here, but Saturday (3/12/11) will be our last time!! I ordered the chicken kababs - when the food arrived the rice and vegetables were cold (not just a little cold, they were freezing). While the chicken was warm, we could not believe how small the portion was (there were only three to four pieces of chicken). When I mentioned about the cold food, there was an acknowledgment that the kitchen was having some problems, but I never did receive a new order, nor did they offer to warm it up. So, I had 3-4 pieces of chicken for dinner for around $15 (RIP-OFF). We ended up going to Popeyes across the street when we left because we were still hungry. read more

I've eaten here many, many times, and the food is always amazing, so it pains me to give them one star, but allow me to explain. I often dislike the wines by the glass they have at Cafe 8. They always taste very old and are extremely overpriced for the selection. In the past, I often bring my own bottle of wine to Cafe 8 because they have a 10$ corking fee, and they didn't mind accommodating me. Last night, a friend and I strolled into Cafe 8 with a bottle of wine to have a nice Mediterranean feast. We were immediately sat by a dude who ran up to the front to greet us. Upon seating us, he immediately opened our bottle of wine and proceeded with this obnoxious ceremony that he called "baptizing the glass" that took about 5 awkward minutes before he would pour a taste (not like I could send back my own wine...). Afterwards, he told me that the corking fee was $20, but he leaned down in my ear and offered to "make a deal with me so I wouldn't get ripped off". He told me that he would charge me no corkage fee so long as I go tip one of their bartenders $15-20$. I immediately was outraged at the suggestion and told him that as I understood it, the corking fee was 10$...it always has been. Also, why would I go tip a bartender? I've worked in a restaurant before as a server. It's common knowledge that servers get all tips off the tables and it's customary for them to tip out a bartender a certain percent. This guy also was not a bartender. He basically walked away in the middle of our conversation as I was trying to understand what charges I should pay for the corkage fee. It was an odd way to start a meal. A server then came over and took our appetizer order. While we were snacking on the appetizer and having a good conversation, the guy who sat us came over to our table with 3 or 4 glasses of wine and told me that he was there to "give me a wine flight and talk to me about good wine". I really was frustrated that I had to deal with him again during my meal, so I quickly, and politely said "no, thank you". He would not listen and started explaining the wines at our table while saying that it was "good wine". I finally told him, "No thank you" and insisted that he leave the table. He kept returning to bring us food and refill our wine glasses. It was an awkward situation at best. I don't think I will be going back to Cafe 8 any time soon. As much as I love the food, I don't like to have employees attempt to swindle me and pester me while dining. Not good at all. read more

I was pleasantly surprised by the service after reading previous reviews, I wouldn't call it speedy, I guess it would be safe to say that it matches the Mediterranean pace... It was a weeknight in August so the place was not slammed with customers (thankfully, the tables are a bit close), the waitress was attentive but relaxed and the bus boy kept the water and Diet Coke flowing, a sure way to make this couple happy! As far as food goes, I would rank it solidly good to very good if you take it out of the context of home style Greek or Turkish food and put it into the "cuisine" context. We started with the feta & olive spread accompanied by their good but not earth shattering bread, then my husband had the Shepard's salad which was a pretty basic Greek village salad, slightly refined and heavily dressed. He then had the Cafe 8 pide, which was lighter and more flaky and less heavy dough/calzone-y that I figured it would be. I had the Iskender kabob, which was a nice mix of hearty sauce with the tomatoes and tender slightly salty kebab meat balanced nicely by the cool creamy mix of Turkish yogurt and croutons which soaked up lots of flavor. After the apps and bread, the kabob was a big enough size to provide a huge lunch for the following day, I don't even think that I tackled half of it. As for beverages, my husband recommended the cappuccino, their Turkish coffee maker was down and they were going to have to go old school on the coffee, so he mixed it up with pleasant results (even though I was mortified that he would be so gauche as to order cappuccino after 10 am, his Italian grandmother would smack him!). I can recommend the Bellevue Savignon Blanc as a nice summer starter glass of wine at a pretty typical price (either $6 or $8, I don't remember). As for ambiance and atmosphere, it is nicer than some places along the 8th & I strip, I wouldn't be embarrassed to take my in-laws there, but I don't know that I would want to pile in with a big group of people dressed to impress. I didn't feel out of place in my post- work jeans and a dressy t and flip flops. Food- wise, It is a nice alternative to the higher end Mediterranean places (Zaytinya) where the noise can make socializing impossible, I would say that the dishes mentioned above were slightly better than the pre fixe menu that I have tried at Zatinya in execution of the dishes but perhaps not in innovation with ingredients. Also helpful to note for those with allergies/ aversions to the heavy onions and green peppers found in many home-style Greek and Turkish places, nary a single gag inducing green pepper crossed my path here! I usually have to be super careful when ordering anything Greek-ish but there wasn't even a hint of green pepper or onion over load in any of the food we ordered. Enjoy! read more

Mandatory tip of 20% automatically added onto bill for a group of 1 person. Not cool.

A friend and I dined on December 11. The hookah bar was busy, but the restaurant was not. Despite that, our service was poor. It took forever for the server to come back to our table to take our drink order, our food order, and even to get our check. On multiple occasions, I nearly got up from my table to go to the bar to get his attention. Needless to say, he did not get a generous tip. I just received my credit card statement and I see they increased the amount of my tip (I kept my copy of the receipt where I wrote the amount of the tip as proof). Beware the poor service and the dishonest staff. read more

went right before closing on a tuesday night, sat on the back patio, which was heavenly. was treated appropriately by staff, it was lovely, and tasty, and a tad pricey for the sizes of the spreads, but what do you want--its capitol hill 2008. you are going to pay for sitting on a back patio of a converted rowhouse eating peasant food. you just are. read more

We love going for lunch here. Their lamb sandwich is very tasty and my husband gets it every time we are there. I think the service is wonderful. We always have our two children with us and they are very good with the kids. Now that there is a back patio outside, I'm anxious to try eating outdoors since it can be a little loud inside. I really like the decor with the darkness, mirrors, and beads which also keeps the kids very entertained. read more

The ambiance was nice. The service could use some work and the food was mediocre. I would not go out of my way to head here again but if I happened to be in the neighborhood, its not too bad. read more

Good food, good service, very nice to the kids. Has a $5 gin and tonic with Bombay Sapphire.

Someone recently wrote that this place has perfectly mediocre Turkish food...yeah that's right Katy P. I'm looking at you. There aren't many awesome options here in DC for Turkish food and this place, while offering a limited menu had solid food. I'm not sure what more you want out of grilled meats or Turkish pizza...it is what is, and they do it well. Everything we had was fresh and nongreasy. In house baklava that day, and a suprisingly well rounded list of Turkish alcholic beverages They are also minus cheesy decor which seems to be pervasive in a a lot of ethnic restaurants. So...I would say this ended up being a suprisingly delicious experience and I will be back. read more

Came here for a birthday dinner wasn't expecting much. I tried the lamb shank. The portion was huge. The meat was falling off the bone. The servers were attentive, I enjoyed my experience here. read more

This is officially my favorite restaurant in the Eastern Market area. Not only is it close to the metro (and my friends' place), but it also has amazing food. Plus, all the meat is kosher! Please note, that the restaurant itself is not kosher as some of the meat dishes are served with yogurt, shrimp is cooked here, and it's open on Shabbat. However, if you're a bit more lax on the kosher like I am (I eat only kosher meat, avoid pork and shellfish, and don't mix milk and meat), this place is a G-d send (pun SO intended). It is extraodinarily difficult to find restaurants that serve kosher meat. This is the second one I found is DC. In addition, they were out of red sangria so we had the white, which was amazing and tasted like peaches (though had no actual fruit in it so I don't know if you can even call it sangria)! My only complaint is that the server forgot our order and we waited forever for our food, but we were all tired from the rally so we did not mind too much. This is definitely a place worth trying out! read more

Food was below my expectations! Lentil soup tasted like water. The meat was ok but not perfect. The place tried to rip me off. I ordered yogurt along with my plate they send me yogurt on different bowl and charged me $7 for it and called it "cacik" I did not order cacik. Service was good. Owner or chief waitress wasn't that friendly tho. Not coming back here! read more

Really good chicken kabob. The prices are also very reasonable. Very cute place and good costumer service.

This place is okay I ate here for the first time! The drinks were horrific. The food was a 2 star because of the hummus plates they were tasteful read more

Decent food, so so service. Nothing special that I feel the need to repeat. The outdoor patio was cool, but they decided to sit 5 people at a table only fit for 4. Nothing on the menu you can't get anywhere else, and everything seems to come with fries. Not a repeat or recommendation. read more

Went there the other day at an odd time, like 3pm when no one else was there. Since I'm white and sometimes typical I it falafel and hummus and a couple drinks. They kindly put on the Olympics for us and food came out quickly. It was moist and had pretty good flavor and wasn't expensive. It was good and I would return for a night of hookah, drinks and food. read more

such mediocre vegetables! I went in July, and they served barely ripe mealy supermarket tomatoes and overgrown, waxy cucumbers with no taste! Huge disappointment, especially for a place right next to a farmer's market. The hummus was dull, but the bread was fresh, and the cigar pastries were tasty enough. Fine ambiance but overall just too mediocre to try again. read more

Grabbed brunch here one Sunday morning when most of the other restaurants in the area were packed. Had no idea what to expect, but was very pleasantly surprised. We were seated right away, the service was friendly and the food was really, really good. read more

Ordered food to be delivered. After 40 mins (when the food was due to be delivered) I instead get a call saying they're too busy to deliver my food so they cancelled my order as I was the furtherest away. read more

This place is one of my favs! Great food, drinks, ambiance, and staff! Ozer is the best server! Always treats my friends and me right! Prices are unbeatable. I love the lamb chops, drinks are also yummy & only $5 (ask about specials). Definitely check it out. Great hookah. I bring friends here all the time. read more

I understand that Cafe 8 has a new chef so I can't say if the restaurant is any different from before, but I can say that we had a terrific time! Our waitress Megan was as good as they get - she made great suggestions, checked on us often, and brought us a free appetizer after delivering a mistaken order. The bread is to die for - try the roasted red pepper dip. The lamb chops were perfect, and the adana was quite yummy. Great selection of Mediterranean beers that you can't find most places. Great ambiance, you can have a conversation without shouting, and reasonable prices. I'd give it five stars, but on a couple of occasions, the service was a bit slow. But we'll be back. read more

I had heard good things about Cafe 8 from Yelp and friends of friends, so when I happened to be in Eastern Market last night I remembered it and suggested it. First of all, why had I never been to the Eastern Market area before?! People need to stop keeping adorable neighborhoods from me.. are there other place like this that I should know about?? Anyway, the dinner started on a bit of a strange note when the man standing at the door complimented my necklace and asked me if it was authentically Middle Eastern.. sadly, I had to inform him that I purchased it at Cost Plus World Market for $8. In the interest of keeping things somewhat brief, I will summarize: FOOD: Friend and I ordered Chicken Kebab, I had the Feta Plate as well. The food was very good, exactly what I wanted and very satisfying. Other friend ordered what was called "Margarita Pizza" but it ended up just being cheese? Strange. But she seemed to like it fine. DRINK: They had a very minimal beer list and nothing on tap (sadface) because they were just changing the drink menu, according to necklace guy, but he cheered me up by giving me the last bottle of Heineken and making a rather awkwardly timed joked about me "cleaning them out". Friends had house white wine, which was perfectly adequate. AMBIANCE: We sat outside, which was perfect. It was quiet except for an annoying guy talking about his f*** buddy to his friend at the table next to us. Overall, good food, slightly disappointing drink selection, more-than-slightly awkward wait staff, and charming location. Perfect for a quick, not-too-pricey weekday dinner if you're looking to change it up from the usual Cosi combo meal. read more

Definitely above average, even for the Eastern Market area where there are plenty of options. There was a good selection of food - many new options to try. The bread and hummus were excellent, and eating on the back patio was a wonderful experience. read more

Horrible! slow service and food made me sick for 2 days. i ordered a pide -- never to be ordered again! OMG, boy was i sick. i've lived overseas in less developed countries and I honestly thought I was suffering from amoebic dysentary after eating the beef turkish pizza from cafe 8. read more

We sat on the patio and a mouse fell near our table dying in front of us right after we had already ordered and eaten our food. It was the most disgusting dining experience of my life. After we informed the waiter of the situation he did not even offer us an apology or discount. Also, stay clear of their pizzas and martinis both equally horrible. read more

Have been here a few times and loved it each time, even had office Xmas lunch here. Today was great as usual...table by the fireplace, great pizza (LOVE the Turkish Delight one), great service. In the summer, there's a nice walled patio at the back, perfect for private parties for a group. I'm not sure why it isn't more popular. Happy hour starts at 3 p.m., by the way. read more

I wasn't particularly blown away by Cafe 8. I was with some girlfriends and we were starving so we just stumbled into the first place we could find on Barrack's Row. I wasn't doing well with money that week, so I ordered a cheaper lamb wrap off the lunch menu. It wasn't bad but there wasn't anything particularly special about it. Just a wrap lamb and some vegetable. The sauce it came with was okay but again it didn't wow me. Looking back, I wish I had ordered an entree from the dinner menu because they sounded much better. We also didn't receive the best service but I attribute this to the fact that we came in at 3:00pm and this is usually a slow time for lunch and dinner restaurants and when many of the staff switching shifts. Also, most of the staff were from Turkey and through the small amount of traveling I've done outside the United States, I've noticed a difference in how other countries value speedy service (not as much). I like to think that this adds to the authenticity of places. The one thing that gets a completely positive review is the beer I ordered. I'm a big fan of dark beers but was disappointed in my travels to South America to find that most of their beer was not good. I've also heard from other friends who have traveled that the beers in the countries they visited were not good. So, I was beginning to form a bias that only westernized countries had good beer dark beer. However, the Turkish beer that I ordered was quite delightful and I will probably go back just to try this again. read more

Love Cafe 8. Wonderful food and love that they deliver too! And they initially forgot one dish and when we called to ask them about it they immediately delivered the dish plus extra apps and dessert! read more