Cafe 8

I went to Café 8 for lunch with a friend on 1÷17÷16.
I hadn’t been to Café 8 for a couple of years. However, I remembered it (from when I lived closer to Barracks Row) being a good choice when all the restaurants on Barracks Row have ridiculous long waits (our originally plan was to go Belga Café but even on a snowy day, on a 3 day weekend there was a 30 minute wait).
I never felt rushed. I was able to enjoy a relaxed a lunch with my friend. The service was good. I never felt ignored.
The ambiance of Café 8 is very nice. It feels like they’re embracing the sprit of their cuisine without going overboard (e.g. a curtain of beads when you have to walk thru on your way to the restrooms). During nicer weather, Café 8 has a small outside patio in the back of the restaurant.
Café 8 menu is very simple (i.e. dips, pidas, omelets, lamb). I recommended the sample platter with the dips. It is easy to find something you like in terms of dips Café 8 offers. The dips include baba ganoush, olive spreads, hummus.
In a nutshell, if you’re craving a low key atmosphere (and like Middle Eastern cuisine) consider Café 8.

NYE drinks. It’s a hookah bar. So there’s that. Very string sense of pride by the owners. Service is good.

Ethical problem. I originally gave it a 4 star but then my friends realize they added a couple more dollars on our check without telling us. Three of us each gave 18% tip but we found out our credit card statement was charged $ 2 extra. $ 2 is not a big deal but that’s unethical for businesses to do change the amount we signed on our credit card.

Café 8 is my go to spot for hookah. The servers here are very friendly and fun and I love the variety of hookah flavors and the atmosphere. The food is pretty average and usually not the reason I come here. If you’re a hookah lover I definitely recommend Café 8.

A bunch of us came on a Sunday afternoon after eating across the street at Ted’s Bulletin. I was not impressed with the hookah at all. I go to so many hookah spots in the DC area and this was probably a 4 on a scale of 1 – 10. It has no flavor or smoothness. I can’t speak on their food because I didn’t order anything besides the hookah. However the customer service is very friendly and the ambiance/​décor is very nice.

Very nice food, and the iskender was just perfect! For me, one of the best Mediterranean places in DC.
Try the Baklava with a cup of Turkish coffee too.

The food was as lackluster as the service. I had a pizza. It was unflavorful and soggy. I should have gotten food at Yes Market.
To be fair they were under construction but that shouldn’t affect the food that much. They were not working on the kitchen!

To start the restaurant offers excellent fresh flatbread (slightly smaller and denser than a typical pita) with a lovely sprinkle of semonlina on the bottom. Alongside that, the restaurant offers olive oil with za’atar for dipping. My only complaint with the two was that I could have done with twice as much bread and more olive oil and za’atar.
One of the major offerings on the menu are the pide, flatbreads topped with cheese and other toppings and folded so that they are halfway between a pizza and a calzone in size, and are partially folded over. There are also sandwiches, pizza and various proteins available, along with salads. I had the Orman salad which was cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and lettuce, topped with feta cheese. The dressing was alright, though the produce was quite good.

Go to spot for hookah and drinks. Try the Turkish breakfast.
For best service ask for ozar the guy from turkey.
He is very friendly, attentive and will give u the best suggestions.

Ozer is the best server ever. He takes care of your every need. The food is excellent. People come here for the hookah also. It is a must hit!!!

I had a great time there for my friend bday and the server Ellie was Great!!! I will be back

Good food. Nice hookahBut poor service. When you order a hookah they automatically take a 20% gratuity. Once that happens the slow inconsistent service gets even worse.
Ok we gave it a chance again. 15 min for a water. Can’t even order s hookah so slow. Really so easy to have good service. The staff needs training.

Second time dining in here. First time service was friendlier than this.
So let me briefly tell you whats check whats yuck about this place.
Blue mist & wildberry mist hookahs are check.
Turkish pizza’s (Pide) are check.
Patio is really good check.
You can easily smoke pretty much everything *cigarettes thats a check for me.
Inside was hot i think their AC is not working, AC is a must for people dining inside. Yuck.
We ordered coke but it was flat. Yuck.
Waiter told us that he just opened a new liter bottle of coke, but it was watery. Maybe thats right, maybe coke wasnt just cold. Anyways, he understood and changed it with sprite. However same story, i felt like drinking water. Yuck.
Anyways i didnot make a big deal of it. We didnot even asked them to take it out from our check. They should either get a soda machine or serve cans for sodas.
Service was yuck.
I cant stop wondering, having a really really cool place right on 8 St NE where there are many restaurants, where there are good customers, where there is business how can you not improve your service.
All we need is a smiling face, communication, attention and make us feel that we are wanted there as per most of the businesses require this.
Anyways hopefully this would go to management, and passed to staff in order to make this Turkish cuisine better.
PS: They didn’t have Turkish Tea. Yuck.
Even though i really enjoyed sitting in their patio i will have to give 2 stars.

Had a wonderful birthday dinner here. Made reservations for 8. The space is casual and the food is fantastic. Had the best waitress (Elif — I think that’s how you spell it). Would definitely recommend anything with lamb, the Mixed Kabob, and the pizza. Also had great drinks and hookah. Can’t wait to go back!

My friend and I had an overall very average experience at Café 8. We dropped in one Sunday for brunch because we were looking for a restaurant with a lot of vegetarian options and Mediterranean usually fits the bill.
Upon entering the restaurant, we were seated at a small table in the back – which strangely appeared to be their only two-​seater table. After the waitress took our orders and brought out the pita and olive oil appetizer, she disappeared for the rest of the entire meal. On the note of the olive oil that is used as a dip for the bread, it tasted a tad on the rancid side, and the dried oregano in the oil might just have been sitting on a shelf for three years because it had a very stale taste about it.
We were eventually able to summon her after we had finished dining, although it took a few minutes because she had legitimately disappeared off to somewhere in the back, out of sight, and the two other servers that were carrying on a leisurely conversation within our line of sight seemed to never notice that we existed. If this had been a super busy day with people lining up at the door and had the waitress then had difficulty making it over regularly, I’d definitely cut her some slack. But we were the ONLY people in the entire restaurant besides one couple at an outdoor table and another inside. If you’re looking for a place with swift or attentive service, don’t bother coming here.
In the culinary realm, I ordered the falafel sandwich with fries and my friend ordered moussaka. The falafel sandwich was neither bad not particularly good, although I have to say their portion sizes are unusually large for a Mediterranean restaurant; I easily had enough remaining for a second portion. They did use the hard, cheap iceberg lettuce that I don’t care for, though. The fries (the only non-​Mediterranean thing at the table, ironically) were seasoned perfectly and overall excellent. My friend have the moussaka a 3 out of 5 barely and commented that she wouldn’t return to Café 8, a statement that I echo.
For the money, you get large portion sizes, although the dishes aren’t anything above perfectly average. If you know the annoyingly catchy song by Elle Varner in which she sings, «Can I get a refill?» the answer at Café 8 is no – your waitress may disappear.

We ended up at Café 8 when everyone else in the world had the same idea to eat along Barracks Row on a Sunday afternoon. Café 8 was the only restaurant that had seating so we went for it.
In short, it just wasn’t impressive. It was fine, and the free pita was a nice touch (though ick to the lemony olive oil), the meal just wasn’t very good, you know? I got a sampler plate and it was all a little greasy. My mom got a pizza and said it didn’t have much taste.
So this was a totally okay meal, and if people end up there they’ll be fine… it’s just not a place I’d target or suggest anyone target.

A 20 minute wait for a takeout falafel sandwich AND it was terrible? No sir. The wait was ridiculous and the falafel looked like two overcooked hamburger patties on a pita. While it didn’t taste as bad as it looked, it certainly wasn’t tasty. This was my first and last visit for sure.

My husband is from Istanbul and has been dying to find lahmacun. Café 8 came through! We tried the cacik, pide, lahmacun, börek and baklava and they were all fantastic. We have also eaten at Ezme (another Turkish restaurant in DC) and Café 8 was much better for the traditional food, in our opinion. The nargiles are also a plus. The atmosphere was great and the staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. Our server even went out of her way to make my husband ayran. The only downside is that they didn’t have Turkish tea. We will definitely be back next time we’re in town!

Very cute. Very calm atmosphere. The décor was interesting and the hookah was satisfying. Neither one of us were knowledgeable on the culture of the food so we got a sampler platter and I liked most of everything I tried.
The drinks… Fa get about it! I got a coconut mint mojito… And then I got a coconut mint mojito… And then I got… A coconut mint mojito! After I tried that first one I didn’t want anything else it was sssoooooo good!
The prices are kind of pricey and I wish they would do more to update their furniture since they do serve hookah and accidents happen. I saw burn marks everywhere. That’s the only deterrent because it should be a place to celebrate special occasions and the burnt tables and chair kind of takes away from the fancy of it all.
I’d go again definitely.

I love this place… I got my grub on Turkish delight yummies while smoking Hookah and sipping on wine. Pure Heaven hahahaha
I grew up eating Turkish food so when I was in DC last week my friend brought me here. Café 8 is a family owned and operated business offering indoor and outdoor dining with Full bar and Hookah.
The place is attractively furnished and the menu full of items that are tasty and bring back memories :-)
Here are some of my favorites here: Lamb shank was cooked to perfection and it was served over Rice
The Vegetarian Mousakka was so flavorful, Mousakka is a classic greek dish with potato, eggplant, tomato sauce, carrot, squash, broccoli, and beshamel oven cooked.
Last but not least is Iskender: Shaved beef, homemade croutons, Turkish yogurt, tomato sauce. super yummy
The service was prompt and friendly. We had a great experience, and will return in the near future.