Halal Kabob House

I ordered two entrees from Halal Kabob on Seamless, Chicken Tikka and Palak Paneer. When the delivery came we received two dishes that were not even close to what we ordered (no Tikka or Palak). I called back to request that the correct order be sent after spending over $ 40 and was told essentially «Too bad.» After some back and forth I finally got a begrudging promise that «next time you order from us we’ll send the right thing»… but I will definitely NOT be ordering from them ever again.

Food is good, but service is terrible. I ordered delivery twice from Halal Kabob House, both deliveries were late, the second one by an hour and 15 minutes.
For the second one — the restaurant called me to say it would be 15 minutes late. That is a nice heads up. 15 minutes later, I called — they said 15 minutes. Another 15 minutes I called Grubhub, and they said 7 to 10 minutes. 10 minutes later, I called the restaurant and they hung up on. When the delivery guy showed up, he told me he was in Virginia because his sister’s friend was in the hospital… Okay… Why are you delivering food if a close friend is in the hospital? Have someone else come in, or don’t make up tall tales.
1) If you’re going to be really late, just tell me, don’t lie.
2) If its just a night in, late food isn’t the worst, but if you’re trying to feed hungry, and elderly guests from out of town, it is a problem.
3) Don’t give crap customer service and hang up on people. Either tell me its not coming, or comp me something, but don’t just lie.
Try Sacrificial Lamb instead. Awesome food and nicer people

I rate this 5 stars instead of 4 to help make up for all the negativity. This is a solid hole in the wall indian place, the people are very friendly and honestly the multiple dishes I got (goat curry and veggie platter) were outstanding for the taste and price. I loved my goat dish and will definitely order it again, the portions were easily 2 meals.
The inside décor isn’t much, but for a delivery or take out indian place, don’t know if it gets much better? Wide menu…

This place got a bad rep for some reason (the review two down gave the place 2 stars and said the food was «delicious» — what?). It’s a counter in a basement on 18^th, I don’t expect white tablecloths. The food exceeded expectations. Give it a shot.

Food was terribble… seemed like they reheated the food and made it even more greasy. Server behind the registrar was somewhat surly. Will never go there again and suggest you eat at other South Asian restaurants.

I ordered my food at 2 pm and the only reason i chose them was nobody was at business that day (New Years day). So the food was late for 2 hrs and they got it to my place by 4 pm. The food was cold and so spicy ! I called them once and called grub hub once for the food and everytime they were saying its on the way !!. I’m sure this is my last time ! And btw it was my first ! Terrible experience!

They haven’t done much to update the space from whatever trashy pizza place it used to be, and it isn’t somewhere you’d want to eat out at (Jyoti is right up the street if you want a nice sit-​down experience). But sometimes you want cheap takeout.
It was an odd experience; online ordering gave me a message indicating that most dishes didn’t come with rice, which irked me, but this was not true for the vegetarian dishes I got, which did indeed have the rice one would expect (perhaps it’s true for the kabobs). Moreover, they were out of the rice cakes I ordered ostensibly as a replacement, and offered other things instead, opting to pay me back in cash when I just canceled that item (probably to save trouble and transaction fees). It worked out fine, but it was a bit of a struggle. Their menu is small and alternates between English terms and non-​English, not explaining much for the uninitiated.
The food was legit though. The combo I got yielded a chickpea curry that had more kick and which I liked better than what I’ve gotten from numerous fancier restaurants, and the dal makhani was a rich but mild complement. The cheese bread I got was a tad singed, but it tasted fine worked great for mopping things up, and the samosas were as good as most samosas are. All told, it ended up being around $ 20 for a solid two meals worth of food. I could see returning if I had an Indian food craving again.

Dirty but delicious. This place is dingy, dark, and dirty, and slow.
Apparently the business owner left his mother in charge, as she the only person in the restaurant. She didn’t speak English, but we communicated by pointing at the menu and saying the names of the dishes. After a long time (only one person in the restaurant!), the food was ready. It did turn out to be delicious and flavorful, which is the only thing that saves this from being a one-​star review.

I thought the service was OK but the food wasnt good. The lassi was gross. Too sweet. They seem like nice guys but my meal was not good.

This is the only review I’ve ever written due to how strongly I felt after having been pushed to my limits.
Food ordered at 7:50pm…Arrived: 10:15pm. 8 minutes driving distance.
As part of the customer experience, this place rates very poorly in that respect. Poor customer service on the phone, inability or lack of staff to answer the phone without ringing 3 – 4 times in a row. They quickly dismiss your concerns by saying they’ve already did everything before even hearing what you have to say. I too ordered about 2 hours before receiving my food in the delivery when I tipped extra and left comments on grubhub saying it would be appreciated if they tried to make as quick a delivery as possible. I live less than 2 miles away from the place. Experience is a huge part of a meal and can really amplify the positive or negative views on the food itself.
The first time I called, the cook kept yelling everything will arrive in 10 minutes.
When the restaurant picked up the second time I called, the cook kept yelling that the food was already delivered. It was not. I asked him for the number of the delivery man and he mumbled some random numbers, backtracked, changed his answer 3 times and then said to just call him. The number he gave me led to a non-​registered phone number.
When the food arrived 2 hours and 15 minutes later, the delivery man said Fridays and Sundays are busy days. When I asked him if it was normal for food to be late 2 hours on these days, he said nothing and just stared at me, like he knew there was no excuse. I told him that I had tipped extra (~30%) and that I’d like to speak not with him, nor the cook, but the manager as that’s who should be responsible for… Managing everything in the best way possible. He said the manager was in his car downstairs and they were training. So I requested to go down and talk to him. The manager was not in his car whatsoever. I asked for the manager’s number and he would not give me the information. I had no choice but to leave him my number to which he said I would get a call in 2 minutes. He promised about 10 times I would get a call immediately knowing I would physically visit the restaurant if someone did not take some responsibility. NO call came whatsoever. No one bothered to apologize, and the food was mediocre at best.
The Chicken vindaloo had lots of bones, there was a medium amount of food when I paid extra for an additional helping of rice. And as a cherry on top, there was hair in the curry.
If you have never physically been to this place, try that before ordering online. At least you’ll be able to hold them accountable in their face if anything goes wrong. I would not recommend this restaurant to a dying friend of mine in desperate need of nourishment as a last resort to save the human race. I mean, I was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that has no true cure where one can only manage the symptoms. If the chicken vindaloo at Halal Kabob House was discovered as a miracle cure for my disease, I would have to be force fed it. And I would probably pull my own IV drip before letting the actual staff from the restaurant serve me (they’d probably begrudgingly do so with an attitude anyways). I’m saying that if some genius scientist secretly figured out that Samosas at Halal Kabob House would be converted into 99% efficient, clean energy and the price of the dish would remain the same for energy demands, I would spend my entire life savings on the scientist and shower him with indulgences and material culture so that he could not focus on developing the alternative energy and thus prevent business form flourishing at the restaurant. More to follow when I think of it.

I live around the corner, have tried many dishes on the menu and everything has been very good. Friendly family that runs the place. Very flavorful and well cooked Indian food. I probably eat here three times a week it’s so good.

I came to this place on a recommendation from a friend, and I was pretty impressed. It looks like a pretty new place, and should be a pretty good add to the late night Adams Morgan food scene.
What I liked:
The chicken biryani. I’m personally a huge lover of biryani, and as difficult as it can be to make, I tend to try that at Indian and Pakistani restaurants that I’m going to the first time. I feel like it gives me a pretty good sense of how the place is overall. In this particular case, I think the chicken biryani here is probably a 3.5−3.75÷5. Better yet — the portion size on the biryani is enormous. Like, they take a takeout box and pack it to the brim until they have no more space in the box. There was so much of it that I ate part of it for dinner last night, and then this morning for breakfast (I’m fasting for Ramadan, so in the middle of the night I will typically grab for breakfast whatever is most convenient) I heated up the rest and barely managed to finish it.
I liked that they did have rus malai; it wasn’t perfect by any means, but I have no complaints considering that it’s usually best fresh and making it fresh takes hours. I’d give it a ³⁄₅.
What I didn’t like:
The restaurant’s interior. I don’t usually consider this a big factor, since I’m a huge fan of hole in the wall type places. But that being said, the place has a little bit of a worn out feel to it. The furniture doesn’t look well taken care of, and though the rest of the restaurant is clean I just can’t help but feel like they could do a better job of decorating. This isn’t a huge knock, just a statement of fact.
All in all, I’m going to give this place a ⁴⁄₅. That’s primarily because they gave me a gigantic amount of food at a really reasonable price. I’ll certainly be going back next time I’m in Adams Morgan.

I was walking down 18^th street when I noticed the sign. It wouldn’t really be noteworthy except for the inclusion of one word — well, country really. The sign advertises «Indian — Pakistani — Bangladeshi cuisine.» It was the inclusion of Bangladesh that drew me in — a reference most curry houses don’t make. I gambled on that being a sign of authenticity, and it paid off.
There is nothing fancy about this place. They don’t put on airs, and they aren’t selling a «Monsoon Wedding» fantasy. It’s a simple, undecorated basement, but it’s clean and well kept. The menu is pretty straightforward, and you should find something to eat if you have even cursory familiarity with South Asian food. I ordered beef curry.
Just a second. I want to pause for a moment so that you read the next sentence, because it’s important.
This is the best beef curry I’ve had in a long time.
The guy behind the counter cooked it for me while I sat there and waited and his wife (?) did prep work. My curry came out steaming and perfectly seasoned — hot enough to make you sweat a bit without being inedible, and an excellent combination of clove, cinnamon, and other spices that make a good masala. The portion was huge. I ended up eating about half, then eating the remainder the next day for lunch (and it was just as good on day 2).
If you’re looking for the type of mild, flavorless Indian food that’s passed off as «curry» in this country, do yourself a favor and go buy one of the microwavable bags at the grocery story. If you want a legitimate curry without having to drive out to the suburbs, go here.

Food was paltry but their service was easily the worst in DC, which as anyone who has lived in DC knows is terrible to begin with. Ordered through Seamless, about 90 min into 45 – 60 min delivery window I called, man answered phone who was unintelligible and also could not understand me. I had one simple questions: where is my order? In addition to be unintelligble he was rude when I pressed my question and rude when it seemed he was frustrated, even though I kept my cool. Probably will never use Seamless again and will certainly never, not takeout, sit in, order out, ever eat at Halal Kabob House again.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this place. On the one hand, the food is pretty decent. I usually get soft, delicious naan and most dishes I’ve had have been great (butter chicken, chicken tikka). On the other hand, some of the other dishes were not so great. The meat is also inconsistent — sometimes it is all white meat with no fat, other times it is fatty dark meat.
Moreover, they pretty much always mess up my delivery order. It’s unclear what is included with the dishes (rice/​naan) and they use this ambiguity to short change you. Hard to get a consistent or clear answer out of them when I call to clarify.

To be fair I ordered on a busy night. Ordered delivery through grub hub at 7:48pm, food didn’t arrive till 10:10pm. called three times starting at 9:20pm. Each time I was told the food was on the way. It is a very cold night, and the order was over an hour late. I was reassured the food would be fresh and hot. Guess what? Nope. Called back to ask for a partial refund. I was denied.
The food was ehn. I don’t think it would have been better hot. Ordered chicken kabobs. Portion size of the meat was good, but it was dry. they put the salad under the meat, so by the time it got here the lettuce and cucumbers were wilted. The chickpeas were salty. Naan was okay. Raita was extremely watery.
My food was very late, the customer service was very poor, and the food was not that good. I know that once customers are angry they tend to get angry about everything. The best way to neutralize that is to make some concession. Discount or credit for next time, free desert or appetizer, or in bad cases refunds. They chose to do nothing.
Why in god’s name would I try them again?

It’s a full Indian menu, so much more than just kababs. There is space to eat but it’s more of a takeout place, and definitely ups the quality of fast Indian options in the neighborhood. The samosas have a delicate, flaky pastry. The eggplant is flavorful and the rice is cooked perfectly.
The staff is super-​nice, they made sure we got the right level of spice and packed it all up with care.

Best Indian carry-​out I’ve found in DC. This place is run by a former chef of high-​end spots Rasika and Bombay Club. The quality comes through, the food here is just a notch above other Indian take out.
I’ve always gotten samosa, biryani and an extra naan, and saved half for leftovers. So good.
Please go often so that it stays in the neighborhood, but not all at once so it’s not too busy when I want to eat there every day :)

Just found this place while in DC!
Authentic and Delicious vegetarian dishes with a KICK!
Had the chickpeas and home made paneer in tomato sauce– this place rivals my fave wallah joint in NYC!
BUT– the price was way more the a NYC wallah price!
Was not expecting our 2 vegetarian dishes and two veg samosas to total $ 33.00!
Writing this review in hopes this new business gets some appreciative local customers! Great find but needs to revise their prices…

Shame on me for ordering from here TWICE. The goat biryani was incredibly salty. The vegetarian dishes were better.
Second time around, I ordered food through seamless. I got a call 1.5 hours later saying they apologize but they are running late, and will have my food in 20 minutes. It has already been 3 hours– and I am still twiddling my thumbs waiting for my dinner delivery.