Kraving Kabob

Super nice and friendly guy! I got the falafel and even though they were out of veggies (I was the last customer of the day), it was still amaaazing and they gave me fries and a drink for free to make up for it. Very fresh, chickpeas are smashed and fried right in the truck. would definitely recommend! I’m a big falafel fan, and this for sure made it up there on my list. However, I would ask for more tzatziki sauce next time and maybe not get the spicy sauce (salsa?) in the future just because it tasted a bit out of place to me.

Came for the Fish and Chips… he didn’t have fish.
What the vendor DID do was suggest a chicken/​lamb concoction. I like that he gave me a small sample in order to sell me. Instead of «oh sorry» they have a can-​do attitude that I appreciate.
I can see how this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the sample taste really sold me. The vendor knows he’s selling an experience, not only food.
Maybe I’ll come back to experience it again. ^_^

love the fish and whatever the sauce is on it! I have been stalking this truck and then they just disappeared… wondering when they will be back at Farragut Square… kraving that fish!!!

(2.5 stars) I was so disappointed with my order from this truck. The guy helping me let me taste the chicken, the lamb, and the fries, and they all tasted great, especially the lamb. So, I ordered the lamb sandwich spicy with French fries.
But, I ended up barely eating my sandwich. My mistake was ordering it spicy. The tzatziki sauce they use was pretty bad, but the «hot» sauce was awful. It ruined the whole meal. I literally only ate the lamb, of which there was only a few pieces, and threw out the rest of the sandwich. There food has great potential, they just need better sauces… And more meat in their sandwiches.

Can’t go wrong with the falafel platter and has the best falafel’s second to Amsterdam Falafal in Adams Morgan and that is a compliment! Very consistent and tasty!

Order: Chicken Soulvaki Platter with Rice and Salad
June 2013 | Navy Yard DC
In terms of best value, quality, and service, Kraving Kabob is the type of experience I want in terms of Mediterranean from a food truck.
Service: Admittedly, I was not in a good mood eating lunch so late and having to order while it was raining. These guys really lifted my spirits. Genuine, a good sense of humor, and calm demeanor during the whole transaction. It was well past peak lunch hours so yes, we did have more time to chat.
Quality: As mentioned before, I was there way past normal lunch hours. I would have been forgiving if the meat would have been overcooked, etc… However, the meat was tender, rice perfectly fluffed.
Value: Pound for pound, this is the best ten dollars spent, for a platter. The entrée and sides were packed solid into the tray. Ten bucks can legitimately feed two.

I ate from them twice. First, I had the fish with fries. The white sauce and seasoning they top it off with is really good. I also tried their kabob wrap which was also good. Their prices are comparable to many of the other food trucks.

About the best you could say about most food trucks in DC is that they’re adequate. If you’re in a neighborhood where there are a lot of options, you’re best value probably lies in a corner bodega or a cheap chain eatery. But if you’re in a food desert like Federal Center SW or Navy Yard, you pay your money and you takes your chances. Some trucks are cheaper than others, some are tastier than others. Those that aren’t terribly competent don’t tend to last long. Most kabob trucks I’ve tried are fairly interchangeable: chopped gyro meat, diced chicken breast, rice, pitas, chickpeas. Nothing great, nothing terrible. Kraving Kabob nudges out the rest in that they actually do some decent seasoning of their products. Most times, chickpeas are just an neutral grey afterthought with a little salt and cumin thrown in. Kraving does theirs in a mildly spicy bright red chili sauce. The basmati rice also comes nicely seasoned. Portion size is generous. Unless you’re some kind of land whale, the $ 10 platter will leave you stuffed. And it’s nice to have a truck where falafel is an option. A decent value in tasty food served by a couple of nice guys who want repeat customers. I’m sold.

Kraving Kabob’s falafel platter is excellent. The falafel is thin, crispy, flavorful, and surprisingly not too oily at all. It comes atop a bed of rice, along with a side of spinach, green salad with a yogurt dressing, and spiced chickpeas. Luckily, there wasn’t too long of a wait for my food and the owners of the food truck were exceptionally nice and cordial. I’d eat here again for sure.

The fish and chips are blooming brilliant!

Good stuff — had the falafel sandwich with fries. The falafel was tasty and the sauce was good. Its quite a huge portion with fries, couldn’t finish it. The only complaint would be the wait compared to other trucks, but still a safe choice. FYI — credit card machine works intermittently, bring cash so you aren’t bummed.

Best Kabob truck in DC… It is a couple dollars more expensive for a traditional platter, but it’s well worth it compared to the others. Everything is quality and the platter is jam-​packed. This is for serious eaters, as the portions are huge and a great way to hit that 2:30 feeling via a food coma. They also always hook me up with an extra side almost every time I go.
PEACE

I got the lamb platter which was quite tasty. The pita was warm and lamb was hot making for a great combination. The rice was a good addition as was the white cucumber sauce.
My only complaint yielding a one star decrease in rating was he charged me 50 cents additional for using a credit card (only costs him 27.5 cents) with no notice this was his policy.

Kraving Kabob, you really turned it around you know?
I was not enamored of your long wait time due to the horribly inefficient handwritten orders and taping of order tickets around the inside of your van. I also was skeptical of a truck with «kabob» in its name that only sold 1 (out of 7) item with a kabob in it.
But what can I say? Your falafel was really frickin good. Like seriously. And the tahini sauce and salads were delicious and fresh. The price is decent, for a DC’s overpriced food truck market. I will definitely choose you over the other over 9000 DC food trucks with Kabob in the name.

Just had the chicken over rice platter and was very impressed. They mixed in the two types of chicken and threw a little extra hot sauce and my whole group was impressed. The chickpeas and side salad were also good.
$ 10 is a little expensive but I think it was worth it for what seemed like higher quality ingredients and a very large platter.

My coworkers and I found that this truck had tweeted its way over to the Navy Yard metro station (m street).
I was happy with my food: Chicken Kabob platter with chickpeas, rice and salad. Everything seemed a bit spicy, with the exception of the fries that I traded with a friend (she wanted the chickpeas).
I would definitely give this truck another try. For $ 1 more than the other kabob trucks that I’ve tried — I did get a little more food. In fact, it was so much, I had enough for my dinner.

This is a great little truck. I caught it at M Street at Navy Yard.
It was hard to decide and I had to debate between the steak and cheese sub and the fish and chips. The fish and chips won.
The guy in the black chefs coat was pretty cool. He made the fish fresh so it was hot. He advices eating it ASAP. On a second thought I heeded his advice and ate it nearby.
The chips were hot bit even after a few minutes they wee going soggy. So I was glad I ate when I did. The chips were good but nothing really different.
The fish on the other hand were very different. I was shown the batter they soak in to which I can not avail it’s secrets, but I will note that when it wet from the fryer to my stomach it kicked ass. I also do not know what the white sauce on it was but overall it all worked well.
I can’t wait to try the steak and cheese from this mobile vender. But I sure can say the day I see this truck again will not be a long wait.

Krap!
Charges 2 dollars more than most Kebab trucks and gives you about ¼ less food.
Def avoid if there are other options. Agree with the hot sauce comments… food isn’t too bad, just awful for the price and a little bland.

I had the Chicken Kabob Platter the other day. There was a lot of chicken, a lot of rice and delicious chick peas and salad. I really have no complaints at all. However, I would like to recommend they get some hot sauce, since it was a little bland for what I was expecting. You ordered at the window, you got your number and it was ready pretty fast. Looking forward to trying some of their other stuff.
Not to mention they are on the Navy Yard every day by the Museum.

Well, there are opening day mistakes for almost any business, but then there’s a total disaster like what happened with Kraving Kabob’s customer flow, dealing primarily with their seemingly unrehearsed ordering system. As someone who’s witnessed dozens of these first day trial and error sessions I’ve never quite watched a group of guys be so disjointed. It was essentially like someone just gave them the truck in the morning and said «go out and make some money with it» with zero direction whatsoever. It’s a shame really, because there are so many other Halal carts and trucks offering basically the exact same thing, that very little distinguishes this one other than its flashy flaming wrap-​job.
From the moment I walked up I could tell they were struggling. People couldn’t even figure out where to form a line because the guy standing outside the truck had no idea where he should be to take orders. He kept bouncing around with his pen and pad writing down what people wanted, then taking it over to the food window and handing them the paper, then coming back with money from inside and had already forgotten who he owed it to. There are jitters and then there’s just being untrained. He wasn’t even aware of they took credit cards or not, then when someone inside the truck informed him they did he had to be shown how to do it. Keep in mind, this is theoretically the only person a customer would come into contact with… and he has no idea about the basic ordering functions of your truck.
Now, onto the food, which unremarkably resembles so many of the other stereotypical offerings from trucks of this genre. Maybe I’m expecting too much of them? To be fair, I’ve never been impressed with a kabob place anywhere in the US, even the better ones like Shamshiry that do a good job filling me up but still taste generically bland. I know that Middle Eastern and Persian food can be loaded with spices and seasonings, so I always fail to understand why it doesn’t get translated here for us. Just looking at the menu, you get the same basic offerings as everywhere else: chicken kabob, lamb gyro, falafel, «veggie» sandwich (no mention of what’s inside), and then some random things like steak and cheese or fish and chips. Any of the items can come as just a sandwich, with fries, or as a platter over rice and a salad, in $ 1 increments. The problem here is they all start about $ 2 higher than all of the rest of the Halal competition, without any indication of why they justify a markup. Are we paying for the LCD TV you decided to install on the side of your truck (and subsequently not even use for anything)?
I decided to just stick with a simple lamb gyro and fries, at $ 9, having already learned my lesson from previous falafel trucks. After about a half hour wait in total (there were maybe 2 customers ahead of me when I arrived) I finally got my food in a mysterious black bag that I thankfully opened before walking off to keep my gyro from spilling inside. The gyro itself turned out to be pretty decent, with nice big chunks of lamb inside that were cooked well. There was almost no tzatziki sauce on it though, and since they put it on before you get it instead of giving it to you to apply, you pretty much take what you’re given. The fries on the other hand were quite certainly some of the worst I’ve ever eaten. There is no seasoning at all, not even salt, and they are almost all overcooked little sticks of potato. They don’t even toss ketchup packets in the bag for you, which would have at least softened them up a little.
Overall the meal as a whole wasn’t necessarily bad, but given the pricing structure and the complete lack of creativity here I can’t really justify ever returning to see if they improve.