Old City Cafe

Stopped in for lunch with a friend and my 1 year old son. Got the hummus appetizer and a falafel sandwich. Food was yummy and inexpensive. Hummus appetizer is a lot of hummus Place was big enough that I didn’t feel awkward in there with my massive jogging stroller. Guy behind the counter was friendly.
The «fixins» bar looked a little rough. I chose lettuce, tomato, hot sauce, and cucumber yogurt sauce. They all tasted fine on my yummy sandwich.
Two complaints: the appetizer came out with my sandwich, which was annoying. And the high chair was nasty. Don’t get me wrong, i really really appreciated the high chair. Eating lunch with a squirmy one-​year old on my lap would’ve totally sucked. but the chair really needs a good hose down.

Awesome gyro sandwich!
Food comes right off of the hot grill
Pleasant lady and older man that work there
Low key atmosphere — serve yourself for the most part
Amazing salad bar with a ton of fresh veggies — the beets and marinated eggplant are very good
Overall an awesome no frills place with great food and service

Really tasty shwarma and its pretty cheap. Definitely the best not-​wildly-​expensive Mediterranean food I have had in the area. Also there are unlimited condiments.
Only 2 things that are keeping me from giving them 5 stars is that they are not quick at all and spinach pies appear on the menu but I am 0 for 5 in my attempts to order one.

I had to try this place based on the Unilocal ratings. I wasn’t disappointed. Okay décor; but towards the café/​fast food look.
Good selection of menu items and a large, very large condiment bar. Everything looked fresh. I stuffed my falafel pita until it was over flowing! Yummy!
Reasonably priced for good food and a quick eat.

Went here for a late dinner on Friday night with a friend. Got the chicken shish took platter and it was pretty good. You get to choose items from a salad bar which is pretty cool. I got some hummus, a cucumber salad and tried some tahini sauce and garlic sauce. You get a ton of food for $ 11. Only draw back I had was the chicken was a little bit dry. Owner was a super nice guy. Parking is always tough in Adams Morgan. This place is open til 4am on weekends. Major points for being Halal. Will be back for sure.

Simple, no-​frills, honest-​to-​God middle eastern take out. The interior is a bit dated, and there are often very few people in there. Also, there tends to be an odd homeless person milling about outside. If you can get past that, you’re in for the following treats:
Super nice owner. Painfully friendly — the type of dude you root for.
Excellent shawarma, falafel, and über strong coffee. Everything appears to be made to order.
The bread can sometimes be a bit inconsistent, but rarely bad. When it’s good, it’s great.
Not very expensive, perfect for take-​out.
You can tell they care. The place is spotless (you can see the kitchen from the counter, nothing amiss), there are always plants outside during the spring and summer.
This is a really solid local joint. I’m hoping with the introduction of Phở 14, the donor place up the street, and a few other pockets of restaurants, Old City will begin to rightly thrive. Support them — you won’t be sorry.

Stopped in yesterday for the very first time to finally check this place out.
Was surprised at how large it was upon entering. There was virtually no line & I decided upon the falafel appetizer (5 pieces of falafel & it comes with pita bread, though it is not eligible for any of the toppings available on the front counter).
The falafel was cooked to order & was very hot & tasty. I did not eat the pita bread then (falafel was too filling!) but ate it later & it was very good. I am looking forward to trying the hummus next.
Only downside was it was very quiet in there — there was a TV on tuned to CNBC, but thankfully muted — what I mean is that it would have been nice to have some ethnic music playing at a reasonable level, rather than the strange quiet that permeated the place.

Delicious gyros. Not much else to say. It’s quick. It’s cheap. It’s quality. All of the toppings you can put on your falafel or shawarma or gyros are great. Come here if you want good Mediterranean/​Middle Eastern food. Take it out or eat it there — you won’t be disappointed.

Why did I wait so long to go to Old City?
It’s cheap, fast and DELICIOUS. The best falafel in town (yeah, better than Moby Dick) with super fresh and tasty sides.
I plan to go back, often.

Let’s start by the fact that I’m middle eastern. Real middle eastern. Grew up on falafel, schwarma and real pita.
I was really looking fwd to having a feel of home.
This place is a sad replica. We had the falafel pita and scawarma platter. The scwarma itself was sort of ok. Far cry from real schwarma. The real problem though was the falafel that was way overcoocked and lacks taste. But even worst the salad bar was so unfresh I was afraid I will get food poisoning. We took all the salads out of the gyro to avoid that. Also the hummus was literally disgusting.
And for 40 $ for 2 adults 2 kids it’s not exactly cheap.
I’m sorry for the owner. Looks like a real nice guy and works hard but seriously …

One of the first places we patronized and LOVED when we moved to Adams Morgan four years ago. I love the toppings bar and I love that they also have breakfast all day long (ie: two eggs in a pita).
yeah, I like Amsterdam Falafel but I also like Old City, too.

I wasn’t expecting very much from this place. It’s kind of grimey looking, the menu had all sorts of handwritten notes, and various things crossed out. It seemed pretty unprofessional, lackadaisical even.
So, I ordered a chicken tawook sandwich, and started to get pretty annoyed that it took 15 minutes to get my sandwich even though I was the only one there.
And then I found out why. They grill the meat and vegetables fresh, right there for me. And it’s DELICIOUS. Top it off with some of the standard toppings, and you have a perfect meal. Definitely going back again.

Kind of a weird night. Came in and ordered the kifta platter. There was only one person working (literally doing everything) so our food came out in about 20 minutes. For being the only person, he was very friendly and helpful. Maybe my expectations were off because I was getting impatient but I suppose most restaurants take about 20 minutes.
Anywhoooo, when the food did come out it was worth the wait. Kifta kabob was cooked well and the rice had really good flavor and texture, but what really gives this place it’s edge is the salad bar. The sauces, fresh veggies, and other toppings turns a good dish into something great.
Will definitely be coming back.

I was pleasantly surprised with this place! I was hesitant about going since it didn’t look that nice (flooding of fluorescent lighting, a bit tacky décor) however the gyro was great! The gyro was spiced and prepared really well – it was one of the better gyro I have had in a while. The side of rice, again, was surprisingly good. Often these sides are plain and uneventful, but this particular rice tasted buttery and moist. The tomato toppings tasted fresh and zesty.
What makes this place stand out is the topping bar which rocks! I see other Unilocalers noted that the toppings were not unlimited, but when I went it was unlimited (Saturday night around 10pm). This could be because it was slow and the Saturday night munchies crowd was not out of the clubs yet. I was able to pile on the hummus, egg plants, potatoes wedges, and pickled cucumbers.
As I finished my plate, I got the sad feeling that my meal was over – which indicates I really liked this place. I definitely can’t wait to go again and hit-​up the topping bar!

Before I write about the food, I must first tell you about the experience I just had.
So there I was, finally home again in the good old Adams Morgan, after a long and exhausting shift of pedicabbing at the Mall. My cupboards were bare, and I certainly didn’t feel like grocery shopping and then having to prepare something, so down the street I went in search of some grub. I have a «No Repeat» policy until I’ve tried every restaurant in AM, so it was Old City’s turn tonight.
1^st warning — As I walked in, I noticed a large (and I mean this in each of several possible ways) group of kids and adults occupied about half the restaurant.
2^nd warning — They were all obese.
3^rd warning — They had really thick southern accents.
4^th warning — Several of them were swarming the toppings/​salad bar.
I should’ve walked out right then and there, but nooooo… I just had to have me some falafel. My lust for chickpea would not be silenced… and neither would the fat kids across the room… that’s right, TRAVELING YOUTH CHOIR. Singing the praises of Jesus during my meal. Who the hell let these people into our neighborhood? I suppose diversity is what we’re all about.
That being said, the food was merely so-​so. I had the falafel plate, which consists of several falafel and some rice, plus 2 toppings from the bar. I’ve had way better falafel than this at other places here. And 2 toppings… Wow, stingy much? The counter person walked away, though, and I sure showed them… I got hummus, beets, AND favre beans. Also I asked for water, and I guess I should’ve specified «glass of», because the counter-​person automatically charged me for a bottle.
I’m willing to give this place another chance, though; I was underwhelmed but I think much of that could be attributed to the aforementioned fat f**ks storming the castle. I actually feel kind of bad for being so bitchy in some of my reviews. I mean, WTF am I complaining for? I’m fortunate that not only can I buy more food than I can eat, but that I do not have to prepare or clean up after myself. Meanwhile there are people right down the block who have no idea what it’s like to fill up on crappy food and then bitch about it on the internet. I’m fucking blessed.

Reports of forks and unlimited toppings are greatly exaggerated, and the falafel isn’t quite as good as Amsterdam.
They limit you to two toppings now, which is not nearly enough toppings. Do sauces count as toppings? When the guy walks away after giving you your sandwich is that permission to do whatever you want? Will the girls in front of me please, dear god, stop saying the phrase «two toppings» really loudly so I can at least feign ignorance?
You get a basket, which would be helpful if you had unlimited toppings and wanted to rearrange your falafel later, but you don’t get a fork to rearrange it with, and you don’t have unlimited toppings.
A large falafel is 7 bucks, and for greasy street food, it’s not a huge portion. The falafel itself is denser and greasier than Amsterdam’s, also.
I guess I just don’t like topping bar based falafel shops if they have to make ridiculous rules in order to keep people from taking too many toppings. Both of these places are pretty overrated as a result.
I’d come back here at 2 am, but that’s about it.

My kefta was definitely a parsley party, which is cool if you’re like super into parsley. Me, on the other hand, am only moderately part of the parsley posse so i personally found it a bit overpowering.
I had a spinach pie also, which for about 3 bucks is a pretty good deal but it was sort of sour. Maybe it’s supposed to be that way but I wasn’t really feeling it.
The place feels pretty authentic though so I probably need to go back and try the fallafel/​shawarma/​gyro so expect updates.

Good basic Midde Eastern place (the name refers to Jerusalem). While I realize the chef came from Amsterdam Falefel (much to the chagrin of the owners), that’s not really why I would come here. I’ve sampled quite a few things from the menu and while I found them solid, but nothing really blew me away (it seems like a lot of people are judging this based upon their experiences after a night on the town; caveat emptor). The shwarma was good, not great. The real reason I would come here is that they serve things OTHER THAN falafel and shwarma such as foul madamas (stewed fava beans) shish tawook (chicken) and kafta (ground meat) kabob. Plus their fixin’s bar is pretty awesome. Glad to see they serve kabees al lift (those pink pickled turnips so popular in Lebenon/​Syria/​Palestine).

Falafel is only one of the many offerings at this spot. The falafel is tastes better and has better toppings than any other falafel spot in the area, and it is complemented with a full and varied menu of tasty Arabian dishes.
If you are looking for fast and filling food that is open late and is far away from the pretentious drunkard vibe of so many other late night joints in the area, stop by Old City Café and have an enjoyable late night meal that will provide the perfect transition between the raucous nightlife of Adams Morgan and the bed that is distantly calling your name.

After going to Amsterdam Falafel… I think I prefer this place more. The toppings bar is nearly identical at both, but Old City has a few more choices that aren’t overly spicey.
The atmosphere here is quirkier, it’s hard to be multi-​colored fluorescent lights… But mostly, this place feels more «hidden» and there were no crowds to contend with.
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Cute little place… wait did I say that? The crazy color fluorescent lights are kind of hideous. But the patio out front is nice to sit in. You get the blaring latin music from next door though.
The beef shawirma was very good. (I usually spell it shawarma, but they don’t seem to?). Not the best I’ve ever had though still in the really good category (‘wow dane, this review is REALLY convincing’); I like their little toppings bar… which kinda lets you turn a sandwich into a full fledged pig out. There’s a little bit of everything – all sorts of sauces, fresh veggies, etc. The lady working recommended the kafta kabob. I tried it, it was good but I preferred the flavor of the shawirma. (No lamb shawarma though, would’ve preferred that :/​)… The pita bread itself was really thin, not the greatest or even freshest tasting pita I’ve ever had but OK.
They had fresh-​squeezed lemonade, which was made with rose water. VERY good stuff… I could drink that all day maybe.
The lady working the register was super nice.
It was a few bucks over $ 20 for two. I didn’t specify size, I guess we ended up with the «large» sandwich of both, probably could’ve done OK with the small size.
A guy from the secret service stopped in to eat while we were there… that must be a good sign? Or at least you know they’re legal.