Safari DC

A little pricey but nice atmosphere and great East African cuisine. I enjoy my ugali with lentils and sukuma wiki. The place is right in the middle of DC thus parking is an issue for week days visits.

It was ok. I was invited by a friend for a fund raiser. I donated, ate a little food, listened to some reggae music, and left. Parking was difficult in the area, as usual. I met nice people and had a good time with my friend.

I've only been here for after hours events, but the owner and staff are very friendly and hospitable. The venue is very cool, with 3 floors to hang out on (2 bars) I hope to stop by in the daytime for some food and update my review accordingly!

Never order from this place around closing!!! This place is a RIP OFF! First time ordering from this business. 1st order $ 33.32 in a rectangular container. (Cassava lead soup & Fufu) Reordered again. Second order 57.95 two more orders of cassava leaf soup & Fufu. I will be calling this place on tomorrow, for serving me bones & fat back in place of meat. What did I paid 57.95 for? I received 2 small containers of leftover bones/fat in the bottom of their pan. I don't eat bones! SMH. There were two small pieces of meat and a large bone with fat. You got to be kidding me! I called once I noticed, and this place was closed @ 8:14 PM. Mail box full, so Icouldn't leave a voicemail message. If this issue isn't resolved on tomorrow, I will be disputing both transactions on tomorrow. Customers should receive 100% fair quality of food for these prices.. If your business could not provide me and my family with great quality food/ service, they should not have accepted the order. To the manager. Please replace or refund at lease one of the Cassava and Fufu meals. The meal quantity was much smaller in the second order Thank you in advance, for doing the right thing.

Unfortunately, I had a bad experience. I used an app to get some food and developed food poisoning. The food was good, but immediately felt bad after and have been sick since than(1 week). I hope this isn't a common thing and just a bad day for both parties.

I wish I could give it no stars. This place is no longer a Kenyan restaurant and falsely advertised as an East African restaurant. Today is Wednesday July 3rd 2019 at 8:17 pm and I went to this place. They are not serving food until a few weeks. Their website states that it is under new management, which is true, however, there is no food served as of the above date but there is a bunch of Kenyan food on their pictures on the website under the guise of NEW MANAGEMENT just to draw you into the restaurant. FALSE ADVERTISING AT IT’S FINEST!!!!

This was such a great experience, I would recommend it to everyone. Great food, restaurant and service. We sat at the bar with my friend and both ordered goat meat to get the real east African experience and we were not disappointed at all. I'm looking forward to dinning here again and I will also be back for happy hour. Thank you again.

We had a private even here couple weeks ago, the owner was very accommodating, the bartenders were great. The price is reasonable, it's the perfect place to hold any type of event.

Went there twice. Once for brunch and another time for dinner. Both the times it was for take out. Food was okay but had long wait times. And it wasn't organized. Needs better management. Also priced higher for what you get.

Do NOT!! After serving me old food in one bowl and undercooked in the other it's safe to say I will be okay because I DID NOT eat this! You all should be ashamed to serve this to people. TRASH!! DO BETTER

If I could, I would give it zero stars. My friend hosted her farewell party there and the service was beyond horrible. We had to wait 35-40 minutes to get drinks. When we asked for glass of wine, they told us they will bring us them right away. Nope, we had to wait for another 40 minutes.....only because their bartender didn't show up so they had to wait for her to show up to able to serve us drinks. The bartender was only there for at least ten minutes then left. The food was too long to wait. My food was very cold. It was not very appetizing. I could go on and on. One thing I want to add.... At the end, when I was getting ready to pay for my meal ( mind you, I'm vegan which means I do not consume meat). They charged me a full price for meat that I didn't even order. They refused to reduce the price or bother to attempt anything to satisfy my disappointment. They simply didn't care.

I was happy to find this restaurant in DC after a fierce craving for Kenyan food, and Safari DC hit the spot. Everything was delicious enough to offset a long wait for our takeout order, along with the disappointment of discovering the vegetarian entrée comes with only one chapati. The maharage was savory and filling and the sukuma wiki had a pleasant twist of citrus. My husband really liked the tender, flavorful nyama choma. The portions were on the small side but overall really good food that I would return for. Food 4, Service 3, Ambiance 3

I just ordered from Uber eats I got puffballs, spicy goat and plantains. First they did not give me the papa balls they gave me a meat patty that I never asked for, next the spicy goat is literally three small pieces of goat everything else is bone. Lastly the plantains were not ripe. All of this was $20 and it should've been five dollars I'm very pissed. Do not order from here!

If only you could give zero stars (maybe you can and I don't know). Anyway I was going to write this up earlier this week but glad I saved it. It only got worse. Service: no one greets you. You have to wander around to find someone to seat you. They have no accurate hours posted. I just lucked out. Food: got some wings. Chinese carry out places have better. There were soggy and the skin seemed flabby. Atmosphere: no idea what this place is. Yelp says Ethiopian. FB says BBQ. Another FB account says it's a club...no clue. Other/atmosphere: glad I waited to post this. While not expressly impacting my experience, it will impact me never going here again and hopefully you read this and decide if it is worth the danger. No, not food related. None of that (maybe the only blessing of this place). Literal physical violence. Last night there was a shooting at this establishment. Appears to have been inside as well. One individual was murdered and another in critical condition. Not sure how someone can go to a restaurant knowing they may be killed and for not great food. Please stay away until this place is demolished and rebuilt under new management or they figure out how to manage it well. Hopefully you will thank me.

Five stars for food, minus one star for service/ambiance/etc. = a solid four star experience! Honestly? If you're looking for the best Ethiopian food in the DMV, look no further than Safari DC!!! I recently went with my family to eat lunch at this establishment. We got there around 2 pm on a Sunday. What was weird was the door was locked when we tried to enter. The waitress indoors saw us and quickly opened the door for us to enter. The restaurant occupies a beautiful space with a great patio. I loved it! When we were there though, there were no other patrons, which I thought was odd for a Sunday afternoon. We decided to still stay, though, and ordered the veggie plate and two different kind of tibs (beef and lamb). When the food came out, it was DELICIOUS! I'd had Safari's food before because I went to an event where they had catered, but this time the food was better (if that's even possible). Dare I say it?!?! Safari DC has the best Ethiopian food in the DMV area! (YES I HAD TO SAY IT AGAIN! IT'S THAT GOOD!) Seriously. If you can deal with the touch and go service and a bit of a wait time, the FOOD is definitely something worth experiencing. I would recommend it to anyone.

I wanted to try something different for a change. When I saw Safari DC I knew I had to get some friends together for dinner and dancing over the weekend. We got here around 8pm we were seated right away on the back patio. However, the service was BEYOND SLOW. Bottom line- GREAT FOOD-NOT SO GREAT MANAGEMENT It took us 2 hours to get food (including appetizers), only reason we stayed is because we had a few drinks and we were waiting for the lounge area with DJ up top to start at 11. I was not terribly hungry, but I could not say this for the rest of the 3 people with me. After going back and forth about 3 times (which should have never been the case) we ended up getting our drinks taken off and 20% or so off the bill. But this took a lot of negotiation on our part, seems there were 2 night managers and one could not make a clear decision, so she brought in another one who just said 'fine'. I'm glad he did not try and argue us down, because they had a party of 35 come in and they apparently wiped them out of all the food. Well guess what? The large party had a reservation, so they should have prepared for this! Total lack of planning and communication on their part. When the food FINALLY came it was good. I had beef samosas ( come in 2's) for my appetizer, tandoori chicken; tender and flavorfully roasted 3 pieces, coconut milk rice cooked to perfection, and stewed cabbage. EXCELLENT all the way around! The waiter manager mentioned that they did not have a drink list, but could make anything. Not an issue for me, but I think a printed wine list is always good, people want to know the type of wine they are drinking. The cost was inexpensive; regular price for a glass is $6. My friends were so irritated by the time 11 rolled around we didn't even stay to go upstairs and dance. The managers did apologize, but excuses to customers never carry over well. We should have been offered discounts and a cut on the bill immediately, instead of having to specifically ask for what we thought was fair. Kind of took the fun out of the night to be honest. Too bad for them, because this place has a lot of potential. I just wish Safari DC would stop running their small business like a JUNGLE!

Safari is a hidden spot in the Petworth neighborhood that can almost look closed if you don't stop and pause to check it out. And pausing is definitely worth it. Between my friend and I, we had the beef samosas (SO damn good; I think they are freshly made in house, they came out piping hot, and I still have cravings for them), the fried potato omelette (this was average.. the potatos were more like french fries, and not on my must have list), and the whole fish with curry sauce (amazing! the curry stew really penetrated the fish and was absorbed in the meat, and the spinach side was the perfect light accompaniment to the heavier curry sauce). Safari has a lot of potential. We went on a Sunday afternoon and were the only customers in the establishment. They definitely need help coming up with a better marketing plan, but they definitely have the right food, the space (two floors plus an outdoor patio), and great service. The cook/owner? was on site the day of our visit, and was generally lovely and gracious. Will definitely go back to try out other items when I'm in the area.

I love, love, love the food and am yet to be disappointed. My hands down favorite meal is the biriyani rice, fish kebab and spinach (under the Chefs Specials). I am also a big fan of their coconut rice. The other big plus for me is their extremely comfortable patio. It gets hard to remember that I am not at home. There is always a gentle breeze and a nice view to tree-lined streets.

So far, not good, and I haven't even had the food yet. I came in and waited for 20 minutes at a table for someone to take my order. Nothing. So I decided to try going to the bar. They take my order... Ugali and nyama choma for 17 bucks. Fine. Better be good. Sit, wait, decide to get a drink and samosas while I wait... IT IS NOW 50 MINUTES SINCE I MADE MY ORDER. No food, no samosas, no explanation, no apology. For overpriced takeout. So, I've been here for well over an hour. Seriously. I hope the food is at least food because I won't be back. It is a shame since I used to come here long ago before it shut down the first time, I was excited since it is 7 minutes from my house and I wanted to support a nice Kenyan small business. Such a shame. I'll update to say how long it finally took.

It is closed. Lost their liquor license. I tried to go on 2/27/19. there are signs on the doors

Never order from this place around closing!!! This place is a RIP OFF! First time ordering from this business. 1st order $ 33.32 in a rectangular container. (Cassava lead soup & Fufu) Reordered again. Second order 57.95 two more orders of cassava leaf soup & Fufu. I will be calling this place on tomorrow, for serving me bones & fat back in place of meat. What did I paid 57.95 for? I received 2 small containers of leftover bones/fat in the bottom of their pan. I don't eat bones! SMH. There were two small pieces of meat and a large bone with fat. You got to be kidding me! I called once I noticed, and this place was closed @ 8:14 PM. Mail box full, so Icouldn't leave a voicemail message. If this issue isn't resolved on tomorrow, I will be disputing both transactions on tomorrow. Customers should receive 100% fair quality of food for these prices.. If your business could not provide me and my family with great quality food/ service, they should not have accepted the order. To the manager. Please replace or refund at lease one of the Cassava and Fufu meals. The meal quantity was much smaller in the second order Thank you in advance, for doing the right thing.

They weren't open at 9pm on a Saturday (without any notice on their website or Facebook), and we came from out of town so were extremely disappointed after traveling slightly out of our way to patronize the restaurant.

When it comes to African food I'm very picky. This is as real as it gets. Pay attention to the items that say spicy, they really are very hot. But if you enjoy spicy foot it's great, if not do not order anything that says spicy

East African food in the district? Safi sana!! No more schlepping out to Swahili Village in Beltsville to fulfill chapatti cravings? Well, yes and no. The samosas were delicious. The pilau was pretty good. The nyama choma was tasty, though not exactly nyama choma as you know it. The chapatti was OK. The sukuma and cabbage was bland. I have to knock off a couple of stars for the fact that they weren't showing the World Cup, and they don't have Tusker. The waitress was lovely and said the TZ owners still have some kinks to iron out, so will try it again one day, but think it's still worth it to trek out to Beltsville.

I live two blocks from this wonderful place. As I walk home at times I stop in and pick up my favorite Fitfit. The staff is very nice and I enjoy having coffee and speaking with them. Their prices are the same as most places which such cuisines and the place is very clean. The first time I went , I could not remember the name of the dish I named above and with some navigating through the menu I was able to find what I wanted. Another thing that was nice was the environment. The music and just the atmosphere as a whole. Very chilled and did I mention it is a very hidden location. If I would of never walked past it I would of never known. The best things to get is the honey wine, lamb combination and Fitfit.

Let's just face it, the customer service here is awful. The Ethiopian dude that served me food had me waiting for 20 minutes and when I stood up to go inquire, the answer was, "if you can't wait, get out." Well, I decided to wait and was served a whole fried tilapia, Ugali and sukuma wiki. The food wasn't bad, but it was not close to what I have tasted before.

Safari is located in a quiet street in Petworth, away from the usual noisy traffic. From outside, the place may seem quiet, even closed. It was recently reopened under new management. The cuisine is Kenyan food. The two owners are professional, friendly and humble young Kenyans. They engage with the crowd often, and value the customers' feedback. I love the food, I find it absolutely delicious. The crowd is always friendly and welcoming. The prices are decent, and the location is quite convenient.

This is a great local spot with delicious Kenyan food and nice hospitality. The menu is small, but I appreciate that because it makes it easier to choose from. The cocktails ok but I'd recommend choosing from the wine or beer selection. Our waiter was friendly and attentive and the owner came out to check on us at one point in the meal. The pace to the night was leisurely, and felt almost like we were hanging out at a friends house. The decor could use a bit of softening up, but that's just my personal aesthetic. We will definitely be back, and hope the rest of the neighborhood has a chance to check this neighborhood gem out!

Went there last night. My wife, who is from Kenya, ordered food for everyone and the food was great! It pays to go with someone that actually knows the food!

My friend wanted to try this place out because her friend had recommended her this place. I'm not a fan of Ethiopian food so I was very skeptical about this restaurant too but I have to confess that Safari DC pleasantly surprised me during my visit two weeks ago. It was Sunday evening around 7 pm and it was starting to drizzle. Even though the lack of customers spooked me out a little bit, I was able to rationalize the situation because of the day and weather condition. We weren't very hungry so we ordered a fish entree with two complimentary sides for the two of us to share. The entree was delicious (the fried spinach was extra special for me) and the portion was large enough that both of us were very satisfied. The price is not the cheapest around the neighborhood but given the portion size and quality of the food, I'd definitely go back again!

This is the best place serving African cuisine especially, Kenyan, Ugandan, Tanzanian and Ethiopian's food. I started with Samosa and later ordered their trademark nyama ya mbuzi served with Ugali and vegetables and it was amazing! I really enjoyed every bite of it. The dish also came with finger potatoes which were also delicious. I tried my friends dishes and I really loved the nyama choma. It was so juicy and chewy! Love love love.

Nunu our server was so great. Food was excellent with the vegetarian combo and spring roll . We loved Nunu.

Really delicious Ethiopian food, good portions, and decent prices. I had no issues with service, but then again it was quite slow when I went. Maybe they're slower at busier times, but my waitress was quite doting. Will most certainly be back.