Bistro Aracosia — Restaurant in Washington

Our oldest wanted kabobs after hearing of his aunt and uncle dining at a kabob place the other night. We remembered we had kabob from an Afghan restaurant in DC and so we headed down there to order and pick up. When we called that restaurant and inquired about allergies, they initially stated they would accommodate but then called back saying they cannot serve us as it is too risky. I was devastated. I then called Bistro Aracosia and one of the first things that I asked to Tyler, the associate who picked up the phone, was if Bistro Aracosia was able to accommodate for allergies. He said, "of course". My heart felt so at ease again after being declined service by anothe restaurant. Such is the life of a food allergy family.

I proceeded to order online, and put notes on there for my son's allergies and also added pink peppercorn and sumac just in case (they are part of the cashew family). After placing the order, I got a call from the restaurant. Julia (please forgive me if I misspelled her name), from the restaurant, was calling about the sumac concern as their chicken kabobs has this ingredient in the marinade. I was grateful but then heartbroken again as this means my son would not get his kabob and I am again declined service from a restaurant. I asked her if any other items were safe from it, esp the ground beef kabob as that was what I ordered for my sons. She put me on hold to double check and then came back to let me know the ground beef kabob was safe! Additionally, she let us know that everything else was safe except the chicken kabobs. My son was elated!

He ate the QBuli Palou (we changed the lamb for veal) ans the ground beef, the beef mantu, the kadoo turnovers ( butternut squash), and declared everyone of them delicious! We also had to sub kadoo (butternut squash) dish for the chickpeas side we get with the kabobs, and these were divine! The chicken kabobs were amazingly juicy, tender, and very flavorful as well! Another plus is that the reataurant also notes gluten free items so those with gluten concerns do not have to guess which menu items they can enjoy.

We loved all of the dishes that we got that day. We love and appreciate, even more, the willingness and openness of the restaurant to work with us and our son's food allergies. Both Tyler and Julia were never dismissive when they were talking to us and sounded very understanding of our concerns. Thank you so much for your wonderful service and attention to our concerns. We shall be coming back another time for the delicious Afghan delicacies served at Bistro Aracosia and will recommend your restaurant to our...

Have tried food from this place twice and both times takeout. The first time we loved their chicken and veg dishes and so decided to try more this weekend. Paid over the phone and got a curbside delivery. We have tried their carrot slaw, leek and scallion dumplings and the pumpkin dumpling. All of these were good, pumpkin dumpling was sweet and served with yogurt sauce which complimented well. They have an extensive menu. There are plenty of veg and non veg options to choose form. We have tried the chicken lawaan, chicken karahi and Rumi’s chicken. The chicken lawaan is milder in a yogurt-based stew, karahi chicken was in a tomato based gravy and had roasted eggplant it it, this was spicier and was the best o all. Rumi’s chicken was sweet and spicy in a tomato based gravy again. All the dishes were delicious, flavorful. Meat was cooked to perfection, was soft and tender. The stews are served over a bed of rice. The food also came with 4 chutneys – mango, avocado based and a green spicier and red chilli chutney. The chutneys are just incredible. One can just eat them with plain bread and would be satisfied. They also gave bread along with the food. For the desserts we tried their Firni which was made in rose water, was mildly sweet and the baklava. Didn’t care much for baklava was too sweet and just ok. I would recommend this place for their main course and appetizers. The food was ready promptly on time – we didn’t have to wait. Will try again for sure when...

I'm from London Uk and I was visiting my in-laws who live in Maryland. Before I left the UK I decided I wanted to treat my in-laws to an Afghan meal. None of them had eaten Afghan food while I had. Firstly, I chose a well known place in Baltimore but we decided it was too far away. After much research, I picked the Bistro Aracosia for food, ambience and location. We booked for a party of 5 for Sunday lunch on September 15th, nearly 2 months ago. To put it mildly it was very disappointing and definitely not authentic Afghan cuisine! My 2 sister-in- laws are vegetarian and I had checked the menu before and saw that they were well catered for. The dumplings were edible but they had these ghastly sweet peas and carrots on top. They seemed to have put brown sugar in everything which the Afghans don't do! The egg plant dish was disgusting and the pumpkin dish was almost as bad! My sister-in-law ordered a vegetable stew and over half of it was just full of chunks of bread. Obviously, it was my treat and the meal was expensive considering the very poor quality of the dishes. My advice is to go out and find a proper authentic Afghan chef!! The service was doable but I wouldn't recommend the Bistro Aracosia to anyone in London unless they made serious changes in...