Cafe Aria — Restaurant in Washington

I didn’t find much online about the menu at Café Aria beyond mentions of pizza, sandwiches (with no details on the types), and rice bowls. Wanting to try something new without straying too far from the office, I decided to check it out.

Café Aria is a charming little spot with plenty of seating, and it seems to be a popular place for both dine-in and takeout.

As a first-time visitor, the ordering process was a bit unclear. Quick tip: if you're ordering a sandwich, head to the sandwich window; for everything else, go straight to the cashier.

I ordered the bulgogi rice bowl, which is made fresh to order—so it takes a bit of time. Fair warning: the smell of sizzling meat is strong, and I walked out with my hair smelling like I’d just worked the grill myself. If your hair or clothes tend to hold onto cooking smells, keep that in mind.

That said, the food was absolutely delicious. If it hadn’t been a Friday, I definitely would’ve saved the leftovers for lunch...

I work near this place so I go for lunch from time to time. The food is decent but the customer service is horrible. I went today and wanted to get a breakfast sandwich. Even though it was before 12PM (when stated that they stopped making breakfast), they refused to make the sandwich for me. Even if it was after 12, it is not that hard nor time inducing to make a breakfast sandwich. I don't know if they expected that I would buy something else after flat out refusing to make what I wanted but there are way too many competing restaurants in downtown DC to give my money to a place with bad service. I just walked out after that. Apparently, they have new owners and the customer service has gone downhill recently. The new owners have the mindset that they would rather save $1 than to buy goodwill towards having repeat customers. Would not recommend with the amount of other...

The menu is misleading and I ordered the breakfast Stromboli (6.99) with extra bagel (according to the menu 50 ct, but they served the lunch Stromboli (9.99) and wanted to charge 2.49 for the bagel. After a while of discussion, they gave me the breakfast Stromboli, as ordered and threw the bagel in the garbage, instead of selling it for 50 ct. I told them, that the menu is misleading, after the manager told me what they mean, but they are neither open for feedback, nor trying to have happy and friendly staff. I see the bigger problem (staff works on low salaries in an expensive area), but if this unhappiness turns into a bad experience for customers, it's better to close such a place than keeping...