D Light Cafe & Bakery — Restaurant in Washington

I have such mixed feelings about this place. I was asked to leave a review, and I’m always happy to do so. However, I always prioritize honesty over flowery praise, even when it’s hard to do.

I’m a native Ukrainian, and my husband and I were celebrating our anniversary on July 17th. I mention the date so it’s clear who was working that day. We wanted to start our celebration with a traditional Ukrainian breakfast.

To begin with, the staff was amazing! We had wonderful conversations with the chef and the young woman working at the counter. Throughout our visit, they were very considerate, communicative, and friendly. The chef even showed us what the dishes looked like to help us choose based on our preferences.

The Ukrainian food was good: the syrnyky tasted right, and the crepes were made properly. As a Ukrainian, I’ll note that nothing was outstanding—though I admit, I’m hard to please. One disappointing part was that the crepes were supposed to come without actual berries, but the chef was very nice to us and added fresh berries at no extra cost. Without the berries, the pears lone would look very plain. My husband ordered the Middle Eastern shakshuka, and that was a bit of a letdown. It was mushy and far too watery. Honestly, it didn’t look like authentic shakshuka at all—it looked sad and empty. The taste was okay, but the tomato sauce completely overpowered the rest of the dish. It felt more like a diluted tomato soup. That said, the spices were great…so, mixed feelings about the food.

The coffee was a big frustration. For the price, the quality was underwhelming. Our iced banana-caramel latte was good, but not nearly good enough to justify $6.25 plus a service fee. And my hot latte tasted like warm milk with a hint of coffee—I wasn’t expecting that at all. I even got up and asked for an extra shot of espresso because it was undrinkable. It was also cold from the start, and they don’t have a microwave, so it couldn’t be helped… The young lady was very polite and gave me the extra shot free of charge, which I appreciated. Once again, the staff was responsive and attentive to every request. But unfortunately, I had to make so many requests because there were so many small disappointments…so again, mixed feelings about the coffee too.

Finally, the prices… not only do they tack on a random service fee, but even the base food prices—given the portion sizes—are absolutely ridiculous. $19 before tax for two tiny syrnyky? $16 before tax for three minuscule plain crepes with a teaspoon of jam? Come on… I want to leave a good tip for the great service, but with prices like these—when our three small dishes and two coffees totaled $86—I just can’t justify paying $100 for a breakfast that didn’t even fill me up.

The aesthetic and atmosphere were pleasant, but I understand why some people mention a strange feeling of messiness or gloominess. The place looked a bit worn—almost dingy. Some things just looked messy, old, or poorly maintained.

As a Ukrainian, I entered this place full of excitement and anticipation. I was genuinely happy to discover a Ukrainian food spot in Adams Morgan. And the staff completely lived up to my expectations. Everything else, though, left me so sad and hesitant to return. I’m very disenchanted with my...

TLDR: I never thought I'd be writing a bad review for this place and it really sucks that its changed for worse under new ownership. The ambience along with the cuisine wasn't the same or similar and although I really wanted to give them a try it's really just not worth it :(

Can't believe I'm writing this but DON'T DO IT! This used to be one of my fave spots in DC to the point that I always make sure to stop whenever in town. Even my mom who works in food service was amazed with the friendliness and cleanliness of the previous owners.

Since my last visit, it has changed ownership. This time was largely different and not in a good way. I wanted to give it a try, after I was informed of the ownership changed especially since they claimed that the chef was still the same - spoiler alert: NOT LIKELY, see pictures.

I ordered 2 shakshukas and a cappuccino which came out to $50. The cappuccino came out quick but there was no brown sugar or visible sugar around for that matter. When I asked I was motioned to a random cabinet with a few spare Splenda packets and one last sugar left.

Shakshukas finally came around and I felt my heart sink of the disappointed of what was placed in front of me. Below you'll see a shakshuka from the previous ownership to the current ownership. For starters, the plate was so hot that I had to wait several minutes and even dipping the bread into this mystery broth made it a soggy mess.

Even worse, the broth was watery and you could see a layer of oil sitting on top. Tastewise it was watery, unseasoned, and lacking in the thick sauteed tomatoes characteristic of the dish. Also, the onions were undercooked and still crunchy as if it had been thrown in last minute.

Then came the eggs, they were overcooked and no longer the runny golden eggs from shakshukas long before. I ended up taking this out the dish so I could salvage something since we stopped before heading to the airport - big mistake - and the eggs were still a watery mess. I could even overheard another party saying "its changed, let's go up the street instead".

By the time we arrived at airport, my stomach was a grumbling mess. Note, this plate used to fill me up for a few hours. I would stuff my face, walk thru AdMo to Dupont, commute across the district to NoMa for work before finally getting hungry enough for dinner.

Sad to see...

Hate to leave a bad review but I’ve now had 2 bad experiences with this cafe! This place is cute but both times the service was extremely slow and the food was quite underwhelming. Recently, I ordered a to-go breakfast croissant with cheese, egg, and asked if I could include potato pancakes on the sandwhich since it says “add any sides inside” on the menu, but the cashier didnt give me much confirmation as I was ordering and seemed a bit standoffish. It took 20 minutes for my food to come out even though there was no line to wait in and the cafe wasnt that busy. When I was finally given my food, the “breakfast croissant” had a sole piece of cheese half slapped on and was cold. It also was given to me in excessive packaging (a huge bag with multiple boxes, which seems like overkill for one sandwhich- not something I’d go out of my way to complain about but perhaps something that can be reevaluated). Very disappointed that there was no egg and that the potato pancakes were on the side when I specifically asked for both to be on the sandwhich. When I politely asked the woman at the register, she was very adamant that I had not ordered an egg, not considering that maybe she had just failed to put it down since she wasn’t very attentive while I was ordering (which is fine, I think English may be her second language and we all make mistakes but she was very defensive when I suggested that the order was wrong). The other worker eventually did offer to ask the kitchen to make an egg for the sandwhich but I did not have time at this point to wait for this, because who knows how long it would take. For how expensive the meal was ($14) and how long it took, I expect better than a small croissant that looks like it was slapped together in 10 seconds and missing key...