Safari DC

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 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!

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

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.

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 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!

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.