Zorba’s Cafe

Great fast Greek food. Always a short wait and decent prices for such tasty food. People are super friendly. The hummus is a must, even if you don’t like hummus.

I don’t usually like falafel but the sandwich I just ordered is out this world. It tastes homemade and fresh which what this area of restaurants is lacking. Ordering was easy and quick. We will back there again soon!

Lovely local institution serving reliably good and affordable Greek food. They have a nice patio and a great happy hour– $ 3 house wines and 2.50 dips. Their chicken souvlaki pitta is fantastic, and the counter service is super fast and friendly. Great to support a local business!

After 30 years i came back. Best giro ever and the falafel areto die for. I brought my son and niece and they were marveled.

The one thing, no servers. But hey im here for greek food and they have outdone themselves. Superb food, great view and ambience. But did i say how great their combination platter paired with a cold greek beer in the coldest glass? Oh my, im getting a serious case of the mmmm’s. Someone will think I am having more than a meal ;). All in all i love this place.

The place was good I enjoy a nice gyro sub. I also got the root beer that they have. I like that combo and I’m sticking with that combo for my next visit. Thanks again guys!

My husband and I stopped in on a whim and were so impressed with the level of service and the quality of the food. To start, I was excited to find out they had pita that was not only gluten free, but prepared on a separate grill. They also have a separate fryer for their fries. I got the chicken souvlaka, hummus, and dolma which were all delicious. My husband got a lamb dish that was equally delicious. I highly recommend this place for DC locals like us and tourists stopping through.

The lentil soup is tangy with small lentils that are soft and not cooked beyond recognition. The falafel remain the high point. Not oily, thinly crisped outside, tender and lightly seasoned inside. Greek salad is cold, crisp, distinct enough to know it was just tossed, not pre made. Awkward up n down the steps with a tray, but good Greek. :-)

Zorba’s Café is a family-​owned and –operated Greek restaurant located in Dupont Circle. They’ve been around since’ 84, and offers a nice variety of Greek specialties, such as gyros, souvlaki, kefte, shish kabobs, etc. They also have appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, and pizzas. A group of us came here for dinner, and when you enter, you just go down a few steps to place your order with the cashier — I tried their Dolmathakia (hand-​rolled grape vine leaves stuffed with rice and herbs, cooked in olive oil and lemon juice — the rice was slightly mushy, but these tasted homemade and were pretty okay); a Spanakopita (a phyllo turnover filled with spinach, feta cheese, egg, sauteed onions, and herbs — this was probably one of the best spanakopita I’ve had at a restaurant — super flaky, and filled with a delicious filling of wonderfully– and perfectly-​seasoned spinach and feta); I had the Gyro Plate (sliced gyro, in which you can choose between the beef-​and-​lamb or the pork option; I chose the beef-​and-​lamb; the meat was tasty, thinly-​sliced, and perfectly-​cooked; topped with tzatziki sauce with pita bread and a side of freshly-​fried Zorba’s Fries); and, the hubs had the Combination Plate (this came with a chicken souvlaki, gyro, and kefte, served over rice with two dolmathakias, pita bread, hummus, and tzatziki sauce; the hubs really enjoyed his dish, as all the meats were perfectly-​prepared and cooked well). You receive a buzzer after you pay, and when it buzzes, you just go downstairs and pick-​up your food. Once you’re done, the staff cleans up after you, so there’s no need for you to drop off any plates. There are some seating downstairs, but there are more upstairs (usually more quieter). A great little find in Dupont Circle, this place is great to get some of that Greek food fix!
+good, solid Greek offerings
+Spanakopita :D
+gyro
+Combination Plate
+limited 2-​hour parking around the area

We stopped in late night right before closing for a pizza. We ordered the Rodos since you can’t go wrong with onion and fresh sliced tomatoes. I was presently surprised with the chicken. The chicken was marinated and charred, making for a delectable meal. Even better, we took half home and it stood the test of time and was pretty good the next day as leftovers.
I’m a big fan of Greek food in general so I’ll certainly be back to try a gyro or souvlaki which looked and smelled amazing. This seems like one of those places where there’s too many good things to order at one sitting!

Tonight was the first time for my boyfriend and I to visit Zorba’s. This is our new favorite restaurant. The service was excellent including the owner personally seeing us to our table, our waiter was attentive (and not bad on the eyes either), and he bagged our leftovers without us asking.
The food was beyond delicious! The hummus is some of the best I’ve ever had as well lamb chops (although the lamb chop dinner is a bit pricey at $ 30 /​plate). The grilled chicken is a good buy and so wonderfully tender. We brought our own wine and had a double chocolate cake which ended the meal perfectly.
Everything about Zorba’s is fantastic. I love the atmosphere and felt very welcomed. This is a definite 5 stars!!!

Wow this place is affordable for the amount of deliciousness on your plate! This is the first time I’ve had Greek where the kitchen knows what gf DF is! We ordered Souvlaki, chicken Reganato, gf pita, Taramosalta, and Skordalia. This was my first Taramosalta experience and it is really something else. The food flavorful, tender, and the service was friendly. Very cozy atmosphere and they play good Greek music. Would definitely come back!

Great local spot with food that is delicious and not too expensive. The baba ganoush and tzatziki were really fresh and tasty, as were the falafel balls. I ordered the tabouli which was sooo fresh and lemony which was exactly what i wanted. My family ordered the combination platters, gyro, greek salad and they all loved their as well. We got the spanakopita on the side and that was not impressive but everything else was great.
The service was really awesome as well. It is a small family owned restaurant and you can tell they really care about their customers.
Overall, definitely recommend! I bet this place is awesome in the warmer months because the front patio was SO CUTE and wouldve loved to sit out there.

What a hidden gem! Not so hidden, but the greek magic that come out from this old school diner, housed in this almost random looking restaurant, it’s fantastic.
Walk in to the back and grab a menu. Take your time. You’re going to want to order a little bit of everything. Once you decide, order, pay, and wait.
Set up with grills, you can watch the cooks chop away and bring you a taste of Mount Olympus fit for Zeus and other deities.
Grab your food and seat yourself. Enjoy. Remember to breathe between bites. Also it’s rude to lick that taramasalata and hummus off the plate.
This place is great to go with the group of friends who want their checks split yet still offers the feel of having a decent sit down meal.

A longtime customer, I’ve found that the menu has not changed much over the years. Here, I can get a decent Greek meal, enjoy the Dupont Circle neighborhood and not have to pay a fortune.
My go-​tos:
shish kebab – always get beef but chicken is also possible, listed under «on the grill»;
souvlaki – always get chicken but pork is also possible, listed under «pitta sandwiches»;
spanakopitta, listed under «sides»;
and two desserts that never disappoint – galaktoboureko (filo and custard dessert) and walnut raisin cake, both homemade.
It’s quick, straight forward, and offers abundant seating, inside and out.
It’s not a top-​tier establishment; has never purported to be that (smart).
Zorba’s is a fixture for a reason.

The food was good, the portions were small.
I got the combination platter, which in other Greek restaurants tends to be an overwhelming heap of all the greatest meats on the menu for you to try. Not here. For $ 16, there was a lot of variety here but all the portions were extremely small.
The kabobs, which had excellent flavor, included tiny bite-​sized pieces of meat. Not the usual chunks of kabob meat other restaurants serve, but little bites. The Gyro meat on the platter included some very thin and narrow shavings of meat, cooked until hard and brown. Again, it was good but usually if there is an excess of any meat on a platter, it’s always the Gyro. Nope.
It came with a very small salad on a side plate, 4 small triangles of pita along with rice, hummus and tziki.
The counter service was very friendly, the beer was served in an ice cold glass, and the food was prepared quickly. I would certainly not avoid eating here again, but probably wouldn’t seek it out.

I really like Zorba’s because I really like Greek food.
Yero pita, shish kabob, spanakopita, etc… can you really go wrong here?! It’s all so yummy and I’d totally come back to stuff my face some more for under $ 20.
The one thing that stumps me though is the tables outside are tiny. For two people you should ditch the trays and only leave the plates on your table. Then, proceed to eat with some body adjustments so you don’t knock anything over on your table or your neighbor’s. :)
P. S. Sadly, they don’t make loukoumades :(

Ordered delivery from this place. Didn’t notice until it was too late that they charge a $ 10 delivery fee. Definitely will NEVER be ordering delivery from them again.
Because of the fee, i was really really ready to just not like this place. Either fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to view it, the food was actually delicious!
I got the chicken souvlaki and french fries. Both were really good. I have been craving greek food and this place brings it. Highly recommend, but either go there to dine or pick it up yourself. Do not order delivery… ridiculous

Love this place. I had been craving good Greek food and this was the perfect fix.
Zorbas is like a 30 second walk from the Dupont Circle metro (Q exit) and has a great view — perfect for people watching.
You seat yourself and order at the cashier, meaning no need to be shooed off by waiters or management giving you the eye. My friend and I ate at the table by the window and stayed for about 2 hours. Even though we arrived at around 1:45PM, there were plenty of customers (not too crowded or loud though).
I had the chicken shish kabob and my friend, the combination entrée. Both were phenomenal. It took maybe 10 minutes for both of our dishes to come out. For the appetizer, because I was gluten free, we replaced the pita chips for tomatoes and cucumbers to dip into the cheesy spinach dip — eating vegetables with the dip made the appetizer taste so refreshing and not at all greasy or too heavy!
My chicken kabob was delightful. The chicken was thick yet not dry, and seasoned very well with a very slight crunch that I liked. The onion and green peppers were also seasoned deliciously. The rice they came with was fluffy and soft. And the side salad (which I had extra of since I forwent the bread) was aplenty.
My friend’s combination entrée was also tasty! I tried some of her meats which I did not have on my entrée, and I particularly loved what I think was the lamb.
Would come back for the fabulous food, fast service and casual but clean and unique atmosphere.

While in DC the past week for business, I made dinner plans with my colleague Lynda. She’s pretty open on food selection so I picked Zorba’s because I have a lifelong love of Greek food and enjoyed vacationing there with Chun P. last year.
The café is clean, cozy and done up in the traditional blue & white with pictures of Santorini and family on the walls. We were greeted warmly at the register and took a seat. Our Aegean Salads ($ 12.50) arrived in a jiffy! The pork tenderloin souvlaki was incredible, and really took me back to my time in Athens and Santorini. Afterward I got the Baklava which was homemade and really hit the spot. It had just the right ooze of honey, walnuts and crisp phyllo dough.
The next day a large group of my colleagues wanted to go out to dinner together and folks were a bit stumped on where to go. We have vegetarians, carnivores, GF people and everyone wanted something a bit different. I hyped up my experience at Zorba’s and the group decided to give it a try.
When we arrived the attendant at the register greeted me, and said, «weren’t you here yesterday?» and I said, «sure was! Food was so great I brought back 11 of my friends this time!» while gesturing to the line that went to the door. He replied, «well we’re glad to have you back, and in that case let me thank you» and he gave me a discount on my Zorba’s combination plate, which was kind.
Everyone on my team LOVED their food! One of my colleagues even tripped on the way up spilling her calamari, and they immediately made her a fresh one and got it cleaned up right away. My GF colleague was ecstatic over her plate — she said it was so great to eat «delicious GF food! So many places don’t care and they even told me how they prepare things on separate cutting boards, grill space, etc»
And my Zorba’s combination plate of souvlaki, gyro slices and kefte, served over rice with two dolmathakia, pitta bread and a side of tzatziki and hommus and greek salad was one of the best meals I’ve had for $ 15! No wonder this great place has been in business for over 30 years!
I’m definitely looking forward to my next trip to DC and Zorba’s! I’ll be bringing friends!