The day I was planning on going to review Falafel Inc coincided with the day I saw the Founder of Falafel Inc, Ahmad Ashkar, speak on a panel about innovation and social impact. From the first sentence Ahmad uttered, one could see that passion and social impact are core to his work. Similarly, from the first step I took into Falafel Inc I could see those values embodied very clearly.
Originally as a Palestinian refugee myself I was very intrigued and inspired by the promise Falafel Inc was committing to – for every $10 customers spend, Falafel Inc. plans to donate the cost of feeding a refugee one day’s worth of food, which amounts to about fifty cents.
Now, let’s dig into the heart of this article – Falafel.
At Falafel Inc the menu is pretty simple, you either get your falafel in a sandwich or a salad bowl and a side of awesome za’atar fries (highly recommend this). I decided to try the salad bowl given my gluten-free restrictions. For the people interested in trying the falafel sandwich it has the following ingredients: falafel, lettuce, red cabbage, pali salad, tatbili,tahini + red sauce on a fresh baked pita.
The falafel salad bowl is filled falafel, red cabbage, tabouli, tomato, cucumber, pickles, and za’atar chips on greens + special sauce. To top it all off, there are 6 special sauces to choose from! My personal favorite is the Habibi sauce.
As an Arab who grew up to her local falafel maker next door in Jordan, my pickiness of falafel is quite high and to all our readers, I give this place the falafel stamp approval! So on your next adventure to DC make sure you make a hungry pit-stop to 1210 Potomac St NW. Note that Falafel Inc does not have restrooms open to their customers which was the only downside to going there. I would definitely recommend to management to revisit that or to provide at the minimum some cleaning wipes or hygiene pump especially after eating those delicious za’atar fries.
Now let’s recap on why we love Falafel Inc and why we think you should too:
- Their falafel is close to the real falafel in the Middle East
- They have za’atar fries. yum yum yum
- Their price is amazingly good ($3 for sandwiches and $4 for salad bowls) and the portions are big
- It’s all healthy food
- They do social good.
Agree or disagree? Let us know! Until then you can find me going for my second round of falafels.