Alara

Review summary

1. M

   Marc

   New York City1 review

   5.0

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   3rd visit in 2 weeks. Glad to see the menu progressing. The service is great and friendly. Generally the food is good. The meet plates are good but the main courses should be served in larger plates. The hummus with meat is good. The mutabbala is a bit bland. We also had the lamb shank a few days ago and it was very good. The kufta is well made (but again the plate it comes in is too small for a main course as noted earlier) Good to see they’re experimenting with the menu to get a good balance. The wait staff has been very attentive.
   

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2. G

   Geraldine

   Washington DC1 review

   2.0

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 2
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 3

   I hope you're doing well. I wanted to share some feedback about our recent visit to your restaurant. Unfortunately, our experience was not as expected, as our server was not attentive to our table. We had difficulty getting assistance throughout our meal, which affected our overall experience. We understand that restaurants can be busy, but we would have appreciated more attention from our server. We wanted to bring this to your attention in the hope that future experiences can be improved.
   

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3. U

   Uma

   Richmond18 reviews

   5.0

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   It was a nice sunny afternoon when we popped into the restaurant after a wonderful walk around the tidal basin. We were never been in and so ordered various mezze dishes and it was all yummy! I got the kibbe which was just right crispy and filled with flavorful meat inside!
   

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4. C

   Camila

   Washington DC1 review

   5.0

   Dined 3 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   The quality of the food is outstanding, making it a highly recommended choice for anyone looking to indulge.
   

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5. g

   geoff VIP

   Washington DC5 reviews

   5.0

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   Alara is a great and welcome addition to the Georgetown dining scene. The footprint is quite a bit smaller than at its sister/parent restaurant Ottoman Taverna (which is understandable given the neighborhoods), which makes it a bit cramped. But the excellent food and service — plus the closer-in location — more than make up for it! Will be back many times!
   

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6. DA

   DavidA

   New York City6 reviews

   4.0

   Dined 7 days ago

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 3

   Really good food but noise level is very high and tables very close together.
   

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7. E

   Ellie

   Washington DC1 review

   3.0

   Dined on March 22, 2025

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 4

   Food was great and it was a cool atmosphere. Our main feedback was that we waited 20 minutes past our reservation time and the tables were very close together. You could hear everything the people next to you were saying.
   

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8. t

   tarso VIP

   Washington DC26 reviews

   3.0

   Dined on March 22, 2025

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 2

   The food is good but the management it’s terrible. It took me 30 minutes to get my table with a reservation and looks like the staff is running without head. I won’t go back.
   

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9. A

   Andy

   Raleigh2 reviews

   3.0

   Dined on March 22, 2025

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 4

   The reason I give 3 stars was the experience with the host team. They seemed very disorganized, and did not communicate at all the fact that they were running at least 30 minutes behind reservation time. It seemed that they were seating people out of order as well but can’t confirm. I understand some nights people take longer than expected to eat and reservations are delayed but 30 minute delay seems unacceptable. You pick a time based on plans and being delayed more than 10-15 means other plans get messed up. Notwithstanding the reservation/seating part, the food and service were excellent!
   

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10. OT

    OpenTable Diner

    Washington DC1 review

    3.0

    Dined on March 22, 2025

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 3
    4. Ambience 4

    The ambience, food and service was good. The main issue we had was they were overbooked, So even after having reservation, we got our table 45 min late. And it was for my birthday. It was also very loud.
    

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