Aatish On The Hill

Oh, Aatish. What can I say, regardless of your issues, we can’t help but coming back for more. The main gripe I will say is the inconsistency of the food as far as recipe goes. The dish is the same but somehow the components are different. Here’s an example — the yellow lentils. This is my favorite dish not only for it’s robust flavors and hearty nature but also how well it pairs with a lot of other meat dishes. Sometimes the lentils come in their whole form, sometimes it is mushier and more ground up. You just never know what you are going to get. Same with the chicken tikka masala — sometimes it has delicious bits of onions and peppers, other times it does not. Regardless of who the chef is for that day the food is always tasty. The lunch buffet is really the best deal in town if you can make it there, especially on Friday when they have my favorite chicken tikka masala as part of it. It’s a bit divey on the inside but whatevs, good food trumps décor in most instances.

Aatish is a good Indian/​Pakistani restaurant that gets most things right. It seems a little overpriced relative to its aspirations and the portion sizes are a little underwhelming even if you aren’t ravenously hungry, but the service is very attentive.

Very mediocre Indian food. We ordered delivery and were disappointed. They were inexplicably out of lentils and subbed our dal out with green peas in a cream sauce. Chana masala was very spicy despite our request for mild. Lamb masala was dry and stringy. Overall I’d give this place a very unenthusiastic MEH.

We ordered take-​out from Aatish, and had a pretty good experience. I thought the food was a little bit expensive for the small portions, and I think they were trying to make up for it with the large amount of rice on the side.
We had the lamb saag, chicken masala, and chicken vindaloo. Wow, the vindaloo was really spicy, but definitely in a desirable way. Everything else was tasty, but I think it is way too expensive for it to be a regular take-​out option.

Excellent food and service. I’ve now used Aatish twice in the past 2 weeks to cater 2 events. One was a small gathering of about 15 people, one was a holiday party of 40 people. My guests raved about the food and wanted to know who had done the catering. There was way more than enough food to go around. We had leftovers for a few days. The driver arrived exactly on time for both events. And the prices were excellent, especially given the restaurant quality of the food. Highly recommend Aatish to others who work on the hill and are tired of the same old same old folks we all rely on for catering. One tip if you use them is that you need to ask for plates and serving ware if you require them.

The food was alright but there was a food in our sauce and they literally scooped it out and set the sauce cup back on our table…

I gave Aatish two tries, as I wanted to have good Indian food delivered. I found that on both occasions my dishes were on the bland side. I can say in particular that the Chicken Tikka Masala was unfortunately dissatisfying and extremely overpriced for the quality. The naan was even delivered cold. I will not be trying Aatish again.

Best Indian food I’ve had outside of London, where I lived for two years and the Indian food was exceptional

I really wanted to like this place — it’s close to our house and they deliver. We ordered four entrees.
Palak paneer (usually my favorite Indian dish) — the paneer was rubbery, and the palak didn’t taste as fresh as I would have hoped.
The channa masala wasn’t bad. Had a smoky taste which was nice.
Shahi korma — so many small fragments of bones!
Bengan bharta — it says «mild» but by our taste, it was pretty spicy.
Four entrees and one appetizer — our total came to $ 75.
We will give it one more try — these may not have been the best dishes here.

This is a small Indian place on Penn near Eastern Market. Super easy to get to. I’ll do take out on the way home from the EM Metro, and they also provide really fast delivery. Everything is delicious, hot and spicy if you want. I really love the vegetable pakora and always order as an appetizer. The safron basmati rice is perfect and comes with a little half maraschino cherry on top. Haven’t had a bad meal there and will go again. It’s very small but always filled with locals.

Stopped by after a hectic day at DC. I was just heading out with family and wanted to grab a bite before we head out for the long drive. I must say that located in a neat corner on Penn Ave the restaurant has great ambience and authentic taste.
Palak Paneer and Chana masala were really great. Ambience is really neat quiet and the host amazing.
Will return when in DC again.

Ordered way too much food for delivery for just two people. But BFF and I wanted to try a number of things. We ordered samosas, pakoras, onion naan, chicken tandoori, and the lamb kebobs. We figured what we could not finish for dinner, we could each have some lunch the next day.
The server taking my order was friendly, polite and thorough.
Delivery arrived faster than thought, which was great! BFF and I were more than happy to start digging in sooner. I started with the apps first, while BFF when straight for the chicken. I especially liked the samosas. The onion naan had really good flavor as well.
The chicken and lamb were nicely cooked and flavorful as well. By the time I got the entrees, I was getting rather full.
There seems to be a lot more on the menu to enjoy. So I look forward to my visit.

One of the better places to get huge portions of really good Indian. The spices are great, chicken is juicy, and the naan is wonderful. I do have to say that the lamb is usually very dry — but the sauces that they provide always help to bring out the flavors and add some juices back into the meat.

Incredibly disappointing. Overpriced, mediocre food at best, and bad service. Not at all deserving of its current three star rating; I’d rather go almost anywhere else, especially at this price point.
It was completely empty when I ate at 7:30 pm, and now I know why.

I ordered lunch for delivery. Had the lamb biriyani which was pretty good. I did not know it came with peas and I am not a big PRAS person. So I know to ask for it without next time. Also had the tea masala which was also good. You can tell the difference in flavors with the Pakistani influence. Reasonable prices for lunch.

Service is mediocre, food mediocre. Plenty of better places around here. Quality seems to have declined substantially in last two years.
Oddly enough, food seemed substantially better as a day old leftover. That’s worth another star.

There are a few things that I will never forget about living in the District — the historic monuments, the incredible humidity during the summer, and the delicious Indian food at Aatish on the Hill. I have to say that in the two years that I have lived here, there is not one place that comes close to how delicious their food is.
Think I’m exaggerating? I have eaten at every Indian restaurant in DC. While they do serve a purpose, they don’t leave me satisfied. At Aatish, I feel like I’m eating at a friend’s house. The staff goes out of their way to ensure that I have a relaxing and delicious meal. And the food! It is beyond comparison. It has that made by your grandma, home-​cooked feel. My favorite is the chicken Makhani accompanied by outstanding garlic naan that will dazzle your taste buds.
Do yourself a favor. Stop by Aatish while your in Capitol Hill.

First off, both Google and Unilocal have the hours wrong; they aren’t open all day but in fact are closed between 3 and 5. Not uncommon or unreasonable, but I sure wish I’d known about that before I showed up slightly earlier than 5:00 on a day when it was below freezing. Not the restaurant’s fault perhaps. I’m fixing this on Unilocal.
Even when they did open, it was not a smooth experience. The servers were a tad hard to understand and background noise from carryout orders and other machinations was significant. The other early bird diners ordered samosas and got a perfectly pleasant looking pair, while we did and something went wrong. It took almost half an hour before they produced some of the saddest misbegotten samosas I’d ever seen, undercooked and falling apart. They did explain that they had some trouble with their fryer. If I was the sort of person who sends things back, I’d have done so.
The actual entrees took even longer. The dumplings (malai kofta) I had were decidedly unimpressive; grainy and they might not have been cooked right either. The sauces for this and my dining partner’s paneer dish were spicy hot, but lacking in depth of flavor. The rice was also very dry and I got a clump stuck in my throat (not really their fault). The only real positives were a competently rendered mulligatawny soup and a complimentary papadum with chutneys, which were also the only things that came out reasonably fast. I got the sense that this place didn’t take their vegetarian options as seriously as most Indian places do, and there weren’t that many of them nor were they labeled for vegans.
They did, to their credit, try to explain and apologize for some of the negatives that were in their control, and brought us a rice pudding on the house presumably to apologize for the waiting and an off night in the kitchen, without any particularly overt complaining on our part. Customer service is worth something, and since they made the effort I gave them a three star rating instead of the lower rating our night up to that point might have merited. I could see giving them a shot to do better if I found myself in the area again, but that’s as far as I’ll go.

Aatish is a gem in the heart of Capitol Hill. It is a family-​owned restaurant and they make everything right there. They have a clay oven in back and some of the best naan around. The owners & staff are so welcoming & kind. They are happy to discuss dishes with you and are most attentive. You can eat like kings for $ 50 or enjoy the $ 10 lunch buffet. The best part… the food & the prices. They have good vegetarian options and some amazing homemade cheese dishes we love! It is a perfect ethnic spot for all types of crowds. The décor is classic & my husband and I go as often as we can!

3.25 stars. After living on the Hill for five plus years, there finally came a day where I was desperate enough for delivery food and the «new school» Capitol Hill Tandoor couldn’t bail me out. Indian food from Aatish would have to do.
While I meant to order chicken korma, it appears from the non-​appealing light pink hue that we received chicken tikka instead. No worries. Sometimes, I like to eat British food. Everyone has their own variation of this dish, and my preferences are to use a bit more heavy cream and a little less yogurt. I think Aatish might be the diametrical opposite to my own preferences, but if that is the case, then at least you are on the healthier side of the equation. I love that Aatish uses thick, large chunks of chicken instead of tiny piecemeal chicken. Overall, this dish is decent and I could see why it’s probably the most popular order at this restaurant.
The aloo saag, on the other hand, is not my favorite. The spinach is clumpy and shredded almost to the point of being minced. The potato chunks are tiny icebergs in a solid ocean of spinach. The dish is heavy and doesn’t really sport any type of liquid consistency. While I can see the merits of this preparation from a traditional perspective, I like leafier, non-​clumped spinach with at least a tiny bit of cream added. Again, everyone has their own way of preparing dishes, and my preferences just tend to have a bit more of a dairy addition to Indian food.
I imagine I will go here again since I accidentally purchased a Unilocal Deal to eat here (oops, I guess I can’t use that for delivery which, incidentally, does makes sense). Perhaps I will try a few more of the meat dishes which don’t rely on dairy as Aatish appears to have a solid command on how to properly use meat in Indian cuisine.