Eerkin's Uyghur Cuisine

Food was good but a bit spicy.

And decent halal restaurants are finally creeping into DC proper... This is a completely halal Uyghur restaurant serving kebabs, laghman (hand-pulled noodles), pulao (rice), and other dishes that sounds vaguely familiar yet foreign. There\'s plenty of seating in the bright, cheery upstairs seating area, and parties of probably up to 15 or so can probably be accomodated. It\'s genuinely a tea bar, this alcohol-free establishment should rock the nearby quasi-halal Uyghur restaurants poisoning the populace. Parking is tight in Georgetown so bring the beater and leave the 2015 Mercedes-Benz E63S AMG Wagon (POWERWAGONS!) at home. Try the star of the show laghman (~$13-15 -- chewy, thick, hand-pulled noodles) served with vegetables and whatever meat -- the noodles are distinctive as is the taste of star anise in the sauce. The shrimp, lamb, chicken, fish (one at a time) kababs ($3-$15) are juicy but may be a bit bland for some palates. The samsa ($6 for 2) are flaky buns with seasoned fried ground beef and are worth trying for those who like samosas. In case you weren\'t aware, the Muslim Uyghur people live on the periphery of the Muslim world in the Xinjiang region of western China bordering Pakistan. They are heavily persecuted by the government of China in its pursuit of erasing Islam and deserve support in their struggle.

Anonymous

Yelp

Mar 2, 2025

4

Food was very good, spices were great and all the meats were tender and hot. I would definitely come back here for a second time!

Anonymous

Yelp

Oct 10, 2024

5

I love this place! The food is fresh, warm and tasty, I like how the environment is Very spacious, clean and friendly, I love the fact they don’t sale any alcohol also they have very beautiful window view!

Anonymous

Yelp

Jul 16, 2024

5

What a fun find! This gem of a restaurant has a beautiful upstairs dining room where you can enjoy so many delicious dishes. We ordered the lamb and rice, the eggplant with hand-stretched noodles and the dumpling soup. YUM! Leave room for dessert and tea: the honey cake is delicious. The service and staff are great. We will definitely go back.

Anonymous

Yelp

Mar 2, 2024

5

This place had been on my list for a while now and finally had the chance to dine in. The food was so flavorful and well cooked. The service was excellent. Will definitely return to try more different items. Good portion sizes too! The desserts looked amazing, I will certainly save room for a piece of cake next time.

Anonymous

Yelp

Jul 29, 2023

4

excellent place! i’m not sure if the people of dc are ill-informed or what, but it was absolutely empty when we came. created a slightly weird vibe. nevertheless, delicious food at a really decent price! will definitely be returning

Anonymous

Yelp

Jun 30, 2023

2

It took them 30 mins to give us the food and we were the only table. A fly landed on my shoulder when I sat down. Everything was SO SALTY!!! So salty!! Slow service too. The girl didn’t bother to check on us once. Portion was smaller than other Uyghur restaurants.

Anonymous

Yelp

May 1, 2023

5

My first time to try ughur food and I liked specially the grilled lamp they have big menu and nice comfy seating Plus it's halal if you are looking for halal Chinese food. Recommend and will back again if I will have the chance.

Anonymous

Yelp

Jul 9, 2022

1

It's kinda weird I'm not sure what to call this place ( Erkins, Ilchi, or Ali’s) which one is correct I don't know. The first time we visited this place a long time ago (maybe a year and a half) and the food was much better but the service still terrible. You have to wait to get your food forever! Now this time, it smelled so bad ( I think they are moping the floor with dirty water). The food was very salty, it looked okay but did not taste good (very salty) and we waited over 1 hour to get our Manti. I will never visit this place again and will not recommend it to anyone. I'm surprised, how does this place have such a good rating?