Falafel in Washington

11 restaurants in Washington list falafel on their menus. The cheapest is Ottoman Taverna at $7.95. The typical price across town is $12.00, and the dearest we found is $16.95 at Alara, so the two ends of the list are $9.00 apart, which is 113% more for the same dish. Of the 11 kitchens listed, 4 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 2 sit within a dollar of it and 5 charge more than a dollar over.

We track falafel in 11 other areas and compare them all on falafel across United States. The typical price there runs $9.99 at the median, so Washington is dearer than most of them, with a lower typical price than 1 of the 11. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $4.99 at Falafel And Amba Restaurant in Sterling Heights, MI, and the highest best price is $11.00 in Cambridge, MA. The nearest area with it is Leesburg, about 32 mi away, where the best price is $7.15.

Where is the cheapest falafel in Washington? Ottoman Taverna, at $7.95 on 425 I Street Northwest. The same dish reaches $16.95 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $9.00.

What should falafel cost here? About $12.00 is the typical price across the 11 kitchens in Washington that list it. Of the ones listed above, 4 are more than a dollar below that and 5 are more than a dollar above, so the typical price is a middle rather than a floor.

Is it cheaper nearby? The nearest area we track it in is Leesburg, about 32 mi away, where the best price is $7.15. That is $0.80 less than the best here, though whether that is worth the journey is your call.

Why do the prices differ so much? We compare what each menu calls the same dish, and menus are not identical: portion, cut, sides and the kind of room you are sitting in all ride on the price, and none of that shows up in a number. Part portions and half sizes are kept out of this comparison, and a chain charging the same at several addresses is counted once, so the spread above is between genuinely different kitchens rather than the same one repeated.