We have been going to Panjshir Afghan restaurant in Falls Church and Vienna for a long time, and generally had good experiences there. This radically changed last Saturday night. After we were seated it took a long time for the waiter to take our order. As it turned out, the waiter was also the resturant's owner. After waiting another long stretch for the appetizer and finishing it, we found ourselves waiting again for the salads. I had asked for a salad without the dressing they automatically put on it, but they brought me one with dressing anyway. I asked again for one without dressing, and although this request was acknowledged, they completely forgot about it. Fifteen minutes later I made a third request, and they brought me a microscopic salad that had me wanting to ask for a magnifying glass. After waiting another twenty minutes, and also noticing that other people who entered the resturant after we were seated were already eating their entrees, I got up to speak to the waiter. I politely told him that we were waiting quite long and at least would like at this point our soup orders. He responded testily "What do think, this is a burger joint where we just flip burgers back there and rush out the food--implying that I'm some slob who didn't understand the workings of such a high-class establishment, which this place was not, although it had pretensions of being one. He continued: "What do you want; you want me to come out and dump all your order at once, to which I replied "No, please just bring our soups and salads. We've been waiting while people who came after us are already eating. Please just bring us something. We're very hungry. I expected from an owner contrition or at least courtesy, but I got a surly, dismissive reply. So a few minutes after our little exchange, he returns to the table with soups, and as he's placing them, he snorts "Ok, you don't want to do it our way, we'll do it your way!" in a sarcastic, mocking tone. I replied "EXCUSE ME?" and continued "I won't allow you to speak to me that way. I was very polite to you and I won't have talk back to me in that tone." He simply walked away after that. When we got the bill, since we were a party of 9, we were amazed to see, after expressng dissatisfaction with the service, a close to 20% service charge slapped on. This imbecile insulted me and embarassed me in front of my relatives, to whom I had boasted what a great place Panjshir was. We voluntarily came into Panjshir to spend our money there and enjoy ourselves, and we were treated with contempt. I will never, EVER, set my feet in Panshir again. They exemplify the absolute worst in the restaurant business.
Washington, DC