Prince Cafe Restaurant and Lounge

Prince Café needs a reality check.
Friday night, arrived with 6 people. They were charging a mandatory $ 15 per person. Mind you that would go to the hookah, but if you are not eating entrees, or ordering a hookah per person, then don’t bother.
I guess that would explain why there were only two tables occupied on a Friday night.
I have been here plenty of times, the hookah is actually not bad, even though they use crappy coals, but I’m not going to bother making the trip to Prince, since I can’t be sure if there is a cover charge or not.
If you want me to pay $ 15 then I want belly dancers, and absinthe base hookahs.
Just a tip.

Expected so much more from an establishment in Georgetown. $ 15 cover/​person on a Saturday night. The DJ was playing music on YouTube. I swear he played «Turn Down For What» by Lil Jon 10 times in the one hour we were there. The music was so loud we could not hold conversation. Staff was unhelpful. We asked one guy if he worked there… he said no… then proceeded to walk behind the counter.
We won’t be back.

Good times. Funny memories. (:

This is being written after a night when most of the girls i was with almost got raped, two of my friends got charged $ 30 over the tab based on the fact they wouldn’t let us leave without paying more money than a total with tip purely based on intimidation. Me and another kid’s cellphones were stolen. Service was the worst i’ve ever seen in this city and the shisha is worse than usual store bought stuff. The atmosphere reminds me of a trashy strip club surrounded by middle-​eastern men. This place is worse than cancer.

This place has terrible hookah and even worse customer service. 3.00 for a can of coke? Are you kidding me? I won’t even consider coming here again. Drive the extra 15 minutes and go to Tarbouce in Arlington.

Pros:
–warm, friendly service
–attentive to the shisha coals
–will let you sit for a long time without bothering you, if you just want to hang.
Cons:
–under-​maintained: this place used to be neat and clean, but it has devolved into an embarrassingly dirty place.
–every food item is a freezer-​food reheated on-​demand. nothing seems fresh.
–the clientele: when you’re loud and drunk, everyone else is quiet and reflective. when you’re meditating, loud drunks walk in and break tables.
CONCLUSION: I still go there all the time. It’s my go-​to shisha, day or night. For shisha purists, all that matters is the smoke, which is good. It’s definitely no-​frills, and that’s okay with me.

I love to smoke hookah from time to time, and from past experiences i’ve had, I would say that DC isn’t the place to go for this middle eastern treat. Prince in Georgetown has one of the best atmospheres a hookah bar could have. The food is pretty decent considering the golden rule pertaining to hookah bars is you never eat the food there, because more often or not, its sub par. The hookah is some of the best I’ve ever had and the flavor selection is also the largest. The three things that prevent me from giving it a 4 or even a 5 is firstly the prices. It’s just way too expensive. Hookah here is about 15 dollars a piece plus you are required also to purchase at least 7 dollars worth of food or drink per person. secondly the wait staff isn’t all that great and sometimes seem annoyed at the prospect of receiving customers and thirdly the location. It’s just such a pain in the ass considering its in one of the hardest parts of Georgetown to find parking, as if it wasn’t already hard enough to find parking there. When it comes to hookah, you should probably stick to the less expensive and pretty decent options in arlington and falls church

I’m not a hookah fan, yet I ended up here on a beautiful morning (5 AM) to eat, drink some mango juice, and watch hammered friends create some ad hoc entertainment. The butter chicken is actually really good, as are most of the juices. However, hookah is hookah no matter where you go… good place, though I wouldn’t actively seek it out.

There are bigger, better, brighter shisha prospects around D.C., unfortunately.
I love to support my Egyptian-​businesses, but this Prince location just doesn’t hit the spot. There’s room for improvement.
It’s small, cluttered, dirty, food’s no good, shisha’s ok, everything is over-​priced, and the crowd isn’t right for me.

I’m really torn here. I was going to give Prince 3 stars until discussing it with Leila. I can’t go 1 though. I just can’t. If I was reviewing the hookah alone, it would be 1 star. But I wish I could give Prince 5 stars for all my underage sneaking out the basement memories… Unfortunately, nothing else about Prince even deserves the 2 stars I’m giving it.
The melon and apple aren’t bad. Everything else comes out sort of nasty. They do have Evian which is a plus. And don’t eat the food — looking at it is enough to disgust me.
If you’re 16 — there’s no better spot. But now that we’re all 21+, Prince is just another page in my history.

I don’t know. I’m a little torn about writing this review because I have certainly spent many a night here… then again, those nights were long ago.
I used to frequent this small (but not cozy) spot when it was still called Marjan’s. It was the place I’d go to when all other options had been exhausted in the city. However, please keep in mind that I was still an underaged teen and there were no guarantees as to where I could get in and get my party on at night. I mean, what can I say… the whole Persian connection thing had to start out somewhere, right? ;)
Smoking a little hookah at Prince always seemed like the next best thing… at least I thought so then.
Really, that’s the only thing that Prince is good for… but even that is questionable because there are so so soooo many other and better hookah bars to go to now. Stick to rose, cherry, and double apple here– every other flavor (don’t know why) would made me cough after 15 minutes or so.
Don’t come here for food– there’s nothing worth ordering because no real effort is put into food here and I simply just wouldn’t trust anything coming out of the kitchen… so dirty, ugh. A friend of mine once had a CIGARETTE BUTT in his french fries, and the manager wouldn’t do a thing about it! On that note, the service really sucks as it takes forever and a half to get anyone’s attention and if you try to address any problems with the so-​called manager of the day… they don’t care either.
So, yes… 1 star for Prince of Georgetown. You served your purpose to me long ago when I was still a kid… but oh, wait… you really aren’t supposed to serve hookah to anyone under 18 now, are you?

I actually like this Prince location better than the one in Adams Morgan. Sometimes after a night of drinking, it’s just a great idea to get some Middle Eastern cuisine and then wash it down with hookah smoke. This Prince is tucked away in Georgetown, on a street just off Wisconsin Ave. I think it’s open ridiculously late (early) and doesn’t close until 5 a.m. or somewhere around that general time of the morning. As with the other Prince locations, don’t expect to find any alcohol here. Do expect some great small dishes. Try one of the appetizer plates; you won’t be disappointed. It sure beats inhaling an entire Manny & Olga’s pizza as far as late night cravings go – if you ask me.