Panagiotas Taste of Greece — Restaurant in Shepherdstown

With it being my first time here, I was really looking forward to splurging a little bit and trying a myriad of items on the menu. The restaurant wasn't packed but it wasn't dead either. That being said, it was rather noisy for my liking. The decor was aesthetically pleasing as long as you didn't look down to see the dirt stuck to the floors and what appeared to be multiple cut marks in the floor from a saw. At the time there appeared to be 4 servers working the floor, two additional helpers assisting them and one person working the bar area. Upon attempting to place our order, I was immediately informed that they were out of one of the items which I didn't think much of at the time. As we were waiting for our food, I got our servers attention and requested another item from the menu and they stated that they would put the order in. As we continued to wait, I noticed a long blond hair wrapped around one of the silverware settings at our table. I picked it up by the opposite end to get it off of our table and flagged down another server passing by who just happened to have a large stack of fresh clean silverware in one of his hands. I inform him of the hair issue and before I can ask him for clean silverware, he interrupts me to say "oh my goodness, there is, I can see it" and then he immediately took it out of my hand and placed it in his other hand with all of the CLEAN silverware. Upon pointing out what he just did, he turned away and walked back in to the kitchen. Our server observed that interaction from the bar area and later asked them what had happened. They explained the hair incident as our server made a facial expression associated with that of something being disgusting. After having waited for quite a while, our server brings two of the four entrees initially ordered to our table and informed me that they were also out of the other item that I had asked to be added to our order. We waited at least another 15 minutes before the rest of the food was brought to our table. In that time, I observed our server assisting other tables that were done and taking food to other tables while the other two individuals at our table were almost done with their meals. Finally, the remaining two entrees were brought to our table. Food wise, the lack of consistency was noted by multiple members of our party as one entree very noticeably had generous seasoning and feta cheese and another entree with the same item had very little feta cheese and little to almost no seasoning. The tzatziki sauce was the most bland I have ever tasted and appeared to be nothing more than a slightly modified version of sour cream. The gyro had plenty of lettuce and a fair share of tomato but definitely not much meat to even out the ratio. The meat on the gyro seemed to have no seasoning at all and just like the tzatziki, sauce, it was also the most bland that I have ever had. Upon ordering dessert, our server informed me that they were going to give it to me for free because of how long we waited for food. When providing me with the bill, the server pointed out where they had removed the second item I had ordered that they were out of as the server was initially unaware theyt they were also out if it. I appreciate the servers effort but it wasn't just waiting too long for food that made this an OVERALL bad experience. No amount of free food can make up for a bad experience as a good positive experience is priceless.

Two gyro's with fries One lamb burger One fish and chips Two fountain drinks Three deserts $126

Out of two items (How many others) Hair wrapped around silverware Food was bland with no consistency Unclean and unkept areas Waited a long time for only part of our food Waited a while longer for the rest EXPERIENCE WAS DEFINITELY NOT...

Disappointing Experience Despite Kind Staff

We had high hopes for this place, but our experience was frustrating maybe due to poor communication and lack of organisation.

When I called ahead, to book and 8oclock reservation a very kind employee told me to book the 9:30 reservation online for the speakeasy , but assured me they’d accommodate us at 8:00 since it was just the two of us. We even laughed on the phone about how my husband and I are early birds. If I had known the speakeasy didn’t open until later, we honestly would have been totally fine with that! But that important detail was never mentioned.

We arrived at 8:10 I was pulling my phone out to figure out where it said the speakeasy was when we were asked if we had a reservation. We said yes that we were there for the speakeasy, but she told us to just sit at the bar since “it wasn’t open yet.” That left us confused, especially given what we’d been told on the phone.

The bartender was friendly and trying their best, but clearly still learning. What made things worse was the lack of follow-up or guidance from any managers or hosts. After sitting at the bar for about 45 minutes, we eventually realised the speakeasy was open, but no one ever came to let us know the confusion or explain anything.

This could have been a fun night out, and we would’ve had no problem waiting if only we’d been properly informed. Instead, the whole experience felt uncoordinated, disappointing and extremely awkward. This is the 3rd time we have eaten at this restaurant the food has been great each time but service is really really...

I hate to leave a bad review when Sheperdstown is so in need of quality places to eat and I really want Panagiotas to succeed, but the food - especially for the price - couldn't have been more disappointing. I had already heard not great things by word of mouth and unfortunately those concerns were true with my first visit.

First, need to say the staff were incredibly friendly. If only the food was half as good as the service.

The tzatziki - arguably the most important thing to get right at a Greek restaurant - was worse than what I can buy at Food Lion. Not much more than just yogurt. No idea how others are giving the gyros positive reviews with such poor tzatziki!

The lamb skewers on rice dish - the rice was dry and in clumps. The lamb was bland and tough. For $20, you get three things: rice, lamb, and a side of tzatziki. Not one of the three were what I'd consider satisfactory. Would've been disappointed if I'd paid $10.

And you gotta be kidding me that feta costs extra for some (all?) dishes. I've never had a gyro that didn't just come with feta as one of the basic ingredients. A greek place charging for feta is like having to pay for white rice when getting Chinese!

All who I've known who've visited Panagiotas came away thinking the same thing: the quality of food was worth barely half the price charged. And charging for feta- ridiculous!

I really hope things improve. I love Greek food and was so pumped when I heard this place was moving in. Couldn't be more disappointed though. Fingers crossed...