Sapphire Tyson's Restaurant — Restaurant in Virginia

Attended an Eid dinner buffet. Unfortunately, majority of the food was not fresh and offered below average taste. Appetizers were cold and stale. Dhai bhalai/bharai were hard as rocks and offered little taste. Pappri/channai chaat came from the fridge as well and as a result very cold, hard/stale, and also bland tasting. Chicken biryani smelled like rice had gone bad. Chicken kharahi was simple, without much fanfare. Chicken tandoor & seekh were cold and no discernible spices to enjoy. Palak, channai, and Naan were only items that tasted okay. But even the naans were coming out in large foil packs as if they had been sitting for a couple of hours in a food warmer. Halwa was overly sweet and very oily...one of the worst I've ever had in my life. Purris (fried puff roti) was overcooked and as a result too oily. Desserts were all disappointing as well. Reheated gulab jammons were old and chewy, refusing to break easily. The custard had folds and lumps of malai as if refrigerated more than once. Chai was the nail in the coffin; absolutely horrid and undrinkable. If you're a Pakistani restaurant, this small litmus test will reflect how much pride and care you give in preparing this cultural food. The management took obvious shortcuts with Pakistani food that requires to be served fresh and offer an even better taste than the atmosphere. This wasn't even bad food on an off day. It was food made carelessly with a lazy approach with exceptionally bad time management. Was really looking forward to eating here, but I'm surprised how bad of an experience my friends had for a place with decent reviews. Sapphire is not a good representation of Pakistani...

I came to this restaurant only because my family gave me two $20 gift vouchers. Service was decent and we got seated quickly. My wife and I ordered mango lassi, samosa chaat, butter chicken, lamb seekh kabob and a naan basket. The food had good flavor, decent quantity, and overall the restaurant had a nice ambiance.

I was pretty satisfied until it came time for the bill. They offered a 15% discount on the total if we checked in on Yelp, which they refused to redeem because we were using gift vouchers. It wasn't any where on the website nor voucher that the offer could not be combined with any other, but we didn't argue. We waited some time and one of the so called owners shows up and says these vouchers were for an event that occured last and so they will only honor one of them. However, no where on the voucher does it specify any date, rules, conditions, or expiration. It's not even a coupon for $20 off, but a voucher of $20. When my wife tried to bring this up, he claimed that the person who gave us the voucher had the responsibility to tell us it was only valid for the days of that event, which makes absolutely no sense. Terms and conditions should always be written on the voucher, not verbally passed around.

I was truly happy to see a halal restaurant that had good food, service, and atmosphere, but due to the lack of professional management I have to rate it lower. They knew it was our first time dining here, and had they admitted their fault about the vouchers, I would've accepted it and gladly come back. However, now that's...

Last time we were at Sapphire, it was pre-pandemic, so thought to give it a try as we move to somewhat of a new normal. We were craving that special biryani which was served fully covered with a soft doughy bread that preserved the aromas and the flavor, and allowed the guests to slowly poke at it and let the smell of freshness and flavor spread through. Oh what a splendid experience that was, along with the beautiful decor and plush sitting which made it a unique experience.

Well, that was 2.5 years ago!

Fast forward to today, and this place is a feeble remnant of what it once was.

Converted to fit as many tables and ugly wedding banquet chairs as possible, the place is bathed in harsh white light where you might mistake yourself being at the home depot and not at a fine dining establishment. And this too at a premier location like Tysons Corner? Oh what a fall from grace this has been, and I have not even gotten to the food yet, but you can guess where this is going.

If you have seen Bollywood movies and if you remember any “Jail food” scenes and remember the utensils being used? Well, they found some here! My god, what an abomination of a white “Katora” they used to serve that Biryani, we looked at it and wanted to run away. Same for the Malai Kofta.

Food was way below average for a place like this with such a storied history, NOT at all worth driving 90 mins round trip as we did. Forgetful and flavorless.

We miss the good old days and visiting this place you will be convinced, they are not coming back! So...