Aatish On the Hill — Restaurant in Washington

This has to be one of the worst managed restaurants i have ever been to. My family and I have traveled all over the world and i cannot at this time recall a restaurant experience which left such a bad impression on me.

It was my first time being here. It was three of us. On entry the restaurant was almost completely empty at 7 pm except one other couple. It seemed like an old place, clean-ISH. The forks and spoons on the table had no shine to them at all and im doubtful they were cleaned well either.

First, The three of us ordered a big kebab platter as an appetizer that had a pretty large portion. Then, seeing that the restaurant has a bar with the bottles visible from the table, we ordered a glass of wine. We were told they weren't serving liquor since 6 months. The waitress told us it was for religious reasons, which i found strange because if it was for religious reasons, why would you have a bar in the first place? We speculated that perhaps their liquor license is revoked. I am not sure about this but it was definitely fishy.

When it came to ordering the entree, we wanted to order 2 entrees for the 3 of us and maybe a side dish. However, we were told and shown a tiny note on the last page of the menu that "YOU MUST ORDER ONE ENTREE PER PERSON". So if u had 3 people = 3 entrees, 7 ppl = 7 entrees! When we asked about this ridiculous policy we were told it had been like this for years and we had no choice. I was angry at this point and wanted to order just one entree just to show that customers have rights too. We argued for a little while and then settled on an entree and the big appetizer platter which was abt the same price as an entree anyway.

The food was okay. Not bad but not too memorable either . But by this point, the horrible service and attitude and ridiculousness of this place's management had left such a bad taste that it wouldn't have gone, no matter how good the food would have been.

We finished our meals quickly and got out of there. Thinking back, I actually feel bad for the waitress because she seemed terrified of her boss, the guy who was running the place. At times she almost seemed apologetic for asking such ridiculous things of her customers. I hope she finds a better job. I left this same review on yelp but i wanted to post it here as well to warn as many people as i could.

Suffice it to say, I wouldn't recommend this place to even my worst...

Absolutely terrible place.

We went there as a group of five. Ordered samosas and mango lassis as starters. The samosas arrived which clearly looked re-fried. After that we wanted to start with two entrées and naans and order more later. The waitress, who had no smile on her face, showed us the menu card where it was written in the bottom of the last page "minimum one entrée per person", as if we should have known that before entering the restaurant. We said that we may not be able to eat so much as we already had samosas and mango lassi, and it was just 5pm. She rudely said in broken-English that she will give us boxes. It was not an option for us as we were on walking tour.

We asked for sometime and then decided among ourselves to not order anything at all from the entrée section to meet their "rules and regulations" and instead order pakodas and biryani.

Over-oily pakodas came followed by waitress coming over with biryani and two entrées, naans and rice which comes with entrée. We said we asked had asked her to cancel the entrées and get us just the pakodas and biryani. We never said to add up the order. She insisted we had ordered everything and called the owner to the table.

Mr. Khan, a Pakistani, who owns the place was the most rude person I have ever come across in hospitality industry. He started saying that he pays the rent of $10,000 per month, and that it is a fine dining restaurant, and we can not order less food. Wow! Fine-dining restaurant? The washroom was so dirty, and the hallway to the washroom looked like living quarters!

It was clearly a case of the waitress making a mistake in order-taking because of her poor english. We refused to take what we had not ordered. Mr. Khan left the table saying unpleasant things which were clearly meant to be overheard. We asked the boxes for biryani, paid the bill and left with the most horrible experience in a...

Let me say that I absolutely love Indian food, North Indian especially.

Well, well, well where do I start. This review is basically based on atmosphere as I did not eat anything in this restaurant.

When I walked in a strong odor hit me and immediately I noticed the carpet was old, dingy and maybe not clean. OK, my food is not going to be served on the carpet and a lot of DC restaurants are very old.

There was another customer ahead of me at the counter ordering and I waited my turn. I looked around to pick a table l would like to sit as we were the only two customer's. I look to the table on my right and OMG there's a big A roach right on top of the table cloth. I almost did a Matrix backing up.

My turn comes and I let the young man behind the counter know I would like to dine in. I also mentioned the big A roach I had just seen. He said he would handle it. I pick a table closer to the entrance .

I had one bottled beer, did not want to use their glasses. On the way to the bathroom there are these blue laundry style bags and just trashed. What I saw of the kitchen was not good. Two clear plastic containers with I don't know what inside on the counter. Yeah! I was done.

The two stars is for the bathroom that was not terrible but had cobwebs with large insects in them. Paid for my beer and I was gone. The big A roach was still on the table on my way out.

Yes DC has old buildings, but , I have been to many restaurants big and small and had a very pleasant experience. I just did not feel confident or comfortable enough to eat here....