by kiah r.

prince cafe... i mean its college hookah at its finest. sketchy plaza, dark to cover the fact that the place is rundown and pretty gross, tables and chairs falling apart but somehow never managing to break. i mean its an experience, but i love it. ive been there a bunch on nights when i dont want to drink. ive never had the food, so i cant comment on it but the shisha is ok, ive had better, but i mean at  like $12 a pop theres nothing better. the bathrooms are kinda gross looking, but fairly clean. the staff are just about as sketchy as the place and they play some sort of ethic music and foreign tv.  its one of those place you go to because its cheap and you can pretty much act however you want because the owners dont care and the ppl next to you prob dont either. i would strongly advise making sure you use caps on the hose though. putting a bare mouth on that thingwould probably give you herpes or something.

by Rachel A.

When we walked into the restaurant, very dark, gloomy place.  There was a guy sitting at a table on a laptop, who turned out to be the person who was supposed to take our order, but never welcomed us or awknowledged our presence until we interrupted him to ask him.  Terrible service, wouldnt even give us tap water, he said it was "unavailable" and that if we wanted a drink we would have to choose a bottled drink.  Place seemed dirty and sketchy.  I eat out at least once a day, and this place has the worst service I have ever received so far.  I would never return again and wouldnt reccommend this location to anyone.  Overall, though, food was fine, nothing spectacular.

by Nataliya N.

This is not the fanciest place in town (but then it IS in College Park).  However the atmosphere is very chill and my friends and I were regulars during the past semester. The great thing about this place is that it's open till 4 in the morning. I'm not a big fan of the food, but it is decent and especially decent after you've been drinking and don't feel like stuffing yourself with McDonalds. Lots of good vegeterian dishes and the Saag Paneer is quite good there as well. Their salads are disappointing and you have to ask for dressing. The service varies and at the beginning we would be ignored for up to an half an hour, especially on a busy night. However, because we came so often, we were seated, waited on, and served right away usually. The music was one of the things I really liked about this place. Sometimes, they do play it so loud that you can't really hear the person sitting across from you talking. On occassion, especially if you walk in earlier than 10, they play Egyptian/Lebanese soap operas which can get kind of annoying when you want to hear the music. In reality, most people come for the hookah which comes in many different flavors. I wouldn't recommend rose or Jasmine because they taste like soap. The vanilla and chocolate are disappointing. However, the double apple, apricot, cherry, and strawberry are probably the best flavors. I like some of the more exotic flavors like Zaghlool, but to each their own. Fun place to hang out and relax with your friends, but avoid it if you hate smoke.

by Jennifer F.

This place is so horrible, I've been here about five times and each time it's just as miserable as the last. I was still going to CP when this place first opened. The first time I came here I smoked hookah and it was fun, so  I came back again.  But the place gets worse and worse, and dirtier and dirtier. Last time I came the bathroom was a pigsty and the toilet was broken and dirty pape towels were everywhere on the floor.  My last trip here was the worst (winter of 2007)! I came with a group of friend's and we sat at a table near the window. About four of us were smoking, and there was a  girl with us who came late and sat down with us. She was hanging out with us and didn't smoke. We were having a pretty good time until one of the owners yelled at us and said the girl who came late had to pay $10 if she wanted to stay (this is back when they had the $10 min. charge per person for hookah).  The thing is she wasn't even smoking and I think all she ordered was a soda. What kind of place yells at their customers? We didn't take up much more space than before she came. And she didn't even touch the hookah, she's not even a smoker. Plus we already had like 4 ppl smokeing the hookah, how much more money do these ppl need to rip off from their customers!?!  We ended up paying the ten extra bucks to avoid an argument and left right after! I will never go back here again. Service is slow, and the staff is rude, and the place was dirty. Too bad this is the only hookah place in CP, horrible.

by S S.

been there probably 3 times now...and i wudnt rave abt the service or the decor....but I agree with Nataliya (below) - it's College Park. :)The food is relli good though...I love all of their chicken dishes....it has a  good veggie menu as well.Another +ve is that its open till late. We generally go thr after watching bollywood movies @ laurel. The wait staff is not the friendliest. They keep pestering you up until you order your food and then dont bother to come and checkup if everything is alrite or not. The food def. deserves the 3 *.

by Luda E.

gross .. like gas station bathroom gross.

by Alexandra M.

I am really angry at the Prince people. Are you guys listening? Clean up your restaurants, clean your hookahs (which are really filthy, people), and bring back the delicious menu at reasonable prices you used to have in years past. The prices have gone up while quality and service have gone down, down, down. You built your reputation on a fun place where people could hang out, play backgammon and dominoes, smoke a clean pipe, and eat really great kabobs all without breaking the bank. I want THAT Prince back.

by N S.

Ah, Prince Cafe. Where to begin? Oh, I know: how about the multiple health code violations!Let's see, from http://www.washingtonp...: "Closed June 4 [2008] for inadequate refrigeration, operating without a certified food manager on duty, improper food temperatures and improper food handling." And I know I've seen it somewhere before that they've been shut down for not having hot water.  How can you run a business like this and still have a conscience?!The food is, as you can guess, terrible. They used to have delicious shrimp wraps. Not anymore. The food is enough to make you vomit, and nearly made me spill the shrimp and the questionable, white sauce everywhere in their disgusting establishment.Speaking of which, the place is probably so dimly lit to hide how disgusting it is. Their pipes are somewhat redeeming but not worth sitting in the shadows, squinting desperately through a haze of smoke, to enjoy.The service is terrible. You are lucky to get the attention of your waiter at all for even the most minor of requests. I guess they think that all college students are unwilling to tip, or maybe they just feel some continuing sense of envy that they can't be the ones out having fun. Well, suck it up. You chose to work at the damn hookah bar, now drop the attitude.Speaking of attitude, you should watch some of the arguments I've been in over the bill amounts at Prince. You are ALWAYS overcharged at Prince. Always. They scribble some random amount down on a pad of paper and expect you to pay it. Varying explanations have been raised, but the consensus by most people is that the proprietors, who are Egyptian, are racist against non-Middle Easterners. NOT a good way to run a business in America. In conclusion, you are way better off going to Mosaic, conveniently located in the same shopping center as Prince. Or to any classier hookah establishment in DC or Baltimore. Just for the love of God, don't go here. Tell all your friends to do the same. I'd love to see these clods go out of business.

by claudia n.

I've been here a couple times with friends and eh, I don't really like it much. There's always this really sketchy looking man who seats you and serves you food and he is....not mean, but at the same time not nice. I had the pomegranate and rose flavors and they were not very good at all. The whole place is dark and I'm fine with that, but at the same time it's extremely dirty. The bathroom is a mess and the food's not good at all. It's always quite expensive if they rip you off, which happened to me. So just beware of the sketchy guy and know what you're paying for

by Jonathan H.

This is the worst Middle Eastern food I've ever had.I'm Lebanese, so I expect better when I walk into a restaurant boasting Lebanese food. I ordered kibi, and they were out. I then ordered cabbage rolls, and they were out. I usually don't have three backups, so I grazed the menu for a while. When I looked up, the server was gone. I found him sitting down in one of the booths as though he was a customer, and I ordered a kebab and hummus. We also had a hookah brought to the table, but I barely used it. The mouthpiece looked like a science experiment, even with the lip condom, and the flavor was cheap fumes.When our food came out, I almost lost my mind. They served us on PAPER PLATES. C'mon people. For $10 a plate, you think they could afford some cheap Ikea plates. Hey Prince Cafe! Ikea is directly across the street from you! Get to it!I picked up the kebab and it disintegrated like a wet napkin, and oozed some sauce that doesn't normally come on kebabs all over my hands. I dried off with my deluxe paper napkin and mumbled my dismay.The place was dirty, the food was horrific, and I am sorely disappointed.

by shieva r.

Let me just start off by saying I've been here more times than I'm willing to admit and I have no clue why....I don't dislike this place but it's definitely not a favorite either.The hookahs are always good, the food and service on the other hand stink. The place is filthy, there are burn marks everywhere and there is always a creepy dude staring you down but it's what everyone (well at least I) has come to expect from prince. It's open late, good for a more casual evening or when you run out of better things to do in college park.