Panache

Nice place to have happy hours in groups or singles… They have the bar and dining area… The bar is decent… nice ambiance with modern lighting… Crab cakes and calamari are decent.

Honestly this would have been 5 star if it wasn’t for the manager who was acting as host when we came in. Food was excellent! This is the type of stuff I love so I lost my mind a little bit…
Crab & Corn Chowder
Calamari Fritti
Gnocchi de Patate
Gamberoni in Tempura (only thing that wasn’t amazing)
Some sort of taco (can’t find it on the online menu)
Positives
Great selection of food
Excellent flavors
The small plates are great, don’t even need to order entrees — I was stuffed and had to take half of everything except the soup to go
One of the only places not in the mall that is open in that weird Tysons Corner black hole where every restaurant is closed between 3 and 5pm
Negatives
Little pricey but honestly that was ok since everything tasted so good
Manager was a bit of an ass-​hat
So we were hungry and missed lunch and decided to have late lunch/​early dinner… literally went to three restaurants and this was the only one open. We came in and no one was there to greet us, so we stood around waiting, crickets… so we called them LOL when the manager walked up to answer the phone we hung up and asked to be seated. What can I say, it worked even if it was a bit unconventional. He was super rude until about the third dish was served and then out of the blue his attitude did a 180 and he was cool and cracking jokes with us, bizarre.

Overpriced for the quantity and quality of food youre getting, take very long to cook even when business is slow. Very nice atmosphere however.
Waiter was pleasant but mustve been somewhat new because he didnt know very much about the menu.
While on the topic, the menu is very small for a restaurant the serves italian.
They were nice enough to bring free dessert for my sister since it was her birthday.
Location is kind of inconvenient.

my dedicated troupe of happy hour-​ers have vowed to NEVER go back here. we work in tysons have been to pretty much every happy hour in the area and this is the one place whose doors we’ll never darken again. why? allow me to make you a list!
— the manager is MEAN! i honestly don’t know why he works in this industry. lack of options maybe? bitter busboy sludged his way to the top? he yelled at us for moving chairs
— the service is horrific. the most basic requests, like for extra napkins, cause a lot of confusion and attitude
— the clincher was when we arrived one night to kill time because of gridlock in the area. there was nowhere to sit in the bar area so we headed to the dining room and the manager STOPPED US because he wanted to verify that we would be ordering food. seriously? i should have ordered a croûton and layed across 3 chairs in your ghost town of a dining room. we ordered dinner (as planned) but our pregnant friend had a craving for the wings on the happy hour menu. manager of the year refused to let her, despite the fact that the other 6 of us had ordered entrees. one of us went to the kitchen and talked to the staff to make it happen.
suck it panache! i can’t wait for you to crash and burn! i have a better time at subway.

It’s been a while since I went to Panache, and honestly, I have mixed feelings about the restaurant.
1) It’s often… empty, or close to it. The bar is sometimes crowded but the dining room is rarely full when I’ve been. And I don’t eat at crazy times. This past time was around 7pm on a Thursday and there were 4 tables other than us. The restaurant has a very large dining room with vast ceilings (it’s a beautiful dining room), and not having too many tables full just makes it feel very empty. It can be a bit strange, and often makes us wonder…“how come no one else eats here?” We figure maybe they do a big lunch crowd, considering the location, smack-​dab in the middle of Tysons?
2) The food is good. One thing that I really like is that you can order half portions of the pasta dishes, which is more than enough for me and my husband. Granted, there aren’t leftovers, but it’s a great way to not get too full and keep the bill down. I also found myself feeling like I liked the bread more last time. I think they used to give you more than one variety but this time there was just one, and the aioli seemed more mayonnaise-​y than I remembered. I ordered the burrata salad with fresh tomatoes and my husband had the tuna tartare — both were extremely fresh and delicious. For dinner, my husband had the lamb ragu with fresh pappardelle (love that they make some pastas in-​house) and I had the gnocchi with scallops. I had a glass of Chardonnay (freezing cold!) and my husband had a glass of Pinot (warm!). Their wine prices by the glass are a bit on the high side.
3) Service is good. We tend to have the same waiter a lot. On this particular evening, I think he was actually the only waiter working, and between the tables in the dining room and the bar (which was crowded) he seemed pretty overworked but still gave us plenty of attention. The food did come out pretty slowly though — we saw a ton of food going to the bar so I wonder if the kitchen was a bit overworked too.
Bonus — Unilocal offered a $ 10 for $ 20 deal which I purchased on the fly while I was halfway through my meal…
So I guess to sum it up…“good”. Or as Unilocal puts it — «A-​OK.» I wouldn’t go out of my way to dine here, but I know I’ll have a solid meal if I do.

One word…“oh-dear-god”. What a fiasco. It was my friend’s birthday and five of us got together to celebrate. This restaurant was my pick (and I’m embarrassed to admit this).
We entered this restaurant and realized that it was happy hour. We sat down at a table and inquired whether we could «cash in» on lower-​priced drinks. Our waiter, Charles, said that we could… but that we would have to go to the bar (and that wouldn’t be «nice»). So, we ordered full price drinks and continued to endure the WRATH OF CHARLES. This was one odd waiter.
My friends had questions about the drink menu and he was curt and unhelpful. I asked him if he was new, or perhaps wasn’t aware of other clients’ preferences and he was suddenly abashed and pandered to us a bit, asking a wine steward to come to our table.
Throughout the meal, he was inattentive and socially awkward. We asked him to take our picture, and relented, but never did so, instead handing our cameras to a busboy.
The food was mediocre. My one friend ordered the sea bass, which she said was tasty. Others ordered the tuna, salmon and chicken marsala, entrees which were all subpar.
We will never again step foot in this establishment. Although the ambience is lovely (truly), the food and waiter queered us from ever returning to this restaurant.

We discovered this gem as a result of a Groupon deal. We were quite pleasantly surprised to find a jazz quartet setting up in the lounge and decided to enjoy our meal there instead of in the dining room. Service was attentive, but not rushed.
The food was wonderful. The Prosciutto di Parma, Mozzarella di Bufala e Zucchini was an imaginative start to a great meal. The filet with my Mushroom Risotto was perfectly charred and flavorful. The risotto was creamy, delicious and loaded with fresh mushrooms. My husband really enjoyed the hearty Bolognese dish he selected. Unfortunately, we did not save room for dessert. We did however enjoy a nice bottle of wine from their fairly extensive list. We would definitely return for another perfectly romantic date night!

Don’t waste your money on this place, Service sucks, manager is an asshole.

We went here for a dinner with a client. Started off with the waitress screwing up the cork on the bottle of wine, not once but twice. Then service was very slow, then the food came and it was bland and not very good.
Then came desert, a large menu and comedy of errors by the waitress. They didn’t have half of the deserts on the menu coming back and forth.
When deciding to order a scotch the same issue, all 6 on the menu, nope. So settled for something else.
Embarrassing…

Came here twice now for happy hour and have been dissappointed, especially with my 2^nd visit.
Service here is great, I’ll give them that. But, it’s hard to please customers when the kitchen behind you puts out horrible food.
The calamari was extremely tough, to the point that it was inedible. This dish was sent back and came out with the exact same texture.
The pizza was extremely soggy and reminded me of microwavable Celeste pizza (Celeste being better).
The hummus was the worst hummus I’ve ever had. There was entirely too much sesame in the hummus, overpowering the dish. The level of sesame was so high that this was the first time I’ve experienced «sesame» breath. Think garlic breath, but sesame instead.
It’s really too bad because this place is beautifully done, with really tasteful décor, great ambience and bar none service. Fix the food and I’ll be back!

My co-​workers and I wanted to change our frequent HH locations so decided to come to Panache. This place has gone downhill since the last time I brought people here for drinks and fun. Not only has HH specials gone up (no biggie, happens) but the food was downright inedible. How can you mess up margherita pizza, chicken wings, and calamari? There are 25+ establishments within a half mile radius that serves that kind of food and Panache served it the worst! Service was the only thing that was still good.
We asked for the check, bounced, and went to another HH location where food/​drinks were always reliable, plus half the price! Old Panache, please come back!

HH Review: 3.5 stars
The drink specials are affordable, particularly for the area and upscale ambience. $ 6 rail cocktails, house wines, and select martinis. $ 1 off bottled beers. $ 3 Bud Light and Heineken Light. I’ll take it!
The food specials were for some run-​of-​the-​mill bar food. I tried the calamari fritti, spicy chicken wings (deceiving! definitely not spicy), and pizza margherita. All were fairly average.
What I appreciated most here was the service.
HH (i.e., the bar) was really crowded so the hostess came over and offered to put our food order in for us. A nice gesture. While the food itself might’ve been mediocre, all of it came out in under 10 minutes. After a long day at work and a deprived stomach, that kind of speediness counts for a lot in my book.

An excellent place for a happy hour and small eats at the cozy bar! It’s tucked away behind all of the traffic madness in Tysons Corner. Dinner is on the expensive side but nice drinks at the bar, prompt and friendly service!

Panache is an upscale restaurant and bar. The crowd is mixed, but on the times I went there it was always the business-​happy hour goers crowd.
One year ago, I got all my friends together and hosted a happy hour there for my birthday. There were only two bartenders behind the counter, but everyone was getting their drinks, the bartenders did not seem flustered, and were very nice to my group of friends. The manager came out and personally thanked me for coming, wished me a happy birthday and got me a small bottle of champagne. It was a lovely experience. The drinks are a little pricier than usual, but the service and atmosphere make up for it!
Two weeks ago, for my cousin’s 30^th birthday bash, her friends rented out the back room. It was a GREAT space for a party, big or small. Private bar, ample seats, and facing the window. There weren’t many of us, but the privacy made us feel like rock stars :) For dinner, I ordered the risotto, my sister Kimberly V. ordered the tuna tar tar. Both were delicious. ALong with the party, my cousin had ordered steak appetizers and crabcakes, which were set up buffet style and very delicious.
Because of my two nice experiences there, I will say that Panache is A-​OK in my book! :) I would highly recommend this venue for a private party or special event. :)

I have been to this location for dinner and for corporate events, but as they were in the past I’ll focus this review on the Happy Hour experience I had last night.
We were there on a Friday night at about 5:30 (Happy Hour is from 4 – 8 on weekday nights) and there were quite a few tables full of patrons. We were able to secure only one chair near the bar, but despite the crowded atmosphere, we were served right away. There were several drink specials, even on martinis, which I appreciate, not the usual tasteless draft beer or cheap wine.
The service once we moved to a table was wonderful. When even one of us was almost finished with our drink, the waiter came around and asked if we wanted another. Yet, when we were winding down and had stopped drinking around 7:30, he did not pester us constantly if we wanted more rounds or more to eat.
I will definitely come back here for happy hour — the drinks were inexpensive for the area and caliber and the food was great for happy hour munchies.

Panache is a dream for yuppies like me.
+ Beautiful, lush atmosphere
+ Affordable happy hour prices on wine, cocktails and food
+ Large open bar that is suitable for office happy hours and birthday gatherings
+ Delicious selection of food to please any palette
+ Helpful and friendly service to boot
Por ejemplo, my sister Kat V hosted a large group of people for happy hour here for her last birthday. When the manager realized this, he presented her with own mini bottle of champagne wrapped up with a big pink bow. He wasn’t popping Cristal or anything but that little gesture cemented our gratitude for life.
As for food, they make an exemplary mushroom risotto — creamy, flavorful and with a bite perfect for vegetarians and meatarian a like. I am also a fan of their tuna tartare which is served with wonton chips. It’s so good, that I’d like to order two of this dish as an appetizer and entrée the next time I come in!
Panache, you certainly live up to your name!

The management, specifically the general manager Reza Sabahi is the epitome of unprofessionalism. I have seen him yell at customers and staff with a condescending tone. I do not see how he has been the GM there for four years!!! If you have some sort of a complaint as a patron, he asks customers to leave and states that he «doesn’t need your business.»
Depending on the wait staff, you can either have a great dinner or horrible service, most likely the latter. And as for the bartenders, the drinks vary among each, so there lacks a consistency factor. By far, the best bartender there is Mike; he makes great drinks and provides the friendliest service. There was an instance where I was at the bar and saw two women getting terrible service by the bartender Ilona and on the tip line wrote «if you provided better service and was more attentive to your customers I would’ve tipped you.» They left a big fat $ 0, wow. If that doesn’t say it, then I don’t know what does.
The food is mediocre at best. People don’t go to Panache for the food obviously; it’s more for the atmosphere and décor. So the Happy Hour is… well not so happy. Most of the happy hour items taste like they were previously frozen and heavily overpriced and the portions are tiny. I order the gnocchi and I was like, where’s the rest of it? What an overpriced tapa! The wine list by the glass is ridiculously overpriced; I went to the liquor store and a bottle of De Loach Pinot Noir is $ 12; but they sell each glass at $ 12, what a mark up!!!
Conceptually, this place could be great but the service coupled with the so-​so food makes this a one star for sure.

FOOD: Overpriced and mediocre.
SERVICE: Friendly, but disorganized.
ATMOSPHERE: Work dinners and 40+
The waitress was very nice, but she was either not experienced or just not familiar with the menu. She not very good at making suggestions — either she never tasted the food to be able to articulate the menu or maybe there was a language issue. Her personal recommendation was for the chicken pasta because she likes the cream… we passed and both went with her other recommendation for the Chilean Sea Bass. It was moist and flavorful, but it was cooked in way too much olive oil and salt (I am bit upset at myself as I don’t think it’s off the Oceana list).
We also ordered the Lobster Ravioli to split as an appetizer — the inside had a lot of ‘meat ‚’ but I don’t think it was lobster. It was dry and looked a bit like soggy shredded wheat. They were a bit stingy with the sauce as well, which would have salvaged the dish.
They gave us some popcorn with parmesan and parsley sprinkled on it. The waiter said, «compliments of the house.» It was about 5 pieces of cold and almost stale popcorn. We would have much appreciated some warm bread instead as it took a while for the Lobster Ravioli appetizer to come out.
The Tiramisu was teeny, tiny… I think the alcohol was on the bottom of the dessert in the sauce, not in the layers of the cake. At least the waitress was honest about this being made fresh daily, as we had asked her whether she knew if the blueberry sauce on the cheesecake was homemade or from a jar… I suspect that the Tiramisu would not have been that much better.
The waitstaff was super nice and friendly, but they were disorganized. Each and every time we had a dish delivered to our table, we didn’t have utensils…
The décor is definitely cheesy… When I was driving to the location, I was a bit embarrassed to tell my friend that I had no clue it looked like some place from Housewives or Jersey Shore. As someone else commented, the décor is a bit «confused.» The place is definitely flamboyant, but not in a tasteful way.
With two glasses of wine, the total bill for the two of us was about $ 120 without tip. I would recommend plenty of other places in the Tysons Corner area for comparable food at better prices.

I was on a business trip in McLean, VA with no rental car, this was one of the better choices around to eat. Great Happy Hour special… in a very classy environment.
For Happy Hour special, have to sit at the bar.
4−8pm (Mon-​Fri)
5−8pm (Sat)
My colleague and I ordered the following wings and calamari for $ 5 each. Calamari was delish. Drinks range from $ 4 to $ 5.
After Happy Hour, my colleague and I sat to eat dinner. Very classy environment. We ordered the following:
1) Mozzerella Caprese —
2) Half order of Fettuccine Frutti di Mare — Jumbo sea scallops, gulf shrimp, chopped clams & fresh mussels sautéed with garlic, basil and white wine, finished with our home made marinara sauce — my colleague ordered this and enjoyed his
3) Half order of Parpadelle with Ragout of Lamb — Hand rolled pasta topped with our house specialty, slow braised ragù of lamb — I, of course, ordered this and LOVED it. YUM!
4) Tartelletta Nutella —
We polished off an entire bottle of Chianto Rocca. =)
Their Amuse Bouche was made with beets (and some other stuff that I don’t remember at this point). It was delish.

Interior décor was faboosh, from the bar to the dining area. It gave a warm modern abstract vibe. Unfortunately, when a girlfriend and I visited for the first time, the lounge was closed off to a private party. So we were seated at the dining area and we nibbled on divinely delicious bruschetta and calamari fritti and drank a bottle of cabernet napa valley.
Our server was not knowledgeable when we asked about their cheese selection but she brought another server over to answer our question and we had a nice first experience.
Definitely two thumbs up!