Amsterdam Falafelshop: Maybe It's Better In Amsterdam

This is a textbook case of Yelp! steering people the wrong way. With more than 850 reviews as of this writing and an impressive 4 ½-star average, photos of delicious-looking falafel sandwiches, and glowing highlights (including a ringing endorsement of the peanut sauce for the french fries), it seems like this is the place to go for falafel in Washington, D.C.

Its location in the hip Adams Morgan neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of the city probably has something to do with its popularity, but the half-mile trek from the train station isn't worth it unless you're already drunk on 18^th Street NW, the main drag with all the bars in the neighborhood.

That's because even though the food is fairly good, with a generous and creative array of toppings and sauces — the Turkish salad, hummus, red pepper sauce, and garlic cream sauce are good — the service definitely leaves something to be desired. And that's pretty hard to mess up at a build-your-own falafel sandwich place. How about a rude, slow cashier who leaves to take out the trash while your falafel's fried up, and who later returns to pack your food to-go without washing his hands? We don't think so.

Here's what we think: Maybe everyone else who's been to this sorry, dirty excuse of a falafel shop just hasn't had better. Because this one's definitely a joke. Case closed.