The knives are sharp now and it only took a day from drop off to pick up for the job to be done…read more Good prices as well. Service was the opposite but my brother covered that in his review and John decided to text me after the fact wanting his review to pertain only to the knife sharpening so here that is. Also for the sake of accuracy the refund he mentions in his reply took 5 hours not 1. Not a huge deal.

I will start by saying that all the knives we had sharpened looked great and were extremely sharp…read moreafter using this service. This is a very mixed review because, up until we got our knives, the entire experience couldn't possibly have been easier or more pleasant. For some context, I live out of state, so all of my communication was over the phone or over text. The owner was extremely friendly on the phone and I arranged to pay in advance to sharpen 6 knives (the price was very reasonable). As this was a gift for family members, I gave him the name of my father as the recipient of the knives. However, somewhat confusingly, I then asked my brother who lives in the area to bring the knives in to be sharpened. The owner charged my brother for the service and my brother paid, both clearly misunderstanding that I paid in advance. This is where the entire service became unbelievably disappointing. The owner went back and forth with my brother about how unlikely it would have been that I paid in advance given that he normally asks customers to pay after he completes the sharpening job. After I sent screenshots of our earlier conversation and of my payment, the owner agreed to pay my brother back for the double payment. All was well and good except the owner sent my brother a text message saying "You all couldn't have made this more difficult". I concede that we weren't entirely clear in our communication but this is simply not any way to talk to customers who, lest we forget, had just paid for your service and apologized for our mistake. I was genuinely so excited to work with a small local business who, up to that point, was extremely friendly and helpful. Based on other reviews this is almost certainly an outlier which made it all the more bizarre. So, aside from a single completely unacceptable comment made in response to a common customer mistake, the service was everything we could have wanted and I hope he continues to provide great service in the future.

For those of you who remember Alicia from Williams-Sonoma at the RTC, Jeannette has taken over the…read morebusiness. Same great service. She sharpened 7 knives, one a serrated bread knife, a poultry shears and a set of scissors for me. All done in an hour or so. Great results, even for someone guilty of putting knives in the dishwasher (Ina Garten, I'm looking at you!).

Thanks so much for the very fine work you did on my knives.  I thought they were a lost cause!…read more Amazing craftsmanship at such a reasonable price!!!!!! Neil Ashburn

All parts of my transaction with Potomac Sharpening was smooth. From reaching out to Matt to then…read morecompleting the work and picking it up. The quality of the work is precise and worth every penny that you spend to have your knives honed. I do it once a year and Matt is my go to. I tell everyone about him, including Reddit. Come to Potomac Sharpening, you will not be disappointed. You have contactless drop-off and pickup. Virtual payment. Pleasant communication. What more can you want?

Matt is the knife whisperer. I had a couple of problematic blades that I had been putting off doing…read moreanything about for some time. One was a Vietnam war era combat dagger. The Gerber Mark 2 was a thing of beauty when I first acquired it years ago. But my sons had ruined the blade doing what teenagers do when they get into things that don't belong to them. I thought the blade was a goner, but held out hope that someone might be able to restore it. The other one was a cleaver I had purchased thinking it would have the same functionality as a chef's knife only to find out that the edge profile was more suited to chopping firewood. Matt worked some magic. I wish I had taken a "before" picture of the dagger so you could appreciate the extent of the damage he had to address. The "after" picture (see below) was truly remarkable. It was literally like nothing had ever happened to the blade. As for the Wüsthof cleaver, Matt reshaped the edge profile so that it more nearly resembled a wicked sharp Asian cleaver. Just what I was after. Fabulous work. Matt didn't just sharpen my knives. He completely reshaped their blades AND sharpened them. Highly recommended.

kevin was extremely quick to respond to my request. scheduled an appointment within hours of me…read morereaching out. came to my house, sharpened 3 knives for me, and returned the knives. extremely polite, and great price. will definitely use his services again

My knives are so sharp now. The convenience of putting my knives to be sharpened by my front door…read moreand then having the flawlessly sharpened knives returned to the same location is a real time saver. The Chef's Edge gives you a time frame when they will pickup your knives and it is same day service! It couldn't be easier to have sharpened knives with this clever business. They send a text message when your knives are done and include a PayPal link. Don't have a PayPal account? No worries! Once you push the invoice link sent to you, it gives other payment methods. Couldn't be happier with this Veteran owned business.

I loved my kitchen knife. It was perfect in every way except the rotten wood handle. I wasn't able…read moreto get the same kind of knife anywhere. Therefore, I asked Victor to make a custom handle that looked just like the old one. He made one with solid durable wood and it looks just like the old one! Exceptional workmanship indeed. He let me borrow a loaner knife when my knife was under repair. He sharpened my knife free of charge. Top notch customer service! Attached are photos showing before and after.

I sent Victor details for a quote on Yelp last Saturday morning and he got back to me in what…read moreseemed like just a few minutes. He was happy to take my knives on short notice and gave me a two-day turnaround window, which he met. The knives looked incredible and are unbelievably sharp - which Victor demonstrated by sending me videos before my pickup of him using the knives to slice through water bottles. I trusted his work, but I still appreciated the additional service of showing me his handiwork before I picked up. He was flexible with dropoff and pickup times - I picked up in the evening after dinner, and he was kind enough to give me a lesson in using a honing rod, including recommending a rod to me. No affiliate link, just him making a recommendation as a pro. Victor was friendly and professional. His work was excellent and reasonably priced. I will definitely be back to Victor whenever I need sharpening! Thanks, Victor!

Dropped hedge trimmers, a set of pruners and six kitchen knives off to Paul on Thursday afternoon…read moreand he texted me on Saturday morning and said they were ready. Went to pick them up Saturday late evening. He put the knives in cardboard sheaths and I pulled one out slightly to check the work and the edge of the knife cut my thumb - that fast. I barely touched it. I guess they're sharp lol.

Easy drop off and pick up. Great service and communication with the owner. The value of this…read moreservice will have me returning in the future.

Kitchen knives sharpened overnight. Kitchen knives sharpened overnight. Kitchen knives sharpened…read moreovernight

Gary is a craftsman, clearly knows exactly what he is doing and can sharpen anything. Not just…read morehappy with the result, I was impressed with how my chef's knives turned out and the blade was not all marked up when he was finished. The knives may be better than new! I cannot believe the difference in performance...definitely waited too long for this preventative maintenance. I plan to follow up by having a few other knives, shears, tree trimmers, etc. sharpened. You will not be disappointed -

I brought in my Breville Oracle Touch (BES990) for an electrical issue. What I got back was a…read moretextbook example of how not to run a repair business. The "diagnosis" was a sales pitch, not an evaluation. I was told the machine was "ruined by bad water quality" and had a "totally worn out burr." My grinder had no issues whatsoever, and conical burrs don't wear out from normal home use in 2.5 years. The actual fault was electrical (a triac board), which has nothing to do with water or coffee beans. The estimate was arbitrary. The quote was around $390-450 and included replacing grinder parts that worked perfectly fine. When I asked for a revised estimate without the unnecessary grinder repair, the total only dropped by $50--the cost of the parts--while the labor charge didn't move at all, despite the reduced scope. When I questioned this, I was told they're "usually good with their estimates" and it wouldn't be adjusted. The estimate also came with the caveat that it "might cost more" later, despite being presented as a firm quote. They worked on my machine without authorization. I never signed off on any repair, yet on a later phone call they admitted they had already worked on the triac board. I never gave permission for any work to be performed. The machine was returned unassembled--and they didn't tell me. When I picked it up, only the top cover had been placed back on. The internal hoses and temperature sensors were left loose and unsecured. As a result, water leaked over the internal components during my drive home. I was never warned the machine hadn't been reassembled. They held my property for months, then sent back the wrong part. They kept my portafilter and basket and promised to mail them. After more than two months and three phone calls--each time being told they'd ship "the next day"--what finally arrived was not my portafilter at all. It was someone else's worn-out, broken portafilter, caked with dirt and grime. I cannot recommend this business. The diagnosis was unsupported, the estimate was inflated and inflexible, work was performed without my consent, the machine was returned in a worse and unsafe condition, and after months of delay they returned someone else's damaged equipment instead of mine.

Stay away from this scam "business". They work out of a residential townhouse among many neighbors…read more Just the look of it - townhouse garage full of disassembled coffee machines in the middle of residential neighborhood in Ashburn should have scared me away. The scam scheme works as follows: 1. Charged $130 for what they call diagnostics. 2. They provided an estimate for $665.50 for the total of $795.50. I declined and took the machine to a normal store with a normal storefront in the middle of a small town center. This other place did not charge me for diagnostics. The cost of repair - $120. Compare with Cafe Techs $795.50. I have both Cafe Techs estimate and the receipt from the latter shop. This is true that I lost $130 with the Cafe Techs, but very glad I saved $665.50. Cafe Techs have absolutely zero customer skills and zero appearance of any decency. They called my machine a trash - a $1,900 Italian espresso machine (Anita Evo by Quickmill) and also blamed on the what they called "wrong coffee beans" - wile I usually use respected Lavazza or Illy, - both respected Italian specialty coffee beans. Because they wanted me to also buy the beans they sell) Andreas also was throwing my machine twice on the countertop (about 50 LBS machine). This so called "business" does not even reply to emails for weeks.