Kabob Bazaar

We always have problem with this resturant either in Arlington or Bethesda. They are some type of Persian foods such as Kale Pache and Dizi that they need to be served with bread and they cannot be eaten without bread. Both locations of this resturant serve only little bit of bread with these kind of foods and the customer have to beg for the bread after that. We were in the Arlington location tonight and our food got cold while we were waiting for the bread to come. When my husband went to talk to the person who apparently was the shift manager or as he claimed he was the manager of the resturant, his response was so rude and was unbelievable from a resturant supervisor to talk like that with a customer. He said that he does not have bread ready and we have to wait for it to be baked !!! Well that’s not right first of all ! For the food that has to be served with bread it’s not acceptable to not have bread ready in case customer ask for it. When someone order Kabab with rice, can you bring Kabab and bring the rice after the Kabab gets cold and claim that the rice was not ready ??? Secondly, even if that was the case, he could gently and nicely say that, and apologized for not having bread ready instead of being rude .
We have been a regular customer of Kabab Bazar and I have never seen him there, but he was claiming that he was the manager.
That does not end there though ! After that, he started complaining to other staff about our request of getting bread (kind of talking behind us but talking loudly that we could hear him from our table) and that was when my friend and my husband got so mad and went to him to told him that’s not nice to talk such a thing behind your customer, but he ignored totally and he changed his words. The young guy who was our server was a very nice guy and He was keep apologizing and even brought us tea at the end and tried to make us comfortable at the end which was so nice of him but that’s usually a supervisor duty to make the customer calm and happy, not the server. Anyway, my rating for my tonight’s experience at Arlington location was even less than 0. My husband did not finish his food since he was so mad and disappointed that he could not eat after that ! To Kabab Bazar owner and staff I have a question: As resturant, are you satisfied with your service now? Your customer walks in hungry and leaves hungry too???. If that’s your goal and mission, then I am sorry about that !!!

Great location! Open air dining available too outside! The chicken kabobs are excellent! Lamb kabob was good too! The persian ice cream is to die for!
The chicken soup however, sucked and baklava was a little dry. However, you go there for the kabobs so all in all a pretty good place!

We visited this restaurant after a long time to see if it can be a go to kabob place for us… I will give the pros and cons:
Pros: location! This place is located on a nice alrigton street and it has an outdoor seating so it’s nice when the weather is good. Also, price wise it’s really good with compare to other Iranian restaurants… their bread is very good and they give u free sabzi which is around $ 5 at other restaurants…
Cons:
Their service!!! Even though the waiters and waitresses are nice but they don’t do their job right! They are not experienced.
We had asked go have our kabobs in one dish so we can all share and it came individually. Not just that, we had to remind them to bring our drinks, they forgot one side dish we had ordered, and they were supposed to mix the eggs (raw egg yolks, it’s an Iranian thing) in the kitchen when the rice was hot but they forgot. Anyways basically they didn’t do anything right!!! My husband and my brother said the kabobs were ok but I didn’t like them at all. One more thing is that yes the price is very fair but the portions are average. Not like Amoo’s or shamshiri or Alboz, which are very large
We will try this place one more time to get dizi but for kabob never!
I will revise my review then!

My go to persian food pick up place. I normally get the Chenjeh or chicken shishkabob. And for appetizers the kashk o bademjoon is really good, its my favorite appetizer so i always order it at every Persian restaurant and they have the second best kashk o bademjoon in the DMV area! The service is good and the people who work there are very kind !

We came in 20 min before closing and the server was nice and didn’t seem bother to seat us when we asked if we were okay to sit.
Food came out quickly and delicious. Warm bread was good.
We didn’t have to ask/​wait for refill for our drinks. Outside seating was comfortable and clean.

Great food! Very tender ground beef and boneless chicken. Very family oriented establishment.

There is so much more to Persian food than just kabobs, and I have realized that thanks to Kabob Bazaar. I cannot praise their Specials menu enough, but unfortunately those specials are only offered on the weekend. I personally love the FESENJOON (chicken in a pomegranate sauce), but everything else that I’ve tried on their special menu has also been delicious (my new favorite is a saffron stew). Even their noor paneer sabzi is the best I’ve ever had (and what a generous portion for $ 5)!
I have tried the popular Persian restaurants in the DMV (Amoos, Shamshiry, Al Borz) and this one is still my favorite of the lot and I keep going back.
Bön Appetit!

I have been looking for a great Mediterranean place like this for a while. They had all of my childhood favorites, hot an fresh out of the kitchen. The appetizer plate with the bread and herbs was the perfect start to the meal, alongside the warm eggplant dish that made the bread extra special! We split 2 entrees lamb kabob and the kubideh. both perfectly char grilled. I added shirin pollo to mine to give it that sweetness that magically combats all the saltiness of the dish. The candied orange peel in the rice was some of the best I have ever had!

Literally right across from the Clarendon metro station, this is a quick stop for good kabob. Prices are very reasonable; our meal for 2 clocked in around $ 27. We were the only table seated inside, and there were a handful of tables outside on an unusually warm March evening. Kabob Bazaar does a strong take out business, as that is mostly whom we saw coming in and out during our meal here. Our service experience was pleasant. We were quickly brought water and our glasses were kept filled throughout our meal. We received complimentary pita bread with tzatziki to start. The bread was warm and the sauce was quite tasty too. My partner ordered the barreh kabob, lamb chunks served with rice. I ordered the lamb shish kabob (medium), chunks or marinated lamb with mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and tomato. I ordered it with bread, but received rice. On second thought, the rice was probably a better option since we started with a ton of bread in the beginning. The basmati rice was tasty, sprinkled with some cheese. The meat, although it wasn’t cooked medium more medium well, it was flavorful as were the veggies, which were nicely marinated too. Portions were quite large but we both managed to clear our plates. Overall, this was a really tasty, quick, and inexpensive meal and I’d be happy to pop in for a return visit in the future.

The service was amazing, maybe i didnt get the best dish. The lamb was tender and juicy but it lacked some flavor, i enjoyed the kufta alot. Worth every penny

I don’t know about the quality of the food, because I never got to try it. I bought a Groupon of four for this restaurant on August 2014, and took my two children and went there, the owner refused to let us stay or give us a table because my Groupon was for four and we were three. I tried to explain that I’m a single mom and that was the only offer, he said I paid to Groupon for four people and I’m expecting four people to come to show them my restaurant. I told him it’s the same money if we were four or three. He wasn’t making any sense and kept saying NO. I had to leave, because my children got scared, he was very rude, screaming and making hand gestures pointing to the door for us to leave and he has to go back to his customers. Of course, I didn’t ask for the manger because obviously he was the owner. I totally forgot about this incident and never ask Groupon for my money back, but last week it happened that I was at the same area and my sister suggested we go there, I said never and I have at least write about it.

Cozy place. Great food. Quick and accommodating. I had the adas polo with the beef koobideh. Delicious

Casual food, I remember it being Afghan but I could be wrong. Sides are wholesome, there you will have at least a couple delicious and healthy options. Chickpeas, cooked greens etc. it’s rather inexpensive for the quality of the food they give. The restaurant looks old and might need some renovating, other than that I would say my experience has been quite good.

I went here with my Iranian colleague about a year and a half ago. Instead of getting standard Iranian food like kebobs, I asked my friend to order more traditional food. So my friend recommended me to check out this stew and it was really good, but messy since I had to use my hands.
I would go here again and definitely try another national dish.

Ooooooh! So delicious! We wanted something (mostly) healthy. We wanted something good. Those two don’t often go in the same sentence but when you go with Middle Eastern, your chances are good!
We started off with a vegetarian dish that had tabouleh and falafel. I found the tabouleh to be okay but this was my first time with falafel. Yes! So good. I know I’ll be ordering that again!
For the main entrée I had the lamb the kabob. She had the chicken and lamb. I ate a piece of her chicken. I didn’t have to share my lamb. My lamb was legit. Servings were big. The dish came with green peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Everything tasted fresh and flavorful. Both meals came with rice sprinkled with I think, cheese. It’s a nice touch… not my first choice of how this would be served so next time I would request this on the side. But all was good.
Overall, a good choice. I was pleased and full but not in a food coma. I wish we had more places like this in the 757.

Back again for another round of food! I ordered the Chicken kebob but was given the chicken sultan instead… boy what a pleasant surprise that was. For a couple extra dollars, you get a giant beef Kafta grilled to perfection. And the server threw in a baklava for the mistake in the order. Couldn’t have been happier with my experience here. TIP: if bringing a baby try to come around 6pm before the 6:30pm rush — this place gets packed, especially if you have a large stroller.

Go here a lot, they have a good service and of course the food is always on point, the portion of the food is actually reasonable, they don’t bring you a pound of rice like some other Persian restaurants, lol. The food always comes out quickly and its always fresh.
They need to work on their teas tho. not too good :) Doesn’t taste like «Persian tea»

I had the «Dizi» which is a more like a meat soup (lots of meat) and big potato and chickpeas which they will smash in front of you at your table (call Gusht Kubideh) and then serve it to you in special stone «Dizi» pots. house made fresh bread, sabzi and home made torshi which comes with your order takes the experience to another level. If you want to go full Persian then order the «Dugh» which is Persian yogurt drink. If you never had it then ask for a sample. it’s not the first timer’s favorite.

One of my favorite Persian restaurant! And the only restaurant I know they haven’t raised their prices! Thumbs up for keeping the low prices and delivering the same quality and portions!
They have a wonderful location right on Clarendon metro, excellent food, great service and very decent prices.
The waitress was very friendly and smiling all the time although I’ve had few requests… But she kept that smile on.
I usually get kabab. I’ve tried their fish kabab, chicken and ground beef. Everything was delicious. They also have some authentic Persian dishes on the menu.
Usually I’m not a big fan of rice. But they have this rice is to DIE FOR!!! Saffron rice mixed with nuts, orange zest and caramelized carrots. Yumm!
Definitely a must to try!

A bit pricey but goddd the Salman kabob is divine … and please try the «ashe reshte»… persian noodle soup.. amazing !
I have to mention they are great at taking phone orders and not messing it up and having your food ready once you make it there.

I had the best kale pache and dizzy here for breakfast. Everyone was friendly and made us feel very comfortable. The food was A+ :)

Iranian /​Persian cuisine. Excellent food, and wonderful location just steps away from Clarendon Metro Station. So authentic. The two rice lunch specials were outta this world good. One had dates, lentils, and raisins. The other had berries and saffron. Supposed to come with chicken quarter but they were out, substituted with chicken thigh kabob, excellent. Lamb kabob was the best though, just superbly done and succulent.
You have to order at the counter, for lunch anyway.

I followed the advice of my fellow Unilocalers and stopped in to Kabob Bazaar to pick up dinner to go. After perusing the menu, I ordered the thigh kabob with rice. Even after the walk back to the abode, I found the food still warm!
When I first opened the box, I observed two nicely grilled tomatoes, a bed of rice, and a line of chicken kabob. The dinner also came with some some parsley and radish slices, yogurt sauce, and pita.
The tomatoes actually tasted like tomato and I really enjoyed the char from the grill. The yogurt sauce was tasty and I used some on the tomatoes as well as the rice and chicken. When I initially saw the rice, I felt disappointed and expected bland white rice. I dug in anyway and found the rice to be slightly seasoned and actually pretty good. The chicken… oh the chicken… it was wonderful! It was moist and flavorful and I loved the fresh grilled taste.
The service was good with friendly staff that greeted me upon entry and thanked me as I exited. They have indoor and outdoor seating.
Overall, I look forward to eating here again.

A Persian friend recommended this so my other Persian friend and I stopped for a quick bite before heading to the airport. First they serve warm bread with herbs and a yogurt dipping sauce. It was very good. Then I got the chicken kabobs and my friend got the lamb and filet kabobs. Everything was great. The atmosphere is relaxing and I loved the exposed brick wall inside.

Great place. Great kabobs.
We ordered chicken and lamb kabobs, they were very juicy and tasty. I liked the chicken kabob more, it had a lemony zing to it. I also loved the rice, it was very fine and went very well with the kabobs.
Make sure you have a reservation, it is usually packed with people. Though finding a street parking is difficult BUT just a lane before the restaurant there is a public parking for $ 4 after 5PM.

I came here two weeks ago with a friend. If you’re looking for a solid place that has kabobs, this is a good place to go. Their ingredients are fresh and they give large portions. On a Tuesday night it wasn’t crowded and our food came fast. This was my second time visiting here and I have no complaints about either time.
Last time I got the chicken kabobs and their rice is cooked well and their meat is juicy and tender. This I decided to mix it up and ordered the salmon instead. This was great still. They brought some type of yogurt sauce with the bread that we ordered, and I ordered more of that to have with my salmon. I recommend doing the same!
The only thing I’d say is I wish their dishes automatically came with some sauce to dip your meats or drizzle over the veggies/​rice. That would add another component of texture and flavor to really meld the ingredients together.

Pretty good spot to eat! Been here a few times now and I’m starting to love this place. Delicious food and very convenient. This last time, we had a new waitress, she seemed a bit confused when explaining the dishes and when we asked if we could swap around some items since i am a vegetarian. She was very nice and she apologized and let us know, she recently started working here. No problem! Food was delicious!
Don’t recall the names of the dishes though, perhaps you can help? Let’s see if you can guess the names. Will definitely be returning here soon to try more dishes.
The one dish i do remember is the Rollet… a delicious desert. Sweet, soft… it just melts in your mouth.

I have been to this place 4 times and every time I had a different experience.
My first experience 2 yrs ago: Delicious Ash Anar, Good Kalle Pache for brunch, descent kabab barg
Second time: Good Kashko bademjan, mediocre Ash, but the service was terrible
Third time: mediocre kabob, mediocre service
Fourth time: I went on the weekday for lunch (2 days ago) and ordered baghai polo and lamp shank, and Ash Reshteh. The Ash reshteh didnt taste anything like Ash at all. The entrée, the lamb smelled really bad and didnt taste good. The rice was tasteless and not enough herbs.
In total I would rate this restaurant mediocre and suggest you go if you crave for persian food but cant drive to DC or Vienna.

I hadn’t had good Persian food in a long time until visiting Kabob Bazaar last week. Everything about this place is excellent — from its delicious, succulent kabobs, its very reasonable prices, its proximity to the metro (right across from the Clarendon metro station), its great service, and its nice, traditional décor.
I ordered the kabob koobideh and the food was prepared efficiently and was delicious. It’s a very generous portion for a reasonable price. I will certainly be back.

Decent kabobs with alright flavor. Honestly this place is great for food. I can find zero problems with that as far as that goes. My problems lie with the service and customer service. I’d give that a ²⁄₅ based on the pure fact they’re pretty rude. At least the one lady who took our order, and the guy that was giving refills on water begrudgingly. I felt sort of bad for him because he seemed like he hated his job or he was having a really bad day. I had to track him down for a refill after he passed my table 4 or 5 times and looking dead at our table seeing that we needed items cleared and water refills. Blah… more components in it, but I don’t want to go any further. You get the point.
Bottom line 4.25 for food and 2 for everything else.