Aria Persian Cuisine

I come to Fresno to visit my family and I’m always disappointed by the food options. After enjoying Persian food at Raffi’s in Glendale, I encouraged my family to try this place. I was pleasantly surprised by the ambiance, décor, service and food quality. Is the food as good as Raffi’s? No, but the food is better than 90% of other restaurants in Fresno and I love supporting a good mom and pop restaurant over the millions of chains here. They had great live music and also have hukkah. I also appreciate that there were many vegetarian options.

I ordered the joojeh (chicken) kabob plate and it was delicious. The meat is cooked perfectly and the rice is flavorful and light. Compared to other middle eastern eats like Broilers, Aria is definitely more ethnic. I wish the menu was bigger and the food is on the pricier side, but I enjoyed my experience and felt full when I left.

Excellent food and service, I have tried persian restaurants in LA, bay and Modesto and this ranks amongst the best. Fesenjoun stew was best I have had for a long time .
Only suggestion expand menu and offer lesser cost dishes too.
I highly recommend this restaurant.

Went again, our second time and was treated like family, the owner greats and seats you, and the food was excellent again!

While searching Unilocal for a place to eat while visiting Fresno, it’s unavoidable to notice the high number of Middle Eastern (along with Mediterranean and Persian) restaurants. I never knew that Fresno has a long standing Armenian population which has risen to 40,000. So, we skipped our usual foodie desire for creative fine dining (which Fresno has limited choices) for long skilled, well established recipes from the old country.
The hummus was thick and grainy like something made from centuries ago. Like who back then had a blender or food processor and was going to push the sauce through a fine wire mesh screen?
Also fitting tradition, the koobideh ground beef kabob was nicely grilled and uniquely flavored with what I’d assume are specifically Persian spices. Instead of getting all rice in the entrée, there was an option for half rice and half salad. It’s good to have choice, but it would have been nice if someone said that it would also cost an extra $ 2.
The fesenjon with chicken, walnut, and pomegranate sauce was too sweet and drenched with oil. I would guess that the sauce had been stewing for a long time which is why chicken fell apart, the color was so dark, and the flavors strongly blunt. Thankfully, my girlfriend liked it enough to eat because I thought it was inedible.
Although they have a full bar, avoid it. They don’t know how to make common cocktails.

Went on a date night. Not very satisfied. Ordered sticky rice, vegetarian plate, chicken plate, and two cocktails. Food was very bland and I found a hair on my plate. The drinks had an odd overly sweet flavor and little, if any, alcohol. For the price ($ 70 before tip) there are many places I’d rather dine. The only plus was that the decorations were nice.

Step up and support this wonderful restaurant Fresno! Aria’s food is absolutely delicious… fresh, healthy and so flavorful. The cocktails were really good and the service was great. We had a fun night — Aria has a nice atmosphere with great music.
We will be back!

My wife wanted to go here again for her birthday. And it was wonderful. The food here is SO good. Wife had the vegetarian plate, and I had the beef and chicken combo. What flavors! I really like the saffron rice — especially with the sumac seasoning.
If you have not tried this restaurant, you simply must. It’s not the cheapest ($ 35/​person out the door, including drinks, appetizer, entrée, tip) but it is a good value for the quality, quantity of food, and service.
We’ve been here three times now, and it has been consistently excellent. In addition to the food, the décor is beautiful.
It’s just a fun place to be. For a great dining experience it does not get any better.

Excellent ambiance. Khoobieh is moist and chicken kabob is full of flavor. Service was excellent on a Thursday night.
Would benefit from a small serving of free feta and greens (sabzi) with the lavash bread.
For those who tried this place when it first opened and might have been a little disappointed, TRY IT AGAIN. Everything from the food to service and bar menu has improved and It is now top notch.
Best quality and flavor kabob in Fresno in a well decorated setting with great service. My whole family was impressed.

Delicious food (fesenjoon and the crispy rice appetizer with stews on top are great), nice atmosphere, great hookah, really good service. The dudes who work here are incidentally quite cute.

I really wanted this place to be amazing. I wanted it to be the good Persian restaurant that Fresno desperately needs, but sadly it isn’t.
The food is below average for a Persian restaurant and it’s way too expensive. Raffi’s palace in Glendale will serve so much more delicious food for a lot less than this place.
The owner has only paid attention to how the place looks. Who cares about that? Spend less money decorating the place so you can lower your prices.
Send your chef for training at places like Raffi’s Palace so that you can serve quality food. A restaurant that serves delicious food for a reasonable price won’t have any issue filling up its seats regardless of how it looks.
Bottom line: If you are in the mood for spending a ton of money on food below average with portions only an anorexic hamster would appreciate, you’ve found the right restaurant.

The service was excellent. The food was delicious. A nice atmosphere and a great dining pleasure.
The kabobs were well-​cooked and the rice was delicious. The appetizer was delicious, but above all, the service was excellent.

Gorgeous décor and creative dishes made with hearty preparation. I had the vegetarian soup which was a hearty mélange of beans and broth and noodles and the most richly caramelized onions ever. The rest of my party enjoyed their kebabs. The salad was flavor fully spiced and dressed.

Oh Persian food… how I love you so.
Came here with a group to satisfy our persian food craving. I loved the décor and the attention to detail; especially the traditional bath house tiles.
Let’s get this out in the open, this place is very pricey, especially when compared with 95% of Persian restaurants. Koobideh here runs $ 17, compared to less than $ 10 most every other place. Personally, I think it would be wise for management to bring down the price but that’s just me…
Also most Persian restaurants serve freshly baked Pita bread with feta cheese and hers, all we got here was cold Lavash bread and butter. Was pretty disappointed by the fact that this expensive restaurant was being cheap with this.
Things to try: Kashke-​Bademjan as an appetizer, Koobideh and joojeh kabobs are delicious, and the fesenjan was good too.
FInal note: food was delicious, but just can’t justify the prices.

Came here upon the advice of a friend and was happy to find a new ethnic restaurant in Fresno. I believe it’s the only authentically Persian place in town (at least, according to the owner). The décor and atmosphere of the place is beautiful, very soothing, and really well-​done. But most importantly, the food was also extremely well-​done.
Came with the hubby on a Monday «date night» and found ourselves the only dinner guests. There were two other couples at the bar (both of whom we happened to know), but they left soon after we arrived, apparently having dined early to take advantage of the happy hour specials.
We started with an eggplant and lentil appetizer (and i had a glass of wine, both from the happy hour menu) that we happily devoured along with a basket of lavash (a thin flatbread). We shared two dinners: the koobideh kabob (like a spiced ground beef sausage) and a chicken stewed in a pomegranates and walnut sauce. both came with a basmati/​saffron rice blend and we opted for a half feta salad (for an additional $ 2).
The food was tasty and the owner, Sayeed, came over to chat. I hope he makes it, but judging by the lack of dinner guests (although, granted, it was a Monday night…), I’m not sure Fresnans are flocking to try out Persian cuisine. I hope more people decide to check it out, because the food is really good and it’s such a nice setting. I’d hate to see it go away, like so many other independently-​owned restaurants in this town.
Come on, people… support the local guys!!! Just say no to Crapplebee’s and the like and try out something new!

I believe that Aria has to be one of the finest restaurant, especially for Persian food.
We have been there more than ten times, and never disappointed. In fact the owner
has become a very good friend. Waiters are very courteous and prompt. It has excellent location and best atmosphere as compared to the other so called «Persian» restaurant on Shaw and Marks, which is run by the entire family. They are very impolite and keep reminding the customers that they are students, not waitresses.
The food has the real taste as any genuine Irani restaurant would. We don’t even go anywhere else since we have been to Aria.

Save your money and don’t go. Food was waaaaaaayyyyy over priced and just plain boring! Had the tadig and 2 koobidehs. ($ 50) I think the people leaving good comments don’t know good Persian food when they taste it. Honestly, sounds like it is a novelty to them.
Friday night 2 tables and the owner or manager seems to run the staff with a strong hand. I ordered takeout and was paying for my order, talking to the 1 waiter, just finished signing the bill and he came over interupted our conversation and pointed to the 1 table with 2 women and said help them.
I am never going back there again, heading to Diana’s where the food is soooo much better, reasonably priced and the family is very friendly.

We went to this restaurant by suggestion of one friend (Dr. K!!). Really, i was thinking that it was going to be just a common Mediterranean food restaurant but actually I was gladly surprised to see new plates. There is «classic» dishes like Hummus or the grilled Koobideh kabab but what I liked more was the menu section of «stews» and the appetizers .
We ordered an appetizer with eggplant, a lot better than a Babba Ghanoush. For entrée I tried the Gheimeh, the stew with lentil and beef… it was pretty good, the spices were flavorful but not overtaking the taste of the plate, the amount of rice was perfect.
Service was friendly and attentive… but I don’t like when the waiter suggests always the more expensive plate, in this case the Kabab Barg (Filet Mignon), overall when the plate is not really a traditional dish.
A little pricey, yes… but nothing that you cannot pay for a special occasion. A good date place.

After taking a walk through the Japanese Friendship Garden nearby, I was starving for some grub! I really enjoyed what we ordered– don’t want to butcher the names– but we ordered the beef kebab and beef stew. At the end, we ordered the saffron dessert and Persian tea. Loved it! The flavors were very light and subtle, plus the food was prepared with much care. (At Express Grill, we unfortunately felt the weird MSG/​salt dehydration syndrome after wolfing down what we thought were very bold and addictive flavors.) The water was fragrant and lemon flavored– try it.
A previous reviewer complained about the lack of alcohol license. I saw a bar that looked very equipped to me!!! Plus, we got a wine menu.
The service was very friendly, professional, and attentive.
Ambience is fun. I loved the Christmas tree, too.
Personally, I thought the prices were very reasonable. Wish we had some more veggies, but that’s OK.

Fresno finally has an excellent Persian restaurant!
Aria is a perfect complement of traditional Persian cuisine with a subtle hint of Persian culture. If you have never experienced Persian cuisine Aria provides a comfortable environment, easy to understand menu, and most importantly a friendly staff.