Charlie Kabob

Wow, just plain BAD! We ordered about five different things for delivery and the only thing remotely good was the spicy chicken which comes pre-​diced up. The salmon kebob was DRY and flavorless; one bite and I spit it out – like mushy cat food that was somehow dry even though it was mushy. The whole rotisserie chicken was also dry and lacked any seasoning. I live right by the Mediterranean Pita Grill in Westlake Village and it is excellent. The hummus from Charlie kebob was dry and thick and flavorless – not creamy and exotic in the least. The yogurt sauce was ok but in general the food was dry and unspiced and bland. I will never order from here again.

Best possible mall food court food. Clean roasted chicken, friendly service, accurate substitutions. A little slow, but I’d rather have this in 9 minutes than panda express in 2.

I love this place! I usually get their Persian Salad since it is fresh and refreshing at tge same time to have healthy food. Last time I got it with the spicy chicken. It was delicious, light, and tasty. Because American food usually makes me feel uncomfortable, after eating here I feel balanced and satisfied without cravings or discomfort. Soon I will check out other foods here. The owner and staff are very nice, too. Highly recommended.

Horrible costumer service and the chicken kabob was very dry without test!

My go to place whenever I’m at the mall! Always get the chicken kabob with rice and salad. The sauce, lime, tomato, & chili pepper go perfectly paired with the chicken & rice. The salad has a dressing that makes you wanting more. The price is average but it’s worth it! Go there with my siblings and the guy recognizes us all the time, friendly service overall, definitely recommend!

A gem amongst food court food. Some of the items can be pricey but they are yummy and made in front of you. I recommend over the usual chains that can be lacking sometimes. The falafel is great and large too.

Imitation of tabbouleh salad. At least I myself don’t know what it was?
I also had to pay $ 1.00 extra for it, but it wasn’t worth it.
I had the small chicken breast plate which it comes with green salad and rice and I was craving tabbouleh. When I had the first taste I knew something was wrong. It just tasted like totally chopped lettuce. No sour at all. No onions or garlic in it totally tasteless.
I can tell a good tabbouleh when is good by going to any other Persian restaurant or eatery in Westwood blvd, where I know I can have the «close to authentic» thing.
I won’t complaint about the chicken, because in this country, chicken taste like rubber almost a everywhere; Charlie’s is not the exception.
I’ve been eating Persian food for more than 18 years. I guess my next step should be going and tasting the real thing in Iran .
Charlie Kabob used to be good, I started with them at the Santa Monica place.
I hope they improve.
But for now, if I don’t have to, I won’t come back.

It was very hard for me to decide to give this the review that I did but I really feel that it’s fair. I came here for lunch on a shopping date with my sister and girlfriend. I ordered a small chicken kabob plate which cost about $ 13 plus tax so around $ 14. In addition they charge $ 2 for a side of hummus and I had to ask to be given some pita bread. So, with tax it came out to about $ 17 something for a pretty small plate and hummus. Kind of pricey for sure. The grilled chicken kabob itself was one of the best I’ve ever tasted. Juicy and tender and flavorful. But the plate only came with rice and salad. The salad consisted of iceberg lettuce and a few pieces of cucumber and that’s it. I’ve been to other places where you get the same quality chicken and twice the serving for $ 5-​$ 6 less as well as a delicious, complex salad, tuna pickles, hummus, and pita bread. Not only was the serving small but they didn’t have tuna pickles which I truly feel is a necessary component. The fact that hummus doesn’t come with the plate also disturbed me. So, the food was good but they could definitely put in more effort and lower the price.

I had the barg kabob and it was really bad. It was chewy and has a lot of fat on the meat, and this is the second time I tried it just in case the first time just was a one off and nope it’s just bad

For me it was
Pleasant service.
Great customer relations.
.50 higher than I’d like prices; but it is in a WLA food court.
Desert dry pita, but choking was the only way to get the food down, so I guess that worked out

I’ve been a customer here ever since I was a little girl and they were located in the Santa Monica mall before the makeover. Everything is so good and fresh. Whenever I crave kabob and middle eastern food, I think of Charlie’s!

Best food in the mall! I love this place. Amazing kabobs. I’ve been coming here for years… And come to the mall JUST for this food!

I got the dark meat chicken large kabob order. It was made fresh to order. Large portion and it filled me up. I asked for the yogurt and they gave it to me. The salad dressing had a lot of lemon in it. I think maybe it’s just lemon juice as dressing. Very good and fresh. The chicken was cooked perfectly and tender. The grilled tomato was good too. Very good meal and service was quick. The man was nice.

You can’t seem to get anything as up to par as Charlie Kabob. Shane is very friendly, and the chicken kabob is delicious, and the rice is excellent. The shirazi salad is good. All in all, it is delicious. The location is convenient. If you’re with small children, they can ride rides nearby. There is also a conveniently located Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

I love this place! The owner is super friendly and remembers his regular customers. I love the chicken Kabob plate, but my favorite is the spicy chicken salad.

This has been one of my top faves for a long time — 15 years! I’m a creature of habit, so I only go to the one that’s at the Westside Pavillion where Shane works, and he’s been with CK since it started out at the Santa Monica mall. They should open their own free standing restaurant because it tastes better than any other kabobs I’ve had so far.
My go-​to plate is the ground beef and grilled chicken kabob with some yogurt sauce and hot sauce. The chicken tastes perfect when it’s drenched in lemon juice, and the ground beef dipped in their hot sauce.
Now I’m hungry again.

It’s a bit pricy since it’s located into the mall, however it’s the only halal option in there.
The food is very good and normally comes in a reasonable fair portion, I recommend specially the beef pita sandwich with yogurt sauce in it.
Owner/​manager is most of the time present at the check out, generally very polite, and if you work at the mall remember to ask for mall discount which is about 10%.
Staff isn’t very impressive but friendly, and remember, this isn’t a fast food place, it takes time. On busy days it may take 10−15+ minutes, but the food is very tasty.
Overall I would recommend this place.

I love their chicken, it’s the best, that’s what the 2 stars for.
I took off three stars because my mom went there and ordered a lentil soup, the soup was so spicy and she can’t have spicy food. So she complained to the owner, instead of the owner apologizing and replacing the food, he insisted that the food wasn’t spicy. Dear owner, you come to this wonderful country and you introduce us the wonderful Persian dish, but you miss the point of CUSTOMER SERVICE. I don’t care if your customers hadn’t complained about that soup or you think the soup wasn’t spicy, you saw that your customer wasn’t happy, you did NOTHING to make her happy. My mom started having some major stomach ache once she went home, so she had a hellish experience and the owner’s unprofessional manner didn’t help either.

Pretty good for mall food. Not cheap for mall food, but then, Persian food usually costs a few bucks extra.
And really, it’s pretty good for mall food. Lamb kabob isn’t all that impressive, but the lamb, onion, peppers, tomato– more than adequate.
The problem, as others have noted, is you can literally go six blocks down the road and get some excellent Persian food for the same money, so it’s hard to justify coming here.

Unilocal INSIDER TIP FROM DOREEN (AKA AZN PERSUASION): Decent Persian food, cheap, will do the job. My mom got the beef pita sandwich and really liked it. She never had Persian food and eats only stuff with rice 99.9% of the time so for her to like it says a lot.
*****
I got the cornish game hen with rice. Didn’t realize it had soooo many bones. It was good/​ok. When at this food court I usually eat at Panda Express.