Kolbeh

Baba ganoush, lamb chops, barberry rice, baklava and Persian ice cream were all delicious. Friendly service and nice décor too. We’ll be back soon.

It’s a wanna be Persian restaurant. They only have a few Persian dishes along with other middle eastern dishes. They don’t have Barg kabob (Beef filet) that is the best Persian food item.

Amazing food and great staff. The meat tastes marvelous, tender and perfectly done.
The place is small but cozy and have hosted our group of 14 people for a great night. Although they technically close at 9:30 but they stayed till we decided to leave after 10:00pm. Will go again soon :)

Went for lunch with my colleagues today. Opened the lunch with tasty Hummus and soft Pita breads. Picked Chicken Koobideh, Joojeh and Veggie kabobs with Rice and Falafel (family style) for the main course and it was just awesome. Joojeh kabobs (thigh piece) were very juicy and tasted very good. Bassani for dessert was the highlight, but Baklava was decent too. The place was not crowded and the staff were very friendly. Will definitely return.

It was ok. The hummus was very bland. No flavor at all so that is killing my score.
Gyro was good and so was salad.

Came here for lunch today and shared a Soltani Kabob (Koobideh & Chengeh) with my guest. It was a bit salty and very soft. The kabob was tasty but the rice was hard and under cooked. It’s served with half a bbq tomato (most restaurants give a whole tomato). Cost: $ 23.00
They brought out lavash bread and pita with the meal and then charged us $ 1.00 each, which I later asked them to take off the bill.
This is not just an Iranian restaurant… the menu is a mix of Iranian, Turkish, Egyptian and Mediterranean food. No Iranian appetizers, which is a bummer.
Most restaurants serve bread and butter before the food comes out. This place will charge you if you ask for bread and butter.
The food was all good until 15 minutes after we left. I got a bad migraine and both my guest and I had upset stomachs. I’ve been in bed since. What a way to mess up my Saturday!
Was there MSG in the meat making it so soft? Was the meat bad? Old?
**Note to self: don’t eat in empty restaurants… who knows how fresh the food is.

Great Food and very friendly staff!
I got the chicken and beef kebab combination platter and it was delicious!
Hummus was ok, I have had better.
Overall great food!

I guess most people take their food to go here, because the restaurant was empty when we arrived at 12:30pm on a Saturday.
My lamb fillet kabob was meh. Pretty disappointing :(the chicken was good though! Very very delicious. I would actually come back for it. Also, a bonus star for the fantastic service!

Friendly service and great food, though found it a tad expensive. Assumed the prices would be lower as it seemed like a hole in the wall place when seen from outside.
Baba Ghanouj was fantastic. !

Cute place with good food. Tried their 4 Mediterranean tacos for $ 12 and it was not worth it. Siracha hot sauce didn’t impress and the beef was just okay. Still hungry after $ 12 for lunch. Should have ordered the gyros plate fur $ 13.
Service was not good but I doubt this server will last very long here.

Went here for dinner last night with the husband. He recommended that we try it for dinner because he had been here for lunch and the food was really good. We used to go to the previous restaurant that was here called Best Bite. It’s kind of funny that the issues we had with Best Bite seem to have been passed along. More on that in a second.
So…overall I would give the food 4 stars. I had the Friday special called Bagali Polo (I probably didn’t spell it right). It was rice with lime beans served with a lamb shank. The rice was awesome. The lamb shank wasn’t fall off the bone tender but boy did it have great flavor. I was stoked to get this because I have had it at another restaurant and I think I like it better here. My husband had the gyros plate. The meat was a little over cooked but was tasty. He thought the hummus had a little too much cumin but I liked it. The salad was good. We wanted to try the babaganous and ordered it as an appetizer. Unfortunately our main course came and when we mentioned that we had ordered it the waitress had this confused look on her face and said it was a miscommunication with the kitchen.
So, this was kind of a theme and the issue we had with the previous restaurant and the reason for the three stars. Service was crappy. We had to repeat everything or ask for everything multiple times before she got it and it wasn’t even that busy. She was pleasant enough but not very good.
That said we might go back because of the food.

First, if you check in using Unilocal you receive a free non-​alcohol.
The service and food were much better than average.
For lunch we had the Tuesday Special of Chicken Kebab and a delicious rice side.
The serving size is ample.
This is a Small place, nicely decorated on the inside and clean. Don’t let the outside fool you, there is a lot of tender care that has gone into the interior.

I truly believe this restaurant offers the best Persian food in the Bay Area, more so than some of the more well-​known institutions like Negeen, Arya, and even Rose Market’s side business. The outside of this business might not yell «AMAZING RESTAURANT!», but the interior décor, service, cleanliness, and food are well indicative of why this place well deserved each and every of its five stars. The portions are reasonable, they don’t give you a mountain of rice that you won’t finish (but they give you a well-​sized portion), and their kabobs are to die for. Most Persian and generally Middle Eastern restaurants do one or two meats right and the rest are not that exciting, but EVERY type of kabob here is delicious. The seasoning on everything is absolutely perfect and nothing is too salty nor too bland. I can attest that the beef and chicken koobidehs, in addition to the chenjeh, are grilled to perfection and are beautifully juicy and yet fully cooked. Their side dishes are also amazing, like both their mast-​o-​khiar (which is Greek style with more garlic than most Persians make it) and their mast-​o-​moosir (shallot-​flavored strained yogurt). If you love yogurt, you can also try their doogh, which is fresh and comes with a generous portion per glass. They have a famous offering of well-​made Persian tea as well as a beautifully served and yet absolutely delicious Persian style saffron and pistachio ice cream, also known as Bastani. On top of all the great food, I want to commend the ladies who help take care of the customers, taking orders and serving food. They are so respectful, kind, and caring about customer service, and deserve good tips for sure.

Very great service, friendly waitresses
I came here at the Persian New Year’s Eve and shabnam and sanaz were very friendly and sweet they treated me with tea and sweets and excellent customer service .
The food and service is awesome !!
The koobideh is the best I’ve ever had !!

I love supporting small businesses and this small hole-​in-​the-​wall Persian/​Mediteranian restaurant certainly deserves my support!
I found out about this restaurant on Unilocal upon searching for «skewers.» I decided to venture out last night for a solo dinner after a long day at work.
Parking is a bit tricky! The parking lot behind the restaurant only fits about 5 cars and the alley/​small street next to the restaurant is pretty packed by residence cars (lots of apartments), thankfully I managed to snag a VIP spot on el camino real, right by the FRONT DOOR! Yay!
From the outside the restaurant looked «hole-​in-​the-​wall» but upon entering, you’re greeted by pleasant lighting, simple décor but warm and good background music (instrumental, so it was soothing). It’s such a small restaurant and there were a man and a woman both doing everything for the front of the house (including greeting/​hosting, taking order, delivering order, refilling your drink and busing tables). There were probably enough seating only for 30 as the restaurant is small.
During my visit there were a table a two, a table of 8 – 10 (looked like a work-​group-​dinner) and another table of one… not sure if it was busier earlier (closer to dinner time) as I arrived a little bit after 8pm.
I ordered the Soltan Kebab plate $ 21.95 that comes with half grilled tomato, a generous serving of saffron basmati rice, 1 Beef Koobideh (persian ground meat) skewer and 1 Beef sirloin skewer. It was one of the priciest items on the menu, most of the entrees and plates are between $ 12-​$ 16… cheaper if you opt to have wraps (about $ 10), the persian burger was $ 8.95. In my opinion, the pricing is pretty low and reasonable considering… you would pay close to $ 10 at chipotle for a beef burito bowl! This is a sit down restaurant, so I have to say it’s pretty cheap for silicon valley.
Food came out within 10 – 15 minutes of me ordering… a generous size plate with my skewers. The RICE was the fluffiest basmati rice I’ve ever had, very FRESH and the beef koobideh was flavorful AND VERY JUICY which is a pleasant thing as most of the time, koobideh tend to be very very dry. The sirloin was cooked well done so it was a bit blah, I should have told them I would like it a bit more rare. But again, good size, good amount of meat and I could tell the meat was fresh. There was sumac placed on each table, if you like them with your Persian meal. Smaller stomach could easily split this plate into two meals!
I also had the chocolate mousse cake for dessert… very very very delicious piece of cake!!! They did tell me it was not made in house but who cares! it was good!!! I especially LOVED the cherry and chocolate syrup that was drizzled on the plate. oh yummmm!!! It was a bit pricey for $ 8.95 though… but other desserts like persian ice cream, baklava was about $ 6.95 .so this sinful thing was the priciest on the menu (well, I was splurging ahhahaha).
The waiter/​hostess/​bus boy was very friendly and polite… he said, «thank you very much» a lot ahahahah…
I certainly recommend this place… I would take hubby to try this place. love that the price and the food are GREAT!

I came here on a Saturday night with a group of 3 friends for a nice weekend dinner and it was not bad!
We got the Dolma and Baba Ghanoush as appetizers and they were delicious. At first I thought the portions were kind of small and that they didn’t give enough pita bread, but it turned out to be just enough in the end for a group of 4. For my main course, I got the Shawarma Chicken plate and I thought it was good. Nothing about the food stood out in particular, but it wasn’t bad by any means. I was kind of taken back by how much everything ended up costing towards the end of the meal though, but my plate was a decently sized portion so I can’t complain much there.
It seemed like a full house that night and there were only 2 waiters from what I can see so service wasn’t the best. For example, I didn’t get my water refilled once until the end of the dinner. The food also took a bit of time to come out. But overall my waiter was extremely polite and apologized for the long wait/​crappy service and I understand.
If you need to use the bathroom, go outside and it’s on the other side of the building!

Yummm! I went there with my husband with a lot of expectation and Unilocal proved right yet again! The waiter took wonderful care of us. The falafel was warm and very tasty, hummus perfect and Baklava just has to be had! My husband loved the Persian tea and had two full cups of it. A soft persian music in the background along with the décor adds to the overall experience.
A must visit restaurant on El-​Camino!

Just tried this place for the first time and left very happy. Doesn’t look like much from the outside, but inside is newly remodeled and very inviting. Most importantly the food was amazing and the service was outstanding. We will definitely be coming back.

After passing this place up for 7 years I decided to stop and have lunch here. I should have come sooner because the food, service and hospitality was excellent.
Will I come again? Yes. And I’m going to have the Salmon next time.

One of the best Middle Eastern Restaurants in town, prices reasonable and quality of food is outstanding! Also the owner is very nice. Would definitely recommend this place to a friend!

We ordered takeout and waited 40 minutes for it! We tried to call in the order ahead of time but the line was busy for 20 minutes. Although the management did realize it took awhile and gave us a free dessert, baklava. While the food was good we ordered some mastokhiar for 5.95 and received a very very small amount! If you look in the picture it’s a dollop in the middle of the dolma we ordered! What the!!! If I had looked at the order there I would have just asked for a refund! That’s seriously ridiculous! Unfortunately with the wait and rip off of the mastokhiar and the amount we had tipped them before we received our order we are very unsatisfied with this restaurant and its service. Perhaps just eating there is a better experience…

This is place is excellent! Friendly staff, great atmosphere and the food is really good.
The Hummus was delicious, the Koobideh was cooked to perfection and the Baklava with Persian tea was to die for.
Overall great experience!

Amazing food. Lamb is delicious.

Really good food. Quick service. Would definitely come back. Had the shish kabob and it was amazing.

Food is not bad. But they are not flexible and have an added surcharge for a slight variation that other Persian restaurants have not charged.

I was afraid the restaurant wasn’t kid friendly. But the waiter was very kind and considerate of my 2 rambunctious young boys. And he gave them the same level of service as he gave me and others.
Food-​wise, it was excellent. The chicken was very moist, the Greek salad was crunchy and fresh, and the hummus was so good that I asked for it to get boxed up afterwards (and I think they just gave me a brand new hummus in my to-​go container). I’ve been looking for a Persian place ever since Rose Market closed. And I think this is it (with obviously much better ambiance and service… but then again, that was the charm of Rose).
Oh and the pistachio ice cream dessert was excellent!
Only downside is that service got a little slow towards the end. But it was a Friday evening. And with the level of service the waiter was giving to each party, it’s understandable. Will definitely be back.

This place is super amazing! The food is delicious and service is great. A friendly place with amazing persian food.

Ambience: Pretty good for a quiet weekday dinner. Not shabby, not over the top. ⁴⁄₅
Food: I had the Shashlik. My lamb chops were well-​seasoned and well done. I enjoyed them. ⁴⁄₅
Service: There was 1 waiter serving 10 tables. Service was slightly slow but the waiter himself was amongst the best I’ve seen. 3.5÷5
Others: Over-​priced and limited selection of wine. $ 45 for a $ 20 bottle of Pinot.

A hidden gem! The outside is nothing to write home about but the food was outstanding! Greek salad, lamb, Greek yogurt with Persian cucumber was delicious! A must try for sure!

I can not stress enough how amazing this place is. I live down the street and always pass by so I decided to give it a go and it was the best decision I have ever made. We were instantly greeted by the most amazing server I have ever had. People should really take notes from him because he was so friendly and so attentive.
We got chicken and beef koobi and rice. The meat was so juicy and so flavorful and not dry. When the food arrived our server cut it and plated it for us. We were just so shocked on how great he took care of us. The pita bread was soft and the yogurt was delicious.
I am dying to go back and try something new.
The establishment is so cozy very clean and I really enjoyed my whole dining experience everything to the food to the service to the ambiance.
High recommend if you are in the mood for awesome food and great service!
Keep up the excellent work!

Amazing staff and great food!
Everything I had was delicious (Lentil soup, hummus, gyro) and inexpensive. This place is far better than any other Persian restaurant I’ve been to. The location is cozy and has a great atmosphere, very family friendly.
From starters to entrees to desert this place was amazing, and I highly recommend it (especially if you’ve never had Persian food).
Seriously love this place!

For such a cozy place by far the service is beyond reality! Amazing staff food service location and especially server «Darioush» is friendly and knows what he’s doing. Definitely recommend this place

There’s something about Mediterranean restaurants and excellent people. They are always affable, courteous and eager to share experiences. Kolbeh is no different.
About the food, just tride the gyros, which were great, and the spicy sauce also very good, a bit on the salty side.
Their tea comes in this lovely little exotic golden cup served with sugar cubes on the side.

There’s something about Mediterranean restaurants and excellent people. They are always affable, courteous and eager to share experiences. Kolbeh is no different.
About the food, just tried the gyros, which were great, and the spicy sauce also very good, a bit on the salty side.
Their tea comes in this exotic little golden cup served with sugar cubes on the side.

I came in and the woman was so friendly. So friendly. She was incredibly friendly. It made me so happy how friendly she was. So friendly. The food was good too. I had falafel. It was good.

Love this place…
Great new management, Great Food …
Specially the Koobideh combo,

Note: Big Unilocal error, as of the time I write this: Erroneously, this Unilocal page is a continuation of that for Best Bite (previous restaurant that closed at this address). Kolbeh’s managing owner Sobhanieh assures me they’re independent restaurants, different ownership, different menus. Kolbeh opened about a year ago. (The Unilocal title currently doesn’t even indicate a name change — «formerly known as» or fka — as Unilocal has done in other cases where it WAS the same business.)
Therefore, this review is NOT an «Update» to my four-​year-​old Best Bite review
as Unilocal currently indicates. And, this page includes other Best-​Bite reviews back to 2006 that DO NOT APPLY to Kolbeh. The Best-​Bite content needs to be separated off.
Kolbeh review:
Kolbeh (the word means cottage, as in a warm casual greeting «welcome to my cottage» — sort of like French «chez moi») opened last year, replacing Best Bite with new ownership, new menu, remodeled interior. Menu is nominally Persian, with other Middle-​Eastern fare like shawarma/​shawerma and its Greek cousin, gyros. Halal meats. I’d say its closest competitor, among several candidates within a few miles, is Mediterranean Grill House
.
These comments are preliminary, from just one visit. Our group wanted a taste of Kolbeh for lunch, so we tried two suggested appetizers and an assortment of kebab-​type plates. Impressive! And graciously served by Kolbeh’s managing owner.
Liked best: MAST-​O-​KHIAR appetizer (cucumber-​yogurt dip). Marinated CHICKEN KEBABS (with the upgrade option to white meat) — very fine flavor, delicate char, juicy rather than dried out (so common with chicken kebab dishes). And the unique, exquisite BAKLAVA — made by a relative who’s a baker — you won’t find others like them elsewhere! Roll format, just pistachio nuts, as fine a baklava as I’ve ever had. (There’s a good pic in the photo gallery here.) Faintly cardamom-​scented TEA, from a samovar, was a refreshing accompaniment to the food and dessert. A fairly lavish and very filling meal (the same menu is used for lunch and dinner) without beer or wine totaled $ 25 per person with tip.
We also tried KOOBIDEH (skewers of spiced ground meat) in both the classic Persian beef and a chicken variation, and DOLMA appetizers — all were agreeable, but we thought the koobidehs (made in the continuous, «strip» shape customary in some restaurant kitchens, rather than discrete meatballs) less uniquely spiced or flavorful than the excellent chicken kebabs, and lacking their grilling char. And Kolbeh’s exterior retains, for now, the faded diner look of the old Best Bite — unlike the interior, which is tastefully remodeled, even the ceiling. Those are minor quibbles and are why I didn’t use five stars here. We’ll be back!
(PS: Actually, Kolbeh’s menu spells it «Kabob» which is the standard US spelling during my lifetime and in mainstream US cookbooks — as in «shish kabob.» I’ve fallen into the recent silicon-​valley habit of writing «kebab» because so many restaurants do.)

I’m confused by the high ratings this place is getting. It’s not as good as Sajj at San Antonio, or Mediterranean Grill on Castro, and it’s too expensive for the level of quality. We tried the gyro, koobideh, tacos, and falafel. The only thing that stood out was the spicy oil they put on top of the hummus (and if you want hummus shouldn’t you be going to Oren’s?). The food was not satisfying or tasty, the flavors were very mild/​lackluster, I wouldn’t really call that a gyro, and no one really wanted to take the last taco because it was so boring and the meat was so dry.
If I happen to see this place packed with people I’ll assume they’ve made improvements and I’ll give it another chance.

Koobideh combo OK
Falafel wrap OK
9.99 lunch special is whatever you can find on the menu worth 9.99.