Elegant Persian restaurant with laid back ambience and flavorful dishes.
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1007
Reviewed: 10/24/2007
Rating: 9
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When Dominic mentioned this American-Italian-Persian restaurant I immediately had my doubts. It's hard enough to do one cuisine properly why burden yourselves with multiple palettes? With a name like Arya, we'd play it safe and stick to the Persian food.
The atmosphere is one of the nicer dining accommodations you can get in Cupertino. The exterior of the building does not do justice to what the interior holds for the customer. It's nice enough for those formal business meetings yet menu prices cheap enough for jatbar fans to be proud of.
Service at Arya is top notch with the waiter ensuring all our lunch needs were met. Very polite and genuine unlike the fake attitudes you get at those uninspired restaurant chains. Waters and bread arrived at our table in less than 5 minutes. My knife had soap residue on it and when the waiter arrived at my table, I informed him at the problem. He carefully looked at the knife, disapproved of it's condition, walked briskly back to the kitchen, inspected the new knife, and apologized. He was completely serious about the whole incident and I just kept thinking, wow...this waiter really cares. I've always had outstanding service at Alexander's Steakhouse and Fontana's Italian and I think Arya could share the same prestige.
My lunch order,
koobideh - seasoned ground beef on a skewer. Not to belittle the dish or anything, if you haven't had koobideh. It's pretty much hamburger meat seasoned with middle eastern spices. When cooked right it's one of the tastiest and most affordable dishes you can get. Arya seasoned it just right with each bite gushing with flavorful juices. I don't think it's quite better than Chelokababi but it's close. In between the cuts of meat were onions and bell peppers with beautiful grilling. There's no surcharge for the tomato either, big bonus points.
basmati rice - it's very good and buttery, saffron taste was on the lighter side which is kind of a letdown. Large potion, so I'm happy again.
The lunch menu prices range from budget $7 to $13 and you get fine tablecloths. Imagine that, $7, I can have Chelo Kabab (Koobideh) which is nearly the same price you'd pay for a meal at a McDonalds. My meal came with 2 types of free bread, 1 skewer of charbroiled seasoned beef, basmati rice, and grilled tomato. All for $7 and I get fancy utensils, waters refilled religiously, and exotic food. Great price for what you get.
Food and service were both excellent. There's no reason why I shouldn't give a 9. Parking is plentiful and people were friendly.
The bottom line, Chelokababi is one of jatbar's favorites. The food at Chelokababi edges out Arya just slightly but when it comes to service, Arya destroys Chelokababi. If you love Chelokababi, please give Arya a try. I think you'll approve of their tasty dishes and be thoroughly satisfied with entire dining experience.
Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 10/26/2007
Rating: 9
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Wow, I didn't have super high expectations coming here. Had no previous reviews to consult beforehand. Thought the place looked expensive and probably had better-than-average food. And had the lingering question in the back of my mind - did they keep the Jeep in the entrance lobby from when the building was previously occupied by Lori's?
We enter and the place is VERY upscale looking as expected. It was not too crowded, and little alarms went off in my head - perhaps this place is overpriced substandard food? We are seated quickly and scan the menus. Indeed the prices are high.
We are joined by Dominic today and he chooses the Tadig appetizer for us to start with. Its a crunchy rice dish combined with a few sauces. For my main meal, I settle on the vegetarian kebab.
I was starving today and it helped that we had a bread basket on the table. I attacked it and found the bread quite enjoyable. They offered both a flatbread as well as a more airy bread.
There was some meat in the tadig dish, but it was easy to push aside and dig into the sauces. They were all good, but I preferred the spinach myself. I would definitely order this again, the crunchy rice (formed by being at the charred bottom of the rice cooker) is a delicious start to the meal.
The veggie kabob arrived and looked like a LOT of food. Even with my extreme hunger, I felt comfortable offering Jason and Dominic some of the veggies.
I dug into it ravenously. The rice was rich and buttery, but a tad below the richness of Chelokebabi, but otherwise, everything on my plate was highly addicting. The vegetables were OUTSTANDING, especially the mushrooms. The charred flavor was intense and oh so delicious. I think overall this place edges out Chelokebabi (by a quarter point) - I think the fact that it wasn't as crowded helped this day as well. The owner came by and asked us about our meals and was quite gracious. The service was very attentive.
I cannot wait to return. I probably will order the same veggie kebab too - so damn good. Welcome to the neighborhood Arya!
“One chicken and one beef. Why does it cost $13.95 for the combo when two of each costs $11.95 and $9.95 respectively? Both were tasty, very juicy. Price was decent considering I had enough food for two meals. Wish they gave more tomato too.”
7/7/2008 2:18:50 PM
Mommy ate...
Kid meal Koobideh
“This is an excellent value. The kids loved it. The restaurant is beautiful and the service is very formal and attentive. There were all kinds of people dates, families, groups of girlfriends eating here, casual and dressy. ”
“Excellent experience. I asked the waitress for her preference between the koobideh combo and the lubia polo, she noted that I could substitute any of the persian rices for the plain basmati for $3 more- score! Koobideh w/lubia rice was excellent.”
4/10/2008 12:27:02 PM
gmatroskin ate...
Zereshk Polo, Shirin Polo
“Horrible!
I've ordered these before at many persian places, and they always come with baked dark meat.
At Arya both came with white meat, that was just very very dry! Yuck, can still feel it scratching my throat!
Never again!”
12/11/2007 12:40:27 AM
dbg ate...
Khoresh Fesenjan
“I'm a big fan of this dish and Arya nailed it - the right pomegranate tanginess and nice chunks of tender chicken. The tadiq appetizer was a surprise - most places don't offer tadiq at all. Definitely one of the better Persian places around.”
