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Cafe Pomegranate (Mediterranean cuisine)  $

 7.75
JaT Rating

221 E San Fernando Street, San Jose, 95112  (Directions)


408-271-8822


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Grilled Kebobs and other mediterranean specialties at this quaint cafe.


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1012
Reviewed: 8/7/2006
Rating: 8
My photo gallery 		With every jatbar lunch, the pre-noon ritual begins with instant messaging each other on figuring what to eat. After doing a quick search on the 'Internets', I found Pomegranate Cafe in San Jose. Tagged as Mediterranean and Persian cuisine with budget prices that taste better than Grandma's cooking. Bold words indeed.

We arrived with a front row parking spot and placed 75 cents into the meter. The restaurant is easy to find and located across the street from San Jose University. Having arrived before noon, we made it before the lunch rush. There are daily specials on the board and with most lunch prices under $7. I'd consider it a bargain for Mediterranean style food.

I ordered the Cafe Kebob and a water. Food is made to order so wait time was about 10 minutes. The restaurant is clean and airy and can double as a coffee shop. There's a dessert counter with assorted cakes, cookies, and other sweets to compliment an after meal espresso.

The Cafe Kebob is a Koobideh Kebob. Koobideh is normally made of ground beef mixed with parsley and chopped onions. You have a choice of several sauces and I went with the Pomegranate flavor. Beef was more on the lean side and pomegranate sauce gave it a slight sweet taste yet with a tart aftertaste. 2 skewers is plenty of food and at $7, it's super cheap.

Along with the 2 skewers was 1 veggie skewer, arabic salad, and basmati rice. Veggies had a nice char taste with a near perfect sear cooking. Arabic salad was my favorite of the dish. I love this stuff. The rice was on the bland side and needed the extra oooommmpphhh. Wasn't oily and the saffron spice was nowhere to be found on my taste buds.

Overall, Cafe Pomegranate is good food for the value. I think Cafe Pomegranate targets a more healthier meal. The Koobideh was lean and didn't glisten with grease and intense flavoring you'd get at other mediterranean places. Even the rice was on the lighter side. Healthy food can be a compromise on taste but Cafe Pomegranate does a good job of balancing the right amount of health to flavor ratio.
 


Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 8/7/2006
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery 		From the sidewalk, the place looks nice. A modern mediterranean cafe amid the bustling of the street. Stepping inside, you are transported to another land where the food is cooked fresh over an open grill, the food is fairly cheap, and the service is fast and friendly. Sometimes its these slices of time away from work that are more important than the food itself.

Cafe Pomegranate has a limited menu, but I think most anyone can build something from it that will please them. For me, I went with the double tofu kabob dish and a side of the lavash bread.

The service was not too bad, considering that they grilled this up after I ordered it. I only waited a few minute before my large plate of food arrived. The tofu kebabs, as could be expected, were not quite the taste experience as the meat probably was, but there was a some flavoring on it. They let you flavor it with 1 of 3 or 4 flavorings. I chose the lemon butter. It had a nice refreshing yet solid taste, but the large tofu chunks, once bitten into, were still just tofu chunks. Not much can be done with those here I guess. The vegetables were grilled as well. A third skewer was provided containing eggplant, which was also tastily grilled. A fresh chopped vegetable salad was included on the side, served cold, it was a welcome accompaniment to the warmer kebabs and rice. The rice, while basmati, was a bit bland. It didn't have the full rich flavor I was used to. Its probably a good thing, in that it was most likely healthier than the basmati I am used to eating. I still had no problems finishing it.

The lavash, was well, your basic lavash. Nothing to write home about. I probably wouldn't order this again, yet no complaints.

If I was working nearby, this place would probably be a regular visit for me, but as it was, the food was good, and not too expensive really, but it lacked the pizzazz I was really hoping to excite my taste buds with today.
 
8
Agent Rating


Reviewer: Grace
Total Reviews: 42
Reviewed: 9/22/2006
Rating: 8
My photo gallery		 I used to eat at Cafe Pomegranate at least once a week while I was going to SJSU. I think they cater more towards students, and most of the people who work there also go to SJSU. I usually get their beef kebobs, the cucumber yogurt salad, or their daily special. I love their garlic mashed potatoes! I never get the rice unless they give me both the rice and the potatoes and it goes pretty good together. The meal is wholesome, cheap, and filling. I get my usual drink of pomegranate lemonade with my meal, and it's a quick pick me up, and I'm only across the street from my next class when I'm done =)
 
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pms4824 ate...

chicken curry

“I am a sucker for curry and every once in awhile the cafe serves it as it's daily special. The portions are great and I tend to mix in the shirazi salad on the side in with the curry. It adds a fresh snap and texture to the dish.”

12/14/2006 2:17:41 PM