Its probably a good thing Im typing Chelokababi, I have no idea how to pronounce it.... Cha-lo-ka-ba-bee? We've been in this shopping center before during one of our visits to Rajjot which is located next door. Chelokababi is a fine example of going the extra mile for decorations. This place is wonderful and considered one the better persian atmospheres Ive seen. Dont let the good looks scare you, they have a page 2 on the menu with cheaper lunch menu items. I didnt find this out until after I ordered :(
For todays lunch, I started it off with Middle Eastern Platter and Kabab Koobideh. At $9.75 for the appetizer and $9.50 for my main course, I considered respectable for the amount of food we got and especially the taste. While waiting for the courses, soft pita bread was delivered with pads of butter. We dusted the basket in minutes and probably should have held out until the Middle Eastern Platter was brought out. No water yet? Cmon...water should be one of the 1st things on the table after the menu.
Middle Eastern Platter - a medley of vegetarian options. kashko bademjam, humos, olovieh, falafel, Persian cheese, and olives
kashko bademjam - I think this is a 1st for me, eggplant in some kind of stewy goodness? looked like a refried beans :) Loved the stuff, I have nothing to compare the taste to but I liked it.
humos - runny, heavy on tahini, no texture to the paste but contained a palatable impression
falafel - uninspired and micro waved. there was no crunch to the outside and borderline warm. If they serve the same falafel balls in the sandwiches, Id recommend steering far way from this
Kabab Koobideh - roasted tomato, onion, saffron basmati rice, and skewers of marinated ground beef.
The rice was awesome! So moist, generous amount on my plate, golden saffron rice to mix everywhere. It was nearly perfect.
Kabab Koodideh was probably the best ground beef skewers Ive had. They have the magic Chelokababi marinade going here and meat was juicy. The 2 skewers extended past the plates leaving me with another meal after lunch. The charred outside mixed with the full-flavored spices make this kabab an unbeatable combination. You have to try it.
With the exception of the falafels, the food today was excellent. We're talking the 9 range. Prices are well deserved but I have to complain about the service. There is no frickin way Im giving a 9 with the neglected service we received. You have got to be kidding me....no water for the 1st 10 minutes, no water refills, no one to ask us for dessert, had to flag down a waiter for a togo box, no check, and no one to pick up the check. I can go on and on and Im not going to give a 9 when Im paying nearly $20 for lunch. If it was $10 lunch, Id look the other way but not this time.
Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 3/9/2006
Rating: 9
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We've been having a lot of high-rated restaurants lately. We need to review some crappy places to even things out. Its very hard, though, as most of the places we have been reviewing lately are from wishlist requests, thus we naturally are steered to higher-quality places to begin with.
I had heard from word-of-mouth from Persian friends that this was a legit place in the area, and when it showed up in wishlist as well, it was hard to resist.
We walk in and the place is half full. We are quickly shown a table and menus. The menus are heavy things and gave the impression to me that they were just 2 pages, so I completely missed the 2nd 2 pages of cheaper & vegetarian items. I was hemming and hawing for awhile at the high prices and was going to go with the salmon and closed the menu. The waitress appeared and I reopened the menu, this time from the other side and I saw the 2nd 2 pages with realistic lunch prices and vegetarian items! woohoo
I decided to go with the Vegetable kebab dish. Jason also ordered us an appetizer.
The food actually arrived fairly quickly. The appetizer consisted of a bunch of non-meat persian delicacies like hummus, falafels, cheese, and salad. The falafels tasted kind of bland. The hummus was a bit flavorless as well. Salad dressing was tasty tho.
My Vegetable kebab plate arrived and it was HUGE. The vegetables had a charcoal flavoring that was irresistable. Eggplant was tasty, the peppers crispy. And that smoky flavor - wow... I'd order this again when going back. The rice was the standard saffron type. This was some of the best saffron I have tasted. I ate it all up frantically. Amazing!!
The price for my dish was reasonable. If they had better hummus and falafels, I would rate it higher. Also, after our meal, we had to go up and ask for our check. The waitresses were ignoring us. Though the place was packed, so can't fault them too much. Seemed like a lot of people were getting their checks slowly after their meal. I guess thats better than getting slow service before the meal. Won't fault them too much. Busy Thursday.
Oh this place is GOOD. We lack good Persian cuisine in the bay area and this happens to be the only good one in the south bay, although there are others such as hot bite kabob and the infamous rose market. Chelokababi is really has the food down.
The koobideh kabobs are soft, tender, and moist all the way through just like they should be. Most places will over cook this so it's just a lump of beaten meat, almost like a well done hamburger.
Kufta Kabob and Chicken Kabobs are also moist, tender, and succulent.
My only gripe about this place is the service, they like to take their time an average meal takes roughly 2-3 hours here during regular dining/lunch hours. Your actual meal only takes 20-45 minutes and sometimes the staff gets annoyed when you ask them to please hurry up because you have a meeting you can not miss later that afternoon.
at $25-40 per person, it is definitely not a cheap lunch destination.
oh...parking sucks too. park across at golf land and frogger your way over.
“Portion size was very large for $10. I thought the meat could have been more tender though. Arya has better prices for lunch. Service was EXTREMELY slow; was seated for 20 min and had to ask for water 3 times before finally getting it.”
7/9/2008 1:10:07 PM
doug ate...
kabob koobideh
“Very tender and delicious. Also got the side of hummus which is a very generous portion. Excellent! ”
4/30/2007 12:55:51 PM
chunkielove ate...
Masto-Khiar, Joojeh Kabab & Ghaymeh
“The rice was very delicious, as was the chicken dish. We also got Tuxedo Truffle Mousse for dessert - absolutely delicious. The service was so-so, overall a good experience. ”
