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Kolbeh Persian Restaurant
Rating Details »
Category: Persian/Iranian
Neighborhood: SODO1956 1st Ave S
(between Holgate St & Walker St)
Seattle, WA 98134
(206) 224-9999
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
11 reviews for Kolbeh Persian Restaurant
Kolbeh is terrifying for reasons both deep-rooted and difficult to explain. I'm not even entirely sure what to say because my experience here passed through "odd" into "confusing" and is dangerously close to "impossible to review".
The restaurant is one huge empty room with a bar to one side, a stage on the other, and a bunch of identical tables with identical, uncomfortable chairs arranged in rows to both sides. This gives Kolbeh (which seems to be simultaneously named Astoria) an appearance that is somewhere between faux-Mediterranean casino, church, and movie set.
The food is shockingly bland... and all the entrees, unnervingly, seem to come plated in the exact same fashion with a side of lukewarm rice and a cucumber-tomato salad-thing. Both the entrees and the side dishes are at risk of containing hidden inedible parts (a buried chicken rib or tomato top) and are served on JC Penney Home Collection plates. Not that I'm hatin' on Penneys or anything... it just seems horribly impractical for a commercial application.
The servers are all stereotypically strapping young lads in black shirts, and my entire meal was spent trying furiously to ignore five or so middle-aged men in suits who were standing in a back hallway bickering over something I should probably be glad I didn't understand.
I'm not entirely sure what Kolbeh/Astoria is trying to accomplish, but needless to say, it isn't accomplishing it well.
I agree with all of the low scores. I took my husband there since he is Persian, for his birthday. The food was ok but there was a rude waiter who complained to us at the end of the meal that he didn't get a big enough tip and actually brought the owner over while he sat and yelled at us. All this in front of my husband on his birthday!! The owner tried to subdue him and send him to do his job. I was never so appalled in all my life. He didn't even deserve a penny for his awful service. We got there early and no one was around like everyone said.. and when the band was setting up, bouncers came out, tables were moved about and we were trying to have a nice dinner. Then the owner came over and told us if we didn't leave in 30 mins. he would be charging us a cover charge as well for the entertainment!! We left and have never went back since. It should be avoided and shut down if you ask me... its not what people who come to Seattle should have to see about our great city. There are plenty of good restaurants to choose from... they need to give it up.
I officially give Kolbeh NO stars, but crap - Yelp won't let me!
I consider myself a "Persian food expert" and after hearing people talk about how great of a place this is and how wonderful their prices were, I got a group of 6 together to go and check it out last Saturday night.
We walked into the place, we were the only bodies there. No music, no table settings, no staff. I said "Hello?" (Its Saturday night at 7:15pm you would think there would be SOME life?)
A lady came out from the back and said "Sit where you like"
I said, "Are you guys open?"
She looked at me as if that was a dumb question.
4 of us sat and waited while the rest of our party showed up and we began to think about what we were going to order.
She took our drink order - just my luck, no cranberry juice, no lime, and NO martini glasses.
I ordered a Bacardi and coke - I know my rum, and what I was served WASNT Bacardi.
The waitress acted like it physically pained her to help us. Like she was doing US a favor.
Some other people showed up - they sat "where ever" and when the rest of our party showed up - the waitress told us she was out of menus, we'd have to share. Out of menus? There was maybe 10 people in the place, with seating for 100 or more.
Making a long story short - the maust mausier was garbage, the pita bread was stale, all of our entrees were soaked in butter?!
The silverware left much to be desired, and we were all charged for our FREE salads, the funny thing is - no one cared enough to even bicker over it - we just wanted to pay and get outta there.
The upside? Belly dancers after 10.
The downside? The place is so bad, I wouldn't even CONSIDER going back to see the dancers.
Abominable service. I came in for lunch several years ago right after they reopened after remodeling for earthquake damage. One would hope that they'd be happy to have customers during the day, but they seemed to not care at all.
I waited for 10 minutes at the bar before anyone would even acknowledge me.
I don't remember the food, but I remember how I was treated, which is why I won't ever go back.
K, I'm persian and I must say I did not receive horrible service, but that doesn't make up for a lot of other things about this place. Like most Persian restaurants the space's decor is tacky and it is cavernous. My father and I were basically the only people in the whole restaurant on a Thursday night.
The fact that it has a bar is good, but only if the drinks are decent, which these are not. The Koobideh was just ok and Persian places in Denver are better (which is not saying much). This is clearly not the place to go for eating and I would only go back if there was some kind of dancing (and belly dancing doesn't count...I mean real Persian dancing). If anyone knows where to go for real deal Persian let me know, otherwise I'll keep heading up to Vancouver where it rocks (as good or better than LA).
Hey everybody it looks like the reviews of this restaurant finally killed Kolbeh.
I went there last night despite the horrible service and the crappy atmosphere to satisfy my craving for chelo kebab. Though the sign outside still said Kolbeh! It's now Astoria, which is supposedly Armenian. This has basically removed every last redeeming quality about Kolbeh as it existed.
I agree with everything written above. Horrible service, mediocre to awful food and the place seems dirty. We ordered lamb shank which is in three of their dishes and they were out of it...on a Friday at 6:00. I settled on the beef and chicken kebabs and I'm pretty sure there was something wrong with the beef. They had NO desert either. Heck, how hard is it to buy some baklava at Costco and have it on hand.
The shame is, I ate there about 5 years ago(before they were closed by the Nisquali earthquake) and it was really good. Everyone who works there seems hostile and very much like they don't want to be running a restaurant. I almost wonder if they make their money in some other way and this is just a tax deduction or something.
Truly awful.
I went here once. As everyone else mentioned, the place was nearly desserted, but we were seated and served promptly.
My friends ordered for me and we had kebabs. They were okay and kinda of salty. Lots of food, but it wasn't spectacular.
I guess I was pretty engrossed in my friends, so my experience wasn't as bad as everyone else's, but it's not a place I'm itching to go back to either.
Here's what I LIKE about Kolbeh: the PERFORMERS!!
They have Live Music there (My Friend plays there several times a month- their band is respected and very good!) and the Belly Dancers, which are also great!
** If you are a Belly-Dancer or a Tribal-Dancer, sign up on the local boards for the email on Belly Dance Ball which occasionally happens on Thursday nights, once a month. I've been to a few of these and they are a lot of fun. They give a lesson, then one performer is featured for the evening and gives a few performances thoughout the night. There is a chance for everyone to get up and dance too.
I don't know what is up with the poor service there- everyone complains about it. They have always been pleasant to me, though.
It's one of those places where you may just want to go for the Music and Dancing and grab something to eat on the way.
** But Go For The Music And The Dancing!! ** Those things are always well worth it!
I wish there was a way to give less than one star! I have had just about every culture of food there is to offer in the northwest. I am not afraid to try something new, but apparently I need to keep searching for something actually considered the be Persian. The shrimp and mushroom dish was, and I wish I was exaggerating here, nothing more than large (only good point) shrimp covered in canned cream of mushroom soup over under cooked rice.
The prices were not unreasonable for the interesting atmosphere and considering the lingering feeling that we had walked into some sort of a private party and that we were nothing more than an awkward interruption of their evening. There were more staff then the 4 patrons and 2 very large bouncers that seemed to be a bit overkill for the low key evening.
Being a life student of customer service and vord of mouth marketing I was appalled to learn that the very discount offer that we had was declined. When looking up the validity that it was an old offer on the discount book website, it turns out they are still valid online.... which is frequently updated. Hmmm wish I could take back that wait persons tip for being a liar. It was bad enough that it took 4 people to bring one glass of water, one course because apparently thought we were not in need of the appetizer we ordered.
Please avoid this place at all costs! It is a very serious joke. Oh and by the way the waiter decided to increase his tip by $6! We had to call and have it credited back.
I've only come here for lunch - the lunch special kabobs are cheap and decent. The decor is really strange, it certainly inspires conversation. The staff tend to be indifferent - water glasses were refilled very slowly but our orders were taken promptly. Normally I would give three stars but their bathrooms (both the men's and women's) were absolutely filthy.
