Alborz Persian Cuisine

04/22/2008 Posted by dsiluznd415

My boyfriend and I frequent this place and in general, we always thought the food was great and the service was pretty good too. In fact, we've never really had a bad experience until now. We went over the weekend (as usual) but this time the service was TERRIBLE. If it weren't for the buffet, we'd have starved to death waiting to order. We were seated immediately but we weren't given any guidance other than 'drinks are included'. If we'd been first timers, we definitely would not have gone back. We were literally half way through our meal before the waitress even acknowledged us to bring our drinks. Have you ever tried to choke down rice without water? Not sure how she could have missed us, especially since our table was blocking her direct route to and from the kitchen, that combined with 2 desperate faces in dire need of a drink. In fact, if the guy distributing tea refills hadn't come by, to make up for her incompetence, we would have walked out. As if that wasn't bad enough, they raised the prices. It doesn't add up (not for my patience or my checkbook). Don't know about you but I'd much rather PAY for my drink (like before) and actually GET ONE. Not sure what's going on over there but you guys should seriously look at bringing back your old wait staff before somebody chokes to death already.

Pros: tasty food

Cons: service

02/12/2008 Posted by foodpicky

Hello, Let me please tell you that real persian cuisine requires long hours of preparation. It seems to me that Alborz chose the easiest and quickest adapted way to prepare their dishes. The dishes they serve are very different from those we eat at home in Persia. Basically, all dishes are the variation of the same dish-with differetn names and slightly different ingredients. I was embarassed to invite my American friends there and would rather cook for them in my house to impress them. After all, Persian cuisine is one of the best in world, which cannot be felt after visitng the Alborz. Sigh.....

09/12/2007 Posted by djb7125

I enjoyed everything about this restaurant except for the entrees. The atmosphere was fantastic, and the wine list was not bad. The appetizers were delicious, but the actual entrees were very substandard. I would recommend going with a couple of friends and splitting a few appetizers and a bottle of Persian wine.

Pros: atmosphere, wine list

Cons: food

10/01/2006 Posted by the_verdict

This Persian restaurant seemed to be quite popular, it wasn't packed but it definitely wasn't empty by any means like some other places I've reviewed. I assume this place is popular due to word of mouth, because I don't think I've ever seen it advertised and you wouldn't really notice it unless it was your destination. I myself found out about it via The Entertainment Book. Upon arrival we were promptly seated by an employee (not sure if he was a designated host - he kind of came out of nowhere), and then immediately greeted by our server. Our server was great, had our drinks out immediately, refilled them at appropriate intervals. What I liked best is that he didn't come back to our table 5 times asking if we were ready to order...he waited for our cue. It was obvious I was catching up with a friend and it took us about 15 minutes before we looked at our menu. Once we ordered he brought out our bread and cheese to start. It's like pita bread and feta, some greenery and onions. I was impressed with our waiter...he would nonchalantly tell us what to do with what he brought without making us feel stupid and/or waiting for us to ask. He said, "here is your bread with cheese, etc for you to make little sandwiches out of.." I don't mind being given instructions. Had he not told us that, we might have just thought the extra items were just garnish and not enjoyed the full Persian experience. When our meal came out ( we had ground beef & chicken kabob combo served with Basmati rice)He lifted up a shaker of what appeared to be paprika and said "and this is for your rice". KUDOS to him (server id #6) for pointing things out like that. In addition to the impeccable service the food was perfect. The ground beef kabob, although it looked like Mr. Hanky,was freakin' delicious! The chicken was good too but the ground beef could not be outdone. The Basmati Rice was perfect and tasty, I don't know if the paprika stuff helped, but let's just assume it did.

01/02/2006 Posted by faezeh2

I am iranian and I go couple of times a year mostly when I would like to have kabobs. Their kabobs vary in quality from time to time but are overall OK. I have been to their buffet three times and it got boring for me, since they do have the same meals most of the time and the quality is below what an average Iranian lady cooks at home, so nothing intersts me in their buffet anymore but I have non Iranoan friends who love their buffet, so it could be interesting for you to try their buffet as a semi-proxy to persian home cooking. Overall, I guess their buffet is worth trying on a weekday(when cheaper) and you might like it, but do not keep your expectations high.

08/28/2005 Posted by shelbybeau

We went for the first (and only) time to Alborz during the week for the lunch buffet and we very disappointed based upon all the glowing reviews we had read from others. The rice to us tasted to be mere "minute rice" and other "shortcuts" were poor quality of chicken thigh meat & way too salty potato & rice dishes with little variety of casserole dishes overall. Also found out that the owner applies this same cheapness to his other Resturant across town, (Greek cafe) Tino's. Another huge/mega eating disappointment, wish we had known that it was the same owner at that time because experience would of warned us not to venture there, "YUK"!!!!!!

Cons: Poor quality of food, cheap food like minut, cheap meat like chick

07/02/2004 Posted by supperclub

We had our March Supper Club at Alborz and from the moment we walked in until we left several hours later, we were made to feel completely welcome. We went on a Saturday so we could see the Belly Dancer and she was excellent. There were 17 of us and the food was wonderful, it all came out together and hot. Our waiter was fun and took great care off us and the owner made us all take turns dancing.

Pros: Service, Belly Dancer, Allowed to bring wine

02/11/2003 Posted by mommybear_01

I wanted to treat guests for a very special occasion and was miserably disappointed. They couldn't deliver a simple order for four guests! If you want good Persian food then try Oasis restaurant.

10/16/2002 Posted by rtvu2

This place has great food, and from what I hear a great lunch buffet. I went with a large group and everyone loved what they ordered. The best part of this resturant is the service. The waiter and servers were great at explaining how we were supposed to eat our dishes and great at recomending dishes for us. They were really helpful and friendly. The waiter didn't even blink an eye when we asked if we could split the bill between 5 credit cards. A great place!

09/16/2002 Posted by moc_croc

Those were the words out of our mouths after everything we tried here! From the starter of baked pita bread, cheese & onions, to the dinners and wonderful desserts, the food was very well done. Be warned that this type of cuisine is for the most part, very different from everything most people are used to (at least it is in our case)! But if you are up for being adventurous, definitely give this place a try, you might discover a new favorite cuisine! The dinner portions are large and the price is right, and the dessert portions are blessedly small, a nice cap off to a wonderful dinner. The service overall was very friendly, attentive but not pushy, and very helpful. We loved that they didn't try to push you out the door as fast as possible. Great addition to the Austin food scene!

Pros: food, service, price