Cost – $

Service – A-
The staff here is always friendly and attentive. I tend to drink a great deal of water during meals and with a pitcher readily available at the table I can serve myself without having to bother the staff. As a regular, my favorite appetizers and entrees are now served the moment I sit down and any special requests are taken care of with a smile.

Food – A-
I still believe to this day that no one makes better ghormeh sabzi than the mother of my ex. After the split, I made it my mission to find a restaurant with ghormeh sabzi that rivaled her’s and the closest I have gotten is Shamshiry. The dish is served with a mound of white basmati rice sprinkled with saffron nd topped with pieces of tahdiq. Chunks of tender beef and kidney beans hide among the dark green stew. The mix of savory herbs are highlighted by the citrus notes of the lemon. With each spoonful you can actually taste the time and effort put into this dish.

Although I prefer the mast-o musir at Moby Dick (I love the generous helping of shallots), the mast-o musir at Shamshiry is extremeyl popular. Its yogurty tartness is refreshing and the sweet hint of shallot prepares your taste buds for the entrees to come. No meal can start without the huge plate of tadiq topped with gheymeh; a succulent eggplant stew studded with lentils and small cuts of beef.

In my opinion, the kebab at Shamshiry trumps Moby Dick. Both the jujeh and kubideh are delicious. In my opinion, the only thing lacking here are the desserts. I love to finish off the meal with a few cups of chai. Note: the ghormeh sabzi and the gheymeh are not on the regular menu.

Décor – C+
Like other Eastern restaurants that emphasize the culinary experience, the décor is spartan. Walking through the glass doors, you face a dirty window to the kitchen that displays the heart and soul of this establishment. Flashes of fire catch your eye but the greased glass hides any action going on. The tables and chairs are reminiscent of outdoor cafes that look strangely out of place indoors. A mirror does double duty as a wall giving the impression of a larger space and is also great for people watching in the restaurant.

Feel – B+
This isn’t a restaurant that you would want to venture into alone. Groups of people are the norm with parties ranging from 2 to 20. It’s a restaurant that you come to for two purposes; to enjoy authentic Persian cuisine and to socialize. Shamshiry is a place that pays the same amount of attention to a table of few or many. No matter the occasion, this place still remains as my first choice to a delicious and casual meal that finally rivals the food of Persian homes.

Shamshiry is located at 8607 Westwood Center Drive in Vienna.

Cost – $

Service – B-
The service here is decent.  Unlike Moby Dick, there is actually a waiter or waitress who comes and serves the food to you.  When I went to eat there recently, I didn’t know if they added a whole lot to the experience however.

Food – B+
The kubideh was pretty good.  I would actually rate it just a shade under the Moby Dick kubideh.  The joojeh kabob however was actually a little more tender than the joojeh I’ve had at Moby Dick and I’d actually grade it a little bit higher.

Decor – C
It’s definitely a little bit dingy in the place.  They might want to seriously consider jazzing it up a bit or at least going with a more industrial sanitary feel.

Feel – B
I enjoyed sitting on their front patio and eating kabob.  It is in a nice spot in Clarendon where you can sort of watch life go buy while burping kubideh/onion breath.  I wouldn’t be as thrilled with the experience had I eaten inside but if you’re in the area and hankering for kabob it is definitely worth the trip.

Kabob Bazaar is located at 3133 Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, Virginia.  They can be reached at(703) 522-8999.

Cost - $

Service – B
You order your food and pick it up at the counter for the most part. There isn’t really a whole lot to say about the service apart from the fact that I’ve never had any sort of issue with the people working at the counter. When I’ve gone with people who spoke farsi, the people behind the counter always warmed up a lot.  In some ways the overall experience is actually better not dealing with the types of waiters and waitresses you might get at some restaurant where most of the dishes are less than $10.

Food – A
As I mentioned, the kabob at Moby Dick appeals to Persians – but also to everyone else in the world.  If you don’t like eating food at Moby Dick then you literally don’t like to eat food.  Over the past fifteen years I can’t recall one person ever not liking the food there.  In fact, I can’t recall one person not lighting up at the suggestion of eating there.

Decor – C
The decor doesn’t have to be very good but actually they make sure it is clean and sanitary.  You don’t feel like you are eating at some of the other kabob houses I’ve seen in major cities.

Feel – B+
I know there is a level of sentimentality in regards to my feeling for the place but I can’t help but be happy every time I visit the place.  If it were just a little bit healthier (if you order a platter with rice and bread it ends up being a ton of carbs) I would probably eat there at least once per week.  You can go there with your family or you can go there alone (which I’ve done numerous times).  If you are in Georgetown you can even hit it up after you go drinking.  Just a classic DC-establishment.

What’s the Buzz:

March 1, 2005 – Moby Dick House of Kabob (Drift Reality) – Moby Dick has the best Iranian food that I’ve ever had that isn’t home cooked. They bake their own bread and it is out of this world. They have somehow managed to perfect their cooking technique to the point that the kabob comes out perfectly. The Kabob Kubideh is simply mouth watering, as is the Jujeh Kabob. Full Article…

August 11, 2000 – Moby Dick House of Kabob (Washington Post) – “Call me Ishmael,” I said to my friend Jahanshah, “and I’ll call you Queequeg.” We had just entered one of my favorite holes-in-the-wall in Washington, the Moby Dick House of Kabob. Why the name Moby Dick? Avast, seafarer, I’ll keep you in suspense for a moment on that one. Let’s just say that when an Iranian restaurateur started Washington’s Moby Dick chain in 1989, he was building on one of the legends of Tehran, not Herman Melville’s tale of the whale. Full Article…