It’s not every day that I get the pleasure to eat Middle Eastern food, especially Persian. It was my brother’s birthday, and I wanted to treat my family to something they never really had before. The exotic cuisine was a success to say the least. It was fun eating family style at Raffi’s Place in Glendale. The place was really busy, but waiting for a table wasn’t a long wait. The interior was nice — when I say the interior, I mean the outside eating area. Most of the patrons eat outside, which was adorned with lights and trees. It is a fitting place to celebrate something special, or just to have nice a meal.
Not being a fan of lamb, I was hesitant in ordering the Rack Of Lamb. Surprisingly, it was one of the best meats there. It was a succulent rack of spring lamb marinated and charbroiled with bell pepper and onions. It didn’t have an ounce of dryness and was not gamey. The char on the meat was tasty. Soltani Kabob is a filet mignon and ground beef, skewered and charbroiled. It was a perfect beef for sharing. The Shish Kabob was marinated chunks of filet mignon, skewered and charbroiled with bell pepper and onion. The meat was perfectly cooked to a medium well. It was softer that I thought it would be. The Chicken Barg is their most popular item, and their cheapest option. It is skewered and charbroiled, and being a boneless breast of chicken means it is easy to eat.
The side dishes were perfect with the meat. The hummus was as good as it can be. It was cooked, mashed garbanzo beans, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. The eggplant was grilled eggplant with tomato sauce and garlic. It was an awesome side with the meat. It was zesty and flavorful. My favorite was the Yogurt And Cucumber with mixed herbs. Just dipping the flat bread with the hummus was delicious — even better with the meat
The flat bread they gave us was tasty and perfect for meat. It may be the Los Angeles in me, or maybe I am eating it right, but I would stuff the flat bread with meat and all the sauces and eat it like a taco. Each bite with the meat, yogurt sauce, and eggplant along with the hummus was amazing. Then I would take a few scoops of the basmati rice. It is so fluffy and delicious. Cutting up some roasted tomatoes and onions, every flavor was just a perfect mix of textures and taste.
We had to end this meat with dessert. We ordered the Chocolate Raspberry Gelato. It had chocolate gelato with a heart of raspberry sorbet all covered with cocoa powder. The cool thing was that the inside of the chocolate gelato was the raspberry sorbet. It was kind of a cool surprise.
Raffi’s Place is a sure thing. Located in Glendale, CA it is close to The Americana and Glendale Galleria. Inside and out, the place is somewhat classy and isn’t too expensive. The staff can be a bit inattentive, especially when it is busy, but the service is very quick when you do get their attention. I guess Middle Eastern food isn’t quite exotic to me. Make your taco fajitas? Meat and rice? That is an everyday kind of food for me. Their flavors are nice and the atmosphere is pleasant. Nothing more that I can ask for.
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