Kolbeh Persian Restaurant

Please READ: As other reviews have already mentioned, this restaurant has a lot of history! It is owned by the same person as it has been for the last several years, but he "rents" Kolbeh to new "management" tenants. The owner has never done a good job at running the restaurant on his own, and neither has the last two "management" tenants. It is currently being managed by a new tenant as of May 1st 2009. The manager, Igor, has run Russian restaurants all over the world and is looking to change the Kolbeh impression. He has his own new menu and is changing the entertainment and image of Kolbeh for the better! You should stop by and say hi to Igor, better yet, say it in Russian..."Privet"! more

BEWARE: The restaurant at this location is actually called the Astoria. They lied when I called to make the reservation BTW. We were the ONLY people there. When I asked about the name change I was told "we used to be Kolbeh". The service was Horrible. Not just a language barrier - they had no concept at all of how to run a restaurant. Before they put on music our voices actually echoed a bit in the large, empty space. Afterward we couldn't hear ourselves talk!!! Drinks were not offered - not even water. After noting the fully stocked bar we were told "we don't have bartender". I interpreted this as “we don’t have a liquor license” until the kitchen staff began mixing themselves drinks (not a good sign either). They food ("See, we like Kolbeh - we have kebab . . . ") was truly terrible. Well, except for the Feta Cheese platter which had a rather large serving of cheese to put on our microwaved bread (you know what gradually happens to “nuked” bread, right?)? Didn't have the courage to try the "Astoria Sauce" which most menu items were covered in after we learned it was "a cream sauce w/ mushrooms". I'm guessing it wasn't even Campbells . . . So, why did we stay? Mostly because it was SO bad it was kind of funny. That and the fact we were on a tight schedule and would have been late for our next event if we tried to go somewhere else. YOU however have no excuse now to repeat our mistake! Stay away!!! more

If you are a masochist and love poor waitress service, waiting forever for your bill, indifferent management (I complained twice and never felt that I was listened to) and a restaurant that likes to violate the law (one wonders about their obeying health regulations), this restaurant is for you. My date and I ordered one appetizer ($7.50) that was not delivered correctly (we ordered Baba Gahnosh but got Humous, a different item) and two entrées: Lamb Kabobs and Vegetarian Fesejan. Miranda, the waitress who got our appetizer order wrong, loudly argued with us when we disputed what she brought us and did not offer to waive the charge for the appetizer which is standard in the restaurant industry when you screw up. She also did not bring back my half-eaten entrée in a doggy bag after I asked and ignored my date and myself when it came time to settle the bill. Needless to say, we did not leave her a tip. The manager, after initially only agreeing to accept the Entertainment online discount coupon for only 25% off because it was after 10 PM (not disclosed on the coupon), agreed to honor my Entertainment Coupon that would have given us 50% off the meal up to $18.00 for the full amount of $18.00 instead of $10.10. He authorized taking an additional $8.00 off the bill in accordance with the terms of the offer by initially it. Unfortunately, even though I only wrote that I was authorizing a charge of $35.39, the staff charged me $43.39. When I wrote the restaurant a dispute letter about this overcharge, I also let them know that I was disputing the illegal cover charge of $10.00 for the two of us for the belly dancers which had not shown up and loud music. This was based on a phone call from the City of Seattle Revenue and Consumer Affairs, that the Kolbeh did not have the proper business license to charge admission (and they have been warned about this before.) A better restaurant in Seattle is the Caspian Grill. more