The Persian Grill House — Restaurant in Saanich

Absolute Gem!

Food was on point. I went for lunch and started with the Mirza Ghasemi which was seasoned subtly enough to let the delicious eggplant shine through. The soft fried egg on top was cooked perfectly; no clear white on top and no chewy-brown white on the bottom and the yolk was perfect.

For my main I went with the Koubideh Kebab (minced lamb Kebab) and it was fantastic as well. Nice touches all over the plate presented with… I’m gonna say it… love. I would have been more than impressed with the rice, Kebabs, and simple salad, but there were extras like half a freshly grilled tomato, a slice of grilled green pepper, and a couple more enjoyable little treats presented carefully that you’ll have to see for yourself.

Service was as good as it gets. It wasn’t busy, but that doesn’t matter. The gentleman serving was beyond attentive (not intrusive), well mannered, knowledgeable, and conversational when appropriate. A real pro.

Access is fantastic. I normally wouldn’t talk about this but here’goes. The building is located on a corner lot at an intersection with steady traffic. It has very convenient access from both Harriet and burnside road and a large staging/parking area to give new comers or people new to the restaurant lots of room to manoeuvre. This is such a breath of air.

The details are really just a cut above. The only thing I would ask as a newcomer is for better signage, but now that I know where it is it’s easy peasy. For now the owner has some large flags that say “Now Open” which make it pretty obvious...

Would give extra stars if I could. Food: Amazing buffet selections, I honestly did not expect them to have their Kabobs on buffet but they did, fresh and constantly refilled so you know they hadn't been sitting out there forever like other buffets. Koobeideh kabobs could have been a little more cooked, and I was surprised they had no salad options but otherwise, amazing selection of dishes, lots of stews, chicken and meat options, four types of rice, delicious falafel and fried, all around very worth the price.

Service: Where to start, some of the best service I have ever received anywhere. They always came over to check on us (we were a group of 11 people, with kids) and make sure everything was good, one of the girls took a song request from us and played it, owner came over with candy offerings for the kids, smiling faces and friendly disposition, just made our evening with how nice and attentive they all were.

Atmosphere: It's a plain restaurant yes, not the usual fanfair of a decor but honestly, the food and staff make up for it, they put their money to fresh ingredients and good food and amazing staff so it didn't even matter. We just focused more on the food.

All in all an amazing experience, the buffet is very much worth the price (I've heard people call it expensive) but with the variety of food that's put out, it's honestly cheap. Will for sure be going back and recommending, thank you Grill House for the amazing experience and...

UPDATE: I really, really want to support them, so I tried again 2 months later. Same thing. Stews are half empty, for over $20 still uncalled for. Doesn't look like they are reading their reviews. Tasty, but not worth the money.

I won't rate Service or Atmosphere. But, I just ordered food - delivery delay aside, as that is not their problem but Uber: Their portions are tiny. I mean TINY. $7 for Soleh Sard and it comes in a tiny container, which is literally half full $7+tax for two spoon full. Come on...

Then I ordered Gormez Sabsi and Ghemeh. to make matters worse, the Ghemeh hat literally two tiny pieces of meat. Both are literally half full containers. $21 before taxes etc. for stew and then they portion it so its half full. Come on...

Don't get me started on the Kebab...the overall smallest portion of any persian restaurant so far I have been too. I don't expect Vancouver portion sizes, but I expect iranian portion sizes and this is not it. (and I say that as an Iranian)

I really really really want to support my local persian restaurant, but this is disappointing.

The ONLY reason this made any financial sense was because of deals and discounts, so it hurts twice - bad for the restaurant, bad for the customer. They get a bad review, I won't order...