Laghman Express — Restaurant in Alpharetta

#NotComingBack

Before I dive into the details, let me clarify something:

The hashtag you see at the top of this post is part of a new practice I’m starting in my reviews. It’s a clear signal that I do not recommend a restaurant for a valid and specific reason—typically due to unprofessionalism or unfair business practices, such as mandatory gratuity, tipping policies or unprofessional behavior. This hashtag is not about the quality of the food, the speed of service, or other subjective issues. It’s reserved strictly for cases where a restaurant's policies or practices cross the line of fairness or ettiquetes.

Let’s get to the review now:

I found about this restaurant from a family friend and they told me it’s different but expensive, when I checked the menu it didn’t looked expensive to me when compared to other same level restaurants.

Me being a fan of trying different cuisines every time, I don’t want to miss this one as I never tried authentic Uzbek cuisine before.

We arrived at 5:45 PM for a early dinner as they close at 9 PM even on Weekends, There was quite good space for parking and also the number of customers I saw even at that time was impressive. The place has very nice vibes and it’s really very well managed place in terms of interior, decors, seating space etc. We got seated almost immediately though we didn’t have any reservation. So our experience already started very well.

Now you might want to know that if everything was going right may be the food was too bad that’s why I don’t want to come back again, actually NOPS. We ordered Fried dumplings and really liked those we also ordered fried dough from starters and it was also good quantity for the price. I ordered one Guyurou Laghman with lamb and house made noodles and it was good. Wife ordered Tashkant Style Plov and it was good, just meat was overcooked. Son ordered Dry Fried Noodles and he loved it. Daughters ordered Shawarma on plate and it was ok. Only thing that we were not happy for food was that portions were small.

Now let’s talk about why I won’t come back, first thing that pissed me off, we asked our server very nicely if there is any big table as they seated 5 of us on table of 4, she replied, “No, next time come before 5” and she said it like me and her are college friends and have some kind of casual relationship. Before me, wifey told her that table is congested and she either didn’t understand or just plain ignorant. Third strike was due to the service I was getting I decided not to Tip, when when brought me pay machine and I selected “No Tip” option, she actually nodded her head in disappointment, at that point I was like, that’s it.

I have seen multiple times when a owner puts his heart and soul into a business and then employees are not well trained specially for customer service and it keep impacting business and most of the time owner never realizes what’s hurting his business.

Overall, the food, location and ambiance was good enough for us to come back, but I don’t want to take a risk of coming back and dealing with rude attitude and paying money for it.

Pros:

Good Location Nice Uzbek Ambiance Very nice house made noodles. Not Crazy Prices

Cons:

Not well trained staff. Small food portions. Overcooked meat.

Food Ratings:

Guyurou Laghman: 7 / 10 Tashkant Style Plov: 6.5 / 10 Dry Fried Noodles: 8 / 10 Shawarma Plate: 6 / 10

Star Ratings:

Flavor: 6 / 10 - No Star Authenticity of Flavor: 6.5 / 10 - Star Cleanliness: 7 / 10 - Star Service: 3 / 10 - No Star Value for Money: 4 / 10 - No Star

Suggestion for owner: I know after reading my review you might not want to take advice from me, but if you are open minded you should really look into the training your staff and focusing on customer service. Specially teaching your staff how to behave with customers and gratuity is voluntary.

Suggestion for customer: They close early so try to come for early dinner and do a reservation, also food portions are small so enough for 1 person may be but not for...

This is a hidden Jewel. This restaurant opened just this year and this location, having several restaurants under their belts in New York and other places. It's a privilege to find this place here in Alpharetta.

It's hard to nail down the cuisine if you're not familiar with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kurdistan cuisine. This restaurant features traditional dishes from those regions, as well as other classics. The restaurant is halal so it has some of the top Quality Meats that you can get. There's no need to worry about spice level if you can't stand spicy foods. There's hot sauces to add to your dishes if you'd like but this means that all people can enjoy the spices.

Laghman has several signature teas to choose from on the menu. We had Moroccan tea. A beautiful display of herbal tea served to us on a warmer to keep the key fresh and warm throughout our dining experience. It's a lovely blend, sweetened with honey of mint, citrus, warm spices like cinnamon and cloves, cranberries all seeped in a special pot, set up so that none of the herbs will come out when you're pouring your delicious cup. The taste is very warming to the palate as you drink it in, not needing anything extra. It is an appetizing start to a meal or just something nice to sit and have a conversation over with your friends. This is a must try when you are here.

Our appetizer, Manti, boiled, central Asian style, boiled style dumplings that are hand made and freshly cooked. These are Dumplings Look on filled with lamb and spices. This is one of my favorites of the meal. The meat was specially tasty, the dumplings, that were boiled were filled with the broth that they cooked in. I was instructed that you grab them with your hand and hold them as you eat them from the top, holding it so the broth doesn't drip out of the bottom. I find this is an important step, you don't want the broth to leak out of the Monti. This is served with the side of sour cream which adds to the flavor and the overall dish flavor and textures.

Beshbarmak was our entree. This comes in three sizes, though the one we ordered was the middle we probably could have done with just the small along with the appetizer. This is homemade noodles, dough as it says on the menu, that are wide and flat and very thin, boiled in beef broth. This gives the noodles a delicious taste all the way through, not just with the broth. On top of the noodles is a large portion of "qazi" beef sausage. This is not a sausage like you would think, it looks more like a very tender and soft boiled steak. It's very lean and very soft in texture. This along with generous onions and potatoes top off this meal. Don't forget the broth in the bottom of the plate which adds extra flavor. I can't stress enough how filling this dish is, it's plenty for two to eat if you buy the medium size and take home lunch for the next day.

The atmosphere is very light and open. There's plenty of room so that you do not feel like you're crowded. All the dishes and plates matched as well as top quality silverware . When you're seated at your table they give you chilled water in a capped cooled bottle to start without even asking. Even the bathrooms have very high ceilings and are nicely appointed and freshly cleaned. I might note that there's plenty of room for a wheelchair to make it easily into the restrooms so this should not be a concern for handicapped patrons.

Service was fast, courteous, and friendly. Our server was very knowledgeable about the cuisine and what was available and told us right off what the kitchen could not make just in case we had our hopes up for something that they had run out of for the day.

While the restaurant is out of the way off of 400 Exit 11 in the Alpharetta, Windward Parkway, this is a destination for groups and couples alike. Put this on your go-to list for a unique dining experience with foods that you've never...

We were really excited to try this place. We came here on Mother’s Day to celebrate. The waitress that we had was nice and it wasn’t her service that was disappointing but the overall experience. We had a group of 6 adults and 3 kids, had a reservation but needed to wait an additional 15 min after reservation time to get seated, granted we were there 15 min early. The wait was not the reason for the bad experience, we understand that it gets busy on the weekends. Kids ordered milkshakes (which were $8 on the menu and they tasted like heavy cream with distant sweetness and were not at all frozen but had the consistency of milk), again, this is not a milkshake place so we let it slide. Next we ordered the eggplant salad which had a very nice flavor but for the portion size was overpriced at $15. The mojito drinks were tasty but also overpriced at $8 a drink. The plov had a nice flavor and we actually enjoyed it. When we asked about ordering the shawarma on the plate we were told “we are not serving this right now because the kitchen is too busy to put it together” we said we could wait but were told no. Instead we ordered multiple different kebabs (there were 5 different kebab orders, two people of had multiple kebabs) when the kebabs arrived they were all smushed together on a plate and handed to the two people who had ordered the multiple kebabs, they started eating and then were were told that ALL the orders were plated on those two plates!!!! Not only was this super confusing but frustrating. When we asked why this happened, we were once again told “it was because the kitchen was too busy”. Some of our party left without eating there order due to the confusion. I had really high hopes for this place but unfortunately we won’t be coming back. I hope that others have a better experience but unfortunately for us the food, the drive and the price is just...