Setaara — Restaurant in Atlantic City

This will be an in depth review so please continue reading. tl;dr at the end

Where to start with our experience? 5:30pm- The front door is as good a start. A small entrance barely wide enough for a full goren man of lightweight wooden doors leading into the hallway immediately gave a feeling of being in the Middle East down a street where the family is in the kitchen. The hallway was dimly, although colorfully lit. Upon meeting our hostess she led us through the restaurant, down a tight hallway passing the kitchen and walking past the drink station, where we were led to an open room where there are many plants and some live birds in cages. A man playing the piano was there as well. The "courtyard" felt amazing and we were sat in an alcove which gave us a sense of privacy. The chairs were plush and comfortable. (There are floor seating options available as well) we were then greeted by Hamid, our server. An absolutely delightful gentleman that explained to us the menu in detail. We went on a Friday night which gave us the prix fixe menu ($69.97 per person fixed option menu consisting of 4 courses, appetizer, soup, entree, and desert.)

We were brought cold water in metal cups, and a small basket of bread, a long with our menus. Although it's a prix fixe menu, do not let that fool you, there is more than enough option to choose from. There is Middle Eastern (more so from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan than Pakistan. So no spicy biryani) and then French with roughly 5 options from each for the entree's, around the same for the appetizers (pictures of the menu to follow). Soup was fixed as chicken curry.

My appetizer was ordered and brought out and was a delicious small tray of boiled seasoned potatoes with tomatoes and a yogurt sauce drizzled on top. My wife had the artichokes. Both were absolutely amazing. They were not "large dishes" and an appetizer should not be. We were checked on by Hamid and other staff at each course, and during each course. After that course and a 5 minute interval our soup was brought out, again a small bowl of lightly curried chicken with apple pieces inside. I did at first think that my soup was too unflavored, but when I figured out to eat an apple piece with each spoonful. It changed the dish entirely. I highly recommend doing that prior to asking for salt or pepper.

Another interval and our main courses were brought to us. My wife had Mantu. Mantu is a dish of boiled dumplings with a yogurt sauce (afghanis love yogurt) there was 6-8 dumplings on the plate, they are light but will sneak up and fill you fast. I had Uzbeki palau which is a dish of seasoned basmati rice with carrots and raisins. With a FALL OFF THE BONE lamb shank. The lamb was well done, with zero salt on it. Again eat it with the rice before asking for salt. The rice is well flavored and does not need any salt. With the dishes there comes a green hot sauce and a red hot sauce. I recommend the red as it is spicy with pickled pepper and could be eaten on its own if you do go for spicy.

It was my wife's birthday and I mentioned it to Hamid during some of our chit chat. Our dessert came out after our main meal after 10 minutes or so. The piano man changed the song to happy birthday and my wife started humming along not realizing it was for her 🤣. They put a candle in the chocolate mousse and we all sung happy birthday to her (including the other people in the restaurant). The chocolate mousse was an unearthly flavor and texture. There was also a small piece of baklava which is by far the best piece of baklava I've ever had. I have some experience with middle Eastern/Greek foods and have had a lot of baklava in my life. This is worth a 3 hour trip to buy it again. After taxes it cost about

That's it, that's my review. I hope you found it helpful and Informative.

TL;Dr 100% recommended place to eat. The staff, decor, knowledge and quality of food is an experience that you will never forget. Again if you are a salt hound, this place will...

We were in town with friends and were excited to try this place. Given the good reviews and our love of Persian/Afghan cuisine, we here looking forward to a good meal.

We were greeted by a friendly lady at the front who seated us and our waiter was also very friendly and helpful with making suggestions for what to order (his wife is the owner/cook). The interior is nicely done and you feel like you’ve been transported to another world sitting in some courtyard. You’d never imagine this from the outside given the location of the restaurant. These were all the high points.

So why the one star review? The food and the ridiculously overpriced pre fixe menu. We were only told about the $70 per person price after we were seated and looking through the menu. This is something that should have been posted on their website or mentioned when we made our reservation. Being forced to get a 4 course meal would be justifiable had the food been delicious but it was very disappointing.

The appetizers were good which got us excited for the rest of the meal. But it went downhill from there. The soup was bland like chicken stock with some mashed rice. None of us could have it. Our entrees came out next and they were absolutely terrible. I ordered the koobideh kabab platter, one of my favorite foods which I eat often. The Kababs were tough and rubbery and what made it worse was there was absolutely no seasoning. Even salt would have helped. The rice was also not the usual buttery fragrant rice one expects in a Persian dish. My husband’s lamb in his Uzbeki pulao was also disappointing. Our friends had similar feedback on their meals.

The desserts were mediocre at best but that’s a matter of preference. The tiny baklava piece was fine but the chocolate mouse and firni both felt like they had been prepared a while ago and refrigerated given their texture.

It was clear that there were cuttings corners everywhere to save money. For example, out platters came with only half grilled tomatoes, we were given only two desserts to share amongst the four of us when we all purchased the meals and the meat was poor quality.

I can’t for the life of me understand the high reviews here. I do feel bad leaving this review but I feel compelled...

Update: they tried to charge me the $90 cancellation fee today after me writing the review!! Although they waived it yesterday and I already received the cancellation email!! this is a new low seriously.

Worst dining experience ever. First, I had to put my credit card on file to make a reservation for 6 people. If I cancel the reservation within less than “2 days”, I would need to pay a cancellation fee of $90 total ($15 per person), which is insane but whatever, that’s not my main point.

I made a reservation through Google Maps, got a confirmation email, drove 1.5 hrs from Cherry Hill (NJ) with my family and I was there on time. I was seated in a nice spot then the disaster happened. They said that for today (it was a Saturday) it would be a full course menu (appetizer, entree, dessert) and that it would be $70 per person (mind you, before tax or tips). We said we aren’t that hungry and that would be a waste of food. We just want 5-6 entrees for the 6 of us plus some drinks or something. They said no, that’s not possible IT MUST BE A FULL COURSE MENU. We said we weren’t notified of such a thing when we made the reservation, I showed them how I made the reservation, I showed them the reservation confirmation email and there was no such thing as a forced full course menu. One of the folks who work there looked at my phone and acknowledged that she doesn’t see anything about a full course menu in the reservation confirmation email or when I made the reservation. They were like Ok, you can leave but you will pay the $90 cancellation fee!!!

We asked to speak with the manager, while in meantime the woman who was speaking with us checked the email confirmation I got once more, clicked on ‘manage reservation’ button in the email confirmation which opened up a webpage that mentions the full course menu. I was like why would anyone click on ‘manage reservation’, are you serious?

Anyway, the manager came (she actually walked by us as we were talking with the other lady more than once and didn’t do or say anything). They eventually said you’re free to go, we will not process the...