Briar Mart — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

Placed an order over the phone for pick up everything was fine with the phone ordering process and when we got there my boyfriend and i really liked the mini shop inside and got some delicious snacks! My boyfriend and i pay for the food and some snacks and were gonna eat in his car because we were really hungry. When we opened the boxes we couldnt tell which box was whose because unfortunately there was a miscommunication over the phone about which items i ordered which is perfectly understandable. I head back in just to calrify which item is which so we at least know what we're gonna eat and i genuinely just wanted to double check what was in each box. The woman who helped me over the phone and when we were there was helping another customer so i waited but the woman turned to me and asked what i needed help with. She stops helping the customer mid service when i said something along the lines of "sorry i just wanted to make sure which item is which" she asked me what i ordered and i started telling her what i at least thought i ordered and she interrupted me to tell me what she heard me say over the phone and her tone completely changed and just was really rude and wasnt friendly despite the fact i don't really care i didnt get what i was hoping for i just wanna know what i did get before eating it. Other customers sitting at tables started staring at us and it was just embarrassing because she really seemed so upset with me over a question and immediately jumped to the defensive even though i dont think i was being any sort of way about it. The experience ruined my night and when i got back to my boyfriend we just tried to brush it off as a bad day for the woman and started eating. The food other than the vegetables didnt taste fresh. The meat looked and tasted questionable if that makes sense. Just had a weird grayish color to it and left a subtly unpleasant sour after taste. The pita was pretty good hard to screw up pita bread. The hummus was overly oily and didnt have much flavor. The dolmas we got from the cooler next to the register had the flavor as if the grape leaf went bad. It initially tasted EXTREMELY bitter and had a strong unpleasant sour after taste. I spit out the dolma and my boyfriend finished two of them. Dolmas are actually his favorite food he said hed rather eat canned dolmas than those ones. Im in culinary school so everything about the meal just gave off warning bells in my head so we ended up throwing away the food becasue we didnt feel comfortable eating more of it. Shortly after we leave Briar mart my boyfriend's stomach wasn't having a good time and he felt a little sick. Terrible experience very very questionable and bland food the only thing nice about the experience was the shop inside which have many items you can get from the german bakery near bott ave anyway(Wimberger's old world bakery highly recommend that place). Will not be coming back here anytime soon and absolutely wouldn't recommend this place if you care about your health, quality of food, or experience. Its also worth noting this is the first google review i felt the need to make because of how odd the whole thing was and what a waste it would be to feel the need to come here simply because of the...

I think I found another person who speaks Farsi in Colorado Springs, the proprietor of the place speaks, and I got to practice my broken Farsi a bit, which is nice.

My wife looked up Persian food, and Briar Mart popped up, so we visited the place. They have a small selection of middle eastern goods and imports; I found my favorite carbonated yogurt (Doogh AbAli) drink, many odds, ends, and finally, lavash bread, which is difficult to find in COS. Finally, when we walked to the counter, we found a menu to order from, and we found them to have Persian kabob, which is a delight. We ordered the Soltani, though; I prefer it with Barg, not chicken. The koobideh was slightly on the dry side. It needs more fat, onions, and sumach, but I understand why they might not want to make the food as aromatic considering the majority of their customer base's food pallet may not appreciate it.

It is too bad their selection is limited; I would have loved to not travel to Denver to buy Iranian delicacies such as Gaz, Chickpea cookies, saffron ice cream, and other delights. At any rate, this will hold us over for occasions when we no longer can tolerate the overwhelming amount of bland food that...

Brian Mart is truly a hidden gem in Colorado Springs! Somehow, after loving it for almost a decade, I'm finally(!!) getting around to writing the review it deserves.

The food is always great (never change your fries!), the prices are reasonable, the service is fast, and the proprietor, Shaun (sorry if I misspelled it, my friend!), has never failed to make me feel welcome.

There are a wide variety of entrées, and I've never been disappointed by a single one! The fries are thin, crispy, and always straight out of the fryer--exactly how fries should be! Every pita is great, and only once in ten years have I not been impressed with the quality of the tomatoes. Bright red, never grainy, always juicy and flavorful, even in the desolate pale, grainy wasteland of Colorado January. The same dedication to quality is present in every detail of the food, and I've never been less than happy with a meal here.

The market portion of the business is also wonderful! It's full of fantastic products that you'd be hard pressed to find from just about any grocer around.

If you've never been, this...