Bella Balducci's Mediterranean Cuisine — Restaurant in Kirkland

I recently moved from Northern CA to Camas area in state of Washington. The area where I live there are limited choices for exotic foods including for Persian cooking and groceries. Occasionally I drive (4hrs) to cities near to Seattle to discover these areas (Belleview, Kirkland, etc.). About 2 months ago, I was in Kirkland and started looking for a Persian restaurant to get some Kabob koobideh. I came across Bella Balducci's name searching Google and I decided to pay them a visit. At first, I walked to this "hole in the wall" type of dinning place where all tables were occupied at 2:00 pm on a Friday. This was the first positive sign to see customers still around passed regular lunchtime. Looking at the menu and seeing $8 per koobideh skewer, I didn't expect a super high quality kabob but I ordered some for carry out anyway just to have an experience with their cuisine. The owner was friendly and he offered a tea while I was waiting for my order. I took the kabobs and hit the road back home for another 4 hrs drive. Barely on the road, I could not resist the smell of Kabob filling my car and I decided to park somewhere to have a small bite. OMG! I could not believe how tasty the koobideh was and I was not able to stop eating. After living in the Bay Area for 24 years and having access to different Persian restaurants, I can easily distinguish between an excellent koobideh from a mediocre one. In this first visit, I can tell that Bella Balducci took me off guard with their super delicious and authentic koobideh combined with reasonable pricing. I came back this Friday (06/20) for another visit and this time I got koobideh and some Ghormeh Sabzi to savor with my family. Again they knocked my sucks off with their delicious food and I told Farshad (the owner) that you got yourself another regular customer by just delivering such a delicious and high...

Hi Everyone, I really wanted to write this review and give 5 stars for this Persian restaurant. I was there with my wife last week, and we dined in. The food was so delicious and the portions were so big that we had to request take-out boxes! I recommend the King's Choice dish that comes with extremely delicious and soft rice with three types of meat skewers: Chicken, beef, and Kobeidah. All the meat was grilled and the chicken had a lemon flavor which was so refreshing! The dish also comes with two sides of rice or salad. We chose both instead of having two sides of rice or two sides of salad. It really depends on preference. As an appetizer, we started with the smoked eggplant dip that comes with pita bread. I also recommend this. They have 2 eggplant sides, but we only tried the smoked one. Finally, I have to say that "Aria" was so courteous and kind. He was professional and patient, and we felt very comfortable eating there. "Vahid", the cook, was a real chef! The food as I said was so delicious and well-cooked. The salad plate was so organized and well-decorated as well. We just discovered this place in Kirkland, and we will definitely go back and dine there. I recommend this restaurant because we had a great experience! Thank you Aria and Vahid for the great service and...

Don’t let the name confuse you, this place is the best Persian food in the area! This place isn’t quite as good as home cooked Persian food, but nothing ever is! My wife is Persian and we had a little date nice away and I have been here once before but wanted to go again! Everything was AMAZING!!

Got the Ghormeh Sabzi (herbs stewed with beef and other things but it’s very herb forward), one of my all time favorite dishes and theirs is VERY good!! So much flavor!!

We also got the Lamb Shank which was amazing! They even put the sauce in a cup on the side (we got to go) but sometimes when you travel with lamb shank, all the sauce spills out of the container so it was so nice to just be able to dump it on after we got to where we were going and didn’t risk it spilling out.

Got Tahdig (means bottom of the pot) is a dish often fought over in our house and they did such a nice job with it! They make it to order since tahdig is usually only once per pot of rice made so they have to make it to order but they did an awesome job!! So tasty!!

Also got a green salad...