Panini Kabob Grill - Northridge — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I had a surreal and uncomfortable experience while dining at the Northridge location. We were served two salads that came with our entrée orders, and while we were mid-bite, a food runner came over and confiscated them, stating that the portion was larger than what I was supposed to get.

I’ve never had food taken from me while eating, especially due to a kitchen error. My girlfriend was mortified, and I was stunned. I asked our server what was going on, and she explained the same reasoning about the portion size.

I didn’t care about the salads itself, I would’ve gladly paid extra if it was an issue. But the whole interaction didn’t make sense. Was that salad meant to go to someone else? Was the rest of my plate going to be recycled into it? If it wasn't going to be recycled into someone else's plate, its supposed to get thrown in the trash for food safety reasons. So they chose to have a salad go directly into the trash rather than either have us finish it on the house or have me pay the upcharge? The way it was handled left a lot of questions and ultimately ruined the evening.

Mistakes happen, but the way this was handled was baffling and disrespectful. I hope no other guest has to feel this kind of embarrassment over something so small and...

I finally had a chance to come to this Panini location. I been to the Burbank location already so I was already familiar with the place. I already knew that for any kabob place, if you order in person then it will take a while to cook because they don't make it until you place the order.

So I put in my order online and got the beef koobideh kabob single dish. I got it with Caesar salad and basmati rice. I arrived early to the restaurant and they were in the process of making my order. The place is very nice and spacious.

My order was ready at the time I pick on their website and I took it to the mall food court to eat it. The portion isn't really that much in my opinion. The kabob was cooked to medium rare but the color of my kabob didn't look like they grilled it. It looked to me like it was microwave or just heated because there were no grill mark on it. My dish was okay but I thought it lack a lot of flavor. Th customer service was...

I really wanted to rate this place higher because the service and staff were absolutely amazing, genuinely one of the best I’ve experienced in a long time. Everyone was friendly, attentive, and went out of their way to make sure we were taken care of.

Unfortunately, the food just didn’t live up to the same level. I started with the Chicken Vegetable Soup, which was actually quite good, warm, flavorful, and comforting. But the disappointment came with my main dish, the Combo Kabob Plate (chicken and ground beef). It just wasn’t what I was expecting. The flavors were flat and the texture was a bit off.

Was I expecting Raffi’s Place quality? No. But I can honestly say I’ve had better kabobs at Zankou.

If Panini Kabob Grill wants to truly shine, especially for the sake of their outstanding wait staff, I’d suggest reassessing the food quality to match the excellent service. There’s so much potential here, I really hope...