Sultan — Restaurant in McKinney

Excellent and flavorful food, wonderful people, and a beautiful restaurant. Came here with my family today and they were able to accommodate a reservation for 10. The staff was very friendly and the restaurant itself was clean. All food is made in-house. The food is a combination of Northern Iraqi and Turkish food. I spoke to Rifat (a manager, I think) and he said that all the food is homemade, which is amazing.

We ordered the following for appetizers -

Hummus: Excellent. Fresh and smooth, a good underlying flavor or tahini.

Baba ghanoush: Excellent. Good texture and smokiness.

Halloumi pide: Loved it!! I haven't seen this done so well. I could eat an entire one of my own (or I'd order one just for myself).

Tabbouli: Good. I'd like to try some of their other salads as well.

Falafel: hot, fresh, light, and crispy. Would definitely order again.

Main entrees: Lamb Kebab, Kebab Sultani, Lamb Tikka, Iraqi Quzi, Chicken Shish Tawook, Spicy Chicken, Lamb Chops.

I tried all of the entrees except the chops and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. They were all hot, fresh and juicy. The flavors were fantastic. The flavors reminded me of the kebabs I've had in authentic arab restaurants in the middle-east. The proteins were cooked medium to medium-well -- but they were all juicy. Maybe 1-3 mins off the grill would lead to even more juicy proteins, but we had no complaints. All the meats were flavorful and juicy. My whole family had nothing but good things to say.

The Iraqi Quzi came with a side of white beans in a tomato gravy. I'm not a beans person, but the beans were fresh and flavorful as well.

We ordered French fries for the kids -- they were hot, fresh, and crispy.

We also tried sutlach (pudding), pistachio baklava, and tea. My family enjoyed the tea enough to order a second round. The pistachio baklava was crispy and fresh -- if you enjoy pistachio then you will like his as well. The pudding was also fresh and wonderful.

It was pretty busy when we arrived but our orders were taken timely and we were served fairly quickly. The impressive part was that all our entrees were served pretty much at the same time, and all of them were hot. Loved that family could eat together.

The rice was also flavorful by itself. Perfectly done.

I look forward to...

We drove 25 minutes to the restaurant’s second day of opening, only to find no one welcoming us or ready to seat us. We ended up having to choose a table ourselves. Table was not clean and there was a bread basket left over from previous customer. After waiting for 20 minutes, no one came to talk to us or take our order or even bring us some water. In desperation, my wife had to approach them directly to request for at least some fries for our toddler, which they never delivered. To make it worse, while we were waiting for a waiter to take our order, the owner's 12-year-old son was sent to our table to tell us that they had run out of food! This made me to speak to the owner, who promised to take care of us, but unfortunately, that never happened. In the end, we had no choice but to leave the restaurant. The table next to ours had a similar frustrating experience. It was evident that their friends and family who were invited received preferential treatment and they had no time for us. They also need to have a better menu, the current one is super short with no description for items listed in the menu. Hope the owner take my review as a way to improve their business and customer services.

⭐️ Updated Review: [Updated after second visit] I originally left a two-star review based on our first visit during the restaurant's second day of opening, which was honestly a frustrating experience. However, I’m very happy to say that our second visit completely changed our impression. The service was attentive and warm, and the food absolutely exceeded expectations. The Iraqi quzi, makluba, lamb kebab, and sultai were all rich in flavor, beautifully presented, and cooked to perfection. The appetizer platter was fresh and a great start to the meal. It’s clear the team has made real improvements in both service and operations. We’ll definitely be back and look forward to trying more dishes. Kudos to the owner and staff for turning...

We been coming here at least a few times a months since we discovered it for the last two months, always a whole family of 8 adults and we order little bit of everything because the food was always fresh and authentic and that bought us back Everytime. Yesterday we went for weekend breakfast for the first time, you pay for every order you buy so it’s not buffet style so you would assume you could take the food home like you could every other breakfast places. But no. I am pregnant and I was craving for the olive which we had a lot left on the table, I asked for a to go box so that I could take a few with me, the waiter asked that’s not allowed in their policy for breakfast, with confusion I explained that I am pregnant and it’s been hard for me to find what I like to eat , the olives were delicious and I wasn’t taking anything else but a few olives with me on the go to help my cravings. He went back to ask the manager, still got a no for an answer. They could have made an exception and my family would have been returned customers. Maybe if the manager was a female she would have understood and made a humanly decision. Not coming back.

Responding to the owner’s response:

I gave 5 stars to food and 5 starts to atmosphere and 1 star for the service I received. That’s more than fair for my estimation. I have worked in and my family owned restaurants, I know the least of making it right to your customers, and it’s not an angry response to their honest feedback. Us coming back to the restaurant over and over over the past months was us showing support if you missed that point. It’s a shame I never had the chance to leave a review before to show my support publicly, even if I did I would have changed my review after that experience. A simple apology would have sufficed and would have encouraged us to carry your good names out to our community but your unimpressive angry response...