Shirazi Karahi — Restaurant in New York

If I could leave a 0 star review, I would.

I got take out and it was a small order. I placed it at exactly 7:05pm, after a 5-10 minute wait, in person because after calling afew times to a busy line and once being put on mute and subsequently hung up on 0:24 seconds into the call, I figured I might as well order in store.

I asked the girl at the front counter how long it would take at 7:05pm, I believe her name is Wajeeha, and she said 20-25 minutes. I stepped out and came back at 7:30, and asked if it was ready and it felt like they didn't even start prepping my order because the look of confusion I received stating my name spoke loudly.

Between 7:30 - 8:18pm I reminded them of my name and order a few times and asked if it was ready a couple of times. The reason being, people with similar but larger orders were coming in after me and getting their order before mine. The reasons I received about why my order is running behind, "we're packing it up right now," "you're next in line," "give us 5 minutes," "the chicken biryani is taking some time." I had one order of chicken biryani while people with 3-5+ orders were coming and going with no issue. It truly felt like they prioritized bigger money orders over small orders which is pretty messed up.

After the 1 hour mark I was offered some chai on the house but I am trying to eat food not drink chai right now and I did not take any. Amidst all the chaos at 8:18pm I finally received my order of 4 kabab, 6 naan, 1 chicken biryani. I made it home in about 10 minutes only to find the naan was sitting so long it's lukewarm and soggy, the kababs are soggy, and the biryani is warm to hot but not freshly hot.

I'm very disappointed in the service and management, especially with the aforementioned favor for bigger money orders. I'm going to go ahead and say since it's a new restaurant the workers are new and got flustered easily which is okay it happens. I may even try coming back here when it's less busy to see if it tastes better while it's actually fresh and I don't have to wait over an hour. But that being said, tonight I was sorely disappointed and upset with my choice of going to...

Recently had a small birthday dinner for my daughter. When I made reservations a few days in advance, they told me that if the hall isn’t booked, they may seat us in that area to make it a more intimate gathering. But when we arrived, they did have back to back bookings for that hall that day so it was understandable and they quickly arranged seating for 14 people in the restaurant. The hostess was very nice and accommodating as well. She went all out to make sure we enjoyed the food and had a pleasant experience. We brought a cake for the birthday girl. All I asked was if they could bring it in with candles lit up anfter dinner and they went beyond by dimming the lights and playing the birthday song when bringing the cake to the table. Food was on point. I did order take out - mixed grill - when they first opened this location and it wasn’t great compared to the fresh meadows location. But this time the mixed grill was great. The chicken karhai was great too. The guests also felt it tasted better here than the Fresh Meadows location. Nihari was a must for the birthday girl and that was also on point. I like the seating here a lot more than the Fresh meadows one too. Overall we had a great dinner and not one single thing to disappoint. Shout out to Wajeeha for making it a wonderful night for my...

Great new location with fine atmosphere. Food, however, was underwhelming at best. We had the goat karahi, chicken mixed grill, and beef bihari kabab. The mixed grill, like everything else, was low on salt, which is healthier, but that gap in seasoning needs to be made up for with better spicing, which it did not have. The bihari kabab was better than average for Long Island. It had good texture and heat, but flavoring was still blander than expected.

The goat karahi, what we came for was not bad but not great. The chopped green peppers helped, and the taste would have been better with fluffier Naan that would have absorbed the rass/sauce. This is where it went downhill. The Naan were under baked, they were doughy inside and very flat.

Adding to the deflated, sticky Naan was the intolerable practice of not serving complementary salad or water. We're in NYC with its fantastic tap water. The dishes were also brought out separately, and the Naan came very late after the food had gotten lukewarm to cold. This can be fixed as the service and kitchen gets it's legs underneath it. Even the Naan can be fixed, hopefully. But the lack of salad and water, which are standard practice at other desi restaurants, is intolerable. Nothing that was served rose above mediocrity to...