Aria Restaurant — Restaurant in San Marcos

Disappointing Experience at Aria Restaurant.

I recently visited Aria Restaurant, enticed by the high star reviews and hoping to enjoy an authentic Persian dining experience. Unfortunately, our visit fell far short of expectations.

To start, we ordered the Kashk-e-Bademjoon (eggplant dip), a traditional eggplant dish. To our disappointment, the dish was not only old and tasteless but also unappetizing in appearance. It lacked the rich, creamy texture and vibrant flavors typically associated with this classic starter.

Moving on to the main course, we opted for the Beef Koobideh, anticipating the succulent and flavorful kababs that Persian cuisine is renowned for. Instead, we were served extremely greasy kababs, and the accompanying rice was poorly cooked. The texture of the rice was off, lacking the fluffiness and delicate seasoning that is a hallmark of good Persian pilaf. The worst part, however, was the aftertaste that lingered for hours after the meal. It was overpowering and unpleasant, likely due to an excessive amount of onions mixed into the meat, questionable beef quality, and an overabundance of oil.

On a positive note, the service was commendable. Our waiter was kind, attentive, and made an effort to ensure we were comfortable. However, good service cannot compensate for the subpar quality of the food.

Given our experience, it’s unfortunate to say that we will recommend Aria Restaurant to family/friends. The high reviews online do not reflect the reality of the dishes we were served. As much as we wanted to love this place, the poor quality of the food left us deeply...

Excellent service and fantastic cuisine. I love Persian food and don't get it nearly enough here in Washington. While enjoying our time in Funner at the Harrah's Resort, my husband and I decided to venture out as the dining options are limited at the casino. We made reservations at 7 pm on Saturday night and we were seated immediately. The menu has all the traditional fare of the middle east and the prices were very, very reasonable. It's nice to see when many of the restaurants,as a result of Covid, have forced restaurants to raise the prices.

We started the meal with the Tahdig and the Shirazi salad. Both dishes were well proportioned and very good. We ordered the Barg and the Beef Koobideh and both were excellent. The Barg was seasoned perfectly and the Koobideh was as tender as it should be. So much so that a knife was not needed. We always look forward to the Persian ice cream and we tried a dessert I was not familiar with, faloodah. Faloodah is a granita with rice and noodles flavored with rose water and lime and it was just as delicious as the ice cream. Aria has a nice wine list with prices so low I was surprised! A glass of Smoking Loon Cabernet was only$7 when most places charge 9 to upwards of $15! We also enjoyed the Persian tea with our dessert.

The entire bill, appetizers, two full dinners which also came with a salad, wine, desserts, hot tea for two was less than a $100. A great experience and worth the drive for this wonderful restaurant. I hope we are able to come back...

My father passed away a month ago and we had his dinner monomial at Aria restaurant. My family and I have been going there for years and through the recent ownership change. Things had changed but we were still loyal. Of course, we wanted to celebrate my dad’s life with inviting everyone who came to our ceremony. And had made a reservation for a group of 25 guests. The food was great, however, the service was awful and we had to figure out a lot of basic things on own, like asking for beverages. The food ended up not being enough for all our guests and when we ordered more, our request was ignored. When I asked to see the manager he did not acknowledge my problems and instead argued back and forth with me in front of my guests repeating that we only ordered the amount we did. I understood that we had accidentally ordered too little for our guests, and told him that I’d like to place an order for more. We waited for 20 minutes and the food never came. When I confronted the manager about it, he claimed that our request for additional servings of food could not be completed, which was embarrassing to say the least. From the moment we sat down, we felt like we were being rushed out. We felt unwelcome and are disappointed by the disrespect shown to us by the staff. And furthermore, we feel ashamed for brining our friends and family here. We are sad to say we will surely never return to Aria Restaurant after the utter disrespect we tolerated...