Royal Kebab Persian Cuisine — Restaurant in St. Louis

I came in to order two gyro sandwiches and an order of fries to go.

Normally, this would be a simple endeavor, but this turned out to be one of the worst experiences I've ever had in a restaurant.

The woman who took my order spoke little English, but was clearly trying to upsell me on the gyro platter instead of the sandwiches (which are half the cost.) She finally relented and repeated back to me "two gyro sandwiches and fries to go"

She took the order into the kitchen area, where nobody was working on anything at the time because there were only three tables of people in the restaurant.

Over the following twenty minutes, she came back out of the kitchen three or four times, as did another woman and, based on the argument she was having with the gentlemen who came out twice, I presume to be her husband.

All three of them came and went over this twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, when I'm expecting my to-go order to be ready to take home, the second woman asks me what I've ordered.

They clearly haven't even started anything yet. I told her I ordered twenty minutes ago. The first woman confirmed this to be the case. The second woman says they haven't started anything yet. She starts getting in a yelling match with her husband and the first woman. I ask what they've been doing the whole time I've been waiting.

They tell me they can make the food in ten minutes. I repeat that I ordered it twenty minutes ago.

I tell them I'm leaving, and they all start yelling at each other.

This restaurant will hopefully go out of business very soon. These are horrible restauranteurs and, from what I can tell, horrible...

I love to support neighborhood restaurants and have ordered from here in the past via DoorDash several times. But I was disappointed today. The chicken kabob is very tasty. The salad used to be really nice. They've decided to add dill sandwich pickles to the salad. Why? That is just weird. They used to use a magenta saffron in their rice. Now it's orange, which is totally fine. But I was looking at it sideways after seeing Velveeta packaging in their restaurant and was wondering why the rice didn't seem like saffron was the used ingredient.

Today was the first day I actually went to pick up my order. The most upsetting thing about my visit was that my meal was $14.99. When the man rung me up he charged my card $18.99. The menu was right there on the counter with the prices listed. I asked him about it and he said taxes increased the price. I pushed further and he tried to give me a $1 from the tip jar because I called out his dishonesty Tax isn't 25% plus last time I checked. I just told him to keep it. If you need to steal $4 in exchange for losing future business, just take it because that's the last dollar you'll get from me.

Dishonesty in this way is super disappointing. Times are tough for people, but that wasn't ok. I won't be back. I was so happy when they opened up and didn't want to write a bad review. But maybe by doing so they won't pull that mess...

The pros of Royal Kebab are that the restaurant has a very homely feel and leaves you at ease when ordering. Despite not being local food, the menu is easy to understand and their kebabs especially lamb and chicken are very tender, succulent, and grilled to perfection. The place definitely needs more recognition despite a limited menu because they know their food and provide you with excellent quality meat. Also, their food is halal which is a huge plus for Islamic followers since they don't have as many options available in and around St Louis.

The cons are that the lamb portion is very little, the koobideh could be cooked a tad bit more because I've had Persian cuisine outside this restaurant and I feel this one lacked the tenderness and melt in your mouth texture. The chicken was amazing and I absolutely loved it. The service is extremely slow and lacks attentiveness. Also, the staff is young and not trained. The little boy who came to our table just left the water jug for us to pour and seemed to struggle a bit when asked for recommendations.

I would recommend their carry out service over their dine in because it will cut short the waiting time. Also, if you're looking for service and ambiance this is definitely...