House of Kabob

Operating a really good full-service restaurant near office buildings can’t be easy. Nestled into the same Corporate Park plaza as Siam Station, Poke Tiki, and several fast food joints, House of Kabob is one of several remaining Persian restaurants in Irvine, and unsurprisingly always seems to be busy – a couple of patio tables outside are frequently filled, in addition to some of the perhaps 10 small tables inside.

That’s not including the seemingly constant stream of take-out orders going out the door. We suspect that’s because prior visitors have enjoyed House of Kabob’s food, but realized parking there can be a hassle. In this case, we’d call the juice worthy of the squeeze.

Now locally uncommon dishes such as kashk o bademjon (puréed eggplant with fried onion and mint) share the menu with juicy, excellent kabobs, and a variety of boiled meat and rice dishes. Even the sweet dolemeh (grape leaves) we ordered appeared to be housemade, and the though the boiled chicken in the addas polo entree was underwhelming, its included raisin/lentil/date saffron rice was atypically good by the standards of nearby Persian restaurants.