This particular restaurant, in the far Southwest of Portland, with a Lake Oswego address, is by no means the most convenient restaurant to eat at. Frequently closed on Sundays, it happened to be open on Memorial Day with modified hours, and so I had lunch there myself. If the place has hours that are not always the easiest to find, the restaurant itself is located in a small shopping center in a mostly residential area. When I visited after having reserved myself a table for one, the restaurant itself was not particularly crowded, and at least when I went most of the customers there seemed to be Iranians, at least judging by the language that they spoke, which is perhaps a high credit to the authenticity of the cuisine there, which I am perhaps least qualified to judge.

For myself, I started with a bowl of lentil soup as well as some pita bread that was brought out as an appetizer, and that was a tasty beginning. After that I had the Mahicheh (braised lamb shank with rice and saffron), which was also tasty, and the combination of the two was both tasty and filling. The lamb in particular was very tender, practically falling off of the bone. If I head here again, there are other things that I did not have, but I would likely be content to have this again. Otherwise, the restaurant has a lot of kebob and gyro dishes, as well as plenty of appetizers, for those who are interested in a mixture of Greek and Persian cuisine. With three televisions, there is plenty to enjoy as far as watching sports is concerned, though when I went there were only a few tables occupied and only one person at the bar.

One of the more amusing aspects of going to a new restaurant is engaging in people watching. And while one might think that one’s people watching opportunities are greatly reduced in a place that is not particularly busy, sometimes the quality of the observations can overcome limits in quantity, and this was the case here. Most of the patrons in the restaurant were able to communicate pretty easily with each other (though not particularly with me), and I could hear at least a few words of them speaking with each other. The most entertaining of the guests was a little boy who was fascinated with the fish in the restaurant’s aquariums, which forced his relatives, including a couple of bored young women as well as his father and mother to spend time herding him back to their table whenever he wandered to one of the aquariums or the other. This was entertaining, and it underscores that this restaurant has the feel of a place that is popular with a familiar audience that keeps it profitable and is also full of tasty food that others would be willing to try, with friendly service even if there is a bit of a language barrier.