Colbeh

The service and food were outstanding. We had three kabab dishes of different meats, and a veal stew. Appetizers were great too. We were too full for dessert, but took some cake and baklavah home.

Keep trying them once a year and order most of the menu: still the food is really not tasty
Otherwise decoration is very nice but the smell of food is strong
Improve !

Frozen food served to you Fresh!
I cant believe this place has the nerve to try to pass itself off as a higher end restaurant. All the food that me and my friend ordered was nothing more than frozen food served semi-​hot. The bread was so old it tasted like cardboard. I tried to explain this to the waiter, especially since we bought the Mediterranean dipping plate for the bread, and he looked at me blankly not understanding what I want. I finally had to tell the owner that the bread was not warm and obviously very old. I then asked to return the Mediterranean because that was obviously nothing more than Sabra container from Duane Read that they tried to pass off as food.
Our fries– served cold. No one on the waitstaff seemed to understand why we are complaining that our food isn’t hot and didn’t seem to understand that it should be.
This was such horrible food and the fact that they have the nerve to charge their prices is a joke. You are better off going to the «ethnic» section at Pathmark and heating up in the microwave at home. Will taste better!

Went to Colbeh for a Sunday night dinner with the family and we all were greatly disappointed. The service was terrible; Hostess sat us with menus that were old and falling apart without mentioning that the sushi (which is half the menu) was not available, no waitress came to our table and the manager finally approached and took our order.
The falafel and lentil soup were good. Grape leaves were terrible. Steak was dry and a cheap cut. I wouldn’t feed the Fesenjoun to my dog.
Unfortunately another typical example of a Kosher restaurant that is poorly run and over priced.

Was reading the reviews and totally different then what I experienced. How can you call your food Persian if you don’t know what tadic is? Portions are tinny for what it costs.

A friends and I went to Colbeh last night and had one of the best meal we have ever had. The service was attentive, responsive and quick. The place itself is lovely, clean and modern but still warm & inviting. The food was simply glorious and oh so plentiful!
They started us with Ghormeh Sabzi (traditional stew of fresh herbs, dried limes, kidney beans and braised beef) and Gheimeh (lentil stew with braised beef and dried limes). We had to be careful not to fill up on this so we’d still have room for our entrees but it was hard because they were both amazing!
Our entrees were Kebab Koobideh & Koobideh white (chicken). We could not decide which rice we wanted so they brought us some of each. The sweet rice with the orange peel is a little bit of heaven, but the savory rice was equally delicious.
We were so full we each took home the balance of our platters, which were enough for another 2 meals.
I’ve already made reservations to go back. This is my new favorite place and I recommend it with a full heart and a very happy but full belly!

HUGE Kosher Middle Eastern dishes– cool ambiance, perfect for dates and group outings. Totally mouthwatering. Do dress up and pick the table away from the doors, especially during winter.

Great service and delicious food. The main courses are big enough for two ppl especially if you order take out and so many side dishes which are really tasty.

I was not impressed with this restaurant for a couple reasons, but the service is my main reasoning. Upon my first visit, the waiters were too attentive, to the point we just wanted to be left with more time to relax and enjoy ourselves. I appreciated how quick they were to provide assistance, but it became more of a pressure issue than help after a while.
I enjoyed my cocktails, and the food had good portion sizes… those would be the positive points.
The second visit was at the end of the night. The waiters were not polite, they clearly wanted to go home, and they gave us food that was not fresh. Rice was crispy from being dried out (I understand that the rice is supposed to have a crisp, but my emphasis is on the fact that it was clearly not freshly made). How do you serve old rice AND have a bad attitude? I ate quickly and multiple staff members made me uncomfortable and feel poorly for the duration of my meal.
I am not likely to revisit this restaurant.

As an Iranian, I approve!
My bosses have talked about having a lunch here with me for some time now (2 years — too long) and we finally got to go this week. I was pretty excited to see them experience Persian food for the first time as I can’t imagine anyone not liking it.
Since the last time I was here, they’ve redone their decorations and it looks great. The stylish ambiance is worthy of business lunches, dates, friend dates, interview lunches, etc.
As soon as you sit, they bring you pickles, olives, hummus, and pita bread. What I couldn’t wait for them to try was tahdig, which Colbeh serves you on the house, but it wasn’t the standard tahdig that we Iranians know. Instead of the hard crunchy rice, it was mushy and mixed together in a bowl. It was still enjoyable, but I wish they’d brought out regular tahdig.
Appetizers: gondi and babaganoush.
I’ll be honest; I’ve never had stews at Persian restaurants because 1– it’s available at home for free whenever I please and 2– of course my mom’s stews are going to beat Colbeh’s, but since the stews are a staple of Persian cuisine, that’s what I wanted my colleagues to try. So we got ghormeh sabzi, lapeh, and fesenjoon. Warning: each dish is enough for 2 – 3 people (typical of Persian restaurants)! While all the stews were fantastic, we couldn’t finish more than half our meals. But what’s important is that my newbies tried Persian food here for the first time and totally loved it.

The rice, beef, chicken, and stews are always great. Took my wife here on our first date in April 2014. It worked out well!

Pros: Very Good Kebab and appetizers.
Cons: Service could be improved upon. Where one waiter was extremely attentive and helpful, the other was literally throwing a diva-​worthy at us .
Tip: you get a bonus fruit bowl at the end of the meal!
Caveat: the portions are ginormous! One Entrée is enough to serve 3 adults.
The Place has amazing ambience, albeit it would be more desirable if they managed to control the temperature (it is freezing inside, and I’m not referring to the tables by the door).
Was a bit bummed by the drinks selection too. Leaves much to be desired even though the hot bread served at the beginning was to die for!

As Someone who is Persian and knows what Persian food is like. The food quality was very bad. Kobideh was very tick and dry. Brag was uncooked and when we complained the manager said this how it suppose to be which was sooo disappointing arguing with Persian about food.
Never gonna come back here as it’s not really Persian they didn’t even have Yogurt or Persian drink
Don’t recommend to anyone who loves quality

Si je retourne a new york? Je dépose ma valise et réserve une table tout de suite chez COLBEH! Le cadre est moderne, le personnel très professionnel et serviable, et les kabab sont excellents, assiette généreuse, pleine de saveurs !

Stumbled upon this place while in the city with friends (one of whom is Persian). The complimentary hummus and pita had no flavor. The pickles & olives were fine. The apps and entrée failed to impress. At one point we were the only ones in there but still had trouble getting the waiters’ attention — they were all glued to the TV. I don’t recommend it.

This sprawling kosher Iranian restaurant in Manhattan leaves so much to be desired, it’s not even funny. The salads and appetizers are not made house and the pita bread was dry, cheap-​tasting, and awful. The hummus was Sabra, the matbucha and other salads were the Walla brand that they always have on sale for cheap in the kosher supermarkets. The falafel balls had a techina filling, which is indicative of the fact that they are Ta’amti brand, which makes frozen kosher Israeli-​style appetizers. If you come here, you’re paying top dollar for salads and appetizers you can purchase in any kosher supermarket. Furthermore, the thin, dry pita was the Daily Bread brand they sell in the grocery stores, which is generally the lowest-​quality pita on the market. They don’t even use a fresh, fluffy pita like Yossi’s or Pita Sababa. The kebabs were decent; the koobideh was very flat-​tasting, and didn’t taste as if anything was added to the meat, except perhaps some pepper and salt. No onion or parsley to flavor the chopped meat, as this dish is supposed to be.
Furthermore, the management is awful, cruel, and has all the charm and social graces of the Ayatollah Khomeini. They are nasty, rude, and dismissive on the phone, they talk down to the customers, and when I was there, they were taunting and verbally abusing the mashgiach (supervising rabbi who ensures the kosher status of the place). It is never acceptable to abuse any employees, especially a member of the clergy. If you want subpar food at exorbitant prices, and if you want to eat frozen appetizers and prepackaged Sabra and Walla brand salads at top dollar, come to Colbeh. This was one of the worst dining experiences of my life.

Colbeh has moved since my last visit. .Now across the street, it has ugly chandeliers and a television showing the World Cup game — thankfully silent. Its high ceiling amplifies sounds of happy diners.
The food is still good, but there were too many waiters hovering pretentiously.
.And there was no place to put olive pits other than your napkin.

Came here for a business meeting and the dinner was free. Despite that, I think this place is just a solid 3. We had a private room which was nice.
We didn’t get the pick from the menu as the meal was pre-​determined but I think this is what we had. Salad Shirazi, Tossed Salad, Mango salad, and Salad Olivieh. We also had slices of bread with 4 different types of spread (babaganoush, chumus, tahina, and matbucha I think). My favorite was the babaganoush. All the spreads were tasty and fresh. All the salads needed a lot more work. The only one I liked more than the others was the mango salad. The other salads were flavorless. Needed more seasoning.
We also had hot appetizers: morrocan cigars, burekas, and some other fried stuff. I actually liked the morrocan cigars. Fairly tasty but nothing memorable. The rest of the fried stuff was too oily and the dough overpowered the stuff/​ingredients.
For the main course: chelo kebab koobideh, barg, chengeh, boneless joujeh and kebab chelo. The beef should have been cooked medium rare, it came out well. It was kind of chewy. The chicken breast was dry and the flavors didn’t really penetrate through into the meat as expected. The ground beef was more flavorful but that’s inherent. They also served us three different types of rice (white, «green rice» with lots of herbs, and a «yellow/​orange» rice with orange peels in it I think). I actually liked the «yellow/​orange» rice. The «green rice» took some time to get used to because it was heavily seasoned with herbs.
Service was decent. They were attentive and came to clear our appetizer dishes. They put out bottles of water at the table already so we could just refill our glasses ourselves. As for drinks, they came about 3 times to the table.
Overall, it’s an okay place. I’m not sure about the pricing but as other reviewers have noted, it’s probably expensive for this type of food and the quality of food you’re getting. I assume this place is also kosher because there were individuals at the table that were able to eat everything that came out.

Worst, most overpriced dinner of the last 15 years award.
TOURIST TRAP.
There’s absolutely nothing authentic about this place which serves Persian food — and sushi, at sky high prices.
What we ordered: Kubeh (wheat shell stuffed with mushrooms.)
What we got: 4 corn dogs with canned mushrooms.
$ 8.50
What we ordered: Moroccan Cigars (meatless spicy rolls)
What we got: 5 Microwaved frozen mini egg rolls.
$ 8.50
What we ordered: Mixed Mediterranean Platter (humus, baba, matbucha, eggplant)
What we got: 4 small squirts of catsup, salsa from jar, flavorless paste.
$ 16 !!
What we ordered: Crispy Rice w/​Green sauce
What we got: Desiccated rice from the trash and flavorless slime.
$ 13
You can wash this all down with a bud light or corona.
and plenty of stale bread.
STAY AWAY!

The service is nonexistent. When we wanted food or drinks we had to actually get up and find servers. I rarely take off stars for service but hopefully someone reads this review and learns from it. Judging by the previous reviews, this does not seem to be the case. This is NY, folks. Word spreads quickly about an establishment that doesn’t respect its patrons!
The appetizers were flavorful but the entrees were unremarkable. Prices are definitely inflated here for what you get.
Too bad the atmosphere is nice, would have considered coming back.

I was here for a bar association holiday party and we got our own U-​shaped table in the wine room. It was a good choice for a meal, actually since we got a nice selection of appetizers, dinner and dessert. The salad was good along with some of the other food I tried (I’d never had Mediterranean before). The chicken and rice were awesome. Both the white and green rices were delicious along with the desserts. I took the chocolate and some of the fruit. We also had an open bar and I heard no complaints about the alcohol from anyone at this event.
Staff was friendly, prompt, attentive and did not give us grief about being in the room talking after our party had ended. I’m considering going here again sometime with my husband. They also have a coat check and it did not cost me money to use it. On a cold night where I had to bundle up, that was a welcome sight.