Colbeh
“One of them was definitely the Gheimeh, and the other one I believe was the Ghormeh Sabzi.”
“So we got ghormeh sabzi, lapeh, and fesenjoon.”
“HUGE Kosher Middle Eastern dishes- cool ambiance, perfect for dates and group outings.”
Colbeh
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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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.
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.
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.
Nice Kosher restaurant. Sat at the bar and enjoyed several Tanqueray 10 and Tonics.
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.
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.
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.