Cafe Dushanbe

I wasn’t sure if reservations were needed but to be on the safe side, I made reservation for a party of 8.
I was under the impression that this is Uzbek food but read some other comments I see that it has dishes from another country as well.
So here’s the scoop:
Location: not bad and close to the main street, not hard to find
Décor & ambiance: cute, cultural & authentic.
Food:
The fruit punch: tasty and not overly sweet
The bread: Hot, fresh and delicious.
Tashkent salad: probably the best tongue salad I have ever had
Avocado salad: delicious
Carrot salad: absolutely delightful
Plov: tasty but I felt like they could’ve added a little more meat on top.
French fries: not greasy but a tad salty
Kurtob: I have never had this dish before but we loved it.
Samsa: we loved this pumpkin filled wonder
Potato w/​mushrooms: many people do this dish differently, this one was delicious but also a tad bit salty.
Lamb, beef, & chicken kebab: tender and delicious
Trout: we had the oven baked and oh my, this was a huge platter that came w/​mashed potatoes-​TO DIE FOR
Service: the waiters were friendly, attentive, & informative. They changed our plates and the service was prompt.
My one and only issue, the bathrooms, although clean, need to be updated. The doors are original but heavy and those sinks and base cabinets got to go. They seem dated and in need of a makeover.
Other than that, it’s spacious and we will definitely return.

This is the best food that I have tried in Brooklyn. We started out with a couple of salads. They prepared the salads and brought them over very fast. Then we ordered the kebab, which was also brought over really fast. We got chicken kebab, liver, ribs and lula kebab. Lula kebab was the best that I have ever tried in NY. You can bring your own bottle and the service is amazing. I will definitely come back here because the food is delicious!!!

I’ve eaten there twice. The food is not bad, although the beef tongue salad wasn’t the best I’ve ever had in Brooklyn and when I ordered fish it was quite bad. Everything else though was ok and it’s probably a dumb idea to order saltwater fish in a Tadjik restaurant; salad avocado kavkaz was good, kebab was good. Okroshka and Lagman soup was nice. For food I’d give 3.5−4 stars and I generally wouldn’t subtract a star for service (I come to a restaurant for the food after all) but we never really felt welcome there. They seem to have a pretty solid customer base among locals (again, good sign) and don’t really care about ppl who look different. So I don’t think it’s worth a long trip.

Great service, great food. You can bring your own alcohol since none is served there. Love this place!

The food is delicious — especially the eggplant salad, the kavkaz salad, the mushroom and meat dish and the soups!
I like how the kebab cooking aromas our entire block and how the wafts of kebab and other meats come into the noses like bouquets of meaty roses.
The summer soup, okroshka, is excellent.
The interior is well done, delicately painted, with Alladdin-​esque scenes on the walls and «windows».

The food is probably the best that I tried on Emmons Ave. I keep going back there.
The ribs and Manti are delicious, the soups are actually more like stews, but really great!

The reason that I don‘t give it 5 starts is that the service could be improved. They have many servers on the floor — but they are not very attentive, and most importantly, not efficient.
Another reason is that they include 10% tip into the bill. What is it? Does the house get it or the servers? I think that they should either include 20% to the bill (I bet people in the neighborhood do not tip well), or, don‘t include anything at all. Or, play it by ear — if you think your customers are most likely not to tip you — include the tips.
The last reason is that some items on the menu are not available, or have ingredients which are not listed in the menu.
Despite all of these reasons — I love the place for the quality of the food, and will still come back!

It’s not too surprising that Unilocal lacks a special category for Tajik food. Instead, the cuisine here is described as «Russian, Middle Eastern, and Uzbek». Seems like a pretty accurate description anyway, as apparently Tajik and Uzbek cuisines share a number of similarities, and at least one of the dishes at Brighton Beach’s Café Dushanbe reminded me of Russian fare.
We stopped in last night for a coworker’s birthday party, and I think both my fellow partygoers and the accommodating attitude of the staff contributed to the festive atmosphere. We also appreciated the rich décor (notable accoutrements included a painting of two ghosts on horse ghosts prancing around in [probably] Dushanbe).
We sampled a few different dishes, from the pickle plate to the lamb and beef shish kabobs to the qurutob (spelled kurutob here), which I’m told is one of two national dishes. The kabobs, my boyfriend’s favorite dish of the evening, were fantastic — tender and perfectly spiced — but the real standout for me was the qurutob, made of layered bread, onions, lamb, baked cheese, and other veggies, drenched in a dill-​yogurt sauce.

The place is all right, cannot say that this is the best and this the best place what I ever see, so its 4star.

I have had a privilege to come to café Dushanbe from Los Angeles. Chef Ali was fantastic. He did a costume made salad for me which was top class. Overall service and food is worth your money. I would recommend this place to everyone all day long if you are willing to have a good food and a fantastic experience.

Really, I can’t give this place anything more than 3 stars. I am quite a fan of these Uzbek-​Tajik places. First on my list goes Salom, then Aziza 7, then this place, quite a few steps down. It’s a little hard to describe why the others are significantly better given that I am not particularly familiar with this style of food, but some ideas:
*Excellent, excellent salad. (Ordered the Nowruz)
*Great fried dumplings
The rest was kinda good, but the issues were:
–Service took way too long and was not particularly attentive (i.e. waiting forever to get the check, then to pick up the check)
–The portions were fairly small
–It took a long time to get the food (they have a small kitchen so that’s no doubt why).
In short, it’s OK, but there are much better places around doing a similar style of food, so I’d take your chances with them first.

Let’s put it like that– I’ll drive from New Jersey for this place! Thank you! Delicious, don’t forget to bring your own wine!!!

Great food– love avocado salad and lamb ribs. Lamb ribs come with 4 or 5 pieces per stick.
I also recommend their pumpkin samsa– tasty and pipping hot!
Unfortunately, their skirt steak was over cooked, more sweet than savory and paired with tasteless mashed potato. Only 3 servers for a full house on a busy weekend– so expect more wait time.
Watch for the 10% added gratuity/​service charge!!!

Delivery was very fast and food was great.
Lamb ribs and Plov was my favorite.

Delicious food great place welcome dear guests when you miss home foods come to café Dushanbe

A very good place to try :) definitely worth your money and time :) very good service and food. Qurutob is the best :)

I like their food, the only two think is really bad.
1) food waiting time
2) service very bad

Mediocre service, too many other better restaurants around, not coming back here.
Changing clean plates didnt happen until we asked. Main course timing completely screwed up, half of the table waited 20 min for their main course while the rest ate their shashlik.
Food ok, not as tasty as neibhgoring uzbek restaurants.
Coffe was good. The cholocate lava cake had not much lava, more like a warm cupcake with a tiny chocolate tear

While I will not get into their menu selection and everything else, I will keep this short. Their tandir veal is something to die for. I don’t know how they marinate it or how they cook it but that tenderness, smokiness and taste are out of this world. The place is BYOB, the décor while nothing fancy is cozy and nice. A great place for an occasional eat.

Without any doubt, this is the best Tajik/​Uzbek/​Russian and American Restorant. Food is delicious fresh and clean. Kind and good looking waiters. Loved every minute of spending time here. Love to come back again.

Delicious traditional food. Often come here with my friends. Love their homemade bred. Must try chicken kebab and lagman, the best I’ve ever had. Service a bit slow on weekends, but it’s worth waiting

The Manti are RIDICULOUS in this place. The soup in the crockpot is also very good, but be careful, it’s as hot as this place! 5 stars

The restaurant is clean and neat, I go there with my friends. The foods delicious. The huge quantities of food allow us to share the food and in that way, we can taste many dishes. I was satisfied with their service. All servers greeted us with smile and answered kindly whenever we had some questions in regard the menu. They always check customers responses carefully about food.

Great place. The food was fresh the portions large and everything tasted great. The restaurant staff was friendly and professional!)

Last night we celebrated my fathers birthday and as usually everything was perfect.
Everyone was so impressed with both the quality of the food and the professional attention to every detail thank to John and Aslam for making this event another cherished family memory!

Come here on your cheat day so you don’t count the carbs. Because while the lamb is tender & the fish credibly prepared, you should really have the breads, flaky fatir & bagelicious kulcha. Try the kurutob, which is bread & greens with yogurt poured over them. Get some manti with diced lamb, those Chinese dumplings on steroids.
And don’t dare skip dessert. Tiramisu the size of a heart attack? Don’t mind if I do.

New name same great food and service as before (I frequented this place when it was called Rokhat).
The meat was grilled to perfection, samsa was so good that we took some home, and manti were dressed in such delicate dough that I was wondering how it is holding so much meat w/​out breaking.
Delicious!

Regardless of how big the Eastern European community is in San Francisco, we do not have Uzbek food! So I grasped at the opportunity to try their famous plov when I saw it on my Unilocal search near Brighton Beach. Well this place nothing short of incredible (but be warned, this was my only experience with Uzbek cuisine). The place has a very ethnic looking décor with rugs everywhere. The service was also very good — rare for places in this neighborhood. We tried the 2 soups (I do not recall names), plov, manti, and dushanbe lyalya (sp?). All mouth-​watering delicious! My father said the plov was close to what he remembers from Eastern Europe and had the exact same lamb. Also, I gave the halva a try and this is the first time I had halva (cold ice cream textured) with chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream — a fancy variation on the dessert — and one of the best halva I have had.

Amazing food from Middle Asia (Tadzhikistan) and very affordable prices (around 10 $).
Not easy to find, it was once an Armenian restaurant, and it is a cozy place one block from Sheepshead Bay.
Really efficient and nice service. It is a very good spot and I’ll come back (even if they don’t serve alcohol… but they have a homemade cranberry juice which is good)

Always has good consistant food even through the name changes! Relaxing during off hours and busy loud and sometimes a lot of fun when busy! Love the food here, but the service is really lacking today, maybe because I came in straight from running the dogs and am not dressed up. but daing people remember me. do I look that different with my hair done and make up? (Yes, I actually do lol) would have liked to also have posted a picture of my main course. think it will be lamb chops today .but I can’t no one has bothered to check on me! Bread would have been nice.

I went to New York last year, I asked my friends about Tajik food, they suggest me this place. I went there, it was great, Tajik cuisine and traditional decoration. foods r delicious. I ordered kurutob mmmm… when you go there you feel yourself in Tajikistan .
I stayed 2 weeks in NY, I went to this place 4 times before I came back to California
I highly recommend !

So from the disappointment of a neighborhood restaurant being closed after so many decades of amazing and perfect breakfasts to many friendly restaurants not being in the region of Sheepshead Bay, I haven’t been pleased with the food community on Emmons ave. Yet again I recently saw this bright flashing lights of this restaurant I have never put too much focus on. I said hell, I’ll give it a try, why not.
” CAFE DUSHANBE ” bright flashing lights stood out from the dull street and I guess gave it some life. Made my way in, welcomed by everyone around me, smiles and open arms welcome to give me a hell of a time. The place looks tiny on the way in, but soon as I stepped through the doors of the decorated interior of the restaurant, I felt the vibe of relaxation fill my body. On point thematic decors actually made me say wow, this is great. The people in the restaurant looked joyous and comfortable, I was expecting to sit but actually there is another dining room, and even better decors throughout. I sat down. The waiter gave me the menu, it’s Russian, I don’t understand Russian, but another trick up their wrist, English menu! Thank you I was hoping I wouldn’t ask the waiters for translations. I had an amusing talk with the waiter about the origin of the restaurant (Aslam I think) but finalized my order, very hungry (warning if hungry, please don’t read my order) ;
*Kompot (homemade fruit punch)
*Navruz Salad
*Soup Peti (side with delicious sliced bread Fatir)
*Beef Burgundy
I watched the way the waiter talked to everyone, bit charming to the ladies. First my salad came, quite mouth watering, then the bread with steam coming out even more mouth watering, and then my Peti soup; back to back mouth watering excellence. I’m a fast eater, my tongue burnt on the soup but the Kompot was there for the relief. Crispy bread, seriously the buttery taste with the crunchiness behind is definition of on point exquisiteness.
Surprisingly, I couldn’t finish the salad; there was too much (never a bad thing for an eater like me), then came my Beef Burgundy, at first i forgot I was in this little restaurant, because the detail put into making this plate into an artwork is rare, especially in Brooklyn. I took a picture for Instagram, which I rarely do. I held my temper back from completely devouring the plate too. Took the first bite and taste this flavor of of sweetness, juiciness, and sourness all in perfect balance. YES. I actually did finish it. No way I couldn’t have, I sat for a little bit more convincing myself I didn’t have any more room left for this one dish called «Kurtob» the neighbor table couldn’t wait to have, which in fact was hard to fight off. But yes, I did order the Kurtob, 10 minutes of Tajik music and chattering in Russian within the dining room, this «meat entrée without meat» made its way to my table. I first looked at it and said «no way am I finishing this», I was right, I didn’t, I couldn’t finish it at all. I started digging in, bite after bite I felt the taste I haven’t ever had with any other dish from any other nationality. Left with like little bit less than half a pound of Kurtob (the restaurant is known for its quantity more than its novelty said by Atif, which I agree with but the Beef Burgundy definitely said other wise). I wasn’t just full, I was astounded.
Cheap yet delicious, simple yet elegant décor, and amusing yet quality service, CAFE DUSHANBE is recommended to all my friends from that day on. Planning on visiting for many more times to come.
P. S. The management, brothers apparently, were no doubt greatly respected and described as strict and dedicated brothers, thank you Bobo and Ali for this restaurant!
¹⁰⁄₁₀

Are expectations the most important element of the experience? Possibly.
So, the name was different, from the prior Café Rokhat. But, all the staff seemed familiar and the décor was the same, yet the food seemed just a tad different, and the service just a tad less focused: I didn’t even get a glass of water for half an hour, and the server had to be reminded midway during the meal for my drink: Tarhun.
The flakey Fatir bread seemed just a bit less so and more brown than golden brown from memory. However, the Lagman tasted just the same (different from what you get at an Uzbek restaurants) and the Plov just as excellent.
Would you order the $ 27.95 menu item simply because it is in a different price bracket altogether, when everything else is $ 8 — 14 or less? Does that price point lead to expectations of higher quality or novelty? Apparently it does for me, as I ordered the dish despite learning that it’s a pound or more of food! And, yes: it’s a dish more for quantity, less for novelty (the Kurotob gets that award for living up to the lofty expectations of being the Tajik national dish) and least for the taste being the most delightful of all the menu items (still the Plov)
So, yes… Expectations, not perfect are the enemy of good. Café Dushanbe is still worth a visit, even if I’m now only a fan, as opposed to being a vociferous advocate.