Shamshiri Grill

Very disappointed with this restaurant. We were a party of six who walked in and waited by the door. No one greeted us and there were a number of tables that were available but hadn’t been cleaned. Finally we were asked to sit on a bench and wait until the tables were cleaned. Service was ok but the food was nothing special. As someone familiar with Persian cuisine we will not go out of our to return to this restaurant.

Basically it was the last time going to this kind of place with rude manager.
He should behave himself.
Feel sorry for him

By having rude manager, It was my first and last time going there.
The manager is rude and should behave himself.
The food didn’t show up on time for all and we had to cancel some of them.
I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.
Just feeling sorry for them

Customer Service is really bad.
Manager is really rude which you will see right from the entrance.
One of the most rudest manager in Persian restaurants, Los Angels!
The place is dark and dirty and the koobideh is just discusting. We were there on a Saturday noon.
It was just discusting and I have never seen anything like this in my life.
Never go to this place if you don’t want your mood to be ruined!

The food was literally to die for. Prepared over a open fire to seal in the juices and cooked with fresh ripe tomatoes and onions and peppers. This is a dining experience for Arabian royalty. Find in the middle of West Los Angeles, 1712 Westwood Blvd. Just north of Santa Monica Blvd.

It was my first time at this glorious Middle Eastern restaurant and will most certainly not be my last. It is a rather large restaurant, decorated very similar to most Persian households I’ve stepped in. It was clean and there was a glass panel covering the kitchen which I though was pretty cool.
Once seated they will bring you some very thin wheat pita and butter. I understand that if you are stepping foot in a restaurant, you are most likely hungry & patience is a hard virtue to practice. You should however steer clear of the pita. Not because it is necessarily disgusting, but it really isn’t very good. It’s not fresh, has no fluffiness to it and will take up space from the main course (which will easily satisfy your hunger + some).
I highly suggest going family style at this restaurant. My buddy and I went for the falafel as an appetizer, and the Joojeh Kabob & BEEF Koobideh Kabob as the main event.
— Falafel: I always need to throw a few of these balls in my mouth at any Middle Eastern place. Unfortunately this dish is not this restaurants strong suit. The falafel was lacking in the flavor department & the hummus they served with it was mediocre at best. Perhaps go with a different appetizer as I will be doing next visit.
— Joojeh Kabob: Tender and delicious. This chicken (or hen — not exactly sure what I was eating) was moist (sorry ladies but it really is the right adjective in this case), fell right off the bone and had tremendous flavor. Highly recommend!
— Koobideh Kabob: I was a little skeptical on this order. I was wrong. This was my favorite part of the meal. The beef was cooked perfectly and easily cut with a fork. If you are a meat eater, I guarantee you will enjoy the way this beef is prepared.
Each main course comes with rice and some cooked veggies. The rice is solid but lacks a flavor. A little salt addition is very necessary. The meals are huge, service is friendly and attentive. All in all, I’m a fan. Looking forward to my next visit.
TLC Score: ****

Love this place. They are one of the only places that has lamb koobideh and it is delicious! I always get one lamb and one beef or one lamb and one chicken. Always half rice and salad. I eat raw onions here like candy. It’s delicious every time I come. If you haven’t tried it, just do it. You won’t regret it. Oh and ask for their homemade hot sauce!

I used to think that my aunt (Shahla) was the best chef in the world. I mean not even my mom would be able to compete with her. And then I stumbled upon this lovely establishment on a very busy Saturday night and had a array of favors just continuously flow through my mouth. I was amazed by the freshness, quality and not to mention the attentiveness. Words can’t say enough.
If you want a genuine home cooked Persian meal stop by this place, I personally guarantee it.

I love this place, great food, every plate is good.
The lamp shank and the shwarma are the best.
Totally recommended

A friend had an event in Westwood, and I wanted to meet her somewhere for dinner so as not to battle (the)L.A. rush hour (s). I adore all forms of middle eastern food, and this place seemed like a good match; this section of Westwood boulevard is often called «Tehrangeles» due to the number of businesses that cater to the Persian community.
We sat down and promptly had a lovely plate of mint, butter, red onion, radishes to accompany a lovely assortment of breads. We ordered the mirza ghasemi, a new item on the menu made from the same charcoal roasted eggplant as muttabal, but with sauteed garlic, tomato and egg. We left nothing.
We both had kabobs; I had lamb, my friend chicken breast, and both were as good as we’d ever eaten. The basmati was a heavenly cloud, the vegetables, like the meat, grilled to perfection with the smoky essence of a charcoal grill. I also had shirazi salad; best I’ve ever had.
We finished with the Persian ice cream; pistachio and rosewater heaven. We had large glass cups of fragrant black Persian tea with tiny pieces of sugar available.
The service has been spoken of in other reviews; here’s my opinion. We never wanted for water, refills on anything and any time a food item came, at least two staff accompanied it. Our waitress was helpful, informational and attentive, and a request for allergy information about a dessert item was followed through on (much appreciated).
If you want hovering waitstaff, don’t go here. If you want a place where you are treated like family at a leisurely dinner where we all can decompress do. The restaurant was filled with people, and many of them looked like happy regulars. My friend and I spent a delightful 2.5 hours on a Friday night and there was no bum’s rush to free up tables. The service is more old world, intentional and appreciated by some of us.

I go often. People are nice.
But if I REALLY DIG DEEP and ask myself if I like the food, this would be my response: I REALLY WANT TO LOVE IT, but I just like it.
1) The Chicken Koobideh tends to be dry. In fact, a lot of the food tends to be on the drier side. The Tachin especially. Last night’s Tadig was so hard that we got mouth sores trying to chew it, even after soaking it in Fesenjan and olive oil.
2) Delivery is VERY VERY fast. That’s awesome. It also means the food was already made and that’s the trade-​off. So it can be dry.
3) They use styrofoam. This breaks my heart. For 1 meal for 1 person you can end up with 3 pieces of styrofoam that will last on earth forever. I would happily pay $ 2 or $ 3 extra for better packaging.
Most of the time with Persian food, you can deal with a lot of saltiness or greasiness, lots of extra oil (and sadly it’s usually Canola these days vs olive). We go as a ritual or habit and know that we’re just going to get «good enough.» Shamshiri is better than that. Especially if you eat there (vs delivery), you can end up with a meal where you’re happy. But a lot of the time, I feel like I’m adding to the experience with my own memory of great food vs the reality of what I’m eating in the moment.
I wish it was just a bit fresher, just a bit more «hot off the grill and moist, not so charred from being hurried.» I wish the Tadig was not like concrete. I wish the lamb in the tachin was not so dry that I have to add olive oil to it. I wish it was delivered in paper vs. styrofoam.
Then I would go every day.

Amazing place especially
With Luis. He’s a bus boy yet the most amazing person. If u go here tip this man right.

Most of the Persian restaurants I have tried in the area are just average. This place had decent lamb kabob. The beef koobideh and the barg were actually both pretty good though, and good sized portions as well. The kabob came with grilled onions/​peppers/​tomato and a fair amount of rice.
We got the tahdig with karafs to start and it was huge but the karafs wasn’t that great. It was a little too bitter for me. My gf got the lamb fesenjoon (pomegranate walnut stew) and she liked it but I thought it was just okay. The lamb was very tender though.
The ambiance was okay and the restaurant was pretty filled up on a Friday night, which may also have been the cause of the semi-​slow service. I mean, it wasn’t god-​awful but we weren’t checked on very often and had a hard time tracking down our server when we needed something.
Parking is on the street so good luck but we happened to get lucky this time so maybe you will too :)
Overall though I’d say for the price and quality I’ll probably check out another restaurant but if you’re craving some chelo kabob it’s worth trying.

Highly recommend the lunch specials. The lamb koobideh platter is tasty. There are many options (check the Unilocal website link instead of Unilocal menu) including vegetarian friendly ones.
Service was great. The server was accommodating with dietary requests and was helpful regarding the menu.
Parking was a little hard to find but this is typical in the area. Overall great experience and will be back.

My dining experience was alright…
Service was satisfactory, hence I will elaborate.
I ordered Albalou pollo with cherry saffron rice. It was great, moist and delicious.
The chicken turned out to be really dry and I had to send it back to the kitchen. I ordered lamb koobideh instead. I usually order chicken breast kabob, but I was afraid of the chicken already, so I did order the lamb, koobideh style. For that, it was an additional $ 2.50. Be aware of the extra charges. When it finally came out, everyone was pretty much finished with their meals at my table… But at least the meat was moist, tender, flavorful & cooked to perfection.
They also forgot about my mast-​o-​musir. I had to remind the waiter.
Maybe I’ll have a better experience next time.

I’ve been meaning to Unilocal this place for awhile, because I’ve been here a few times and love it.
The food is so good, always fresh and well prepared. In my opinion, it’s everything you would want in Persian cuisine.
I usually get the Salmon Kabob with vegetables, Shirazi, and Basmati rice. However, I recently had an urge for Panir O’ Sabzi (I tired it once at another restaurant and loved it), so I returned to Shamshiri and ordered it for take out: Feta cheese and Fresh Herbs, Radishes, Green Onions, Walnuts and Tomatoes. This is one of my favorite dishes and they made it great, with fresh mint leaves and other herbs, this is such a healthy little dish. While I was waiting they gave me water with mint and limes… a nice touch.
Shamshiri is an excellent restaurant, especially for family style dining, and the atmosphere is very welcoming. I’ve been to other Persian restaurants where it can feel awkward with the unending stares and occasional rudeness from staff. But that is not the case at Shamshiri, the staff is professional and welcoming of diversity, which makes for a great cultural dining experience. I have always loved Persian food, so this will probably become my regular spot for great Persian cuisine.
⁰⁷⁄₁₀₀. Unilocal Challenge.(2016)

I came here for lunch with my coworkers and was pleasantly surprised by it. They have pretty good lunch specials from 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM that range from $ 6.95-$ 8.95 that come with either a soup or salad. They start off by bringing out pita bread with some butter and mint leaves. The «side» soup/​salad was actually a pretty big portion — by the time my actual meal came out I was so full I could only eat half of it! I got the green house salad and it comes with a lemon-​y herbed dressing.
Next I got the Chicken Koobideh wrap. I usually default to the chicken shawarma but the koobideh is kabab mixed in with herbs and is a little bit juicier. The wrap was filled with crunchy lettuce, and their tahani sauce is one of the best I’ve ever had!

Another anniversary dinner with the boo.
A-​: Cherry Rice — I was a little skeptical because rice = carbs and cherry = sour but to my surprise, the cherry sweeten the long grains = satisfaction :)
A: Beef Shamshiri — nicely seasoned and tender
B: Baba ganoush — very fresh, you can tell it’s homemade, there were chucks of eggplants in it
B: Lamb Neck — I think this is what they’re known for. Slow cooked, I seriously thought I was eating a shank cause the neck was so small in circumference but I guess it was a baby lamb? :(
The taste to all of these dishes was very interesting but I tend to lean more on the heavy Lebanese spices. Good place to check out

Picking Persian food in Los Angeles is difficult, let my reviews help your decision… lawlzzzzzzz.
I went to Shamshiri last Friday for the first time, I previously went to a Shamshiri in the DC area but I doubt their affiliated. My roommate sold me on the Lamb neck which is a special that is only served for dinner on certain nights of the week. In addition to this we ordered Beef Koobideh and Khoresht-​e Bademjan (eggplant). The bread that they initially serve is mad fresh and not something you find elsewhere in Westwood.
The eggplant dish was great as usual, its a great appetizer but I like mixing it with my rice and meat. The lamb neck was amazing, so much meat, and so filling; the dish itself comes with 2 pieces and LOTS of rice. We were so full that we couldn’t even finish the koobideh platter and got it to go. Afterwards we walked to Saffron Rose Ice Cream: D

My family and I have been long time frequenters of Shamshiri Grill. At this point we’ve tried a ton of items and they mostly have all exceeded our expectations! I had my college graduation dinner here with a bunch of my friends and there was so much food with the huge portion sizes.
The lamb shank is delicious with the rice with raisins and dates. I also really like the whitefish grilled which they usually remove the bones from. The fried whitefish is good if you’re feeling a little more indulgent. The meat is usually so moist and succulent :)
The only items I would recommend staying away from are some of the shwarmas. Some are a bit dry and you might be better ordering something in a broth or stock or a koobideh instead.
Parking can be a bit rough too so just be aware!

Lots of vegan options.
My friends were all meat-​eaters and seem to have been very satisfied with their enormous plates of lamb kekab, beef fillet mignon or lamb wraps (wider than the biggest burritos I’ve ever had!).
I liked the eggplant appetizer (a sort of Persian babaganush), as well as one stew poured over crisy rice (made of greens such as spinach and pint beans).
I was less happy with my noodle soup. Not as flavorful as what I expected.
I loved the 2 small Persian donughts for dessert !
Staff was nice.
But the place was very crowded (Sunday 6pm) and did feel more like a busy beehive than a nice place you want to meet your friends. It was hard to hear each other speaking at our table.