I finally found a wonderful Persian restaurant after only a couple months of living in Europe and it was in Cologne of all places! Not that I was looking particularly hard or anything but the one place I tried in Paris a while ago was so "meh" and since I have family who is always looking for an excuse to cook kabob for me that I hardly ever look for places. But today after the Bayern game when this restaurant came up on Yelp as in the area, I had to try it. Especially since it bares the same name as one of Iran's most well known kabob restaurants. For appetizers we ordered the most-o-mooseer (sour yogurt with garlic), salad shirazi (tiny diced salad of onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes in lemon juice, oil, and vinegar), and naan-o-sabzijaat (fresh baked Persian flat bread with a plate of fresh herbs, a quartered white onion, small pieces of feta cheese, and sliced radishes. All were very traditional and good although the portions were smaller than I'm used to. There was also no garlic in the yogurt though. Think they forgot and gave me regular yogurt. For the main course we had 3 different Soltani dinners: joojeh, chenjeh, and regular. The regular came with a skewer of lamb barg which is usually a thin cut of the filet. This was good but a little chewier than others and you knew you were having lamb. I didn't try the joojeh (chicken) but the chenjeh (chunks of beef and spelled very weird in German on the menu) was the best meat of all. The koobideh which is always the second skewer on a soltani plate was great. The dinner was wrapped up with Persian tea. No, this wasn't the best kabob or the best ambiance but something about the familiarity of the food, the people, and the culture made this dinner perfect for a cold and wet night. I wish I had tried the desserts... read more

Alborz - 3 different Soltani dinners: joojeh, chenjeh, and regular - Persian/Iranian Near Me - Cologne, NW

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Delicious Persian food in Cologne. As a Iranian, I've grown up with mommas cooking my whole life and it is nice to walk in and instantly get the smell of fresh soltani and the different kebabs. The mixed grill, fessenjun, and gorma sebzhi are the most traditional dishes and this is how to judge a Persian restaurant. They absolutely nailed it here and the amount of food you get for paying a few more euros in comparison to the other Persian restaurants in the city is not worth it. This is my go to spot if I'm craving some homemade Persian dishes. read more

A friendly family restaurant with a range of traditional Persian dishes. I think I picked the wrong dish, a curry with herbs, that tasted a bit bland, and there weren't any sauces or condiments to spice it up. What I really liked was the included generous starter with fried bread, onion, herbs, cheese, olives - I think I could have had two of them plus some dips instead of the main course! 3.5 stars for me, rounded up as I think I simply picked the wrong main. read more

Excellente Restaurant with the best "Soltani" Dish I have had in Europe!!! Comparing Alborz with US Iranian restaurants I think the US restaurants such as in Washington DC, Los Angeles, & Atlanta are still better. read more

Great food, we were in Cologne for 2 days and we ate there twice, hope they open one in Rotterdam. I recommend it. I agree with the other reviewer that Southern California Persian is better. But i am Comparing it with in Europe. By far USA has a much higher standard in food and service. But it felt like 10 stars since the food in the Netherlands has been below mediocre. read more

Alborz - Persian/Iranian Near Me - Cologne, NW