Party of 7 on a Saturday night. The ambiance is nice, furniture is aesthetically pleasing (except for the white couch by the front door, that could use a wipe). Mid to low lighting, low seated chairs and up beat music. We were promptly seated and greeted. Drinks were ordered as the rest of our party arrived. First hookah was subpar, the "grapefruit mint". But Baran redeemed themselves with the "Love 66" , it was smooth and a fan favorite at the table. Coals were not tended to, they were only tended to upon our request. The mouthpiece tips were given gingerly. I must say, moving the hookah from the floor to the table was a sorry sight to see, knowing that my plate was a mere 8 inches away from the floor hookah. Unfortunately our waiter only came around once every thirty to forty-five minutes, which left us to grab the attention of other servers for questions, orders, and requests. The food was good, the server advertised the Shish kebab as "four skewers" yet there were only 5 chunks of beef and not a skewer in sight. The rice was absolutely amazing. The Caesar salad lacked flavor, I wanted to add salt and pepper, but it was hard to get the server to come around. The mussels were a fan favorite as an appetizer. My friend ordered the calamari that unfortunately had to be sent back as it was room temperature and lacked flavor. I noticed at the bar they use tongs to grab the straws to put into the drinks which was amazing to see. There was a manager who helped us out a few times who seemed to lack customer service skills. For parties over 5 people there is an automatic gratuity of 20%, but which is interesting seeing as service was slow. The lychee martini is an 8/10, does not come with a lychee. They have a good list of wines, margaritas, martinis, and mojitos. Not once were any of our water cups refilled. For $108 I expected a little more out of this experience from the food to the service. 6/10 overall for Baran. read more