Café du Liban is a little gem in the heart of the Valley, and it truly is our neighborhood…read morefavorite. Whenever my daughter and I are nearby, it's always our first stop. We usually share the fresh grilled chicken salad and an order of crispy fries simply fresh and consistently delicious. The ambience is the owner always greets us with a warm smile. In a world where it can feel like nobody knows your name, walking into a place where you're recognized and welcomed so genuinely makes all the difference.

Let me start with the ambiance that is pretty bad It feels…read morelike you are seating at a storage room or something like that it doesn't feel like you are sitting in a restaurant no decor no nothing Service was slow and not very efficient and definitely not welcoming The food was below average far away from any middle eastern restaurant that I ever been to Chicken that was dry rice that tasted like cafeteria food definitely not worth your time and money Stay away

Amazing Israeli food and hospitality with something a bit different…read more Started with the Perfect Eggplant "taboon." Eggplant char-grilled in a taboon oven and served tableside with za'ater pita chips. So addictely delicious. Get this one. They also bring you some complimentary starters, Chickpeas, pickled onions and lemons, tahini and a fresh small salad. For the main dinner entree, ordered the lamb and ribeye arais. So what is an Arais? It is a traditional Levantine street food consisting of pita halves filled with spiced ground meat. This Middle Eastern dish is made by stuffing pita bread with seasoned meat, like beef, lamb, or a chicken. As the meat cooks inside the pita, the pita bread absorbs the juices and become crispy. It is popular across Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and is often served with tahini. Traditionally the arais is grilled over an open flame. It was so mesmerizing watching the arais and vegetables being cooked over the flames in the taboon oven. The filed pitas are brushed with olive oil and cooked on all sides until crispy and charred. The raw meat cooks inside the pita and bonds with the bread. It is then cut into quarters to share and dip in the sauces. The name "Arais" is the plural of arus, which means "bride" in Arabic. It was historically served to honor newlyweds in some regions. Loved the rich flavor and crispy‑juicy texture of the Arais. Would highly recommend.

Delicious and authentic Israeli food! The owner and staff are so friendly and make you feel really…read morewelcome here. There's bar counter seating and some tables. We came during the daytime for lunch but the owner told us it gets lively at nighttime with fun music. We ordered an order of beef arais and ribeye. When you sit down, they bring over some beautiful side dishes: tahini spread, onions and lemon peel, and other pickled veggies. The onion and lemon peel were my favorite - so good! We got four pieces of arais per order and it comes with a small side salad. We also got a big cucumber salad on the side too. The arais were absolutely delicious and totally reminds me of what I had in Israel. I liked the ribeye slightly better than the beef but both were juicy and delicious. They were hot and fresh so you have to wait a bit for them to cool down and I recommend smothering them with the chimichurri and the tahini spread. They were so good! And they're filling too, it's great for sharing. We can't wait to come back!

This is a hidden gem with delicious food and wonderful service. Love the labneh, falafel, pickles…read moreand olives, and all the fantastic meat dishes. So happy to have it in walking distance to our home, too! Check it out when you're in Tarzana.

This is a pretty good place, at least for the beef kabob, which has an excellent flavor for the…read morekabob. Rice portion is a little bit on the smaller size, but they're generous enough with the pita bread. The knafeh, on the other hand, was lacking. I've had this popular dessert that is more moist, warm, and sweet, but the version here is hard and not too flavorful. It was as if the kataifi dough was over hardened. I had to use a knife to cut it (didn't get an extra knife so I used my dinner knife) and it wasn't easy to cut. It's also a bit absurd that this cost $13, too. I also never got my glass of water until my plate was out, and even though I was the only customer, the waitress wasn't around other than to take my order.

The food was delicious. The chicken was tasty and juicy. The steak was tender and flavorful. We'll…read morebe back.

Esso Mediterranean Bistro is a great little spot in a plaza, so there's always plenty of parking…read morewhich is super convenient. It's family-owned (Armenian), and you can really feel that when you go..I've met the son and daughter and they're both so nice with great customer service. It feels like the food is made with care and in trusted hands. There's seating inside and a few tables outside if you want something more casual. My go-to is the chicken plate, which comes with two skewers, rice, salad, and a side of hummus (I usually sub for babaganoush). The chicken is juicy and perfectly grilled, the rice is sooo fluffy and flavorful, and the tabbouleh is fresh and lemony. The hummus and babaganoush are both super creamy and come with warm pita bread. I've also tried their falafel, which is really delicious too. Overall, consistently fresh, flavorful food and genuinely kind people running the place. Definitely a go-to spot if you're craving Mediterranean and something healthy.

The food is absolutely delicious. Well seasoned & very large portions…read more The service is hit & miss. Some of the staff is friendly but most act like you're bothering them. The restaurant can get very loud, especially on weekends. Free, large parking lot located below the structure.

I'm giving the two stars (instead of one) because we went here 8 months ago and it was average…read more Not sure if we needed to come back but we were hungry and it was open so we went in today. Today confirmed we don't need to come back. Maybe the trick is that if you are going to a "hummus bar" order the hummus... we didn't... we ordered two things. The first item was a beet salad... the lettuce was sad, the beets were sad, the sugary nuts were sad. It wasn't a Beet Salad it was a Beet S'ad (The slices of green apple rocked!) (But, really, pieces of greens and beets that should never have gone on a plate.) The second thing we ordered was the Grilled Salmon... I mean there it was at the top of their digital menu (disliked the digital menu just on general principal) and it said "Best Seller-Grilled Salmon." Cool let's try the grilled salmon. (See pictures). I mean, even if they thought I said "We will take the Beet Salad with Some Grilled Salmon on it" (I didn't), take the time to clarify. Regardless, the over-cooked fingers of salmon that came over on a plate were pretty pathetic. (I also could have said something at the time but you know how it it... now you have one person eating a wilted salad while the other person is waiting for their food to get redone and it amounts to two people eating sad food at different times.) The clincher was when the lady seated next to us came back from the women's room and mentioned that there was a cockroach lying on it's back unsure whether to die or not. She said, "But on a positive note, I think that means they are at least spraying for cockroaches." Gotta say, they still have a proper amount of people employed but not of them exactly energetic. I suppose another good thing was that my wife went to use the rest room a few minutes later and said the cockroach was gone so they either threw it out or placed it back in the kitchen where it belonged.

Ben was awesome server! The food was great also! I had the juicy chicken and got so much food,…read morewhich was amazing!

I had a delicious combo chicken barg and chicken Koobideh. I really love their cherry rice although…read moreit has sugar ... my hubby had beef Koobideh. All good!

Such good food, and the people who work there are absolutely awesome! Everyone was so friendly,…read morewelcoming, and helpful, which made the whole experience even better. The food was fresh, delicious, and had so much flavor. You can really tell they care about their customers and the quality of their food. Definitely a place I'd recommend to anyone looking for great food and amazing service!

Meal for my visit: Crispy Chicken Shawarma w/ small fries…read more The food was remarkably fresh! The fries were perfectly crispy, I ate more than I probably wanted. The crispy chicken shawarma was really flavorful; the pomegranate molasses added an acidic sweet note that was pleasant. The staff were very kind and polite, which is all you can ask for. I'll definitely be back to try the beef shawarma.

Walked here from the the BW next door and let me telll you, service was as excellent as the food!…read more We ordered the shirazi, dolmeh and combination kabob. The complimentary fresh and hot pita bread was perfect! Portions are huge! We will definitely come back!

I've been to Shirin Restaurant at least 30 times, and I've never experienced anything like this…read more Because I've almost always been there with my friend, the staff knows us very well, and not once have they ever told me that my dog had to be on the floor. So to suddenly be treated this way was completely unacceptable. First of all, when I walked in, the servers were doing their own thing. There was no proper greeting, no explanation, and no reasonable communication. Then Emilio decided to make an issue out of my dog and spoke to me in a way that was completely unnecessary and disrespectful. What makes this even more frustrating is that I have been a loyal customer and have spent a significant amount of time and money at this restaurant. If there is a specific policy regarding dogs, it should be communicated respectfully and consistently--not suddenly enforced in an attitude-filled way toward a regular customer. Emilio's behavior was the biggest disappointment. There is a huge difference between politely explaining a restaurant policy and making a customer feel unwelcome and embarrassed. After 30+ visits, I expected much better treatment. Unfortunately, this experience completely changed my opinion of the restaurant. Being a regular customer does not mean I expect special treatment, but I absolutely expect basic respect and professionalism.

Ohhhh my God the value you're getting here!…read more If you want to enjoy meat in another level Without feeling you're being over charged Then come try it out. They deserve lots of business

I had a very late lunch and found myself in this area. It is a cute corner pocket of stores and…read moreadjacent to Taft HS. The place looks clean and staff was nice. I got the Lentil soup and Combo Koubideh.

This place was recommended to me and I enjoyed my visit, well, my party of 9 enjoyed the food…read more-super delicious. The service that the staff gave was very friendly and the ambiance was great too. Honestly, I've had Persian/Iranian food before and this place goes on my top 5 places to get Iranian food. So, if you're in the area and looking for something delicious to eat, come here :)

The worst place to eat!!! The owner was sooo rude, never…read moreagain eating at this place