Kabobi – Eden Prairie, MN

I had eaten close to this place on a number of lunch occasions with work people, but no one ever voted to go here. So I went by myself. Kabobi touts itself as a Persian fire-roasted grill. Lots of meats and rice and pita/flat bread. It’s borderline fast food, more along the lines of a Noodles & Company. Order off the menu boards and get a number, get your own drinks and silverware. Not that any of that is bad – I’m just painting a visual picture for you.

The menu has standard greek/middle east fare on it – gyros, kabobs, rice, hummus, falafel, etc. Most of it looked good (With the exception of the random hamburger thrown in the middle of the menu), so I decided to go with the combo plate called Soltani. It comes with a shish kabob (chicken, onion, green pepper) and a Koobideh (ground lamb skewer thing) along with rice, flat bread and grilled tomato. And they remove the skewers before serving it – we all know how much I hate high labor food (yes, working around a skewer is labor for me – ha ha ha).

The food was pretty good. The chicken kabob was the best part in my opinion. Seasoned perfectly and fire-roasted (like the name says) and topped with that green spicy sauce I can’t ever remember the name of (tahini, maybe?). It was excellent. The lamb koobideh was good, but didn’t wow me, even with the tsaziki. Just average. The tomato and bread were fine. But the rice – I’m amazed at how much there was. I had rice with every biteful and probably 20-30 spoonfuls of just rice and still left a ton of rice on my plate. However, the thing LOOKS really good on the plate with the rice, so I’m sure that’s why it’s there – appearance. The white rice was topped with Saffron rice and looked very classy. No complaints there.

I got really full eating here, which is good because it wasn’t cheap. It cost me $14 for my food and I got water. I heard them wring up a gyro and fries and I think it was $8-$9. Honestly, it was good, but for my money, I’d much rather go to a divey hole in the wall or street cart for this kind of food. I think the flavors are more vibrant at a smaller less fast-food shop.

I’m sure I’ll be back, but it’s not at the top of my priority list.

Top 5 things about Kabobi
1. Chicken Kabob
2. Koobideh
3. Grilled tomato
4. Flatbread
5. Can get in and out of there quickly for lunch

Bottom 5 things
1. Pricey
2. Huge mound of rice (even though it looked pretty)
3. Maybe the rice made the food taste bland, but it was
4. Pretty limited menu
5. Parking is a nightmare there for lunch

www.kabobi.com