Kabab Way

Kabab Way
919 S Glendale Ave
Glendale
818-242-3150

Glendale should be renamed Kebob City because there are so many kebob restaurants in the city. Some are great, others need work. My two favorite kebob restaurants, in Glendale, are Shiraz and recently, I found Raffi's Place

Kebob Way started as a burger place and then switched over to a kebob restaurant. They are right across the street from Elena's.



I got the beef shish kebob plate, $7.99 with salad, rice, tomato, and onions. The first thing I notice, is that, there is a ton of rice. Very good, most restaurants do not include a lot of rice. The basmati rice was nice and fluffy but compared to other restaurants, very bland. The rice is just cooked with water and served. At other places the rice will have butter and/or oil and spices.

The beef was very tough, not that flavorful, needed much more seasoning. It was easy to tell, this was a very low quality beef. I also thought the portion was a bit small.

The salad was fresh, but just your standard green salad from a bag.

Service was good. The lady who took my order was nice and friendly.

They were repaving the roads around Kabob Way, the day I went, so it was tough finding parking. But when the road is complete, that shouldn't be an issue.

I think it is unfair to compare Kabab Way to the other kebob restaurants in Glendale. Why? Kabab Way is more of a fast food/diner style kabob restaurant, while the others like Shiraz, Raffi's Place and Elena's, are sit down restaurants. But I would compare Kabab Way to another, close by, fast food/diner style kebob restaurant, Mediterranean Triangle. In that case, Mediterranean Triangle, wins by a mile. I wouldn't go back to Kabab Way again.

Raffi's Place Restaurant

Raffi's Place Restaurant
211 E Broadway
Glendale
818-240-7411

I have been to three Middle Eastern restaurants in Glendale; Shirazz, Carousel, and Elena's. I heard about Raffi's and decided to see it compares to the other three restuarants.

Raffi's is really in the patio area of two buildings. A nice setting for lunch. There is free 90 minute parking, just a few yards away.




I ordered the barg kebob, $17.99, then pieces of filet mignon. The first thing I noticed was the huge portions. The server brought what looked like a battleship sized, plate to our table. The piece of barg kebob was only about the size of half a cow!! I cut a piece off, with my fork and I knew it was going to be good; it was like a hot knife cutting butter. The beef was so tender and moist. The flavor wasn't as bold as the other restaurants, but it still had plenty of flavor.

But the rice was just great. So fluffy and flavorful. They use basmati rice and it was so good. Other restaurants use other type of rice or use a lesser quality basmati rice but this basmati rice was so good. Not greasy or oily, just full of flavor.

Service was friendly but a bit slow. The servers were nice but they took awhile to get our drinks and to refill our drinks. It wasn't bad but it wasn't the greatest either.

Raffi's is now my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant in Glendale. I love the quality of meat and the large portions.

Palate-Closed

Palate
933 S Brand Blvd
Glendale
818-662-9463

What is The New Diner doing at a pretentious place like Palate? Not enjoying an evening of dining that's what. Not far from Granville Cafe Palate is a wine bar that serves small plate items and full dinner.

Every Tuesday they off a wine and cheese pairing. I looked at their menu, which changes every week, and at the other people and I wasn't impressed with what I was seeing. High prices and small portion sizes. So I looked at their small plate menu and found something they call mason jars. So I ordered the potted sea trout, potted smoked prawns, and potted berkshire pork, $6 each. All the mason jars are served on

Now I'll be honest I was impressed by the portion size for these mason jars. I was very impressed with the potted smoke prawns, though I'm pretty sure they were just shrimp. They did have a nice smoke flavor that was enchance by some dill and other seasonings. There were good sized pieces of shrimp.

The potted sea trout was also very good. The sea trout was plentiful and mixed with some mayo and parsley and green onions.

The potted berkshire pork was terrible. Just way too salty for my tastes. I only took a few bites.

Service was below average. Granted I was with a large group and the place was pretty busy, but there were times we didn't see our server for long periods of time. And just in case you're wondering, only one person in my group is pretentious and she is pretentious with a capitol P!!!

I would not go back to Palate to eat. They do have a good wine selection so if I was in the area, I would pick up a bottle of wine.

Pecos Bill's BBQ-Closed

Pecos Bill's BBQ 1551 Victory Boulevard Glendale, CA 91201 (818) 241-2750 Pecos Bill's BBQ is NOT a real BBQ place. They cook their ribs in an oven and drown them in BBQ sauce. Ribs are sold by the pound, $15/lb and only sold on Saturday and Sunday. I got half a pound, which was about four ribs. The ribs were so mushy and terrible. They must have been boiled before and then cooked in a oven. I can't believe a place would serve this crap. The sauce was bland and lacked any flavor. It is no better than the no name brand BBQ sauce you get at any store. Service is SLOW. When I got there, two people were ahead of me in line. It took about 15 minutes before they took my order. Not sure why it takes so long. But damn terrible. They are nice and friendly but I can't believe how slow they are. I would not go back to Pesco Bill's BBQ. This isn't real BBQ. This is a fake BBQ that gives people the wrong idea what real BBQ really is. Real BBQ means that meats are cooked at a low temp, no more than 225 degrees, and for a long time, up to eight hours for ribs, 14 hours for brisket and pork shoulder.

Granville Cafe-Closed

Granville Cafe
807 Americana Way
Glendale
818-550-0472

Granville Cafe is located in the Americana on Brand. The same owners who built The Grove on Fairfax built Americana in Glendale. I wish they would have put better restaurants.

I think Granville Cafe is a more expensive Coco's or Baker's Square. They use organic food but I don't find their food good at all. Very average.

I ordered the Craveable Turkey Club salad, Home-Roasted Turkey, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Juicy Tomatoes, Fresh Avocado, Hard Boiled Egg, Red Onion, Blue Cheese and Crisp Organic Romaine Lettuce tossed with Granville’s Balsamic and Blue Cheese Dressings. $9.95. I asked for no balsamic, I hate that tangy taste of balsamic.

Everything in the salad, except for the avocado, was fresh. The avocado was mushy and not fresh. But there wasn't anything special about this salad. If you had this salad and the same salad from Baker's Square or Coco's you would not be able to tell the difference. I thought the turkey was sliced lunch meat. WOW impressive. I would expect a better quality turkey than sliced lunch meat turkey. While $9.95 isn't out of line with prices at Baker's Square or Coco's, it wasn't worth it.

Service was OK. The server was pretty nice but he was gone for long periods of time. He never bothered to ask how the food was after we ordered. When he was around he was good. But the fact that he wasn't around much, isn't good. The restaurant wasn't crowded at all when I was there.

I would not go back to Granville Cafe again. There are much better restaurants in Glendale.

Tep Thai-Closed

Tep Thai 

209 W Wilson Ave 

Glendale 

818-246-0380 

 As with every type of ethnic food, some places will Americanize it, so Tep Thai is no different. Pictured are the chicken satay, $9, and dried chili and cashew nuts with shrimp, $14. The satay were all white meat chicken but a bit on the dry and flavorless side. Dipping the satay into the peanut sauce to add some flavor. The dried chili and cashew nuts is basically kung pao shrimp. It has red and green peppers, onions and about six large shrimp. This wasn't spicy at all. It was tasty though and had much more flavor than the chicken satay. Service was very good. I was never left wanting for anything. I felt Tep Thai was just OK. There was nothing outstanding about it. It wasn't the greatest Thai, I've ever had. It wasn't bad either. But I felt the prices were a bit high for the amount of food you got. I was hungry after leaving the restaurant and that's after eating all the chicken satay, shrimp and rice. I would not go back to Tep Thai. The food is good but it's too Americanized and not a good value.

Carousel

Carousel
304 Brand Blvd
Glendale
818-246-7775

I think I found a better kebab place than Shirazz in Glendale. Carousel has a very good filet shish kebab, that is even better than Shirazz.

The filet shish kebab, $17.95. is very tender piece of actual filet. Ok it's not USDA prime, it's USDA choice but it's still tender and juicy. The kebab came with rice pilaf, which was very flavorful. And some seasoned pita bread. Next time I go, regular pita bread will be fine.

Service was OK. The server was nice enough but he wasn't around that often. He didn't bother coming by to ask how things were. After our meals were served, he didn't come back until we asked for the check.

I would go back to Carousel because the food is great. Sure it's a little pricey and it wouldn't hurt for more and/or bigger pieces of meat but the meat is a very good cut of meat.

Paradise Pastry and Cafe

Paradise Pastry and Cafe
1815 West Glenoaks
Glendale
818-545-4000

Trying to find some new places to have lunch and maybe a quick dessert, I found Paradise Pastry and Cafe. This a Middle Eastern cafe. They have kebobs, lamb, and many other Middle Eastern items.

I just stayed low key and ordered a turkey sandwich on a baguette. The baguette was very tough and chewy. I didn't like the texture. The turkey was simple processed turkey that was pretty tasteless. The lettuce and tomatoes weren't the freshest either. Not worth the $3.59 price.

The strawberry roll for a $1 wasn't a bad dessert. It wasn't too sweet, something I like. It was sponge cake filled with strawberry jam and topped with coconut. It was pretty good and worth the $1 price.

What wasn't worth it was the service. It was very slow, rude and just plain racist. Of course many of their customers are Middle Eastern. But they actually serve the Middle Eastern people ahead of other non Middle Eastern customers. I didn't realize we were back in the Jim Crow South.

I would not go back to Paradise Pastry again. Very average food and the worst type of service, rase based.

Shiraz

Shiraz
211 Glendale
Glendale
818-500-4948

Shiraz is my favorite place to go for kebobs. The meats they use are the best quality, they give you a ton of meat and best of all the food is consistent. Though service is very inconsistent.

For both dine in and take out orders they give you pita bread, radishes, mints, and onions. Sorry I didn't take a picture but most people should know what those are.

Pictured is the Barg Kebob ($15.95) which are, selected cuts of tender filet mignon, skillfully prepared and season, then broiled. I doubt the meat is filet mignon but it is tender enough and as you can see it's a hugh protion. The basmati rice is fluffy and tasty. There is a lot of rice but I always finish the rice before I finish the meat. The prices for the kebobs are a little higher than other kebob places but I feel they are well worth the price for the quality and quanities you get.

Service was average. We sat on the patio and the server and bus boy didn't come around as often. There were many times I needed a refill and had to wait at least five minutes. We also had to wait for the server to come and pick up the check. I always thought that's when servers are fastest. I have had great service at Shiraz and had average service.

I have been going to Shiraz for a long time. I will continue to go to Shiraz as long as the quality and quanity of food stays the same.

Porto's

Porto's
315 Brand
Glendale
818-956-5996

It maybe strange to go to a bakery for a Cuban sandwich but Porto's serves not only great pastries but a great sandwich. The first picture is the view of Porto's from Brand Blvd. The second picture is the "back" entrance from the parking lot behind Porto's.

The Cuban sandwich $3.75 is filled with pork, ham, swiss cheese, mustard and pickles and served with fried bananas. The bread is toasted but is so soft and flakey. The meats, especially the pork is so tender. The ham is really just sliced ham that kids use for lunch meat. Otherwise a damn good sandwich at a damn good price.

The pastries pictured include a brownie, a raspberry mouse, and a pyramid shaped chocolate mouse with three kinds of chocolate, dark, milk and a white chocolate. They are all so awesome.

Porto's is packed, no matter when you go. Remember to take a number and be patient, it's well worth the wait. They also have another location in Burbank. I would go back to Porto's anytime.

Billy's-Glendale-Closed

Billy's
216 Orange St.
Glendale
818-246-1689

I haven't been to Billy's in over ten years. But I remembered Billy's being a very good deli. So since I was in the area, I decided to go back to Billy's and try their sandwiches again. I'm glad I did go back to Billy's after going to Canter's about a week ago.

I ordered the #16 combo for about $14 tax and tip included. The sandwich is suppose to be brisket, corned beef, swiss cheese and dressing. But I asked for pastrami instead of brisket and they gladly made the substitution. All sandwiches include a side and I choosed cole slaw. About two minutes later my sandwich comes. The meat are staked so high and I was impressed. The swiss cheese and dressing were put on the pastrami. I took a bite out of the pastrami and it was much better than the pastrami at Canter's. The pastrami was tender and wasn't salty at all. It had a little more fat than I like but overall the pastrami is first rate. The swiss cheese added a nice nutty flavor. The dressing, which is Thousand Island dressing, wasn't as tangy as many thousland island dressings I've had. A much more mild flavor to this dressing which also added to the taste of the sandwich.

I next had the corned beef and wow, was it great. Tender, not stringy, flavorful and lean. Maybe the best corned beef sandwich in LA. The rye bread was soft and fresh and the crust was hard at all. I personally don't understand why people like the crust hard on bread.

I also really like the cole slaw. This cole slaw wasn't soaked with mayo. It was basically some kind of pickled cabbage. Not too tart or sweet. But very fresh and crispy cabbage. If BBQ places could make cole slaw like this!!!

Service was good though she could have filled my glass of water a little faster and checked more often. But when I paid, there were four or five people in front of me and only one cashier!!!

I would go back to Billy's. The parking structure next door to Billy's offers 2 free hours of parking with validation.

Elena's

Elena's
1000 Glendale
Glendale
818-241-5730

Elena bills it's as a Greek-Aemenian food. I just wish they did good food. I ordered the #10, 1/2 shish and 1/2 lulu kebob for $10 including tip. A shish kebob is marinated steak while lulu is marinated meat, I'm guessing a mixture of pork and beef.

All dinners include a salad which has lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and lots of onions. They put an oil and vinegar dressing on but I asked for no dressing. The salad was very fresh but I had too much onions for my tastes.

The kebobs came and they included rice, grilled tomatoe and chili pepper. I didn't touch the grill pepper. The lulu kebob threw me off. I was expecting beef but it's clearly a mixture of beef and pork. Decent spices but I'm not a big fan. The shish kebob had more powerful spices than the lulu but I still wasn't a fan. The beef was a bit on the chewy side.

The rice has a nice flavor and texture to it. Maybe the best part about the dinner.

Service was OK. The lady was nice enough when she came by but she didn't come by often enough. I was thirsty as hell and she didn't fill up my water once. She came around to deliver my order and then to deliver my check.

I would not go back to Elena's. There is a much better place for kebobs in Glendale, which I will review soon.

Mario's Italian Deli

Mario's Italian Deli
740 Broadway
Glendale
818-242-4114

Update: November 14, 2012.  Check out the updated review for Mario's Italian Deli & Market.

I dropped by Mario's Italian Deli in Glendale for a sandwich. I have heard some good things about it and wanted to try it.

So I ordered the corned beef sandwich for $6.44. The sandwich comes with mayo, mustard, lettuce, onions, and tomatoes and provolne cheese. I never put mustard or onions on a sandwich, those two condiments belong on a hot dog ONLY. The sandwich is made on a hard Italian roll. They cut the bread into three layers. The bottom layer gets some meat, cheese, and lettuce. The middle layer gets the mayo, more meat and tomatoe. I'm not sure if that SOP for Mario's but that's how my sandwich maker made my sandwich. I thought they put way too much mayo. I like mayo but I don't want the bread to be drowned by mayo. She could have cut the amount of mayo in half and put some on the bottom layer. Because of that, I thought the sandwich was a bit dry.

The corned beef was pretty good but was on the salty side. The lettuce and tomatoe were fresh.

Mario's is OK. Nothing special and I think overpriced. $6.44 for a 8 inch sandwich? There is a good amount of meat but nothing overwhelming. The quality of meat is good, but not great. Why the high price?

Service is slow. There were four to five people ahead of me and it took about 10 minutes before I even placed an order. They sandwich makers take forever to make a sandwich.

I wouldn't go back to Mario's, even to try any other sandwiches.

Pollo Campero-Glendale-Closed

Pollo Campero
1140 Glendale Galleria
Glendale
818-662-0445

In the Glendale Galleria food court, Pollo Campero gives shoppers a great dining option. I ordered the two piece meal, breast and wing, with fries, tortillas and a soda all for $5.30.

As with the other Pollo Campero locations the chicken is so tender and juicy. I just love the chicken. The best fried chicken around. The fries are good and crispy.

I always enjoy going to Pollo Campero. I would go to any location as I haven't noticed any difference in quality between the three locations I've been to.

Dinah Fried Chicken

Dinah Fried Chicken
4106 San Fernando
Glendale
818-244-4188

Update January 8, 2006.

Well I went back to Dinah's and I was a little disappointed. I ordered the three piece (breast and two wings) dinner for $6.98 with mac and cheese and well done fries. The chicken was very salty and the portions were small. Also the chicken was either sitting under a heat lamp for a long time or the oil they used to fry the chicken was dirty because the skin was much darker than I remember. I liked the mac and cheese which was nice and creamy. The fries were well done but weren't all that hot or even warm.

The cashier was rude when I went to pay. No, How was the meal or anything pleasant. Her attitude was just give me the money and get out. I won't go back to Dinah's any time soon. Pollo Campero is the better option in Glendale.

June 2005 Review.

Even though I lived in Glendale for a few years, I never went to Dinahs' Friend Chicken. But last week, I finally had my first taste of Dinah's. And let me tell you, I will go back to Dinah's very soon.

I ordered the 3 piece Box O Chicken, all white meat for $5.27. Two sides were mac and cheese and mashed potatoes and gravy. I got two good sided breast pieces and a wing. The breast pieces were very moist and tender. The skin, which I usually don't eat, had a nice crunch with a nice bit of spice in there.

The mac and cheese was very creamy and the macaroni had the perfect firmness. I hate soggy, overcooked macaroni. The mashed potatoes and gravy were just OK. The gravy was very bland. The potatoes seemed made out of a box.But the chicken is one of the best chicken I've had.I ordered the chicken to go but had to get a piece while driving. The chicken, mac and cheese, and the potatoes, held up very well after a 45 minute drive.