It’s almost impossible not to be impressed with the new, palatial Alpharetta outpost of Delbar Middle Eastern, from Rumi’s Kitchen alumnus Fares Kargar.
Unfortunately, our first visit was characterized by repeated misunderstandings over our order.
Our group of four was looking forward to trying the restaurant’s large-format, bone-in leg of lamb, a 6-pound, $150 centerpiece, and that’s what we ordered. After a somewhat light mezze round, a server placed a surprisingly small tagine on our table and removed the top with a flourish.
“There’s no way that weighs 6 pounds,” I told my dining partners. Looking back at the menu, we realized we’d been served the lamb neck, a single $26 entree.
When our server returned, I explained that we wanted “the big one,” describing the bone-in leg of lamb with the exact words used on the menu. She let us keep the lamb neck at no charge, but we only picked at it, since we had so much more lamb coming.
Credit: Andrew Thomas Lee
Credit: Andrew Thomas Lee
A short time later, our second lamb dish hit the table. Instead of the leg of lamb, it was a lamb shank stew with lentils and eggplant. At that point, ordering 6 more pounds of lamb felt insane, so we cut our losses. (They only charged us for the lamb shank stew, which was $29.)
Our disappointment was alleviated at dessert by the baklava, served with a scoop of incredible saffron-infused ice cream.
Our second visit was on a warm Saturday night, and the valet line and host stand both were mobbed. However, once we were seated, the service was incredible. Our server knew the menu, made some nice recommendations and did a beautiful job of pacing our meal.
Credit: Henri Hollis
Credit: Henri Hollis
This time, we were able to focus on the way a sharp note of garlic contrasted with the silken texture of Delbar’s hummus, and how cardamom crackled in the falafel. Kashk bademjoon was a sophisticated spread made from fried eggplant and topped with crispy fried onions. After we’d peeled and eaten the huge, spicy Omani shrimp, slathered in herbaceous labneh, our server brought us warm towels, spritzed with lemon, to clean our hands.
The main dishes showed off the kitchen’s grilling talent, with steak and salmon both tender and juicy. The koobideh kabob — lamb and beef ground together with warm Middle Eastern spices — went beautifully with the polo sefid (crispy-bottomed, Persian-style basmati rice finished with decadent saffron butter).
Our only quibble was with the stuffed whole branzino, which was grilled to perfection, but had a treacly pomegranate stuffing that was a bit too sweet for everyone at the table.
Credit: Henri Hollis
Credit: Henri Hollis
For dessert, we ordered pistachio lava cake and baklava ice cream, which was a different dish from the baklava served with ice cream that we’d tried before. It seemed we were destined to repeat the confusion of our first visit, when a food runner delivered the regular baklava instead, but our server noticed we’d gotten the wrong dessert and corrected the mistake. Even though we were stuffed, the three scoops of ice cream — layered with honeyed phyllo, pistachios and rose petals — somehow disappeared.
Our two visits to Delbar illustrated how the restaurant’s relatively few drawbacks seem to be products of its success. The place is busy, crowded and loud, and you might have to wait, even if you have a reservation. It’s also vibrant, fun, exciting and luxurious, packed to the brim with people having a good time. An army of servers, bartenders and food runners zip around the dining room, delivering dishes and drinks to hundreds of diners, often within just a few minutes of the orders being placed.
In this environment, small mistakes are inevitable, and servers appear to have the latitude to fix them on the fly. But, as Delbar continues to grow, with another location planned in Buckhead, it will need to keep quality control at the top of its priority list, in order to ensure it doesn’t become a victim of its own success.
Credit: Andrew Thomas Lee
Credit: Andrew Thomas Lee
DELBAR MIDDLE EASTERN (ALPHARETTA LOCATION)
3 out of 4 stars (excellent)
Food: Middle Eastern
Service: excellent, if you don’t run into communication problems ordering
Noise level: loud music and conversation, but not deafening
Recommended dishes: Omani shrimp, roasted duck, falafel plate, muhamara (roasted pepper and walnut spread), kashk bademjoon (fried eggplant spread), hummus, sabzi polo (Persian-style rice with scallions and herbs), polo sefid (Persian-style rice with saffron butter), beet carpaccio, za’atar fries, salmon kabob, koobideh kabob (ground lamb and beef), chinjeh (sirloin beef kabob), baklava, baklava ice cream
Vegetarian dishes: zeytoon parvardeh (marinated olives), falafel plate, muhamara, mast khiyar (cucumber yogurt spread), kashk bademjoon, dill labneh, hummus, labneh, adas polo (Persian-style rice with lentils and raisins), sabzi polo, polo sefid, endive citrus salad, beet carpaccio, heirloom tomato salad, grilled vegetables, za’atar fries
Alcohol: full bar
Price range: $$-$$$$
Hours: 4-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 4-11 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4-11 p.m. Saturdays, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4-9 p.m. Sundays
Parking: complimentary valet
MARTA: no
Reservations: recommended
Outdoor dining: yes, a patio
Takeout: yes
Address, phone: 4120 Old Milton Parkway, Alpharetta. 404-777-6037
Website: delbaratl.com/home-old-milton
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