Pars Persian Restaurant @ Halandri

Last Wednesday evening, we visited a relatively new Persian restaurant in Halandri called Pars. It is in a close vicinity of another and older Persian restaurant Anaxita.



From one of these discount websites I bought a coupon for 32 Euro (4 Euro in advance + 28 Euro at the restaurant) including 2 starters, 1 salad, 2 main dishes and 2 glasses of wine or soft drink. The site was publicizing that it was worth 56 Euro, which I did not believe, of course. However, 16 Euro p.p. for 2 courses + 1 salad and drink seemed to be reasonable.

The most beautiful part of the restaurant is no doubt the entrance which looks like a Persian folklore museum.

The dining floor, on the other hand, is not attractive; it looked like a cheap remodelling of storage or something. It was very dim and rather cold because the heating was provided by gas heaters place in between the tables, just like at outdoor space of cafeteria. I would avoid coming here in a cold evening.

The heart-shaped balloons, hanged upside down, were decoration for St. Valentine's day and usually there should not be there, the waiter told us. Thank God.



The menu includes a wide variety of Persian dishes and I could find some interesting dishes. The starters are either 3 or 5 Euro, salads more or less 7, main dishes around 9. Cleaver readers must have noticed that by ordering 2 starters, 1 salad and 2 main dishes, it hardly goes above 40 Euro. Even including 2 drinks and bread, 56 Euro target should be impossible to reach. Foul No. 1.

Warm pita was served as bread. Nice.



The first starter was Kofte Berenji, 5 Euro.



These are meat balls with rice and herb cooked in tomato based sauce. They reminded us of Greek Youvarlakia except for the sauce.

The second starter, Mirza Ghasemi, roasted aubergine with egg, tomato and garlic, 5 Euro.




It was like warm melitzanosalata. The presence of egg was interesting. I loved it, while GH preferred the meatballs.

Green salad was 7 Euro.



It came in a large flat plate and was a good companion to meat dishes.

Now to the main dishes.

One was Chelo Kebab, 10 Euro.



Koubideh kebab (minced lamb) with rice and tomato. Kebabs were all right.

Kebab Bakhtiari is a skewer of beef and chicken, priced 10 Euro.



Again, tasted fine, but I would not pay 10 Euro for this small skewer of meat with little garnish. Here comes the 2nd foul. On the menu it is clearly written that all the kebabs are served with rice, too. I observed also other tables and can confirm that not all the kebabs were served with rice.

All in all, the food was fine, but the price is rather high for what the food and the restaurant are. 56 Euro menu for 2 is obviously misleading, but still, we would have paid over 40 Euro for this meal without discount coupon.

The waiter told us that on Valentine's day, they offer a menu of 26 Euro for 1 starter, 1 salad and 2 main dishes. With drinks, the guests would pay 30 Euro+. This should be the right price range for this restaurant.


PARS
Konstantinou Palaiologou 15
Halandri, Athens 15232
Τel: 210-6817277

Κωνσταντίνου Παλαιολόγου 15
Χαλάνδρι, Αθήνα 15232

http://www.persianrestaurant.gr/