Darya

 Hahaha....I honestly thought that Persian restaurants couldn't go upscale, but I was wrong. Darya introduces a new aspect of culture to the Californian lifestyle, giving them a little break from Mexican food.

 You know what sucks? So I was getting ready last night to go out for dinner and I was feeling pretty sick and nauseous. My stomach was killing me and I had a pounding headache, and the minute my uncle said "Let's go", I threw up all over the bathroom. Ugh...

 

So about twenty minutes later I leave for dinner, and was pretty impressed by the ambiance: high risen ceilings with dimly lit rooms, a live saxophonist and servers dressed in suits. The service was polite, friendly and attentive.

DISHES: Everyone knows the rule "If you throw up you have to wait two hours until you can eat anything" so I basically had to follow that. I ordered the barley soup at Darya (yeah, I know. Who the hell orders a soup at a Persian restaurant?)  Anyway. The soup was good (for a soup) with shredded chicken, parsley and cilantro. The chicken made the soup hardy and the cilantro/parsley brought out the soups flavor whilst making it seem fresh.

So Persian food always consists of Kabobs, and there's nothing wrong with going classic. I ordered the chicken Koobideh which were two strips of boneless chicken breast, served with charbroiled tomato and basmati rice. The kabobs had a very nice flavor, were very tender and juicy, however the unique thing was that there was more rice on each plate than more meat...

 

  But anyway: there are two Dariyas in Orange County: one in Orange and the other in south coast plaza. The one in south coast plaza is better because of the nicer area and it has more elegance.