Darvish Kitchen & Kolbe

We recently went to a new Persian restaurant and tried several dishes, including Mirza Ghasemi, Kuku Sabzi, Kabob-E-Koobideh (Minced Meat), and Kabob-E-Joojeh (Marinated Chicken Breast). The food was delicious--especially the main dishes. The meat was well-marinated, tender, and full of flavor. The ambiance and customer service were also great, making the dining experience enjoyable.However, one aspect stood out: they don't automatically serve bread with the starters or main dishes, which is something you'd typically expect, especially in Persian cuisine. We had to ask for more bread, which seemed a bit odd. Additionally, the portion sizes for the starters were on the smaller side, so it would be nice if they included bread by default, particularly considering the prices.Overall, it's a lovely spot with excellent food, but a little more attention to these details could elevate the experience even further.

The worst Persian restaurant I've ever been to. The food is overcooked, not Iranian, and way too salty. The servers have no idea what's on the menu so don't bother asking questions. Darvish restaurant was an adventure... if the goal was to survive the worst Persian food on earth.Picture this: the food was so overcooked, it felt like they'd been slow-roasting it since the Achaemenid Empire. And "Persian food"? Nah, this was something from another universe--maybe one where salt is considered its own food group.The servers? Bless them, they looked at the menu like it was written in ancient hieroglyphs. Ask a question? You'd have better luck deciphering the Rosetta Stone. Then came the kabobs. No rice. NONE. It was like ordering a burger and getting handed two patties with no buns--just pure chaos on a plate.But wait, it gets better. After asking for the manager three times (honestly, at this point, I thought maybe he was a myth), he finally showed up, mid-argument with my wife, as if that was the final course in the menu. Suffice it to say, this is one experience we won't be repeating... ever again!

Let me preface my review by saying: I'm Persian, I've eaten at plenty of Persian restaurants in my life, and I'm easily satisfied with food every where I go.This place had a nice ambiance, it seemed clean and wonderfully decorated. We could barely hear any Persian music, but that's not a big deal. It just would've added to the feel of the place.Here's the part of the review that will lead me to never visit again. We ordered the "noon panir sabzi" starter, and it didn't come with any bread. When I asked for some, they said that the complimentary bread they brought earlier with the butter was what we were supposed to use for our starter item. The server said we could have bread with the "noon panir sabzi", it would just cost extra. I calmly and politely showed the server the menu details, and he then acknowledged he made an error, and brought out the bread at no cost to us. Great, no problem. We also ordered "mast musir", but they brought out the wrong kind (mast o khiar). So we got that sorted out as well. No problem. Then, for our entrees we asked if they have "soltani", which is universally understood to be one skewer of koubideh and one skewer of barg. The server said yea as we confirmed what soltani was and that they would provide it. Great. They instead brought out koubideh and "barg torsh", which is not the same as regular barg. I asked the server, and he said confidently that this restaurant does their soltani with koubideh and barg torsh. Okay, understood. But then later the server comes back and says the kitchen made it wrong and it should have been regular barg. So with all these issues with everything that was ordered, you would think a manager would come out and say "hey, I heard that we had some miscommunication with your orders tonight. That's not like us, and not the experience we want for our guests." We never saw a manager, we never got our bill updated to reflect incorrect orders, and we never got anyone to take ownership of their issues with getting meal orders correct. Overall the food and ambience was nice, but the service was weird and messy. This place feels like a wealthy Persian had a dream for a restaurant, but absolutely no idea how to run it well. I have no intention of returning, and have warned my friends and family about this place. There are other Persian places in the DMV that serve tasty food with consistency and skill, I'll stick to those places.

Met some ex-coworkers here for a girls dinner and had a SPECTACULAR time. The service was great, the ambiance and decor are top-notch, and the pistachio espresso martini was nothing short of life-changing (though hella expensive at $22). Still, I rave about it to anyone who will listen.

This place is a real deal You gonna feel home by the time you walk in until the last min before you leave.We got there for Saturday brunch.. we were excited to try a lot of dishes Was an excellent experience.. they mintion that they have a space on the 3rd floor for life music and privet/ semi privet special event space on the 3rd floor and they can do a set menu for that too withch is gonna be our next time visit family plan!Highly recommend

Darvish is amazing! As soon as I stepped in I was entranced with how pretty and welcoming the space was! The wait staff were efficient, helpful and so welcoming. The food was delicious!! I had the beet salad appetizer, the crispy salmon and an order of the rice -every bite was amazing!! I can't wait to go back!!

My husband and I had brunch at Darvish a few weeks ago when we were in DC for the weekend for his birthday, and I liked it but it's still new and is probably addressing some new business issues. We had planned to order their Persian breakfast platter for two that we saw on their brunch menu online. But when we sat down, the menu we were given wasn't the brunch menu we'd seen online - just the lunch menu, I think. They're a new restaurant and I know it's hard to update online menus as often as restaurants need to change items on menus, but I'd definitely recommend for expectation setting that the menus online match with what you're given when you sit down at a restaurant. I was bummed to not be able to order that breakfast platter!We ended up ordering a few things to share: mast-o-musir (yogurt and dried shallot dip), kuku sabzi (Persian herb frittata), and ghormeh sabzi (beef, kidney bean, and herb stew with a side of tahdig - Persian crispy rice). I didn't get much from the shallots in the mast-o-musir), so it really just lasted like good, thick yogurt. The kuku sabzi was good and I appreciated the portion size (quite small). And I enjoyed the ghormeh sabzi). I wasn't feeling any alcoholic drinks with brunch that morning, but I ordered their Sharbate Albaloo (a non-alcoholic cordial of sour cherries, sugar, and water). I adored it. The service was good. I think the decor still needs a little bit of tweaking, but maybe that's only because I used to frequent the restaurant that was in the location before and so the decor still looked a little Russian grandma chic to me (mostly the wood details of the bar and back doors that separate the dining room from the kitchen). It's a huge space and would be great for events (they can fit large tables and they have a whole third floor that can be rented out for events)!Overall, I thought the food was good - and Persian isn't a cuisine that's very easy to find in the DMV (we have a couple of spots in Baltimore but Darvish was the first Persian restaurant I've been to in DC). Definitely a good addition to the restaurants in the city, and I'd be happy to check it out again in the future.

New restaurant clearly with quirks to work out.Went with a group of four for dinner on a Wednesday night at 6 pm and the place was basically empty. First big annoyance was the number of gnats flying around the table. We sat inside and they had the doors closed and the AC blasting but there were CONSTANT gnats bothering us, landing in our drinks, on our food, etc. They had bug killers plugged into the wall so it's clearly something they're aware of but for the price of the food, it was a huge turn off.The Staff seemed pretty undertrained as well. They were constantly asking if they could take away our half-eaten appetizers even when we continually said "no, we're still working on them." The food itself was ok. I had the crispy salmon (skin was perfectly cooked and came with a huge piece of fish.) However, as others noted, none of their dishes come with rice. You have to order rice separately for $9+. The portions of rice that come are huge, but I don't recommend the lentil raisin rice, it's weirdly super syrupy and sweet. The watermelon feta appetizer and the smoked eggplant dip were great.Cocktails were too expensive and not very good. $20+ each is ridiculous for something that tasted like it was made from a drink mix.I hope this place does well because the location is very convenient but I wouldn't return or recommend.

Darvish is a nicely decorated and lofty/airy space for Persian food.  The service is very friendly and accommodating.  Our favorite dish was the Gole Tabrizi caultiflower.    We also tried the kashke bademjam eggplant dip which was fine.  The bread was served nice and hot and they are very happy to bring more upon request.  For entrees, we had the lamb shank which was fine.  We were surprised it was served with little in the way of vegetables but the crispy rice which came with it was very good.  The mahi e branzino was also fine but there weren't many vegetables with this either.   We often like a whole fish but really wish it would be served and filleted at the table.  Trying to work around all the tiny fish bones can really sap the enjoyment from a dish.

Food is delicious. Ambiance is beautiful and cozy.Service is also great. Love this place