It’s a Friday night in Alpharetta and my friends and I are looking forward to a great time. A long week has ended and, now, we celebrate. All of our worries and school-related woes are shoved out of the way. Dressed cute and fabulous, we load into my car and we travel down Old Milton Pkwy. We take a left on Alpharetta Hwy and, in moments, we spot our retreat: Darvish Persian Tea House. Modestly hidden in a dark little corner and shadowed by the larger, more radiant neighboring restaurants, Darvish’s outer appearance doesn’t serve its interior just. In Persian, Dar means "a door", so Darvish, in a literal sense, means "one who opens the doors." Its bland exterior almost makes its neighbors look pompous and intimidating. Its humble appearance welcomes those warmly as they climb up a few dainty steps and through its Persian doors.
Rich, Middle Eastern drapery, ornate chandeliers, and romantic candles bedeck the humble, tranquil space of Darvish. Like a dollhouse, the restaurant offers the rustic, authentic intimacy of a Persian household: our hostess is a young, Persian gentleman, and the waiter speaks with a polished, foreign drawl (and their parents are somewhere in the back crafting the items offered in the menu). We pass by the intricately carved wooden furniture upholstered in lovely fabrics as we are directed to a large bed covered by a red carpet surrounded by fine Middle Eastern cushions. We sit ourselves down on the bed. The ambience makes me feel as if I am a guest in a Persian household. However, a sense of modernity threads through the homey atmosphere—contemporary ceiling fans and a stage available for a DJ juxtapose the geometric Arabesque patterns prominently seen on the decor and the aged brick walls—which reminds me that I am not actually in the Middle East.
The restaurant is run by a family and this contributes to the relaxed, comfortable environment. The waiter is dressed in nice, casual attire. As he takes our orders, he holds nothing in his hand. He takes note of our requests in his head and converses with us as if engaged in a normal, every-day talk. The service is quite fast on the weekdays but since it is a Friday, the restaurant is filled with more customers and the place is busier so the service lags a bit from its usual. The waiter serves our drinks all at once, and, later, does the same with our meals. The appetizers are served almost immediately after our drinks. For a Friday night, the service is still quite good.
I start with the house salad, Darvish salad. A plate of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and beets, topped with its house dressing. The flamboyant salad fails to impress. I was looking forward to the simple salad consisting of cucumbers and tomatoes sprinkled with lemon juice and peppers commonly found throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The salad lacks the authentic Middle Eastern flair and it is as if their attempt to improve the original recipe resulted in an overly pungent dressing with clashing ingredients. Their lemon flavored dressing is too concentrated and the contamination of various spices made it feel dangerously acidic.
The next appetizer had its work cut out for itself. Must o masir, or Yogurt and shallots dip, is a simple mix faithful to what its name suggests. Plain yogurt mixed with bits of crushed shallots. It is accompanied with their homemade pita bread. The pita bread is best when just served: warm, soft, and slightly sweet. The dip shares the texture similar to that of hummus, yet the taste is not quite as comparable. The dip has a cool sour tang due to the plain yogurt but the shallots balance the concoction with its onion-like, sweet flavor giving a nice refreshing start to my meal.
I find myself yearning for a more composed, warm, and stove-cooked component to balance out the odd combination of cold sour salad dressing and cool yogurt dip. I am finally ready for my main course. The waiter brings out my Kabob-e-Kubideh (beef Kabob)—a skewer of beef seasoned and charbroiled served with basmati rice and grilled tomatoes. Yellow colored rice top the dish with two slices of a purple radish and green mint off to the side solely placed for appearance purposes. It is a filling, carbohydrate- dominating dish to suffice my empty stomach. I take a bite and die of sheer bliss. The salty, savory taste of the beef is enhanced by the fiery charcoaled, earthy taste. The crispy outer texture contrasts with the soft, tender interior. The flavor is evenly distributed so that the onions, peppers, and minty taste drenched into the meat are tasted in every bite. The flavor combination is heavenly, and the dish luxuriously melts in my mouth. The rice is plain and is a bit too dry for my liking. The grilled tomato on the side is a nice addition. It offers a great alternative to the typical fresh tomato found in salads and sandwiches.
Lastly, the meal is topped off with an order of baklava. A sweet, crispy pastry layered with its flakes and pistachios smothered in honey sauce. By this time in the meal, I need to indulge on something sugary and, unfortunately, the baklava didn’t satiate my sweet tooth. It isn’t as moist as baklavas I’ve tasted prior and lacks a sufficient, at least for me, amount of sucrose.
Darvish is only open on weeknights and weekends and it does sit on the pricier side of the scale but doesn’t touch the gourmet price spectrum. Most of their Kabob dishes range from $10-$20, while some go as high as $30. I highly recommend their Kabob dishes. It’s their specialty and they offer a variety of Kabobs i.e. ground beef, steak, chicken, lamb, shrimp, and fish. Their appetizers, desserts, and drinks all stay under $10.
It’s the perfect place to go to when going out with a large group of people. Their beds comfortably fit up to 10 people and it beats sitting at a long table where it’s hard to talk or even see the people on the other side. Sitting without chairs can get uncomfortable and legs and feet are more prone to getting numb but that’s part of the Persian tea house feel they are trying to create. A tip to keep in mind is to be aware of the sitting situation when getting dressed for a night here. They do have tables and chairs if preferred but a single table won’t seat as many as a bed.
Other than dining, Darvish has a belly dancer who performs during the weekends but they still keep the environment suitable for everyone. A waiter will go around each table and ask for permission from the customers for the belly dancer to perform. So far, I have not been around when the belly dancer has performed but I’ve heard it really livens up the atmosphere and many people participate as well. Also, hookah is offered in several flavors. These additional components of the restaurants make it a popular place for youngsters but they do not consist of its main customer base most likely due to their prices.
Tonight, my friends and I have drunk a holy wine—that of adventure, authenticity, and artistic affluence. Darvish is a Persian gem in the middle of Alpharetta.
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