RESTAURANT REVIEW: Arya Persian Restaurant at EDSA Shangri-La Plaza Mandaluyong

Today was errands day, and when we realized we weren’t getting home in time for lunch, we decided to make it a lunch date. It was raining heavily so we opted to stay within EDSA Shangri-La Plaza where our errands were happening. We were looking for a mediterranean restaurant and wanted to eat at Cyma but couldn’t find it until we came across the Persian restaurant, Arya in Shangri-La’s 6th floor.

They didn’t have a menu stand which forced us to interact with the hostess to check out their menu… which was also difficult to appreciate as it contained names of persian dishes—without descriptions to at least let you know what you were reading. We had a bit of hesitation to push through but when the hostess showed us the kebab platters that were reasonably priced, we were enticed and also because it was an hour past our usualy lunch time and we were already starving.

We were sat down on the booth and tried to browse their menu more thoroughly only to be met with just as much confusion we had at the entrance. We asked a server to explain some of the dishes in the menu so we can better decide, but she didn’t know the menu as well as we think a server should. She instead came back with another menu—presumably an older version—which contained the descriptions we were looking for.

Arya’s House Mediterranean Salad was brought to us in a serving trolley…. because part of the order includes the server making the salad in front of you—basically, adding components from several small plates, mixing, and emulsifying everything into a dressing. It took 5 to 10 minutes of awkward waiting… especially when it was being made in a large opaque bowl you couldn’t even see in.

An P800-peso salad raises expectations, especially if it was more expensive than our main dish! It was not bad at all, don’t get me wrong. it was okay.. but it was not worth the price. I wish they had removed the theatrics of serving and improved the dish instead.

If you want a good salad, we still swear by Roka Salata of Souv by Cyma.

House Mediterranean Salad: P798 (3 to 4 people)

Dane and I’s Rating: 2/5

house mediterranean salad at arya persian restaurant

koobideh platter at arya persian restaurant

The Koobideh Platter of Arya Persian Restaurant was the first thing that enticed us to dine in Arya Persian restaurant. It’s three different kebabs made of beef, chicken, and lamb, respectively, served with garlic sauce and hot sauce, for only P787.

All of the meat were seasoned well without covering the taste of the actual meat. While good, it was ordinary and it’s what you would expect from a kebab, nothing to ring bells for.

The sauces were also subpar and we opted out after tasting as they didn’t complemented the meat well. The garlic sauce was runny and didn’t taste a lot like garlic as the raw pungency was more prominent. The hot sauce also didn’t have a lot of heat and flavor.

Koobideh Platter: P787 (2-3 people)

Dane and I’s Rating: 2.5/5

We also ordered the caramelized onion rice in place of the zereshk rice that was out of stock. They use basmati rice or similar and tossed in he caramelized onion with it.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t taste like caramelized onion which is probably because the rice wasn’t finished cooking alongside the onions, making them feel like toppings more than ingredients.

They tasted okay though, light, which was perfect to highlight the platter of kebabs. I just wish the caramelized onions actually lended some flavor.

Caramelized Onion Rice: P299 (2 to 3 people)

Dane and I’s Rating: 2/5

caramelized onion rice at arya persian restaurant

The staff were generally nice and our glasses were refilled throughout, which was appreciated (and if you’re new on my blog-that’s one of my deciding factors on service quality as it spoke about attentiveness). Unfortunately, our experience at Arya restaurant was okay. Just not worth-the-P2,000+-we-spent okay. We should have went to Cyma like we originally planned, which owns Souv—a Greek restaurant we did enjoy.

Overall Rating: