Moby Dick House of Kabob

I can’t say it was bad, but it wasn’t exactly good either. I had the chicken kebab wrap, but for how long I waited I expected something better. The chicken itself seemed overcooked and dry, the seasoning wasn’t anything to write home about either. The cucumber-​yogurt sauce was surprisingly good compared to the rest of the meal, which is probably why I ended up drowning my sandwich in it.
All in all, it’s not a bad place but not one I’d visit unless I was really craving a kebab. Even then, it’s probably better to keep your expectations low.

This is our favorite carry-​out restaurant in the Kingstowne area. We usually buy dinner for our whole family (6 people) and bring it home.
Their lamb, beef and chicken kabobs are our favorites. The meat is good quality, well seasoned and tender. We also like the ability to order their fragrant rice and salads by themselves (all rice, all salad) or half-​and-​half.
Their naan bread is made right there and is warm and wonderful, particularly teamed with their excellent humus.
I would highly recommend Moby Dick to anyone. Despite their puzzling name, the food is top notch.
They are the best kabobs in the area.

I feel like the flavors a have changed a bit over the years, as well as the portions. I had chicken and beef super combo II with half rice, half salad. I also got a salad sharazi. The salad sharazi was bland, with huge chunks of onion. Previously everything was diced pretty symmetrically and delicious. The chicken and beef were cooked to perfection and the rice delicious. The salad portion was mostly onions and very bitter (iceberg possibly?) lettuce. As always, the bread was on point. Will be back, just not as often.

After trying out different Persian/​Iranian restaurants, I must say that this place is overpriced for the portions that you’re getting! Although the quality of the dishes were pretty good, the prices aren’t.
My husband and I got the kubideh rice platter and I must say, the portions of the entrée was way less than I had expected. My husband also got the infamous Persian tea and it was anywhere between $ 1-​$ 2 just for a small cup of styrofoam (see photo in comparison to a regular drink cup). At least they provide complementary refills, but c’mon…in a small foam cup. No thanks.
The customer service was good, they were friendly and helpful. The restaurant itself was very clean and tidy. And the menu alone was easy to read.
I would go to this place again, IF they lowered their prices on the dishes. But, if I were you, I’d continue to do some research if you want to eat affordable, authentic, large portion Persian/​Iranian food!

Very yummy! I got the falafel platter and my husband got a beef koobideh platter. Bread was good as well. Did not wait long for our food and the woman at the register was friendly and helpful. The only negative I had was the dining room could have been a bit tidier. All of the tables were dirty when we arrived and no one was tending to the dining room (not wiping down tables, picking up trays, etc.)

AWFUL! we got the gyro platter. The meat was over cooked and didn’t look appetizing at all. We didn’t feel well the next day after eating it. Won’t be eating there again

It’s usually very difficult for me to write a 1-​star review, because I rarely ever have experiences that warrant such a rating. What really soured the experience (s) I’ve had at this location is management, management, management!
The food isn’t awesome. Kabobs usually have a suspiciously high water content (as if the meat has been frozen). Kabobs are served with tomatoes, rice, or salad if you choose that. The rice is just that, rice. No flavoring, nothing, but, persian rice is sometimes served like that so, okay. The tomatoes are fine, nice grilled tomatoes. Pita comes with it as well.
First thing I hated: I asked for some onion to help my rice a bit, and was given a scowl and then handed a literal head of onion in clear film. What?! Way to go for customer service.
I tried the location again a few weeks later. I hadn’t written a review the first time, because, well if I don’t have something awfully nice to say, I’m not going to try to. BUT, after the second time, I was kind of fed up.
I got take-​out and the service was awful. An older man, who I assume is the owner, so disdainfully took my order and gave me my food. However, he was overly gregarious with another party. It was just an awful experience and went a long ways in making me feel unwanted. The fact that I paid this man for what I ultimately deemed subpar food made me even angrier over the situation.
Don’t go here, there are plenty of awesome places in the Kingstowne Center worth going to.

NEGATIVE STARS IF I COULD! Placed my order over the phone at 6pm on Friday night. Woman took my name and said it would be 15−20min. Got there around 6:45ish, was told they couldn’t find my order and kept questioning whether or not I actually called said order in. I’m the customer, correct?
Showed manager or whoever he was my phone and the number, all while the lady that took my order over the phone says «oh that’s the order we just gave away». Are you kidding me?!? They offered to make it right then and there, I refused and walked the hell out! This is the second time I’ve had an issue with this particular Moby Dicks and fortunately my last. Never again, I’ll take my business elsewhere.

I ordered a large order from Moby dick at Kingstown! 1. The manager called me about half an hour before the delivery time to retake the order which was placed at least five days earlier!
2. The delivery man who was at least forty minutes late had no communication with the restaurant or the customer!
3. The meat skewers were a lot less than what I ordered! I did not have the chance to count the pieces but the pictures I took can testify!!!
4. The manager did not want to take any responsibility for any of the above!!!
If I ever order again from this place. I would pick up and not depend on their delivery system, and would literally count the food pieces!!!

My family orders from this location typically twice a month and order ~5−7 entrees from the menu. They have consistently always forgotten an entrée 50% of the time for the past 4 months. I’m unsure if they are under new management but this has gotten annoying enough to write a review.

Compare to other kabob places, this kabob is not that good. The rice is very dry so are the meats. Very little flavor. The price is high and the food is not good.

We had the swordfish for the first time today. A few pieces were dry but a couple were very tender and juicy. The chicken is one of our go to choices. The same thing happened with some pieces being dry and a couple juicy and tender. Fresh warm bread was nice too.
Nice to have rolling high chairs available. No changing pad in the bathroom however.

Came here for dinner with my mom and husband on a Friday night. This Moby Dick’s is close to my mom’s new condo and since we used to enjoy the Moby Dick’s in Fairfax (near her old condo) we decided to check this location out. I loved the fact that it was part of the Kingstowne Center (right next to the movie theater) and that there were lots of cute restaurants and shops to stroll by.
We placed our orders at the counter and ordered: Chicken sandwhich (mom), Salmon kabobs (me) and Ground lamb/​lamb shank kabob combo (my husband) w/​2 orders of homemade dough (Persian yoghurt drink).
My fish was very good, seared on the outside & moist on the inside, served w/​basmati rice with a hint of butter and a side salad. The dressing they used is to die for…
My husbands lamb items were ok, they both could have been seasoned more and juicier… we love lamb so it was a tiny bit dissapointing given that this was a more expensive item on the menu.
All items came with a bread basket which came fresh out the oven and warm — very good, we almost filled up on this before our food came out… can’t resist fresh bread!
My mom enjoyed her sandwich but commented that she wished it had more than just a few chunks of chicken kabob. The homemade dough was bit on the salty side and my mother did not enjoy it, in fact she had an upset stomach all night afterwards…
I don’t think I would order both the lamb or the homemade dough next time but would come back again for the fish kabobs and fresh bread.
Service was ok, it was mostly self serve… the restaurant was packed on a Friday night which is always a good sign.

Came for late lunch
Three of us
The weren’t busy
WE ALL ORDERED THE SAME THING
Why was one lunch not made
Manager came out into the dining area as if we were lying
Should have taken that as a sign
THE DRIEST CHICKEN KABOB EVER
Noooooooo flavor
Don’t waste your time or money

I really enjoyed the kabobs last night, I got a combo with ground chicken and ground beef. It was very flavorful and the rice with butter was good. The customer service wasn’t the greatest but he got the job done. My issue was it wasn’t super busy for 730pm on a Monday night and the 2 meals we ordered took about 30 minutes, I was with my family so we had nice conversation while waiting but 30 min is a little too long for a casual dining place like this.

Worse customer service, I was there today at 9:30 pm, I checked their sign on the door and it says the open till 10:00 pm so I entered and order a kabob plate, set and waited my order to be ready, the lady start to flipping the chairs over the tables and making a hell of noise while still there was customers at the floor, I checked the time and it was 9:45pm, come on guys really are you kicking customers out even before your time to close, I felt really offended by this behavior. for the food the kabob wasn’t even cooked well. so sad for a food chain that trying to be at a decent level, they need to focus more on the customer service.

Very happy with our visit here. We ordered the lamb and beef combo and the chicken combo. The food was all fresh and delicious and perfectly cooked and seasoned. The lamb was my favorite and the chicken was my wife’s favorite. Service was friendly and helpful. This was our first time and the employee helped guide our decision.
Bit of a wait for our food but the complimentary warm pita bread with cucumber sauce they give you right when you place your order is delicious and helps pass the time while your food is prepared. I poured my extra cucumber sauce on my rice and it was incredible.
Went with a group of four and two young children. Everyone was quite happy with their order. Kid friendly and accessible w/​high chairs. I ate my entire meal and left feeling full and not overly-​stuffed.

Dear God, whatever you do, don’t order take out from this place. I wanted 2 Kubidehs, one chicken and one beef, each $ 9. After he rings up my card, he puts the receipt down for me to sign and it was $ 40. I asked why and his response was, it was what you ordered. «No,» I said, I ordered 2 Kubidehs one chicken one beef, but you agreed to the price on the phone (with his accent I thought he said $ 14 not $ 40). Maybe it’s a cultural difference, but I ended up paying for what I didn’t order. I said I would pay, but never be back. If you go, pay close attention to what you order and good luck. BTW the food was bland.
An Iranian woman I work with said this food was just like home, the customer service must be too.
Lesson learned, check this off my restaurants to try.

I love this place. It’s really good food and the customer service is great. They’ve never disappointed me! The staff is always so nice to me and calls me by name every time I come here. I’m considering using their catering service too!

Very disappointed in the customer service today. We have been long time regulars here at the Springfield location. We usually call in ahead of time and our order is ready to be devoured once we arrive. Apparently the new guy that answered the phone didn’t understand that we wanted to order in, and when we arrived the food was boxed to go. We were surprised, but no big deal there. We wanted to simply take it and eat it as it was in the restaurant. The major problem was the fact that the guy wanted to talk back and tell us that next time we need to be more clear, when in fact I had overheard the conversation that we called in advance making sure that our order was for there!
He apparently hadn’t gone through any sort of customer service apprenticeship but I’m not going to stop there, the manager finally woke up to question what was happening with very little change. Both seemed totally oblivious to the situation that had occurred and needless to say, they didn’t even feel the need to apologize to us. Instead they were quick to blame us «the customers» for a mistake they made.
Our experience prior to this had been fine, but since today we will reconsider coming here simply because we aren’t able to enjoy our meals not because it’s not good, but because we don’t feel like we should be shunned at that way.
***Proceed at the risk of your own emotional wellbeing.***

Moby Dick’s was the vision of Mike Daryoush; starting off as a Mobys’ Luncheonette that was struggling, he totally revamped and changed up the all-​American fare into a Persian-​themed one. There’s a good number of locations scattered throughout the DC Metro area. The menu offers appetizers (hummus, dolmas, kashk-​o badejmjan, etc.), salads, sandwiches, entrees (kabobs and combos), vegetarian options, and desserts. I usually stick to Moby’s Combo II, which is a combination of kubideh (ground sirloin, grated onion, and house seasoning) and joojeh (skinless chunks of boneless chicken breast, marinated in house seasoning); this comes with rice (or, you can opt for a salad) and ½ of a pita bread. The rice can be a hit or miss, as sometimes it can be undercooked. I actually prefer the joojeh more than the kubideh, as the chicken is quite juicy, meaty, and has a nice marination-​action on it. I like how the meats are nicely grilled, too. I usually stick with their yogurt cucumber sauce (don’t be shy in asking for extras!), as it is a nice compliment to the meats — you can also add some hot sauce, if you want to spice it up! I just wished that they gave you a whole pita instead of half, considering the amount of meats/​rice they give you T_​_​_​T Service here is very straightforward and professional, and there are plenty of seating inside.
+joojeh kabobs
+yogurt cucumber sauce
+across from Panera, next to Firehouse Subs
+plenty of free parking in the Kingstowne Town Center plaza

The people are very nice. They gave me homemade yogurt. It’s salty and sour. It’s really good. Took the food to go.
The food was delicious!!! I highly recommend it. I have acid reflux and I had no problem what so ever. Their rice is amazing by the way. The bread as well.

I personally prefer Persian kabobs over Afghan kabobs, so Moby Dick is one of the only café-​style options now that Duke Kabob has closed. (If anyone else knows good Persian kabob fast-​food options, I’m all ears!)
I will say their bread is better than most Persian kabob restaurants. Their meats and rice are pretty good — we ordered the kubideh, lamb cubes and boneless chicken family platter combo. It came with three appetizers, and we selected the hummus, eggplant and shirazi. None of the appetizers were very good, which was a shame given the good bread for dipping. Finally, Moby Dick has the most disappointing spicy green sauce I’ve tried — it had an herbal flavor that was too strong to get past.

I ordered takeout from here a second time even though I can’t stand coming here (no parking and the manager is an asshole).
I came in and the manager starts barking at me like I’m one of his employees. No greeting, no thank you. I get my takeout and leave.
I get home and notice they didn’t give me the grape leaves. I check my receipt and I did pay for it. I called the place back and notified them of the error. The manager said he’s sorry but didn’t offer to do anything to fix the situation.
The next day, I went back and showed the receipt and asked for a refund for the $ 4 for the grape leaves. The manager gave me a weird look and told me he can’t give a refund because he already closed out the receipts for the previous day. I told him if he doesn’t give me a refund, I’ll just call my bank and file a merchant dispute against the credit card charge.
He argued with me some more and eventually gave me a refund for the grape leaves, but he said «I’ll remember you» whatever that’s supposed to mean. Maybe he should try remembering to put the food that I ordered in the takeout bag?
So to summarize, I’ve ordered takeout from here twice, and both times the order was wrong. They have gotten my order wrong 100% of the time. When I pointed out the mistake, the manager did nothing to correct the issue, and then argued and threatened me when I asked for my money back.