Shiraz Pershain Grill

I used to go there like once a week with my dad and we spent like over $ 25 each time.
The last time I went there my dad who is old man (over 65) politely asked for extra tomato and as I was worried the waiter couldn’t understand his english I repeated, then waiter went and asked that lady with scarf, he quoted NO, NO lamb kebab only comes with one tomato, (I told myself how come last weeks There were two tomatoes with lab kebab and now there is one !!!) I said ok, 2 minutes later that lady with scarf came (very angry) and said if you want a extra one tomato we will charge you extra and that’s it. I said I don’t want it thank you. It is interesting how they dumped me after being a loyal customer (we used to go there each week). How much does a extra tomato costs? Give us a extra tomato and charge use? Why are you lecturing us that it Alway come with one tomato? Why are you lying? Is it worthed for one dollar that you lie?
I must add first time I went there I asked if it is allowed to park in from of restaurant without paying the parking fee at the station cause it was a late evening then one guy who was working there said yes absolutely. Guess what after I finished my meal I got $ 50 ticket. Thanks.
Also just a tip, that lady in scarf always try’s to sell you other unnecessary things so be careful.
Overall very very overpriced store with respect to what they offer.

We came here on a quick stop for appetizers on the way from Madison to Chicago. I’m sorry I didn’t get to try more dishes, because what we had was wonderful.
Their ash soup was second only to the ghost of Green Rice Kabob’s (Huntington Beach) ash reshteh despite being much simpler, with no noodles, only a dark green mystery sludge (in a good way — lots of spinach).
Their kashke bademjan was extremely smoky, oniony, and full of some kind of nut that kept crunching between my teeth. The small is quite a large pile — too much for the couple of pitas you get (though the waitress did graciously offer to bring more).
The 2000 mile trek will probably delay my return for some months/​years, but that’s about the only thing that could successfully do it.

Shiraz is really, really good. I always order the appetizer combo, which comes with your choice of five appetizers — so much good food! Their yogurt appetizers are delicious, light, and a great complement to the baba ganoush and the other eggplant appetizer that I can’t remember the name of right now. Their stuffed grape leaves have a really nice flavor and texture, and of course you can’t go wrong with hummus and falafel.
They miss out on a star because my husband detested his chicken salad monster wrap, but I have personally loved everything I’ve ever ordered at Shiraz. Their service can be a little iffy, but overall it’s a nice place to relax and enjoy Middle Eastern cuisine.

Finally ate here after only my whole life of living in Milwaukee…
Went on a Saturday night, quiet, dined in. Our waitress was very nice and informative. We asked for her recommendations and she gave us a detailed list of her favorites, we ended up ordering what she said, very yum.
It was clean and quiet, good prices, and good sized food portions. The food was not out of this world delicious or unique, but we left with smiles and full bellies.

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, my sister and I wanted to be adventure and try a type of food we’ve never had… after extensive Unilocal searches we settled on Shiraz as neither of us were familiar with Middle Eastern/​Persian cuisine. Along with my boyfriend, we jumped in the car and came here for dinner on a Sunday evening, and we were the only diners in the restaurant. Granted it was an early dinner (5ish), and over the course of our meal there were several people that came in for their carry-​out orders — which, until my visit, I did not know existed.
I had seen on the online menu that they offered a chicken curry dish, but it was not listed in their restaurant menu. I asked about it and the waiter went back to the kitchen and said that yes, they could make that for me. I was so happy! My boyfriend got a combo platter with two different types of chicken kabobs, and my sister ordered lentil soup. We also got an order of hummus.
They started us off with a pita appetizer plate, which was all new to me… and delicious, minus the onions and radishes. My chicken curry dish was fantastic — the chicken was spiced to perfection! My boyfriend loved his chicken kabob platter and my sister also enjoyed her lentil soup, saying it was some of the best she’s had. The hummus was really, really good! Generally I’m not a huge fan of hummus, but this hummus was all the right kinds of flavorful and had a good texture and I would definitely get it again.
Overall we had a fantastic experience here and the food was wonderful. I took a menu to add to my take out menu collection and look forward to trying other dishes.

Fabulous dining experience. Sahar was our server and was friendly, helpful & polite.
The food was excellent! Great selection of appetizers & entrees at reasonable prices.
My group shared appetizers, salads, sauces, chicken, beef & a wrap.
It was truly a pleasant surprise to find Persian food this good in Milwaukee!
Clean, tasty, reasonable, friendly, easy free parking. Check, check, check, check & check~ Doesn’t get any better than this. Nothing to complain about.
It is north of Locust, (not to be confused with another Persian place on Oakland just south of Locust that is next to the Greek place on the corner)
If you have never tried Persian food, Shiraz is as authentic as it gets. Great flavors and not spicy at all unless you want it to be. Yum YUM yum~
My next time in Milwaukee, it’s a definite that I will visit at least once!

I’ve only been back in Milwaukee since March. So when I did a Unilocal search and found that Milwaukee is home to a real Persian establishment, I was beyond thrilled. Having lived in LA for over 15 years, I was spoiled having Little Tehran near my home. I’m a huge fan of the stews, rice dishes, and particularly kabobs. So, I always order the barg (filet mignon) kabobs whenever I visit Shiraz. In my experiences, the kabobs have always slightly overcooked; however, the flavor was always great! The meat is pounded thinly, so that definitely has much to do with it. I can, however, overlook the over-​preparation and will continue to patronize Shiraz. Service has always been very good and the food curbs my kabob cravings! And the prices are very reasonable as well. You definitely get a lot of bang for your buck here!

Shiraz went beyond excellence in service this evening. My husband and I ordered a variety of dishes… huge, huge variety. This was our first time patroning Shiraz, and I must say every dish was authentic and superb. The lady at the counter was more than helpful in taking the time to explain the dishes and specials. I will definitely be coming to this place again!

This review is based on customer service and catering. Shiraz does it top notch. I have used them to cater many events. The owner takes the time to understand the needs of the attendees and deliver a menu relative to my needs and preferences. Every time my order is delivered on-​time and correctly. The food is always hot, full of flavor, and well received. I highly recommend using them for any catering as dependablity and quality is key.

My husband and I ended up as a default when the new Armenian place downtown was closed and figured we’d give it a shot. I love trying new ethnic foods and although I’ve had varieties of middle eastern food, I’ve never had «persian» food in specific.
We both ordered lamb– I got the marianted lamb plate and my husband got some huge lamb wrap. The lamb was grilled and very flavorful, not tough at all. The hummus was ok– I LOVE Aladdin’s hummus in the public market, so I compare all hummus to theirs, and Shiraz’s lacked a little flavor, but was still good. We ordered a side of falafel which was good (it’s hard to mess up/​change anything when it’s deep fried) but it did come with a really fabulous tahini sauce.
What was really excellent was a dill rice. Generally rice is a waste of space in my stomach– no offense, but it’s just a filler/​vehicle for the actual food. That being said the dill rice with lima beans (which I hate, but were completely fine in this) was awesome. Overall it was a good value and I enjoyed the food. I would definitely recommend this place.

This place has the best tebouleh ever tasted. this place is a hit every time.

Only eaten here once and the food was DELICIOUSSSSS but the setup and how to order was a bit confusing. Better signage, or more attentive staff could have fixed this before it became a problem. I will definitely be going back, but maybe with someone who’s been there before and can help guide me on how to order exactly what I want, so I don’t end up feeling so foolish at the counter.

Very depressed experience. I had the voucher of this restaurant bought from Google Offer and tried to use it. But the lady manager in a headscarf had no idea about the voucher things and insulted me like «should I give you free food?» I explained how this voucher working and i had prepaid online already. Also the waiter working there helped me explain that too. The lunch including tax is $ 9.45 and my $ 10 voucher can totally cover it. But she still insisted I had to buy some extra food and pay some extra money to redeem this voucher. I was out for lunch without my purse that time. I only had this voucher and two bucks cash as tips in my pocket, so I may have 70cents short. Then my friend with me help me pay the extra money. The manger said: «U don’t even have 70cents!» Oh my god! It is the most embarrassing moment in my life.
Later, after lunch I was told that another manager posted that voucher online before and she didn’t know. Under that condition, I thought at least she should say sorry to me. But she didn’t, she was still saying something like «we are losing money, blablabla .» Excuse me. Ma’am. You are running the business. The chaos of management is your problem, not my fault. You didn’t heard such thing called «voucher», that’s fine. But how could u treat ur customer in that way. How could u insult your customer only because she is using a voucher! You posted the voucher online and you should be honest to it.
I post this review and hope you could see it one day. Your attitude to customers has to be changed.

Hey, Shiraz; You know what’s cool? Not your new business model.
I’m definitely not thrilled at the changes that took place during the past few months at Shiraz. So while their food is still fresh and tasty as ever, I’m docking two stars because of how the changes have affected the overall experience of this place.
I used to be able to walk in and order my food from the counter and happily find a seat and eat it. Well, unless it’s before 5pm or you’re doing take-​out, you can no longer do this. Shiraz has decided to try their hand at being a real sit-​down restaurant. When I arrived last night, I was forced to take a seat and order off their menu. I used to love getting their veggie plate with falafel, hummus, tabbouleh and bean salad. Their new menu only contains these items as appetizers, so you have to order the appetizer combination plate if you want to try and replicate their old model. If you’re not a meat eater, you won’t have much luck with their new menu, because the entrees are almost all meat-​based and prominently feature pictures of their Koobideh dishes that look like someone pooped on a plate with rice. Don’t get me wrong, the Koobideh is still tasty. The pictures just look… odd.
The food is still the same, it just costs about $ 2 more during dinner and no longer comes on the plastic trays. They’ve classed it up a bit by putting each side in a separate mini brulee dish, loading them onto one big plate and sprinkling the perimeter with fried pita chips. It looks nice, but is seriously a pain to eat from. Add to the fact that most of the usual sides are not detailed on the menu, it leaves the impression that they’re not offering them anymore. Even if you’re doing take-​out later in the evening, they don’t seem to have the large amount of offerings like they used to.
Because the staff now has to work as servers on the floor, they tend to be overwhelmed when it gets busy. I don’t come here to get table-​side service, so it’s annoying to have to wait for your server to stop by, bring menus, bring water, bring drinks, take your order, bring food, bring check, etc. If took forever to get our food because our poor server had to constantly take care of requests from typhoid Mary and her caravan of coughing crotch fruit. She felt bad and gave us some free halva, but it wasn’t her fault.
Shiraz used to be a spot to stop in for a quick bite to eat. I guess it still is during the lunch hours and early afternoon, but I’m not able to make it there during those times. This leaves me with the option of having to do take out, because I’m certainly not going to dine-​in anymore. Perhaps their new model is working out for them. If so, I’m happy for them, but it’s bittersweet.

YUM! So, I don’t know why I had never been to this place before today. To be honest, I assumed it was more upscale and not the casual place that it is. Now that I know I can wear jeans and a tee, they will be seeing my face in there more frequently.
When you walk in the place, you get a choice of sit down service or you can go though the line cafeteria style and sit in the dining room. We chose to have table service.
This place hit the Mediterranean spot that I have been trying to hit for quite some time. I got the Vegetarian Plate and that came with 4 sides, I got falafel, salad, hummus, and grilled veggies and comes with your choice of rice (I loved their dill rice). I loved that the falafel was not heavy and greasy. It was perfect. The hummus was perfect– smooth and creamy NOT runny.
I think the bottom line here is… Shiraz focuses on the food and does not appear to be «trying to hard» in the areas that do not matter. I like you Shiraz… I really really like you.

I am a big fan! We go for weekend lunch regularly and two lunch plates with drinks (protein, a pile of rice and two sides) with drinks is less than $ 20. I was all about their falafel until my husband insisted I try some of the spicy chicken. So delicious!

I always forget about Shiraz, and I really shouldn’t. Shame on me.
I’m a huge fan of Mediterranean, Trikish, Pakistani/​Indian… you name it, whatever.
Shiraz is great because it’s cheap, informal sit-​down/​take out… and the food is pretty dang alright, too.
As others have noted, yes, some of the food lies in wait to be ordered then scarfed up, but I’ve not had anything here in the four-​five times I’ve gotten take-​out that’s been less than satisfactory for that reason. It’s still pretty stellar. (The staff seems to keep a watchful eye on this, too!)
Nice flavors, nice selection of rice/​entrees/​sides for the combination plate. I like the spicy chicken entrée… it’s cooked perfectly (see also: still moist and tender and not only white meat and not cooked to he%&). And the falafel is most certainly done up on the spot, so it’s fresh. I felt as though it did have a good flavor, unlike Peter K – although I was definitely rockin’ the Tahini, so that changes the game, for sure.
Yay for this delicious Persian Grill that’s not far from mi casa!

This review is long overdue. Shiraz is a fantastic establishment and hopefully you’ll become an addict like I was when I lived in Milwaukee. I remember stumbling across it when it first opened and just saying «eh, I’ll give it a try» only to soon become an almost weekly patron for the next few years.
The essentials that make Shiraz so good are the low price of the meals, the variety, the absolutely killer taste, and the combination of a fast-​food style with a sit-​down atmosphere. They have a scrumptious a-​la-​carte selection to choose from, and there are rotations every few days so that you can be adventurous if you’re a repeat customer. Part of what I really love about the place though is the authentic taste of the food; I frequently come across Mediterranean food that is bland and heavy despite having an appealing look. This is not the case at all with Shiraz — don’t get me wrong it will fill you up — but each portion is perfectly sized so that you can keep sampling until you’re full or decide enough is enough :)
Some of my favorites are the kabobs, the tomato green bean rice, the raisin rice, the koobideh, the gharch, the red potatoes, the falafel, and the yogurt sauce. The gharch in particular is a unique side of mushrooms and eggs that has a phenomenal taste and I have yet to find something like it at any other restaurant. I’m sure it’s common back in Iraq or Iran, but in the U.S. not so much.
Meals generally run $ 5 – 7 for a plate of food, depending on how many items you want and what you order. You can get meals, but almost everyone does a-​la-​carte. They have a good variety of sauces to offer when you get close to the register, so be sure to try all of them to find which one you like.
Service is almost always polite and prompt, with the one exception being a particular employee that has been there since the beginning. It’s not that she isn’t polite, but she’s just very demanding/​controlling, and you can tell she throws a fit if she doesn’t get her way. I’ve seen her berating the other employees for things that really don’t even warrant any comment, and she’s kind of pushy sometimes when you order food. But one bad apple doesn’t bring down a place like this, and you can be sure that the next time I’m in Milwaukee again, Shiraz will be visited.
Whatever you do, don’t go across the street to the Shriaz shop. It’s a separate location and the people in there are the rudest I’ve ever dealt with not to mention unsanitary.
Shiraz Persian Grill — A Must Visit for Milwaukee.

– updated review, post-​new menu/​set up:
I really liked their Persian burger, which came with a side of french fries (really excellent ones, btw), and humus.
Their gartch, which came with egg, eggplant, and other spices.
My husband ordered their gameh bademjan.
We both really enjoyed the ambiance of the new set up, attentive waitstaff, and for under $ 30, we had enough leftovers for two additional meals the next day.
Granted, we love their a la cart menu, but you can still get that if you arrive there for lunch.
– old review, before they changed their evening menu/​set up:
Under ten dollars. It’s a la cart, but you can also order off the menu.
For the one main and two sides, I ordered lamb shanks, a side salad, and the bak lava, and had their saffron pistaccio ice cream.
The lamb shanks were very good.
The owner was the one serving us on the weekend.

I have been here several times for lunch and I cannot say enough about the spicy chicken. If you like full flavored delectable little nuggets of chicken you have to stop by and order some. One of my regular stops for lunch, at least once a month.