Diyor Cafe and Lounge

I don’t know whats the problem but looks like they are closed. I’ve been calling them for 2 days but no one is answering the phone…

I am not sure if there were extenuating circumstances, but this was a truly disappointing experience. I was looking forward to trying the new Uzbek place in town. But this is what happened:
(1) We came in for dinner at around 6pm. The place was empty but they said they were open until at least 7:30. We ordered a few individual dishes (plov, samsa, and various shashlik) and a bread to share. They did not give us any glasses of water until we asked for it. The water had a smoky smell, but it tasted fine, so I did not think much of it (maybe the glasses are being kept next to the grillI). I was still looking forward to some traditional Uzbek plov, shashlik, and maybe even dessert at the end of the meal (they have medovik, which is usually very tasty).
(2) After a wait of about 20 minutes, we received the two orders of plov and samsa. The waiter said the rest of the food would be coming out in four minutes. Except we did not have utensils. One of my friends had asked the waiter for a refill of water, so the waiter had disappeared to the back with his cup but was not returning for a while (it ultimately turned out he forgot about the water). So we found the utensils ourselves. The plov was okay, but the samsa was extremely salty.
(3) After another at least 20 more minutes, we finally received the shashlik and bread. The bread was not fresh at all but it was warmed up, which was nice. However, the shashlik was universally terrible, and we tried several types: chicken, lamb, beef, and liver. This is usually one of the simpler dishes to make, so we were very unhappy. One positive is the portions were fair-​sized for the price, but we all found ourselves having difficulty keeping our appetites (which is pretty unusual for me). Needless to say, we were no longer interested in dessert. By the way, we had no napkins either. We asked for some and he brought us two, except there were three of us at the table. We ended up getting more napkins for ourselves rather than ask again.
(4) We asked for boxes (I think at the time we thought we would maybe give the food another try at home). My two friends both had liver kebab remaining on their plates, so we initially wanted to pack it ourselves to prevent any mix-​up, but the waiter said he would pack it up for us, and we obliged, warning him to keep track of which box belongs to which person.
(5) He brought the food to the kitchen and came out with our check. The water turned out to cost money (which he never mentioned when we asked for it), but at this point we were already so dissatisfied that we just wanted to get out of there. He graciously said the $ 2 for the water covered all our refills…
We wrote down what each person owed and gave the waiter our cards. At this time, he realized that he forgot to add the tax to our check, so we told him he could add it to our individual amounts. While we were splitting the bill and paying for it, we were hoping our boxed food would come out. The waiter forgot about this as well until we reminded him after we paid. At which point he brought it out and said, «Oh but we did not track which box goes to which person, so you guys figure it out yourselves.» You can imagine our reactions (though we did not say anything, since, again, we just wanted to leave).
(6) After I got home and began writing this review, one of my friends informed me that the waiter had also forgotten to give us back our credit cards (and none of us had realized this because at the restaurant we were upset and trying to figure out what would be a fair tip for the absent service and low quality food).
Overall: The waiter was not unpleasant, but he was extremely and unforgivably forgetful and inattentive, especially considering we were the only diners. The food was unpleasant and unforgettable. (As a result of being so unpleasant.) I find it really hard to believe that shashlik could be cooked so poorly (and take so long to cook it so poorly).

Great, unassuming food. We ordered three items for the two of us, didn’t quite know what to expect, but very much enjoyed all of them: the chuchvara shurpa, a dumpling soup in a delicate dill and parsley-​flavored broth, the uzbek plov, a sort of fried/​roasted rice dish with meats and vegetables, the khonim, a layered dish of potatoes, meat, and noodle sheets. Flavors and textures were delicious and somewhat new to us.
Friendly staff. BYO. Décor is casual, colorful, and clean. We’ll be back.