Cazba : Downtown Vancouver location

Majority of the Iranian restaurants are located in Coquitlam and North Vancouver, but there are a few in Downtown as well. Cazba and Zeitoon are two of the most popular Persian restaurants and both establishments started out in North Vancouver before opening a second location in Downtown. If comparing the two, Cazba is more like a "fast food" restaurant compared to Zeitoon in my opinion. Cazba is located on Davie and Thurow street, and the restaurant is fairly large. The restaurant has plenty of well spaced out tables, four different dining areas, and a patio for when the weather permits.

As for the atmosphere, it is very casual and perhaps too laid back because we were seated at a table which was not properly wiped down. The table was dusty which I find odd, especially when considering there must have been people seated at the same spot not too long ago. Why would there be dust? The crumbs I understand, but dust? Strange. On top of that, there were grains of rice on the chairs  along with the floor. Of course we could have asked for a different table or chairs and the staff would have been fine with that, but I did not want to come off as troubling because Cazbo is a casual restaurant.

We should have asked for a different seat though because I did not know how uncomfortable I would be, which resulted in only ordering a couple of dishes and wanting to leave quickly. This is a shame because the interior has a lot of potential. There is a high ceiling, plenty of natural lighting, and I believe every table has a candle that is most likely lit during dinner services. Asides from the atmosphere, Cazba is a good lunch choice for those who work near by because there were only three seated tables when we arrived at 1:00pm. There is no need to worry about rushing back to work because of a delay in the kitchen or front of the house.

Mega Donair

Mega Donair is located in Port Moody and appears to be a small mom n' pop operation; the husband oversees the kitchen while the wife handles the front of the house. The shop offers donairs, falafels, platters, salads, hummus and samosas.

Something interesting to point out is that Mega Donair makes their own pita bread from scratch, to order! The bread is an important component for donairs, but personally I care more about the meat and sauces.

After selecting our choice of meat, we went for all the toppings and sauces available to see how Mega Donair makes their donairs. The selection of toppings include lettuce, tomato, cucumber and spicy carrot. As for the sauces, hummus, tzatziki, sweet sauce and hot sauce are available.

Donair Star

Fifteen years ago, I was obsessed with Donair Star and always asked my parents to take me here. The shop served one of the best donairs before and I was only in Elementary school back then! Fresh sautéed mushrooms were always an option, the tzatziki sauce tasted rich, the housemade hot sauce was not very spicy but provided a nice buzz in the mouth, and the meat was always sliced fresh off the rotisserie to order. Furthermore, there was always a generous portion of meat!

However, after a year of my discovery, the owners sold the shop to a married couple. The donairs were still pretty good because the couple kept everything the same; from the menu as well as the ingredients, to the quality. The second owners operated exactly like the former ones, and the donairs continued to be my favourite.

But again, after more years passed, the third ownership was taken over by two brothers and they changed a few items as well as ingredients. Since then, the donairs have never been that great. However, the brothers were always humble as well as welcoming. Well, fast forward to more years later, Donair Star is now under the fourth (or perhaps fifth) owner and management, which made me curious to see how the donairs are. 

When we walked in, the staff was not very inviting and I wanted to take a photo of the rotserrie but felt like this would be a situation where "no photos" would be allowed.

Donair Spot : Robson Street location

While waiting for my bicycle tune up, my friend and I needed to refuel and grabbed a light snack at Donair Spot. The donair joint offers regular wraps which includes a choice of meat along with lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, pickles and sauce (garlic, tzatziki and mild hot sauce), as well as more adventurous choices such as the caribbean (spicy), lebanese (tabour and hummus), hawaiian (pineapple and sweet sauce) and mushroom. Furthermore, pizza (vegetarian and meat) and vegetable falafels are available as well.

Donair Spot is quite small and there are less than six seats available, which is probably not an issue since most people grab their food to go. As we walked up to order, the cashier was extremely friendly and when ordering, asked if we wanted to omit any of the usual items before he assembled the donairs. Basically, he grabbed the pitas, slitted a side, added the choice of meat from a warmer, then the selected toppings along with sauce, folded the wrap, and heated them on an electric grill. He was efficient and did not cheap out on the ingredients.

Nuba Café

After trying out frissants (cronuts) at Swiss Bakery, my friend and I walked across the street to Nuba Cafe. I really did not want to come here because my last experience at Nuba was horrible, but since my friend needed to eat asap and cannot have junk for breakfast like me, I had no choice.

So walking in, there was a small line up during lunch rush hour and plenty of people were grabbing take out. The interior is properly maximized, the seating arrangements are not cramped, and there is a large chalkboard menu along the left side of the cafe which is convenient for those grabbing take out. 

Nuba : Gastown location

The first time I came to Nuba was last year when my friend came back from Peru. Everything we ordered was amazing, except the chicken skewers which were really tough and dry. And the only other issue was the scallops, we had 3 pieces for a table of 4, but the couple beside us had 4 pieces. If our server told us it comes only with 3 pieces, we would have ordered 2 orders instead of 1 so there would be enough. Anyways, I remember the duck breast and roasted chicken was AMAZING, seriously. THE BEST. So I forced my boyfriend to make time to see me earlier and take me here. I was here for 2 things, the roasted duck breast and chicken.

We came on a weekday without reservations, and waited around 45 minutes for a table. Our server brought our drinks after we waited 20 minutes, which is pretty long. I was kind of already cranky since I was hyped to come here and it has not been a great start. 

We ordered the chicken, duck breast and lamb shank.

The first entree is the pan seared duck breast with jewelled couscous, crispy duck skin and grilled asparagus ($22.00). The duck is really chewy and I was surprised because I came here specifically for this. It is a bit on the luke warm side and really hard to eat. My boyfriend was making fun of me for coming here for this. I swear the first time was really good. The asparagus is average and not over or under cooked.

So about after 45 minutes... yes 45 minutes.. our second entree came.

The second entree is the braised lamb shank on roasted mushroom israeli couscous "risotto" with cardamom raisin relish ($25.00). My boyfriend wanted to try this and was disappointed. The lamb is not tender and it is tough. There is nothing special about it and if anything, it is below average. I enjoyed their risotto because it is just couscous. Meh, it is always good to think you can enjoy the sides if the main is not really good.

So as I am defending for my life to my boyfriend, justifying why we are here and that the first time the only complaint was the chicken skewers... another 30 minutes pass and our last entree comes.

The third entree is the fraser valley chicken glazed with honey, cinnamon and cumin, served with roasted carrots and potatoes ($21.00). Yay! Finally after 2 bad dishes and waiting for over an hour and half, my favourite entree came. When I say favourite, I mean meant it. I remember the first time I had the chicken, it melted in my mouth and the sauce was so flavourful and delicious, I wanted to lick the bowl. This time, the sauce is super thick and tastes like sweet honey and caramel (not in the good way). The texture of the sauce is almost 100% the texture of pure honey. The sauce tastes like pure caramel watered down, it is not pleasant. I do not know if they changed chefs.. but all the dishes are different then a year ago. When I told my friend who came with me the first time, she was shocked and speechless. She even thought I was joking, I kid you not.

Anyways, I will not go into more detail about the food because as you can tell, we did not enjoy them. I will admit that the first time was literally so good and a 4.5/5.

Service wise, what happened? It took 20 minutes for our drinks, and when we got our first entree, there was a 45 minute gap for our second entree, then another 30 minute gap for the last entree. I can say that the first time I came here, there was only about a 10-15 minute gap between every dish. But this time? On a weekday that is not busy after we were seated? To make things worse, a random server or hostess (I do not know what she does)  came to us and started clearing our plates without saying a word, that shows literally how long we waited. We did not even get our second entree before she cleared our plates. It was pretty embarrassing and awkward for me to say that only one of our dishes came.

Nuba is a place to relax, have a couple of drinks and share some dishes. If I came for some appetizers and wanted to drink, I probably would have been happy. But if I came for 2 specific dishes that I swear were the best and is now not edible, obviously I am pissed.

By the way, the hummus at the Kitsilano location is 10x better than this location, the hummus is pretty bland here. On my first visit, my friend was still eating the hummus and our server tried taking the plate as she was dipping LOL awkward.

Food: 1.5/5
Service: 2.5/5