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Cazba
Category: Restaurants Middle Eastern Middle Eastern [Edit]
132 W 16th StNorth Vancouver, BC V7M 1T4
Neighbourhood: Central Lonsdale
(604) 980-7373
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
29 reviews for Cazba
Review Highlights
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"...is definitely my new go to place for Persian food cravings." In 7 reviews -
"Van, we've got to try the dessert." In 4 reviews -
"...rice is spot on, and the doogh (yogurt drink) is delicious." In 4 reviews
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29 reviews in English
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Review from Vonnie C.
Burnaby, BC
5/15/2012
went for dinner with my cousin's family. Got there at 5:45 just before the big rush on a Saturday night.
WOW surprised that most of the kabob dishes were under $10. Ordered a bunch of kabobs and they were really good. The beef (2 skewers) kabobs were only $7. Which in my mind is cheap especially when you're at a restaurant. The dish came with loads of rice (or you can choose salad or half and half for an extra $1) and a grilled tomato. The chicken kabob was also good but a tad dryer. We also ordered another beef dish (don't recall what exactly but is wasn't a kabob but was strips of beef but on a skewer. Not as tasty as the beef kabobs and I felt it was a bit dryer too.
I also ordered the yogurt drink, but could not finish it as it was not good. It's probably an aquired taste. Was expecting something sweet and refreshing, but it was basically watered down plain yogurt.
All in all an enjoyable meal. Fed out family of 4 for $32 including taxes and tip.
Crazy huh! -
Review from Brenda W.
North Vancouver, BC
4/14/2012
After reading reviews on YELP, I was looking forward to Cazba; and feeling some trepidation about the service. So, last Wednesday, we dropped in for Lunch:
The Kashk-e Bademjan (eggpant dish) was a nice starter. Then we had Jujeh Kabob 8.95 (chicken) and Vaziri 11.95 (chicken and ground beef). You can have an all-rice side or half/half with salad and each dish comes with a roasted tomato. The meats are delicious, roasted perfectly and tender and flavorful....contrary to other reviews; the service was patient and attentive (and the waiter very handsome!). He recommended that we season our dishes at the table with shaker of something mysterious and slightly citrus/spicy which was perfectly suited to both the meat and the rice.
Generous portions, perfectly done rice...and although the restaurant is liquor-free, most beverages are only $1!!!
This would be a great place to take out for a different but delicious dinner during a cozy night in at home!
Meal for two (with leftovers to take home: 30.07 with taxes before tip) -
Review from Ashley S.
Coquitlam, BC
4/7/2012
I love trying new types of cuisine, and I was not disappointed by Cazba. We ordered Kashk-e Bademjan and Mast-o Khiar to start. The Kashk-e Bademjan was the favourite dish of the evening. I highly recommend trying it. It is a deep-fried eggplant dish, topped with creme fraiche and served with pita bread. Absolutely delicious.
For our mains, we had Chelo Kabab Bakhtiari and Chelo Kabab Soltani. Both of these dishes are kebabs served with basmati rice and a grilled tomato. The Bakhtiari is chicken and beef and the Soltani is minced beef with spices and a beef kebab. I highly recommend the Soltani. It was to die for.
The best part of this restaurant were the amazingly cheap prices. 4 of us ate, until we were very full, for less than $45.
Note: Persian restaurants do not serve alcohol. -
Review from Ash R.
Kingston, ON
5/22/2012
Excellent food in HUGE servings. :))
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Review from Aisha A.
Burnaby, BC
5/7/2012
Best persian food in town. That says it all. Make a trip...enjoy!
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Review from Nakissa T.
4/18/2012
My husband and I went to Cazba due to all the great reviews while visiting in Vancouver. It was wonderful food, great tasting, large portions, and friendly staff. The place was packed and despite the other reviews, the service was very fast. Highly highly recommend the place. I never review a place unless I can give it five stars.
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Review from Alireza S.
3/24/2012
I'll keep it short and sweet:
Pros: delicious food (have tried the following so far: ghormeh sabzi, ash reshteh, jujeh kabob, kasha-e bademjan, zeitoon-e parvardeh) , great portions, fast and friendly service, and very reasonable price.
Cons: could use some help in decoration.
Excellent experience - will certainly go there again! -
Review from Novaira M.
Vancouver, BC
11/29/2011
Great persian restaurant in a very cute persian neighborhood. On the weekends, the lines are usually long, and consequently the service is a bit slow. But the food is worth it ! Delicious tender pieces of meat serves with long grain basmati rice cooked to perfection ! The appetizers are pretty good too. The average price of an entree is under $10 and the amount and quality of food you get for this price is amazing !
There is plenty of free street parking available nearby.
One additional note: The meat they serve is halal. -
Review from Elisa A.
North Vancouver, BC
2/6/2012
My persian friend took me there for dinner once,the service was super slow andwe waited for almost an hour ,then my friend called one of the waiter and asked where are our food...apparently,the3y totally forgot our food,so after another 10 minutes,the food arrives.
The food was stunning,and the price was good,it is pretty cheap and the portion is huge which I love it !!! It makes me feel like the Steppho on davie street!!!
the first experience I can remember is bad service,but good food.
so i went back for second time and third time,and fourth time...everytime i got in the restaurant ... the waiters or waitress always just stand there and stare at me ,the looks are like why are u here ?? DuhI come here for ur food... then I have to aproach to them by myself or they won't even try to ask me what I want,that's a hard part for me to love this restaurant entirely,
So I have the take out most of the time,and after that I had couple more times experience of dining there and the service was still cold and slow,till the very last time I took my good friends and mother in law for some late lunch,there is this new waiter,he is really tall and has some facial hair on and wears glasses,he is super friendly and would social with customers,and come check the tables to make sure our food is good and if we need water or anything else!!! but besides him,everyone else still giving us cold faces and no service!
Yay for the happy,good waiter,boo for those who are not' into their job' waiters and waitress.
I would give u a five stars but because of ur service ,I only can give u 3 stars!!! -
Review from John W.
3/18/2012
I live in Marysville, Washington.
I go to Vancouver every week just to have lunch in Cazba.
Good portion, great prices and good service.
I whish we had a restaurant closer than 100 miles as good as Cazba.
Go try it and you will go back promise. -
Review from Q B.
Vancouver, BC
11/25/2011
I can agree that the service here may not be the most amazing but if you relax and go to have a good meal then this place can't be beat. They are probably the best Persian place to go to at the moment. You can tell by seeing how busy they are.
Prices here can't be beat and are about 30-50% cheaper than other restaurants.
If you've never had Persian Food, there are some basic dishes to try
Koobideh (ground) Kababs - ground beef seasoned with grated onions
Barg (leaf) Kababs - flattened pieces of beef steak marinated in saffron, onion and garlic
Jujeh (chick) Kababs - yellow pieces of chicken breast marinated in saffron, onion and lemon juice (this dish may be more authentic at some of the more expensive Persian restaurants as I don't think they use saffron here (saffron is quite expensive))
Mast (yogurt) o (and) mooseer (shallot) - shallot yogurt - this one is similar to tzatziki and extemelt delicious but be warned that the smell of the shallots will be on your breath for a long time ie don't eat this during or before a date
Khashk (whey) o (and) bademjan (eggplant) - stewed eggplant seasoned with turmeric and topped with reconstituted whey (this is almost like a very sour cream cheese), fried onions and fried dried mint -
Review from Nick M.
Vancouver, BC
2/19/2012 1 Check-in Here
Despite the reviews, Service was quick and efficient. Based on the reviews, I was expecting horrible service because my group was not Persian, that was a stupid thought. I thoroughly enjoyed this place. Originally from a large Persian community, my knowledge in Persian cuisine is good. The portions like most Persian restaurants, huge. I recommend the Chelo Kabob Bakhtiari, which is the steak and chicken combo kabob. Very tasty and tender. The Beef Koobedieh was very flavorful and juicy. One item i didn't like was the Doogh drink, the carbonated yogurt drink. I found it quite salty tasting and I guess i will never acquire that taste. Overall, a very good experience.
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Review from Sohayl H.
Vancouver, BC
7/15/2011 7 Check-ins Here
This is a very affordable Iranian kebab restaurant. Actually, I think one could say it's ridiculously affordable. A beef and chicken, "sultan's" plate as they call it, can run you to twenty bucks at most places, here it's under twelve!
Often one would accept a slight drop in quality with such affordable prices, but no need here. Cazba knows how to cook a mean kebab koobideh (tender ground beef with onions and seasoning) or joojeh kebab (grilled boneless chicken). Portions are huge and if you want to walk on the lighter side you can get half salad half rice, but don't miss out on the rice, it is something in itself! To top it off make you meal truly authentic and skip the soda for a cup of "dough." this yogurt based drink is sometimes an acquired taste but it matches the compliments the meat perfectly. -
Review from John L.
Vancouver, BC
1/27/2012
As advertised and reviewed great. Solid service, bbq meat and kebabs delish, eggplant appy the one to order, whole wheat pitas, good baclava to polish it off. The salty yoghurt drink, a little different, try it after Bikram's Yoga. I"ve been back 3 times. Always good, fresh. Service is prompt, The place bustles with busy people dropping in. There's a bar for solos and regulars. Try it, you'll like it especially the prices.
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Review from Naveed N.
7/22/2011
I'll keep this plain and simple.
Awesome Kebabs! Great value compared to ANYWHERE else i've been, relatively quick seating and decent service. The foods are all cooked well, rice is spot on, and the doogh (yogurt drink) is delicious.
Take my word for it, give it a try.. you won't be disappointed -
Review from yekta a.
4/10/2011
Oh my gosh I love this place! We went in for lunch here and heard good things but weren't sure how good it would be here, until...
HOLY MOLY our food was SO tasty, fresh, aromatic and SO AFFORDABLE! Seriously we arrived at noon on a Sunday and by the time we left at 1pm, there was a line out the door!
YOu have got to try this place out! Seriously the BEST Persian food in Vancouver! -
Review from Jamak G.
It was a pretty cold night in North Vancouver last night and a group of us were going out for Persian food. We decided to go to Cazba because the food is great. We have had take out in the past and it is awesome. We called and tried to reserve but the answer was no. We have to all go down, and wait for a table to become available. Now you can imagine how long it takes for a group of 15 to be seated.
After the waiting was over, we were seated at a table which was not setup properly. I mean there were no drinking glasses on the table at all. There were some knives and forks but non of the sets were complete by any stretch of imagination. This was never fixed! I mean even after asking repeatedly for spoons and forks, my wife had to walk up and just grab a bunch! really??!!
If you are Persian, you understand what I am saying here. Usually, when you go out to a Persian restaurant, they bring you bread, cheese, and vegetables so you can munch on while waiting for food. Now with the issues with our economy, some have gone to just bread and cheap butter but thats OK, I understand. At Cazba, they brought some little pieces of pita bread with onions! Onions and bread?? WTF!! I just don't get it. Who eats bread and onions? but whatever... we had ordered a bunch of appies so I wasn't worried about it. Now when the appetizers arrived we were all starving. We kept running out of bread. I mean I think we asked five times for more bread.
The waitress went back and forth between the kitchen and our table 3 times. Each time checking our order again before our order was finally placed. So we keep on waiting.
The food arrives and OMG its good. Makes up for all the crap we had to go through. The food at this place is probably one of the best if not the best in the area.
so... IF you don't care about the service and want to get good Persian food with cheap prices, you cant beat Cazba. I would go back but I would certainly think about just picking up the food and ordering at home next time. Why put up with shitty service when I can just get the good food at a cheap price and eat it at home.
If anyone from Cazba reading this, all you guys have to do is up the level of service a little and you'll beat the competition hands down. Why wouldn't you? -
Review from Carmella V.
Vancouver, BC
1/1/2011
First of all, I would like to mention that North Van is full of kind people. We were peering into the window of an empty restaurant down the street, wondering if we should venture in. Then a kind stranger suggested we check out Cazba. He gave us directions and insisted we go there because the portions are big and the prices are low.
The place was exactly what we were looking for! It is Persian cuisine, which we had no previous experiences with. Our waiter was super friendly and asked if I had any questions about what was on the menu. When I ordered a drink called the Doogh, he let me sample it first to make sure I knew what I was getting into. I quickly changed my order to tea. All the drinks are $1. Most of the mains are under $10. I ordered a lamb shank that just fell off the bone. It came with tons 'o rice. It was dill rice, which I wasn't a big fan of because it reminded me of the air in Chilliwack. If you order the cucumber yoghurt and slap that on the rice, you will forget all about your last drive though the 'wack.
I sampled my date's beef and that was tasty too, sans dill rice. I highly recommend this place for the cultural experience, the cheap prices, good meats, and friendly service.
Thanks Cazba! -
Review from Nazi B.
Vancouver, BC
9/18/2011
WORSE CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER EXPERIENCED!!!!!
I am Persian and I was highly disappointed with the extremely poor service in this place, the food it's ok (considering the choices giving in north van) however every time we had visited, the waiting time it's at least 20 mins.... Last week when me and my family visited we were seated on the patio, waited 10 mins to take our order and after 35 mins of waiting our table was still empty (No even our drinks or bread) when finally our food arrive was was not even half well done as we requested...no body seemed to care. We'll never going back there.... -
Review from Pawin Bank W.
Vancouver, BC
1/7/2011
My Iranian friend brought me here for some authentic Persian food.
As a big foodie who likes to try new things, I like it a lot. The food tasted 'right' for me. Definitely gonna go back to try some more! -
Review from Neville I.
Vancouver, BC
6/28/2011
This place has the best Persian food in North Van at the same price as everywhere else. We went on a Monday evening, were seated immediately and the service was really quick. The kabob's were super juicy, and even the eggplant dip (not usually something I'd like) was really tasty. The portion sizes were excellent too. This is definitely my new go to place for Persian food cravings.
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Review from Noushi E.
Vancouver, BC
6/29/2011
Very mediocre Persian food and typical of many other Persian restaurants I have visited, service was below average.
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Review from Sebastian P.
Vancouver, BC
11/7/2010
After some inspiration during my Sunday Internet browsing I craved some good middle eastern food, Persian / Iranian to be specific. So I called up a friend of mine and asked for a recommendation. He was quick in telling me to forget about the downtown establishments and we should go to a restaurant in North Vancouver. 2 hours later there we were: Cazba Restaurant. It was ~ 5PM and the place was pretty busy. You can tell it is popular.
We quickly got a table and had a look at the menu. Very basic, with 3 Salads, 3 Appetizers and about 15 Main Dishes. The price, for a full service restaurant absolutely fantastic. ~9$ for a main dish and 3$ for a side !! Beverages, either soft drinks or the very delicious Doogh (a house-made Yoghurt Drink) for 1$ each. The waiter was very nice, now keep in mind my friend is persian so that might influence the whole experience a little.
The Food came after ~ 10 minutes and I had ordered a Lamb dish. Lamb Shank with Saffran Rice. To share we also got a small curry dish. Quality, excellent! A very generous portion as well, though the rice was a bit much.
When paying the bill in cash I got mixed change in USD back, like 20$CAD and 10$USD. The waiter refused to give me canadian cash only and of course, given the fact I of course paid CAD that's a little ridiculous. Is that even legal to return non-legal tender to customers? Anyhow, 10$ are not the end of the world and considering it's parity & I have to go down there all the time anyway but that left a strange impression.
I give it 4 Stars for the food quality and the low prices. The service, well I would deduct half a star if that would be possible.
A good choice if you are mobile or live out in North Van!
Cheers
~S -
Review from Raza M.
7/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
I was a bit sceptical about this place when my friend told me about the prices of the dishes here. At best I was expecting a hole in the wall kind of place with really good taste, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. The place is pretty big, nicely decorated and had a lot of seating space, really good for big groups. They serve some very traditional Persian dishes, so be careless what you order. My recommendation is to stick to the safer options: kebab and other BBQ'd meat dishes. They taste great, the portion is good. The service was great. I'm impressed.
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Review from Oana C.
Vancouver, BC
4/19/2011
6 staff and all avoid making eye contact when we want to order more food. 2 vegetarian appys on the menu, out of both. Also out of fesenjoon. No liquor license. Soup comes out barely microwaved, with cold pockets. Dry old pita bread with nothing to dip it in. Not returning.
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Review from Awesta M.
4/16/2011
I have a friend that lives in W. Van and complains every so often that when we do a girl's get together she always has to cross the bridge. Also I believe she implied that I'm a Vancouver food snob. I can't imagine where she'd get such an idea...
In order to prove her wrong, we crossed the bridge and met her in N. Van for Persian food here at Cazba. We get into the restaurant and were seated immediately (though service was a little spotty after that). Also realize pretty quickly that there's no alcohol served here, so I decide since a glass of wine would cost me at least $6, I can order that much worth of whatever I want to drink, which in this case is Doogh (a salty yogurt drink) at a $1 means I can really drink to my hearts content.
We decide to just go for all the kabob dishes. We pick a combination of chicken, beef and lamb. We also order a pomegranate chicken dish as our non-kabob dish. Everything comes with rice and we ask to have all our dishes be half rice/half salad. The food was flat out amazing. The rice was really well cooked, if you've ever cooked it at home...it can be a bit tricky but they cooked it perfectly. The kabob dishes were flat out awesome. I think my favorite was the beef kabob or maybe it was the lamb...I'll probably have to go back in order to figure it out.
Of course since we drove all the way out to N. Van, we've got to try the dessert. Can't leave without tasting everything! The desserts were delish. We went with all three (baklava, persian ice cream and i'm blanking on the third) and they were fantastic (yes, even the one I'm forgetting b/c they all left a good impression).
I also felt like the price was totally reasonable for what we had! I would totally go back and take the hubby with because like I said before, if you wow me, then I'll cross a bridge for you! -
Review from n k.
Coquitlam, BC
1/1/2012
first off, in regards to the money you pay and the quality of the food you are getting, this place is THE BEST.
we are kabob lovers and we drive all the way from Coquitlam to this place to have kabob once a week at Cazba, although there are dozens of Persian restaurants in Coquitlam, we cant call those kabobs!!!
even though the place is SUPER busy, the servers do a great job pleasing the customers. i really should thank them all on here. they are super polite and super patient with their customers. the kabob we get here is the closest kabob to what we have in Iran. anywhere else in Vancouver, they serve crap and call it kabob!!!
we also came here with bunch of colleagues from work (all Canadians) and they just LOVED the food. they tried all types of kabobs and Fesenjoon stew and the Aash and Mirza ghasemi. they loved their dish and the price was jaw dropping to them too! they were quite shocked by the amount of rice and meat they got while paying only 10-12 bucks!!!! -
Review from nadir s.
Vancouver, BC
Updated - 12/2/2011
I would suggest getting Takeout from here. I went back and since I didn't have to eat there, the experience was much better!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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4/24/2011
This may not be a bad place to go if you go with really low expectations. I went with the opposite… Read more »
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Review from Dwayne T.
3/23/2011
The food and the prices were great, however the services was bad, not in a I had to ask for everything kind of way more like I felt like I was interrupting something by being there.
