Darya Restaurant

This place is so great. They have the best salmon. My phone is acting up so I did not get a photo of it, but trust me, it is the best. It is a nice portion and it is cooked to perfection. This Darya is in Santa Monica, but I consider it the West Side. It matters not. The food is amazing. We love Persian food and often forget to go, but we have been to a few in the past month and are hooked again. Darya is just lovely. It is very comfortable and the lighting is perfect. It is clean inside and out. It has an adorable awing outside so you won't miss the place. The service is very nice. It takes a minute to get your food, but when you do it is cooked to perfection and ever so good. There is nothing we don't like on the menu. They carry a yogurt type soda and that is just weird, but everything else is great. I love their salmon and all of their chicken dishes. Their Zereshk Polo has steamed white rice mixed with barberries and is served with the best seasoned slow-boiled chicken. We also love their lentil soup, which is something I never order elsewhere. It is just so comforting. All of their salads are great, our favorite being the Darya Salad which is a combination of Romaine lettuce, mixed greens tossed with tomatoes, cucumbers, lentils, raisins, dates, imported feta cheese, walnuts, and great olives. You just can't go wrong here. The prices are fair for what you get and you will want to nap when done.

Our family visited Darya for a late lunch on a recent trip to LA. Wow! Great food, friendly service, large portions. We loved everything we had - highly recommend ordering the crispy rice tadig with side dishes and anything with fesenjan! We're looking forward to coming back.

Amazing food. The waiters are extremely friendly. The place is looks fancy and no so expensive. I would definitely come back here again.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Juicey chicken kabob is great

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

We traveled to California and because of friends recommendation My wife and I chose Darya restaurant to have a quality time and happy about it .Thanks you Darya restaurant Specially Mr.Amin to help us at the restaurant and finding places to visit.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I had one of the worst dining experiences of my life at this restaurant. I ordered the Albaloo Polo with chicken, and it was absolutely awful. The rice tasted like it had been cooked in chicken stock or something spoiled—it was so bad that after the very first bite I couldn’t eat any more. The chicken was even worse. The smell was so unpleasant and strong that I couldn’t even bring myself to try it; I just pushed it aside.

What made it worse was the service. The waiter saw that my food went back completely untouched, yet didn’t even bother to ask if something was wrong. That level of indifference says a lot.

Honestly, this was disgusting food and terrible service. I would never recommend this place to anyone.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Great experience, food was great. I had eggplant dish, & my daughter had the chicken kabab. Finished the food, and tasted one piece of chicken kabab. Liked them, and price was reasonable.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

The restaurant is so old. The servers clothings was so dirty with bunch of stains. Overall the restaurant is dirty too. Food was ok

One of the oldest and amazing persian spots in LA always get the Kubideh

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

The street view of Darya is unassuming and fits into the generic, 1960s-style Los Angeles building design. There is no hint of what's inside. Walking into the restaurant feels like being transported back to what I imagine was the Western-oriented elegance of pre-revolutionary Iran. An air of the "old days" is palpable. Having never had Persian food, we relied on the recommendations of our formally-attired male waiter. We were not disappointed. The Darya salad, a combination of Romaine lettuce and mixed greens tossed with tomatoes, cucumbers, lentils, raisins, dates, feta, walnuts, and olives, is very refreshing. We like pomegranates, and when the waiter suggested Fesenjon, a stew with chicken drenched in a puree of ground walnuts and pomegranate, served with rice, we couldn't resist. It was delicious. Dessert was an ice cream dish topped with rice and cherries. Half a lemon squeezed over the top added a nice citrus flavor. The wait staff is friendly, very attentive, and knowledgeable. Don't let your unfamiliarity with traditional Persian food keep you from trying this wonderful place.

Great food and staff

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Delicious Iranian kabobs. Will definitely come here again!

It’s a little on the pricey side but it’s getting harder to find good places to eat at… so what to do ??‍♀️

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Kashkeh Bademjan

It used to be much better, I guess money changes people and their products and services

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 3

Service: 2

This past Darya restaurant visit/experience was more so on the unpleasant side compared to other times in the past. It was super busy and extremely, extremely LOUD, with a lot of noise. Inconsiderate and OBNOXIOUS diners. Not classy at all. On top of that, the waiter was sloppy and could NOT care less about any special requests. He RUDELY just waived his hand away when we were making special dietary requests. Really not nice. It was understandable that they were under a lot of stress due to the large volume of people attending but BASIC hospitality was still lacking. The kabobs were pretty decent but the rice was SUPER greasy when we asked for very-to-little oil. The fish "kabob" was also not much of a kabob either. It looked over-cooked and FRIED, not kabobbed. It was not a good experience and was very disappointing. Their management and waiters need to be more hospitable and polite if they are going to run a restaurant. So messy and unprofessional.

Parking: Parking can be very difficult to find, especially if cars for other businesses on the same lot have occupied a lot of the parking spaces.

Wheelchair accessibility: Wheelchairs are pretty easily accessible from the back where the parking is located.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 3

Service: 2

Recommended dishes: Darya Salad, White Fish, Boneless Chicken, Chicken Kebab, Baghali Polo, Beef Koobideh, Barg

The outside look of this restaurant does not represent the Inside. Very lovely décor inside. Lunch was pretty busy but service is great. Food does not take long.
I had Ghormeh Sabzi. The stew as its described, is different from my understanding. Basically had one type of herb and meat plus the sauce. The sauce taste very strong. I cannot describe the flavor.
The prices are not bad. Very reasonable.
Stick with the Kabobs.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 5