Darchin Restaurant

Disappointed in every way. Avoid!

It’s overpriced for what it is, for that reason I give them 2 stars otherwise it would have been 3 stars. The quality of the food is not great but is above average. The lamb shank and dill rice dish is fantastic. Kebobs are good but they tend to overcook them. You’ll receive a well done kebab (borderline dry) if you ask for medium rare, otherwise they’ll burn it for you! They also have this tasty starter, rice/​bread crust with some sort of beef stew-​juice on it. It’s great but you have to remember to ask for enough stew to soak the crust, they won’t put enough if you don’t ask for it. We had to send the glasses back because they were dirty, the serviettes as well. All and all we need better and less expensive Persian and Indian restaurants in downtown Vancouver!

Fantastic food, they are the best persian restaurant in town. I had an amazing experience going to this restaurant with friends. I am persian and born raised in Iran and have high expectations for persian food. The quality of food in Darchin exceeded my expectations.

We went for dine out menu, and the food was just ok compare to so many Persian restaurants I have tried, it was the worst, and plus the most expensive one with this food quality. there are four of us and none of us really like how the dishes are.
no mention of the terrible service, delaying on delivering the food, kept on missing delivering one of our foods, and never apologize for the mistake made by the waiter. and the waiter doesn’t even know how to pour the beer into the glass, he left it with half glass of foam then say nothing just left, we were super disappointed with the service and at the end the waiter gave us attitude. What a night !?

Surprising when you see the reviews, surely the service could be improved tremendously, and it would also be great if the servers knew what you were talking about when you ordered things from the menu. Now to the good part, they serve probably the best kebabs downtown Vancouver has to offer, hands down. Portion sizes are fantastic, and I would highly recommend the eggplant dip as a starter. The food is fresh, delicious, and reasonably priced, and the location is just super. The ambiance is great, extremely high ceilings. I would visit this place again, but yes I must agree, their service needs to be improved.

There are not many Persian restaurants around, so when I do hear about one I try it at least once since not many survive after a few years. Darchin has been around for a while now, and we (4 of us) tried it the other night. We all agreed that we will be back. Food was good. For a downtown location restaurant, prices are very reasonable.
My only two beefs with the place are the décor first. It represents nothing Persian. I am not sure what they were going for when they decorated the restaurant. My number two complaint is they do not make their own Dough. If you have not heard of or tried this authentic Iranian drink, then you wouldn’t understand the difference between the homemade version and the bottled version. This restaurant only sells the bottles and there is nothing authentic about those. Trust me I know. I am Persian.

ok it really sucks that I have to give this place a 1 star.
The food was pretty good. We ordered the fasenjoon, jojeh, ‘grilled’ steak with rice, and the lamb leg. Out of all of those the only one that was disappointing was the lamb shank. The sauce they used was bitter, but the meat itself was quite tender. So its really hard to rate that dish.
But the rest of the dishes were amazing especially the fasenjoon the sour with sweet combo oh my delish!
The dessert don’t bother its not that great. we ordered the faloodeh and coffee with ice cream.
But here’s where the place gets a 1 star, they automatically put a 15 percent gratuity charge on our bill. We’re not a party of 6 or more or 8 or more. Restaurants have to actually say that on their menu or somewhere in their restaurant that its an automatic policy. There was only 4 of us and we used a 44 dollar groupon plus we spent 23 bucks on top. We were planning on tipping on the 67 dollars. However the restaurant went ahead and charged us 20 bucks gratuity on the 145 dollars of food and to justify it in case groupon investigates they put down on the receipt that there was 8 of us.
I don’t mind tipping 15 percent and for excellent, excellent service even 20 percent.
The service wasn’t even that great, had to tell the waitress a few times can we get more water, can we get an extra spoon… it was just annoying.
When I contacted the restaurant, the waitress said its their policy and that we’re getting charged because they have to share their tips with the kitchen. I asked her I never read a policy anywhere… she became quite bitter and said she would discuss it with the owner… yeah never heard back and thats why I was forced to contact groupon.
We contacted groupon, and groupon is awesome they refunded us the 44 dollars.
I’m not saying don’t go to this place but investigate your bill, don’t let them just do whatever they want.
The food was great again, just the service was poor.

This place has definitely been underrated by a few reviewers. The food is phenomenal, and has a very unique flavour to it. I had the chicken leg stew, which came in a delicious stew/​sauce and with a bed of Persian rice. The chicken was fall-​off-​the-​bone tender, the rice was perfectly cooked, and the sauce really contributed to the dish to make it something more than generic chicken and rice.
The prices are very reasonable, given the quality, and the somewhat lengthy wait times for the food are justified, as everything is slow-​cooked to ensure that the meat is tender, and that all the flavours blend together.
I will definitely be back.

The food was really good. The environment was very nice as well. def a fan of this place and suggest it to everyone.

The food is good and the prices are pretty good, but the service was retarded! We waited half an hour for drinks, another hour for our food to arrive at different times (perhaps they forgot about us because we were seated upstairs?), and they mixed up some orders. We had to haggle for them to not charge us for stuff… I mean, how hard is it to send over two/​three free desserts as a culpa mea? And just thank us for waiting. It’s not as if we were complaining… just hungry. Oh well. Hopefully they’ll figure out their service incompetencies because the restaurant atmosphere is lovely (soft lighting with comfortable semi private tables) and the wait staff are friendly enough.

Having a Persian husband, I can’t say that this is the best Persian food I’ve tasted, but it was good. It’s a great place to go for celebrating holidays. The mood is festive, the music is loud and you won’t have to clean up after enjoying a large Persian meal with friends. Nooshe Jan!

I came here with a party of 10 and we were seated upstairs, by the fire. Nice clean restaurant, intimate dim lighting, and a really kind server who was amazingly attentive to our large group.
I got to try a lot of food that was foreign to me, and all of us were quite happy with our meals. Since I don’t know persian food well, I can’t say if it’s authentic or good for Persian food, but as far as tastiness is a measure, this place rocked the kazbah.

Went with my Persian friend to eat dinner here while we visited vancouver. The waitress we had was attentive but it’s pretty much average from there. We both had the chicken kabob dish. It came with rice and a grilled tomato. No side salad or bread like all of the kabob joints I’ve been to. For a 16 dollar dish I was expecting more or at least a more than average dish. Place also had a bar at the center of the restaurant. Setting was nice though.

We recently bought a 50% off coupons from deal of the day. I usually present these kind of deals on my iphone. Today we went to this place and present the coupon on the phone. They said we don’t accept this. That was not a big deal but when you piss off your customers for something that is not a norm at other restaurants you shouldn’t expect them to return. I don’t know what the owner thinks, but sending a customer who already walked into your almost empty restaurant for an irrational reason is a bad business practice.
UPDATE: we visited this place again to redeem our coupon and we really had a good time so I decided to update my review. Unlike many other persian restaurants in vancouver the staff were very professional and respectful. The quality of food were amazing (probably the best persian in vancouver). Another amazing aspect of the food was the presentation which is missing in persian food in general. Also the ambiance of the place was relatively good. On the downside, none of these stuff come for cheap. The price of the food is relatively higher than average persian restaurants but I think it worth the experience. My overall recommendation is to go here if you have a guest or you want a kind of fine dining experience, but for a quick lunch I recommend a place like Kazba.

as an iranian raised on iranian food, i haven’t ever found a great kabob dish i’ve enjoyed in a restaurant. darchin changed that! absolutely delicious every single time i eat there!

We were pleasantly surprised by this new restaurant on Davie, ethnic food with a great attempt at creating a modern bistro ambiance.
The tiny tables and space didn’t stop us from wandering in to try the menu, we started with a bowl of tomatoe and cucumber salad that is more like a Persian citrus salsa, thinly diced tomatoes, cucumbers and onions in a lemon and oil vinaigrette ($ 8.95), followed by a Persian type of tzatziki (yogurt & shallot dip $ 6.95) that came with only 4 triangles of naan bread, when we asked for more bread, they brought us a 5 more small triangles for $ 1.95 (later added on the bill).
The kebabs are what give this place its signature, the chicken, beef and sirloin combinations are tasty and melt in your mouth! The platters come with a heaping portion of white and yellow coloured Persian basmati rice, grilled tomatoe, a pickled pepper and a dollop of mixed greens with a ranch type dressing (you can easily skip the salad on the plate).
This is a new business and will hopefully improve what is needed to make its great food stand out. Service is hurried and professional but not friendly/​courteous. Although a little overpriced and lacking in the service and details (never skimp or charge for bread slices for a menu item requiring them), it is a great new find on Davie close to Denman to satisfy that barbecue crave, Persian style.

This literally just opened. I had walked by yesterday and noticed a woman putting up the dark grey layer on the window.
Darchin restaurant is a Persian restaurant. Just try giving the names of the dishes a whirl. I’m still tongue-​tied. I think I either pointed to what I wanted on the menu or said something really silly like ‘I’ll have the lamb’
The server was awesome at helping out with our questions.
On to the menu, we tried a Persian drink called Doogh. Doogh is prepared by beating unflavored yogurt until smooth, and then diluting with water to a consistency similar to whole milk. Salt (and sometimes pepper) is added, and commonly dried mint is mixed in as well. Carbonation is achieved by letting it ferment. I can’t say whether it was natural carbonation or not. I will say this — it’s an acquired taste. It is such an unusual drink. Try it. It will surprise you.
On to the food, Zereshk-​polo ba morgh aka ‘the chicken dish. Chicken, tomato, green pepper and saffron rice. A tender, flavourful chicken dish served with saffron rice. I have to admit I enjoyed this much better than my lamb dish.
Shevid baghali polo ba mahicheh — dill rice with fava beans, cinnamon and lamb shank. I was a little worried about the dill rice being ‘too dilly’ if you can believe that but it was deliciious with the fava beans. The lamb shank was tender but not the usual fall off the bone that I usually am used to. It’s a good dish but I have had better. All in all it was still good and a generous portion to boot.
It’s a nice new addition to the set of leased coffee shops and restaurants going up such as Tim Hortons and the Wok Box on this set of Davie street.
I’m always up for supporting the new little guy on the street. The people that run and work this place seem so nice.