Yekta Restaurant

The best when I lived in Santa Monica I would eat here once a week now I live in the South Bay and can’t make it as much but every time I come the food is great wish he could open a place down in the South Bay

Take it from a big time Iranian food lover. This place is incredible. It’s a nice little hole in the wall. Great atmosphere and amazing food. Well worth checking out!

The quality of their Persian foods is very good. Their kabobs are really tender. The place is small, but this makes the restaurant similar to original Persian kabob stores in Persian countries. They also have parking. The price is really good.

Yekta serves up the best khoresht in town. For my non-​persian peoples, khoresht is the stew we top our rice with. I am very particular when it comes to khoresht, and theirs tastes the way my mom and grandmother make it. ‘Nuff said, right?!
Speaking of rice, they make the best baghali polo in town. It’s in a weird location, sort of shanty, but believe you me, you need to look past that. You will not be disappointed.

If you want to try Persian food without attitude, come in here. With their delicious kabobs and warm, moist rice, it will cause a revolution in your mouth ;D
Now question is: do you want beef or chicken?

MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT… AND A WHOLE BUNCH OF IT… The only things they serve without meat is bread, salad, plain rice… No fish options nor stew made without meat. I’ve tried to give this place a try on three different occasions. One time I went in and asked if the had an fish kabob such as salmon or white fish or any stews that could be made to order without meat and the answer was no and twice I called as they asked me to call before I came in to save me the trouble…

We came here as we were curious and had never tried Persian food. Yekta Restaurant is located in a small strip mall, so parking is free and easy. We walked in and waited for directions. Hello, anyone home? Do we seat ourselves or do we wait and wait for the hostess. I felt like a second rate citizen as we barely got any attention. The waitress/​owner had only one other table, (they were Persian) and all the attention, was lavished on them. We were did not feel very welcomed and I felt like I was intruder.
You order from the board above the cash register or from the «TO GO» menus. Hmm, what to order? Decided to eat family style and each one of us ordered some different. Not much help from the waitress in helping newbies. Not sure what to do with a quartered raw onion sealed in plastic wrap. For our party of four, we decided on lamb chops which were tender. The bowl of gheymeh stew was extremely tangy and accompanied by a plate no platter of rice. Wow, lots of carbs. The kabob barb– Beef fillets were moist. The ground chicken and beef kabobs were overcooked and dry.
I get the feeling there is a lot of catering out of this restaurant. While dining, a group of women came in with their own serving dishes and left with them filled with food.
We left with no offers for coffee or dessert unlike the other table which got coffee, refills of water.

We came in early on a Saturday night. No one at the counter and no one served us for many minutes. Did we come in too early? Should we have ignored the «Open» sign and the other patrons in the restaurant?
It was a hot day and the front door was open, so the restaurant was not cool at all. When they closed the door, the AC over the door activated so that everytime anyone opened the door, the AC snapped on until the door closed. And the AC made a terrible racket.
It’s not much of a place. Very spartan. Really mom and pop. Super casual. The server started us off with some flat bread, yogurt dip, and a whole quartered raw sweet onion. The server was unable to explain to us how we should eat the raw onion.
The lamb chops were excellent. Very tasty. The beef kabob barg was also among the best kabobs I’ve had — not dry at all. I didn’t think too much of the ground chicken koobideh strips, but the ground beef koobideh strips were actually tasty. The gheimeh stew wasn’t very good at all — not my style.
Pretty easy strip mall parking.
Four people, four entrees, no drinks. $ 70+ bill. Gasp! For this?

The food is great and the service is excellent. I had the most Delicious Persian food ever.
Extremely clean and exceptional hospitality.
Thank you Mr. Massoud and Miss Marzi.

I am not sure that Masoud has a restaurant front anymore, but he and his crew make the best kebabs and the best Persian rice anywhere. He catered my son’s birthday party for years. Highly recommend! We love the beef soltani, the cornish hen, the green and shirazi salads, you cant go wrong.

Ordered on grubhub. Driver came upstairs into my building to deliver. Acted like he didn’t want a tip but took it. Fast delivery. Good food. Lots of it. Whoever said they don’t give you a huge plate of rice is out of his mind. We had an appetizer and 2 entrees. Got 2 meals each out of it plus a snack. Had the mixed chicken and the mixed beef. Beef was better. Also had the stew on crispy rice which was very good.

Pretty decent. If I’m hungry and my family hasn’t made any Persian food… Yekta is the way to go basically.
Joojeh kabob, aka chicken kabob, is pretty much my favorite. The barg and koobideh is also good.

Some of the most flavorful Persian Stews and Kabobs. You wont find a giant plate of rice and meat because it’s more about the quality than the quantity. Make sure you ask the owners about what they recommended that day and explore. The owner is a big sports fan so if you want to talk about the Atlanta Braves or Dallas Cowboys, he’ll be your friend…
Try the «Tahdig» the crunchy rice from the bottom of the pot topped with their daily stew. Also their «Shirazi» Salad which is a mix of cucumber, tomato, onions and bell peppers (their addition)… The Cornish game hen is great, if they have it in stock and so is their «Barg Kabob» Fillet Mignon.
Persian food is great, you just have to try everything!

i have had Yekta quite a bit in the past. There chicken kebab is usually quite good and there servings are always good size but the service and quality of the rest of the menu items are pretty hit or miss. The last time around I had the beef koobideh and it was sub-​par at best. The beef was very dry and quite flavorless which was surprising considering that it was the week of there grand re-​opening after the fire (yes this review is a few weeks delayed). They also got my order completely backwards first giving me rice with chicken kebab and no salad when I had order Koobideh with no rice and extra salad. I will definitely be giving Yekta a second chance because the other food I’ve had is great but no more Koobideh thats for sure!

1. Great Persian Food…
2. The atmosphere needs work… i.e. needs music and lower light.

ben g. and i went here for our lunch break during traffic school hell.
we needed something relatively fast. when we sat down, it was only 12:05pm. doing pretty good.
except for the fact that it was completely. deserted.
we kept hollering around, and peeking in the back. but not a soul was in sight. strange… when the owner finally came out, i realized he was also probably the chef. there were bills strewn across the tables.
shouldn’t 12 pm signify the lunch rush?
i ordered the cornish, and ben ordered the chicken kabob. the cornish was very very tender, but the flavor was a bit meh. i ate only a bit, because by then, we had to run before traffic school swallowed us whole.
i’d like to try this place again, when there’s not such a huge rush. and who knows, maybe there will actually be human beings there present when we walk in next time…

Stumbling onto this place while I was on my way to visit the Japanese fast food place next door, I decided to give it a shot since I hadn’t had Persian food in a while.
A quick scan of the menu reveals all the usual fare including lamb, cornish game hen and of course the infamous beef koobideh. Since I was cheap and wanted to play it safe, I ordered the beef koobideh.
Since I was the only customer in the restaurant, I got my food piping hot and fresh. It was good — not Café Bravo good — but very good. The rice was slightly salty and the koobideh was tender and well flavored. I have been to the pricier Persian restaurants in the neighborhood and definitely prefer this place.
I left a happy man.
The one thing I should note is that they started me off with a basket of thin pitas, butter and raw onion. Is someone supposed to make something of those 3 ingredients and eat them together? No clue.

koobideh was great, rice was nice, tomato was roasted, onions were quartered.
«cheap» for persian. total hole in the wall. when i went, there were two very hairy persians speaking farsi at a table. after standing there for a minute one got up and asked what we wanted. food came quick, i ate, slipped into meat coma at work, and had enough for second lunch later that day. overall i had a good time.

If you are looking for some good Persian khoresht, try this place. It is a tiny little restaurant. I haven’t tried any of the bargs or koobidehs. But I have tried their various khoreshts. The little old lady who takes your order is the cook. She is very sweet and an amazing cook. This is my absolute favorite when I’m in the mood for khoreshts. They have a small menu in terms of number of items offered. You don’t actually get a menu when you walk in. There is a large menu on the wall above the counter with a picture of each dish. Very helpful when you are taking someone who is not familiar with Persian cuisine.
Oh, how I miss this place. I was eating there once a week before I moved from the area.

Persians don’t like to associate with cheap. But compared to its Santa Monica Blvd neighbours offering Persian cuisine, Yekta is inexpensive, about $ 4 less per entrée, and the décor is definately on the cheap side too.
Their menu is limited. The back-​lit sign displayed 12 or 14 dishes. They offer the standard kabobs like barg, koobideh, and chicken; and the staple stew, gheymeh; as well as other usuals such as kuku and fish. I ordered barg (beef, $ 15) and chicken (boneless, white, $ 11) for take-​out and my order was ready when I got there 15 minutes later. They each came with saffron rice, charbroiled tomato, with bread and raw onion on the side.
The barg was juicy, but the chicken was dry and bland. (Its supposed to be lemon-​saffron flavour… chicken breast is always dry in my opinion.) The rice was prepared well – long, seperate grains. It may have been too moist for some people’s preference, but just fine for me. However, it was salted a little bit on the heavy side – and already buttered – which may explain why it was delicious.
As for service, I’ve never encountered bad service at Persian restaurants. Though only take-​out, the lady was nice, both on the phone and in person. She patiently answered my questions on the phone.
I’ll order take-​out again for when I need a quick kabob fix and don’t want to spend $ 20, or find it unreasonable to drive to my number one choice (F&Y on Pico.)