Caspian Bistro

This was in my opinion the best Mediterranean restaurant in the Midwest. I was a faithful customer for 10 years. I am interested to find out if they will reopen somewhere else?

My family and I have enjoyed the Caspian since they opened at 89^th and Wornall as the Kabob House. My wife and I even had our first date at the Kabob House and the owners helped to make it very special. My children grew up eating here and it is their favorite place to eat. My daughter has enjoyed 19 birthday dinners here. My oldest daughter even worked for Hassan and his family as wait staff for a while. The establishment and service has progressively has gone down hill since Hassan and his family left. Hassan’s mother’s Dolma were the best I have had anywhere in the world! We are very sad to see the Caspian close, but are thankful for the wonderful memories.

Service is okay but my assumption of why it was closed was a) the reviews and b) the patrons. It’s best times was when it was owned by Iranians. Those were the days when you didn’t see cabbage on your plate. Those were the days of quality service.

Best beef koobideh I have ever had. have tried almost 25+ persian restaurants including some in California. 4 star because koobideh size is a little smaller then others.

I’ve only ever eaten here at lunch and have never had bad or slow service. It’s where I go when I’m in the mood for a gyro, as it’s the closest place to where I work to get one. The doner gyro is always good, well-​stuffed with meat and veggies. Their fries are excellent, which you might not expect. And I don’t know what kind of tea they use, but it’s the best iced tea in town!

The lunch is fairly good, gyros and kabob are probably the best in Kansas. but it’s the dinner and appetizers, are where it excels. humus being obvious, they have an eggplant dip that is outstanding. but I’m writing this review simply because of the stew. especially the pomegranate, walnut and chicken stew. My goodness graciousnesses talk about inspiring new explorations in palate.

I’ve been here with my husband a handful of times within the last couple years and this place gets worse and worse every single time we come here. We recently went there last week due to a couple friends stating they have a new chef and the food is back to being super good but we were heavily disappointed. The chicken kabobs and koobideh had no taste whatsoever. The naan they serve doesn’t even taste/​look like naan. They used to serve salat with the entrees and now its just some gross purple lettuce (idk what it was). Somehow our bill racked up to over $ 50 for some mediocre food. Not sure what happened to this place.
The service was also extremely slow. There were only 2 other tables eating dinner at the same time and the waiter was so slow. Not sure why.
We live by KC Grill and Kabob in Lenexa and that place is 10 0000x better than this place. You also get more for you money and the food is amazing. I’ll be eating there from now on!

This is the best Persian cuisine in town. I love it and take my family here often. Always fresh and options for everyone. For meat lovers, gluten free and vegetarians. It’s a gem. Service is sometimes slow. Try the kashke bademjan for an appetizer it’s better than hummus! And Chicken Sultani with a side cucumber yogurt sauce for your entrée. The tiramisu is homemade and delish for dessert with tea.

Here is my two cents. Anywhere in Iran, the Kanab always comes with two skewers of whatever meat is ordered and the ample amount of rice. This restaurant is taking advantage of the fact that most people around kc area are not aware of this fact. Portion sixes are very small and prices high. For a authentic Iranian food try other cities, for instance Reza’s in Chicago

We tried this place out for the first time last night. We were pleasantly surprised. The food was a little on the expensive side (but most Mediterranean places are)… The portion sizes were large and we did get our monies worth of food I believe.
Only complaint would be the service, there were only 2 servers for the whole place. It is small but they were running around like crazy (didn’t help there were 10 – 15 tops in the place as well). Next time we are in the mood for Greek we will definitely consider going here first! Also, it would have been nice to see a manager or the owner somewhere, maybe come out and introduce themselves.

My homeboy, MC Hendu Ice, treated us for a lunch extravaganza. Sumac shakers on the table for adding red dots to your food should the mood strike. Dolmas were big and fat and yummo. Pitas were strangely leavened, I guess to appeal to Midwestern sports roll allegiance. I wanted to save more room for dinner, but I still had a big ass dinner anyway!
Hee hee, some random douchebag called me a douchebag for this review! It’s just always nice to be noticed.

Lunch Kebabs are back on the menu! Woohoo! I picked up the Chicken Kebab for $ 8.75 today, and it is ooohhhh soooo goood! They have revamped their Tzatziki sauce to include garlic, which makes it sooo much better! We will be going for lunch more often from now on! Ohh, and Kids eat free if you dine in (Only the Koobideh meals though)

Every time I have dined here it has been fantastic. The food always tastes fresh, is perfectly seasoned and the rice is simple but it’s some of the best rice I’ve ever had.

I love coming here, but for some reason tonight the appetiser of kashk bademjan seemed to be less than usual as did the platter for two. I tried their Napoleon dessert for the first time but it didn’t live up to my expectations. It was too creamy and sweet. And the pastry part did not seem fresh. However, I generally have a good experience here which is why I would still return here for lunch or dinner. It is especially fun on Friday or Saturday nights with their belly dancer who is very sweet and social! Although you have to make sure you catch her, she doesn’t dance for too long :)

I was absolutely thrilled to learn about this restaurant! A woman at my gym who is of Arabic descent highly recommended it. She said outside of her own kitchen, this is the best place to eat! Well she was right! The service was fabulous and the food was delicious. The owner came over to make sure we were happy and made other recommendations for good restaurants to try. I can’t wait to go back again and again!

This place suffers from a double whammy of bland boring food and bland boring service. There is no reason for Middle Eastern food to be bland. I think this may be the proprietor’s attempt at dumbing down the food for an American crowd, but it’s truly not good. When we ate there, our waitress was glum and slow. Drinks not refilled and never stopped by to ask how the food was or if we needed anything else. The hubby had been here a couple of times without me and reports it’s consistently meh.

I admit it. I am one of the Groupon slackers who wait until the last minute to use it before the full amount expires. I was in good company when dining at Caspian Bistro as almost every table had a Groupon too.
Our punishment? Horrible, horrible service. The lesson learned — don’t go here within a week of a Groupon expiration. Once you’re actually seated you will sit there waiting and waiting and waiting and wondering if you’re on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares or the Three Stooges.
The food, when we did receive it, was good except the grilled veggies and chicken were burned. It took us less than 10 minutes to plow through the entire platter.
I don’t think I would return unless I had a Groupon and used it well in advance of the expiration. The majority of the food was tasty but overall everything seemed pricey.

My wife and I were in the mood for Middle Eastern food so we checked out Caspian Bistro. I don’t know if the food is considered Armenian or Persian but I can tell you that it is 100% awesome.
We ordered the Caspian Platter (for two) and this consisted of 1 chicken kabob, 1 flet mignon (barg) kabob, and 1 ground beef (koobideh) kabob plus grilled vegetables and basmati rice. Each kabob was delicately seasoned and juicy. The vegetables (zucchini, squash, tomato, and onion) were grilled to perfection as they had the char but still had some texture. The rice was also amazing.
The only negative was the dinner salad that was served prior to the dish. My wife barely had a cup of salad mix however once the main course was served, it really didnt matter.
I will definitely come back to Caspian Bistro. I’ve been told that sometimes they have belly dancers. This is the kind of place that will be a regular spot for us.

Having passed by Caspian Bistro umpteen times (it’s not very far from where I live) we finally decided to try it tonight with a visiting cousin from California who said he’d love some Middle Eastern food. (He lives in Mendocino, which apparently doesn’t have any Middle Eastern restaurants, but he’d been reminiscing this afternoon about the wonderful food he’d had on a recent trip to Turkey.)
From its name and references on the menu, I assumed the food at Caspian Bistro is Persian, but at least one reviewer here says it’s Armenian. I suppose it could be a combination of the two, because there is (or was) a substantial Armenian community in Iran. In any case, we enjoyed our dinner very much. The atmosphere is inviting, the service was very friendly, and the food delicious.
There were five of us, so we ordered the Shamshiri Platter, which officially serves four. This consists of a large assortment of kabobs: filet mignon kabob (barg), ground beef kabobs (koobideh), ground chicken kabobs (chicken koobideh), marinated chicken breast kabob, and marinated cornish hen kabob. This was all accompanied by platters of grilled vegetables and basmati rice, broiled tomatoes, and green salads! Although the Shamshiri is supposed to serve four (for $ 59.99) it could easily serve six or more, and we took home a LOT of food, which will make a very satisfying lunch!
Everything was delicious, we thought. Persian (or Armenian) food is well but subtly spiced. All the different kabobs on the Platter had different flavorings, depending on the marinades or seasonings used, but it was all good, as were the accompaniments. Our visiting cousin was disappointed that the Shamshiri Platter didn’t include any lamb dish, so he ordered an additional rack of lamb for the table. It came cut into delicate chops — they had also been marinated and then grilled, so they had a wonderful smoky flavor. They were extremely flavorful and tender, cooked medium, and tasted fresh.
We all agreed we’d come back! We’ll have to try some of the other things on the menu, but if we come as a group it’s kind of hard to resist the Shamshiri Platter for value and general deliciousness! If you get it, though, you probably won’t have room for some of the great-​looking home-​made desserts on display at the entrance! They’re described as Persian, but some are obviously Western cakes and pastries, like Napoleons, that must have become popular in Iran and adopted as their own. Something else to look forward to on our next visit!

As Armenian restaurants in suburban KC go, Caspian Bistro hits the spot. Armenian is slightly different than Persian cuisine so the spices and ingredients may not be exactly what you expect.
Amenian cuisine incorporates liberal use of tahini, which is basically sesame seeds blended into a paste that is similar to the consistency of peanut butter. My wife doesn’t like tahini so the hummus is out for her at Caspian.
Skip the filet mignon, it’s not great. Go for the chicken or lamb kabobs instead. I typically go for the chicken barg which is top notch.
Load up on the grilled tomatoes and vegetables, be forewarned that a side of tomatoes and veggies is big enough to share with 4 – 5 people.
The owner is a very nice guy and he will patiently explain the Armenian spices and flavors if asked.
This is a great spot for a business dinner when you can’t take another night of KC BBQ or Steak. My colleagues who travel to KC from Asia love Caspian and always ask to go back.