[Costa Mesa] [Middle Eastern] Orchid Restaurant

Orchid Restaurant
3033 Bristol Street
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 557-8070
http://www.orchidrestaurant.us

I wanted to check out the Japanese food festival at Mitsuwa last weekend, but we weren't in the mood for the big crowd.  Before we went, I had a backup plan, Orchid Restaurant across the street.  As we expected, Mitsuwas was super crowded and busy.  I really wanted to try the takoyaki, but the line was so long.  Good that we had this backup plan.



Orchid Restaurant is a Persian restaurant that I found on Yelp.  I read that they offered buffet lunch.  It was Memorial Day so we weren't sure if they would still offer buffet.  When we called to ask, the lady told us that they offered buffet all day long for $10.99/person.




The restaurant is quite big.  They have a grand entrance with big chandelier.  There's also a stage.  On that day we went, they had live music and comedy for entertainment.  Almost all of the customers on that day were Persians, which was a good sign.  Food must be authentic.



Let's see what kind of food is offered at the buffet.  There were 4 kinds of salad.  Dr. P's favorite was the tabouleh.  I like the slaw with purple cabbage and raisin.



3 types of rice, and pita bread.  I like the pilaf with raisin.  Hey, I just realized, I like raisins.  haha....  I think I like everything with raisins in it.



This part of buffet looked like Indian buffet.  There was spicy curry chicken, some kind of shredded chicken with lentil dish, and meatballs.



Our favorite part of the buffet, kabobs!


Buffet ($10.99/person)

This was my first plate.  Spicy curry chicken was really good.  It tasted almost like Indian food to me.  The meatball was made with ground meat and rice, which I thought was interesting.  The best items on the plate were the kabobs.  Chicken kabob was surprisingly moist and tender.  I like to dip it in the tzitzit sauce.  The ground meat kabob is called Beef Koobideh Kabob.  It was soooooooo good.  I love the flavor.  I told Dr. P that I am going to order this dish every time I go to a Middle Eastern restaurant now.



The soup was made with beans and noodle.  I think the green color came from pureed parsley?  This soup tasted.... different.  I don't know how to describer the flavor because I've never had anything like it before.  I had no idea what kind of spices were in the soup.  It wasn't bad, but I still need to get used to the flavor.



My second plate.  I got everything I like a lot one more time.  Yum!



We tried some Persian dessert.  The white one and the yellow one were both rice pudding.  It was pretty good.  The brown thing was bean paste.  It tasted like the Asian red bean paste, but had a sour taste to it.  Maybe they added lemon?

What a great find!  We really like the food.  Service was great also.  The people there are so friendly.  I like Persian music, too.  It makes you want to move your body while eating.  haha....  A lady, who seems to be the owner's wife, came and ask me if I like Persian music (maybe she saw me wiggling around in my seat).  I said yes, and she told me I should visit them on Friday and Saturday night.  They have live band playing Persian music at the restaurant till 4am!!  Wow!  Persians can party!  The price is very reasonable.  We would definitely come back again!

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