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Amoo's (Formerly Amoo's Kabob), Chesterbrook - Chef Sebastian Oveysi's Traditional Persian Stews, Rice Dishes, and Kabobs, Now With A Food Truck Too


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I hadn't been to Amoo's in a couple of years, but when I saw that Joe's Gourmet Burgers was on holiday break, I decided to drive the extra mile up to Chesterbrook. In a hurry, I asked for something quick, and the owner directed me toward the stews, which she said would only take about five minutes. The Geymeh ($9.95) was a large portion of food, with decent rice as a base. When I eat Persian stews as carryout, I generally just pour everything on and begin scarfing, so I dumped the whole container of split peas, beef cubes, tomato sauce, saffron, dried lime, and potatoes (frozen french fries) onto the rice, then dumped the yogurt and green hot sauce on top of that. This is a good, hearty dish that's more than enough food for anyone. Obviously, it would be nice if Amoo's had homemade bread, but the packaged version they include is at least thin enough not to be overbearingly dry with the food.

Amoo's is open until 10 PM (worth remembering if you live in the area), seven nights a week, and has free delivery with a $30 minimum. They also offer on-site catering.

And sitting near the door are business cards from Nancy, an eyebrow designer in Vienna.

Cheers,
Rocks.

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I like this place. The kubideh has a real distinct taste compared to Moby Dick's (which has really slipped in the last 3 or 4 years IMO). if only they had better bread.

I agree, they serve an excellent, fluffy, LARGE mound of rice with your kabobs, and the kubideh is tender, juicy and not overcooked. The chicken kabobs are also flavorful and juicy. I'm not a fan of the pile of raw onions, but that's just me, and I really like the grilled tomato, but wish there were more of it. I also like that they take everything off the stick for you, which is not always the case at other places.

The flat, thin bread is a disappointment if you're expecting a fresh piece of naan- or pita-like bread, but they give you quite a lot of it!

Apparently service can be quite slow (they don't seem to have many people working at lunch, anyway), so it might be smart to call ahead for carry out, as we saw quite a few people picking their food up.

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IThe kubideh has a real distinct taste

Does that distinct taste include a bitter aftertaste (the only comparison I can think of is to a thousand year old egg - pi dan)? It actually smells kind of foul to me although the taste isn't as bad as it smells. The chicken kebab and tandoori chicken are okay flavor-wise but not particularly tender. The rice is fluffy but lacks flavor. With a surfeit of Persian restaurants around (Rose, Shamshiry, Moby Dick, ranked in order of preference), unfortunately we are crossing this place off the list. Note: nothing was objectively terrible, it's just that we prefer other places

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Does that distinct taste include a bitter aftertaste (the only comparison I can think of is to a thousand year old egg - pi dan)? It actually smells kind of foul to me although the taste isn't as bad as it smells. The chicken kebab and tandoori chicken are okay flavor-wise but not particularly tender. The rice is fluffy but lacks flavor. With a surfeit of Persian restaurants around (Rose, Shamshiry, Moby Dick, ranked in order of preference), unfortunately we are crossing this place off the list. Note: nothing was objectively terrible, it's just that we prefer other places

I agree with Don's assessment. Been twice but there are other, better options elsewhere. Plus, getting in/out of that lilliputian parking lot off Old Dominion is a challenge. I find it interesting that Irani friends and acquaintances (esp. ladies at Hair Cuttery who rhapsodize about the rice scrapped from the bottom of the pan whilst clipping my auburn locks) are black-or-white opining on the (de)merits of Amoo vs. Shamshiry. Personally, I like Moby Dick for the convenience but Shamshiry is my preference for taste. Though traversing Route 7 these days is no fun.

An old govt hand once based in Tehran claims the Saffron Grill - off Route 7 in Great Falls (in the Calico Corner lot) marinates the meat "authentically," the food is very good and reminiscent of his days in Iran. I have not been to Saffron but it is operated by a former owner of Moby Dick.

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A recent move to McLean and a new bouncing baby boy = take out for the foreseeable future. I found Amoos to be a really passable copy of Shamshiry. That’s meant to be fairly high praise. Good sized portions, meat that was tasty and moist, and a huge bed of rice. The only thing we didn’t care for was the hummus, which was dry and pasty. Anyway, given the location and the taste/quality, I’m not sure why I’d slog my way down route 7 again.

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A recent move to McLean and a new bouncing baby boy = take out for the foreseeable future. I found Amoos to be a really passable copy of Shamshiry. That’s meant to be fairly high praise. Good sized portions, meat that was tasty and moist, and a huge bed of rice. The only thing we didn’t care for was the hummus, which was dry and pasty. Anyway, given the location and the taste/quality, I’m not sure why I’d slog my way down route 7 again.

Moby Dick in McLean is not what it used to be, but I wouldn't completely write off the daily lunch specials just yet.

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On June 14th, after my second straight terrific carryout meal at Amoo's Kabob, I texted RJ Cooper:

"Hey other than the bread, Amoo's Kabob has gotten good. Any of their Persian stews are worth trying."

After a third recent visit this evening, I'm prepared to call their long-cooked Persian stews and house specials "the best Persian cooking in the DC area right now" (my last meal at Rose was very disappointing), and "perhaps the best cooking in all of McLean." Note: I have not yet been to Bistro Vivant.

Amoo himself (Amoo means "uncle") remembered me (from my phone number) on my second visit. Perhaps a gentleman of faith, he politely (and needlessly) bowed and said, "Welcome back, Mr. Don." This evening, I was starving, and ordered two items from their "Traditional Stews" section (the Traditional Stews and Amoo's Specialties sections are where you should be focusing your attention) - Baghali Polo with Mahicheh (Lambshank Stew) ($12.99) and Bademjoon ($11.99). My total bill, along with a 10% tip, was something like $28.50.

I figured I was hungry enough to do some pretty serious damage to both dishes, but the sensational Baghali Polo dish did me in on its own - a huge, on-bone lamb shank in a thin, flavorful tomato-based sauce, ultra long-cooked and fully absorbed by the lima bean and dill basmati rice. This dish, downtown, would be twice as expensive, and not nearly as good - I don't remember the last time I've enjoyed a lamb shank this much. I may nibble and pick at the Bademjoon (a lamb and eggplant stew with white rice), but I'm pretty sure that's what I'm having for lunch tomorrow.

This makes seven different long-cooked dishes I've had at Amoo's recently, and I'm batting seven-for-seven. Amoo himself is an exercise in elegance and politesse, and this has become one of my favorite restaurants in the Arlington-McLean area. The one glaring thing you must overlook is the pre-packaged, matzah-thin pita because if you're expecting great bread, you won't find it here. That said, if you treat the bread (which is similar to that at Shamshiry) as a neutral food scoop instead of a dominator, you'll adapt to it quite nicely - the rice is your starch here.

Get a carryout order of stew, dump the rice in a bowl, pour the Mast-o-Kheyar on top, then dump your stew on top of that. Put the pita in your left hand, a fork in your right, and enjoy this Persian feast. Secrets in this town are few and far between, but this is one of them. Raised to Italic, and, for now, ranked as the #1 restaurant in McLean.

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Thanks, Kibbee for the heads up on the Groupon, and thanks, Don, for the great advice. It's simple, I did what Don told me. I ordered the Gheymeh. I put all the rice in a large bowl. I dumped the yogurt sauce on top of it and mixed it together. I added the stew. I grabbed my shovel, er spoon, and dug in. Delicious and filling (it's the rice). Not nearly as much meat as, say, what you get when you order kabobs, but that's an observation not a complaint (tho I'll always take more meat!). I look forward to using the Groupon i gifted my wife to do it all over again.

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On June 14th, after my second straight terrific carryout meal at Amoo's Kabob, I texted RJ Cooper:

"Hey other than the bread, Amoo's Kabob has gotten good. Any of their Persian stews are worth trying."

Good news for fans of Amoo's Kabob: they got themselves a tandoor, and are now offering homemade bread for $1 a slice. It's about 6-8 inches in diameter, round, surprisingly thick (maybe 1/4-inch), evenly charred, and just wonderful.

I suspect many people in Tysons Corner don't really know about downtown McLean which is going to become a hotbed for independent restaurants in the next 10-20 years. Likewise, I suspect some of the newer residents in downtown McLean (if there is such a thing as a "newer resident in downtown McLean") don't pay much attention to the little community of Chesterbrook, home to Amoo's Kabob.

Amoo (meaning "uncle" in Persian) is an exceedingly humble, polite, gentle man who values his customers, and even goes so far as to bow as a gesture of respect (and I bow right back at him because he is a great person). His food has always been pretty good, but it's gotten better in the past year, and last night was the third consecutive meal I've had there that I would consider to be excellent. For carryout, this is my favorite restaurant in McLean.

If you go online to Amoo's menu, go straight to the "Amoo's Specialties" or "Traditional Stews" section. Every time I go in there, I see a list of hand-written specials next to the register that look even more interesting, and I kick myself for forgetting to ask about then when I call. If you call, and there's a man with an accent on the phone, that's Amoo - ask him about the daily specials, and turn yourself over to his recommendations.

Baghali Polo with Mahicheh ($12.99) has become a mainstay of my carryout rotation. Usually served with chicken, this version contains an entire lamb shank, served on the bone - all you need is a fork to gently remove the long-cooked, tender lamb meat. So often, lamb shanks are tough and tire-like; this is tender, perfectly braised, and delicious. It comes with a *lot* of braising liquid - thin, reddish-brown juices that you pour right on top of the lima bean and dill rice (that's the Baghali Polo part), topping it with the order of thick Mast-o-Kheyar - a yogurt with diced cucumbers which you usually have to spoon out rather than pour. Make sure to ask for the homemade bread when you call; the default is their pre-packaged, paper-thin pita which is just not that good - it is well, well worth the dollar extra (or two, for two pieces) to have that terrific bread with this succulent meal-in-a-bowl. The only knock I have on last night's version was that there was bit of a powdery aspect to the sauce (undoubtedly powdered spice, most likely chili powder) - this could have been a little better integrated, but I suspect most people wouldn't really notice and it's a minor nitpick to be sure.

I can't raise Amoo's above Bistro Vivant in the Dining Guide, but it remains solidly entrenched as the number two restaurant in McLean. This gets a little tricky because comparing it to Tachibana is a fool's errand, and as I type this, I'm wondering if I should raise Tachibana above Amoo's because, after all, my criteria is "where would I choose to go, if someone else was paying for the meal," i.e., if price was no object, and I suppose the answer is Tachibana. And as I type this further, I realize I must raise Tachibana ahead of Amoo's, even though there's no question in my mind as to which restaurant is the better value - McLean is fortunate to have all three.

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Wow, what a great place. We started with the bread ( which is free for dinners) that is served with butter and a jalapeño relish. We order a side of fried eggplant dip, that went well with the bread. The bread itself is like crack, warm, light, and we quickly went throughbour order. we then ordered two entrees. The lamb shank was incredible, and the dill rice with fava bean superb. There is an dine in option to get half rice and have salad if you want a lighter meal. Claudia had a chicken stew with pomegranate seeds. This had a slightly sweet stew with a chicken breast that was served with white rice. Awesomeness in a bowl. Finally we finished the meal with some house made saffron ice cream with rosé water and some baklava. The ice cream disappeared quickly. This is a family run restaurant, mother cooks, dad oversees and both children wait. The service was excellent, and it looked like they had as many carry out orders as they did diners. We will be back.

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Wow, what a great place. We started with the bread ( which is free for dinners) that is served with butter and a jalapeño relish. We order a side of fried eggplant dip, that went well with the bread. The bread itself is like crack, warm, light, and we quickly went throughbour order. we then ordered two entrees. The lamb shank was incredible, and the dill rice with fava bean superb. There is an dine in option to get half rice and have salad if you want a lighter meal. Claudia had a chicken stew with pomegranate seeds. This had a slightly sweet stew with a chicken breast that was served with white rice. Awesomeness in a bowl. Finally we finished the meal with some house made saffron ice cream with rosé water and some baklava. The ice cream disappeared quickly. This is a family run restaurant, mother cooks, dad oversees and both children wait. The service was excellent, and it looked like they had as many carry out orders as they did diners. We will be back.

You have no idea how happy I am you enjoyed your meal. Seriously. It is high pressure for me to be in a situation like this.

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Eggplant appetizer - delicious, fresh tasting. Reminds me of 'baingan bartha', an Indian dish.

Bread - much better now that they are doing the fresh baked version.

Lamb Shank with Polo Rice - not much more to add, other than the fact that it is clearly enough for dinner and lunch the next day. There was a glistening of a layer of oil, but it tasted so good so I don't mind.

Veg kabob - didn't try it, was for the date, but I have the left over for lunch today. The rice that comes with it is the same polo that came with the shank. There was something adjacent to the rice with a reddish sauce that she loved. I tried it, and think it was eggplant with some sauce, but not sure. Anyone know?

The host/owner, as everyone says, is an absolute prince amongst men. I was on a first date. Though I'd been there before once, we didn't talk much at that time, yet he acted as if I was an esteemed guest and a regular. He came over and was extremely attentive throughout the meal. He enthusiastically recommended the full shank as "the best thing we have". He thanked us profusely. The date was a success :) On the other hand, there was an older woman there (maybe his wife?) who was very much ready to go home and sort of slammed her purse to get us moving along (okay, okay, it was 2 minutes to ten and we lingered to finish the wine we brought).

$45.11 + a very big tip for making me seem like a VIP :)

-S

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The host/owner, as everyone says, is an absolute prince amongst men...

On the other hand, there was an older woman there (maybe his wife?) who was very much ready to go home and sort of slammed her purse to get us moving along (okay, okay, it was 2 minutes to ten and we lingered to finish the wine we brought).

She was the queen. :lol:

Say hi next time (Gormeh Sabzi, Gheymeh Bademjoon, Baghali Rice for me). :)

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The last time I tried Amoos was under the previous management. Based on this thread I decided to try it again. That was last Friday...I've been there three times since. As you all have said, the food is fantastic and the owner is a prince among men. Everything we have had there has been wonderful. I have always loved baba ghanoush, but the eggplant appetizer is on a different plane (surrounded by angels singing its praises). The lamb shank stew was great and even the chicken (both the tandori and the kabob) are a rarity in that they are actually moist. Every time I have been there the owner has thrown in a freebie, one time it was there chicken salad, another time baklava and last time it was the house baked bread.

Alas, this has come at a most inopportune time for me. two weeks ago I just seriously told myself I needed to go back on Atkins and drop some weight, but between the bread and the rice (and free baklava) there it is going to be a real challenge to come home with a naked kabob and a salad

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Thank you, Chef Oveysi, for introducing yourself to the community here. I hope all the readers here will take a couple minutes and read Sebastian's thoughtful and engaging introduction.

Even with all the industry professionals we have as members here, this introduction particularly meant a lot to me.

Cheers,

Rocks

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Chef Oveysi, have you changed the hummus recipe since Dec 2011 (which is when I last had it)? While it may seem trivial, not liking the hummus has been the main reason my family chooses to dine with one of your competitors. Of course, i don't mean to suggest you should change it just for me, I'm only asking to see if we should give it another try.

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The hummus has always been a very tricky item to have on our menu. Well for one, Hummus is not a Persian dish, therefore the previous cooks that i had working for me, did not have any clue as to how to make it properly or to my own standards. But like i have said before, i have taken control of the whole entire menu, and i have updated and added some new items to it. The hummus was one of the first things i changed. The reason why you did not like the hummus we used to serve, was because for some crazy reason they did not add tahini, it was just the beans and spices. Tahini is one of the main ingredients of Hammus.

But please feel free to come in and give us a try one more time as i assure you your experience will be nothing short of excellent! Looking forward to meeting you in person. Thank you for your post!!

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Hello again everyone,

I wanted to add that Amoos will be serving a prefix menu this Sunday May 12, 2013 due to Mothers Day celebration. We will be serving the most popular special dishes weve served in the past year which include Fish, Lamb, Chicken and Beef. In addition to these meats we will also be serving the most popular stew which is the Pomegranate braised chicken stew. Please make your reservations now due to limited seatings.

Thannk you and see you at Amoo's table!

Happy Mothers Day!!

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Sebastian, what are the pods you use in your Gheymeh? I've seen them many times before in Persian stews, but have never known what they are - they're dark in color, spherical, and somewhere between the size of a kumquat and a ping-pong ball. They're soft, cuttable with a fork, and are slightly sour.

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They are in fact sundried limes. The trick to these limes is to be able to pick them before they are fully developed. Once they are picked, they are sundried and tiny holes are put in them before they are mixed with the eintire stew. The holes allow the dried citric acid to be realeased to the entire stew pod!

I hope that answered your question.

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I hadn't been to Amoo's in a couple of years, but when I saw that Joe's Gourmet Burgers was on holiday break, I decided to drive the extra mile up to Chesterbrook. In a hurry, I asked for something quick, and the owner directed me toward the stews, which she said would only take about five minutes. The Geymeh ($9.95) was a large portion of food, with decent rice as a base. When I eat Persian stews as carryout, I generally just pour everything on and begin scarfing, so I dumped the whole container of split peas, beef cubes, tomato sauce, saffron, dried lime, and potatoes (frozen french fries) onto the rice, then dumped the yogurt and green hot sauce on top of that. This is a good, hearty dish that's more than enough food for anyone. Obviously, it would be nice if Amoo's had homemade bread, but the packaged version they include is at least thin enough not to be overbearingly dry with the food.

Amoo's is open until 10 PM (worth remembering if you live in the area), seven nights a week, and has free delivery with a $30 minimum. They also offer on-site catering.

And sitting near the door are business cards from Nancy, an eyebrow designer in Vienna.

Cheers,

Rocks.

Those random business cards from nancy the eyebrow designer are gone, you only see Amoo's. Thats it!!

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Sebastion: Yours is an amazing story, and worth reading about as to the changes that you and your family have gone through: http://www.donrockwell.com/index.php?/user/10412-foodieseb/

Tx for joining. I look forward to visiting the restaurant.

I thought so highly about this that I Tweeted it here. Note that you have to be a signed-in member to access people's profiles, but I have to say - this is about the best, and most interesting, member profile I've ever read on any bulletin board ever.

If you're a guest reading this, it's worth it for you to register *just* to see the chef's story. If you do so and think otherwise, write me and I will personally apologize.

Anyway, this would be a *perfect* story for Northern Virginia Mazazine, Washington City Paper, Washingtonian, and The Washington Post - all four of them! I hope someone picks up on it.

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Hello Mr. Rockwell and Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms around the world!

I wanted to thank everyone for all the support you have shown my family and i. I cannot believe that we are getting so much attention just because we love this country and love cooking for the people that live in it!!! lol We are so flattered. thank you, thank you and once again thank you. This past weekend, for Mothers Day, Amoos had the highest sales recorded in the past 3 years! My family could not have done this without the support of all of you wonderful people. I still cant believe im living the American Dream!!!

Please come visit us at Amoo's!

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I'm really glad you came in and gave the hummus one more try! And I'm also very happy that you liked it! In the next coming weeks Amoo's is creating a bread dippers to our menu. This pirticular dish will include a yogurt and shallots, yogurt and cucumber, Persian style squash casserole, and sauteed apricot which can be used as a great way to start your meal with our homemade clay oven bread which are for free now with your meal!

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It has been less than a month since I posted about trying Amoos. We have worked our way through almost everything on the menu, most of it has been sublime with nothing less than very good. It is really hard to recommend any one item on the menu because all of it is good, it's just a matter of what you are in the mood for, but the stews are something special and the rice that accompanies the stews is wonderful, especially the Polo dill flavored rice dishes. When it comes to kabobs, I usually go for the lamb or ground meat chenjah and avoid the chicken because it can be so dry, no so at Amoos. Here all of the chicken variations are moist and have a lovely flavor from the marinade. The cornish game hen kabobs are also wonderful. Even dishes I would not think of as being particularly Persian, like the mussels, have been great.

In less than a month, we have probably eaten there a dozen times. Most people are not greeted by their families as warmly as Sebastian and his father greet customers, which makes eating here both special and comforting.

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I ate lunch there today for the first time and it was wonderful. Sebastian was a warm and accomodating host, and chose well for me. I had one of the lamb dishes with the lima bean rice. Despite thinking I'd have leftovers of the lamb, I finished it all. The bread was warm and soon gone. Loved the jalapeno stuff to put on the bread, and the lamb, and wherever.

Can't wait to go back and try more.

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We stopped in Amoo's yesterday for lunch, a day after a similar lunch at Shamshiry. I had not been to Amoo's since Sebastian took over five or six years ago but liked it a lot then. I have also been a fan of the Rose Restaurant in Vienna.

Simply, today, Amoo's is in a league by itself. We much preferred it over Shamshiry which for years was the benchmark for D. C. area Persian keboberies.

From homemade yogurt, excellent puffy yet crisp edged Nan, succulently juicy chicken kebobs and flavorful lamb kebobs-all accompanied by a pile of excellent Shirin Polo rice covered with orange peel, diced carrots, pistachios, and almonds in a sweet saffron mix. We saw the thin crisp crust of baked rice served with several of their stews, Chilean seabass kebob (!) and Zereshk Polo (rice with sweet saffron syrup and barberries).

Have I mentioned the character, the personality of their dining room?

Amoo's is a special place that is well worth the drive from Reston. Or even Germantown or Hyattsville. I sincerely believe it is now the best restaurant of its kind in the greater D. C. area.

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We stopped in Amoo's yesterday for lunch, a day after a similar lunch at Shamshiry. I had not been to Amoo's since Sebastian took over five or six years ago but liked it a lot then. I have also been a fan of the Rose Restaurant in Vienna.

Simply, today, Amoo's is in a league by itself. We much preferred it over Shamshiry which for years was the benchmark for D. C. area Persian keboberies.

From homemade yogurt, excellent puffy yet crisp edged Nan, succulently juicy chicken kebobs and flavorful lamb kebobs-all accompanied by a pile of excellent Shirin Polo rice covered with orange peel, diced carrots, pistachios, and almonds in a sweet saffron mix. We saw the thin crisp crust of baked rice served with several of their stews, Chilean seabass kebob (!) and Zereshk Polo (rice with sweet saffron syrup and barberries).

Have I mentioned the character, the personality of their dining room?

Amoo's is a special place that is well worth the drive from Reston. Or even Germantown or Hyattsville. I sincerely believe it is now the best restaurant of its kind in the greater D. C. area.

Thank You so much for the great review. As I have said before, My family's goal is to take Amoos to whole different level. Which I do believe, we have done some major changes so far that has resulted in great feedback from folks like yourself. Once again, Thank you so much for your time and great support.

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The recent praise here is 100% warranted. I've been pointing folks to Yekta Kabob in Rockville as what I thought was the best Persian around. And until I try Amoo's cornish game hen, I can't do a straight up comparison, but dinner tonight at Amoo's was outstanding.

First, the eggplant dip appetizer (somewhat resembling baba ghanoush) was so amazing, smoky and rich, that the 2 people at our table that normally won't touch eggplant could not stop eating it. The hummus was also excellent - perfectly balanced between coarse and smooth with just the right amount of olive oil. I could be picky and say that I would have liked more garlic, but I like my hummus really garlicky, so that's likely personal preference and not a weakness of the dish. And that bread - oh, I could have eaten tons of it. Just a bit of char, nice chew, and perfect for scooping up the dips.

The four of us shared 4 entrees: Gheymeh, Bademjoon, Baghali Polo with chicken, and Shirin Polo with lamb. All of them unqualified successes - I could not pick a winner among them. The mix of "stuff" on the Shirin was perfectly balanced and just a bit sweet. The dill on the Baghali was present, but not overwhelming like I've seen on this dish. The lamb and chicken kabobs were juicy and marinated/seasoned perfectly. The Bademjoon had plenty of tender (not gamy) lamb shank pieces and a great blend of tomato and eggplant. The Gheymeh was reminiscent of the Ethiopian Kik Alicha, but in a stew and with delicious chunks of beef. And had we not been dining with my football-player-sized teenage son, I'm sure there would have been leftovers, because we left not a grain of rice on the plate.

Sebastian was, as noted above, a fabulous host. Friendly without being intrusive, he made recommendations, chatted a bit about more things he'd like to improve, kept our water pitcher filled, and brought a complimentary plate of Persian sweets at the end. Total before tax and tip (no drinks) was well under $20/person, an absolute steal for this meal. I can't say I'll be back frequently, as it's not especially convenient for a MoCo resident, but it will be a place that I will definitely cross the bridge for on occasion.

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I have driven past this place for years and finally stopped in based on the comments here, and I am so glad I did.

My wife and I ordered the eggplant dip appetizer and the lentil and bean soup. Both were very good to kick off the meal and came in generous portions, along with the tandoori style bread that is as great as everyone says it is.

My wife's entree was a kabob mix of lamb cubes and the ground beef. The lamb was savory, delicious and melt in your mouth tender. Beef was perfectly spiced and perfectly cooked. I'm not so well versed in Persian seasonings that I can describe it beyond the fact that it just works. My entree was the orange saffron marinated sea bass kabob. It was life-changingly amazing! Subtle tastes covering perfectly cooked white fish.

My experience with the service matches others' here. We were made to feel like royalty even though we'd never been before. I'll try to get back often while I can still roll in at 7:00 on a Friday evening and get seated right away. Count me a fan.

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I'll just pile on to add to how great this place is. Based on the rave reviews here, we stopped by for dinner last night and could not have been happier. My wife and I split the eggplant appetizer (Kashk-e-Bademjan), a chicken and rice dish (Shirin Polo), and the special stew of the day, which was a celery (!) stew with beef. With all of it, we devoured many pieces of the homemade bread. Everything was terrific and tasted like I imagine a great Persian home-cooked meal would taste. And to top it off, I could not imagine better and more welcoming service.

I think one of the best things DR.com does is bring attention to gems like this. About halfway through the meal, we started calculating whether we could reasonably get takeout from here given that we live in Bethesda. We can't wait to try more.

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Oh my god when I say I am getting goosebumps and teared up while reading all of this due to being filled with so much joy and gratification that words cannot describe this very moment of complete trance! I cannot believe and still trying to observ this amazing feedback from every single one of you people! People that do not really know myself nor my family but yet show so much love to us! We are getting so much attention lately simply because my family really loves and absolutely love cooking! We get naturally high when we see all of this amazing reviews about how happy people are. Folks, words like these are the reason my father, my mother, who are in their 60s, my brother, my sister and I motivated every single day to do the best that we can do! Originality and perfection is our goal! And with that being said, I cannot thank you enough and there are absolutely no expressions that exist to show how grateful, flattered, thankful, and finally serene my family and I are because of you! We love cooking for you, and you love us feeding you! I only wish everyone around the world appreciated each other like this!!! Because in the end of the day, kindness is more powerful then weapon! The Oveysi family loves you all and we ask that you pray for the freedom of IRAN from this evil Islamic empire of Iran! Thank you all again!!!

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Sebastian - I missed you for take out this afternoon but enjoyed chit chatting with your kind father Amoo. A special thank you to posters on this thread who steered me to order a fantabulous lunch on a hot summer afternoon. With four others busy chowing down at home, all agreed the food was terrific.

The naan, kashk (eggplant app), the cucumber yogurt mixture, bademjoon with lamb, chicken soltani with ground beef kabob & salad, the veg kabob with lima bean rice and that spicy mint were lip smacking good. Sad to say the only evidence at this point are empty Styrofoam cartons. Appreciate what you and your family are doing over there in the flea bitten burgh of Chesterbrook.

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I really enjoy Amoo's and last night was no exception. The food was terrific, Sebastian was welcoming, and we left really happy to have been there. It also was the first time we were able to have Katie join us there, and I think she would go back tonight if I asked her. My concern with Amoo's at the moment is that I"m trying to eat fewer carbs and the rice and bread are so delicious that for me, it's a menu of giant temptation. But I managed to feast in a lower carb sort of way. We had the eggplant appetizer,, a salad Sebastian sent over to us, and then the chicken kabobs that were marinated in herbs and jalapeno. These are incredibly juicy and addictive. Instead of rice, I had a salad and I ordered one kabob of grilled veggies to round out the dish. The veggie kabobs were expertly cooked, delicious and generous, and as mentioned above, accompanied by eggplant that had been cooked in tomato sauce. Scott had the lamb and eggplant stew and Katie had a kabob combo. I tasted the lamb and it was great. We shared a bowl of the incredibly rich and flavorful saffron rose ice cream (Thanks, Sebastian) and some tea. This was a great meal enjoyed at a leisurely pace and with terrific service. The only problem is that I finished my meal, and Katie would have been really upset had I enjoyed her leftovers for a midnight snack.

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Folks, I want you all to know, nothing lifts me up as much as seeing you all celebrating life front of me, in my restaurant, at my table and with my cooking! I am honored to be part of that time that you enjoy so much just because you love my family's cooking!!!!!! I should be thanking you! thank you

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No, Seb, we should be thanking you. Thank you for caring. Thank you for giving it your all. Thank you for your marvelous Persian food. Remember: when all seems darkest, you're lost at the very center of the tunnel, and if you just keep moving forward, you will emerge on the other side, rebuilt. Faster. Better. Stronger.

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