Caspian

Tonight we tried Caspian for dinner. We weren't familiar with the process so we called instead of ordering at the screen in the entrance. The building has a few restataunt and you can online order once you're there if you decide to. We got the beef koobideh, shrimp kabobs and Tahdig. The portions were large and the flavors were exceptional! We were very impressed with the kindness of Victoria and willingness to explain details over the phone and in person. If you are not familiar with Persian cuisine, this is a great place to start. Hopeful they stay in business and continue to satisfy the Persian community in Columbus!

Great place to eat food is very tasty and delicious
Very good customer service and easy to order from the kiosk

Very authentic Persian food. We ordered family dinner over the phone and our order was ready when we arrived. This restaurant operates out of a ghost kitchen and you ring a door bell to pick up your order. It was still hot when we got home and tasted great. I hope you can support this small business.

Anything food related that revolves around and/or related to the Mediterranean region, and I'm 100% there. Caspian - Persian food, has been around for a while, but as a catering business; this is their first foray into brick and mortar.

Anna H. and I met here for lunch back in June. This restaurant use to house Layla's Kitchen (Indian), so there's been some cosmetic revamping, like the front outdoor patio. Tables are spaced for pandemic regulations, and there's room to move about. The inside space is small, and with tables being 6 ft apart, there's less seating, fyi.

I tried that day's Falafal Wrap lunch special, which was very good. While it wasn't my all-time number 1, it was a solid contender. The chickpea-based rounds (no, I'm not saying balls, so just get over it) were hot; served on the soft, tasty pita round was a delight. The house sauce was a nice complement. I would like to try Caspian's Mirza Ghasemi appetizer (sounds delish!) and a few of their kebab entrees. The northeast-central-west areas of Columbus are a Mecca for ethnic food, and Caspian fits right in!

The kabobs here were perfectly cooked! I have eaten many kabobs made Persian style and they have been dry and have little flavor. Not these! These were the juiciest and most succulent flavor Persian style kabobs I have ever had! I also asked for the kabobs to be "spicy" - but no worries because they were not "spicy hot", they were certainly an explosion of perfect beef flavor! My friend ate the lamb chops and he commented they were absolutely delicious!

This was the first time I have ever eaten Mirza Ghasemi: a dish of mashed up grilled eggplant, eggs, garlic and grilled onion. It is traditionally eaten with bread. At first it tasted like baba ghanouj- a traditional Levant dish made of grilled eggplant - but taking a second bite made my senses realize that this masterpiece is eggplant on FLAME! It was beautifully smoky and wonderfully spiced. It is an elevated baba ghanouj that I wish my arab forefathers would have adopted in their own culture. Mad props to the Persians for this exquisite flavored recipe! I should note the dish does not look appetizing, but looks are certainly deceiving with this dish.

The service was spot on and we received refills and service timely!

I'll be back here next time I'm in Columbus and I hope foodies of Columbus find this gem!

Legit this is in my back yard and I regret not eating here sooner! The food is absolutely phenomenal. I can't wait to come back and try everything on the menu.

I had been in this space when it was Layla's (they moved). I came back for lunch with Gwen W. last week and noticed how much bigger the space felt. It is lovely, and the young lady at the counter told us to choose a table and then she brought us menus and our requested glasses of water. She was helpful, answering questions, and she also brought us pita with their house white sauce. We both chose one of the lunch specials being a falafel sandwich. I also ordered a bowl of lentil soup, which was delicious. I took my sandwich to go, with the remaining white sauce. When I got home, I devoured the sandwich and would definitely get it again.

This is a wonderful Persian restaurant and I will return for more. Our server was sweet, and the female chef came out of the kitchen to tell us goodbye when we called thank you to them both.

Caspian is a real Persian treat! And well worth the four hours to get to its Columbus OH location from Kokomo IN. Owned by Iranian-American Victoria Nemati, it is obviously a labor of love and a tribute to the cuisine and culture of a noble country and a tribute to the brave emigre's who have come to the US. Authentic Persian restaurants sadly are hard to find in most parts of the US. Usually only the largest US cities are beneficiaries of significant populations of Iranian Americans. Lucky for us, Columbus provides a rare example of someone who has taken the time and energy to provide the kind of food that Persians drive from miles around to enjoy. Victoria talks of the many patrons who drive from far away to partake of her skills. She serves an amazing variety of dishes.

The four of us, including Shirazi born good friend Iranian-American Massoud (AKA Max) agreed we would let him order an appetizer and four entrees which we would share family style. It was a great way to sample as many dishes as possible.

We started with the sampler appetizer which consisted of two eggplant based dishes, mirza ghasemi and kashk bademjon plus a delicious hummus. They were served with a basket of a delicious fresh bread. The mirza was my favorite, with a wonderful tartness from the tomatoes. We also had tahdig as an appetizer, the famous, unique and wonderful Persian rice dish that has a layer of browned crunchy rice on top.

The four dishes Max decided on included three meat dishes and a vegetable stew, gormeh sabzi. All were superb. The lamb shank baghali polo was my favorite, with tender lamb accompanied by an incredible spiced Basmati rice. The koobideh beef kabab and the Soltani kabab were both delicious. Finally, the gormeh sabzi rounded things out by giving us a tasty vegetable dish.

Service was exceptional, with a friendly server and a visit from Victoria herself in spite of her very busy schedule. Restaurant work is very demanding and it is obvious she works very hard at it and it shows in the results. It was a real pleasure to enjoy such a delightful experience. Merci Victoria!

This is an authentic Persian restaurant. I found a missing link of food history while ordering from this place. I have always liked 'Baigan Ka Bharta', which is roasted eggplant dish from the western part of India; 'Mirza Ghassemi' (Persia) is very similar to that except less spices and heavy in tomato. Baba Ghanoush (Syria, Lebanon etc.) is very similar except no spices but tahini. Meltitzanosalata (Greece) is also very similar except way more citrus, olives and olive oil. This must be exchanged during Indo-Greek trade circa 100BC-10AD. Please take a look at my photo for geography of roasted egg plant dish. I also tried Ash Reshteh, which had noodles, beans, lentil and spinach in chicken broth. The bread was typical Persian style bread with sesame on top. Overall I loved this place and will definitely repeat.

From the outside, Caspian isn't much to look at. It's on a pretty dreary stretch of Cleveland Avenue, and the former gyro location has seen better days. It took us a while to find the front door, located across from the angle-in parking spaces, which actually faces the rear of the property (see my photos if you need help).

Your perseverance will pay dividends, however. The interior is warm and homey, particularly on a cold winter day. And the food is excellent. We ordered a number of dishes, but two things stood out for me.

The daily special was a pomegranate soup, a hearty soup of beans and stock with the unique citrus sharpness of pomegranate molasses. We've had a lot of soup in our time, but I don't think we've had anything quite like this. It was a unique flavor profile, but also just really tasty.

My entree was the baghali polo (Persian dill rice) with lamb shank, which just about left me speechless. I have a definite weakness for lamb shank, and I've had just about every rendition to be found in C'bus. This one really blew me away. A tender shank of lamb braised in spices, and accompanied with a generous helping of rice spiced with dill and lima beans. I would go back to Caspian just for this dish alone.

So definitely give these folks a try. Don't let the odd location, or elusive front door, dissuade you. Food this good is worth the trouble.