One of my favorite dining experiences since I've moved to LA. Staff were incredible. Food was off the charts. Dining was 10/10. Will be frequenting this place regularly. Also in a great location. Highly recommend Kismet to anyone looking for a great place. read more

Service was great and servers were very warm and friendly. The food was ok but serving sizes were small.

Delicious food, unpretentious service, nice variety, pleasant space. Friday night crowd was jumping with half the room headed to a concert at the Greek theater and the other half hitting the art gallery across the street. Though slammed the service was flawless. read more

Food is fantastic!! Service is excellent! (Lily is delightful and so efficient.) Great news: most items are Gluten-Free! Celiacs rejoice...Kismet is a safe (and delicious) haven! Any downside? Only one: the coffee from Canyon Coffee is terrible. The perfect restaurant experience should start well (lovely olives on your table) and should end well (flavorful and satisfying coffee.). Kismet fails at the end of the meal. Get the coffee right, and you are 5 BIG stars!!! read more

Sad to say our experience at Kismet was a bit of a let down. For months, my husband has been telling me he wanted to try this place and so I decided to treat him out to dinner this past weekend. Overall we found everything to be mediocre. At first, the service seemed great! The hostess was very friendly and sat us promptly. We were greeted by our waitress who took our drink order. And from there, it just went downhill. We never saw our waitress the whole night while we dined. A gentlemen (who I assume is the manager) I guess became our new waiter as he said 'I don't mind jumping in and helping my team so what would you like.' But unfortunately, when we needed something else, we had to wait while he stopped overly chatting with other tables to get his attention. There was one time that he came over because he wanted to change our plates, which we removed our silverware and held in our hands while new plates came. I think we held our silverware for 10 minutes when the the sweet hostess came over and said she would get us plates as someone must have forgotten. Now, moving on to the food. The food was good but it was not worth it at the prices they were set at. I mean the jeweled rice, which I believe is based on the Persian Tachin or Tagdig, is $15!!! There was nothing done to this rice that would justify it to be that pricey. I mean rice is one of the cheapest ingredients! Again, none of the food was memorable. Overall, the space is nice and open, service is not great, food is ok, and not the worth the price. If the prices were 50% less, then this restaurant would definitely be at least 4 stars. read more

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The staff here is very rude. I had reservations and came in to the restaurant and no one was up front. I waited for a few minutes and still no one acknowledged that we were there. I made my way to the back of the restaurant and politely asked where do we check in. The person gave me an annoyed look and said "We'll be right with you". So I went back to the front and waited another 5 minutes before someone came to seat us. It's now been 10 minutes past our reservation time. The waitress came once to get our orders and never saw her again. My date and I were finished eating for about 30 minutes and still was not given a check so I had to get up and ask staff for the check. The food was decent. Very overpriced for what you get. The fried cauliflower was delicious, but the Persian crispy rice was almost inedible. A nauseating amount of butter was used for it or something because it tasted like licking a stick of butter. read more

Food, service, and ambiance were excellent!

Delicious food and great ambience. The crispy rice is amazing. Can't believe the size of the chicken schnitzel read more

Kismet - Chicken schnitzel sandwich - Mediterranean Near Me - Los Angeles, California

Kismet from Turkish originally Qisma in Arabic meaning unavoidable destiny. Pretty heavy stuff for a restaurant to bear. The food here is mainly a modern interpretation from the Levant/Eastern Mediterranean. History reminds us that the Mediterranean also lapped along the shores of the Persian empire long ago. Small, long, clean minimalist space. Tables are pint-sized like at similar crowded Papilles so be prepared to shuffle the multiple dishes like the old school game of Tetris to fit it all in. Abby, our waitress, is friendly, responsive, thoughtful, low key humour but must be fleeting with an SRO full house to deal with. 1) Freekeh Fritters look like Fallafel, which are made of mashed chickpeas, but these are made from whole grain, young green durum wheat whose chaff is burned off. Outer thin layer is a dry, crisp, small grained "breading" while the inside is a moist, meaty fennel sausage Risotto like Freekeh. Sprinkling of a veil of dry white cheese chiffonade. Diced vinegar pickles & deep emerald, limey, chalky, fermented purée of green herbs. 2) Ripe, lush Avocado salad, salty puffed wild rice & fried crispy lentils in coconut vinaigrette that may include labneh & vanilla crowned w/ feathery, leathery greens. Exercise in contrasts: fatty, creamy, smooth, gritty, rough, sweet, sour. 3) Lemony Chicken & Pinenuts: A flaky, light phyllo millefeuille empanada enclosing moist diced chicken sweet citrus perfumed, trace of buttery pine nuts. Smear of hummus (whom moose). 4) Roasted dense, moist, touch gamey lamb belly au jus touched w/ sweet aromatic meyers lemon, semi chocolatey carob festooned w/ frisée lettuce & braised Tokyo turnips. 5) Jeweled Crispy Rice reminds me of Persian crispy golden Tahdig meaning bottom of the pot. Basmati style nonsticky, buttery rice w/ an ethereal, airy crunch. Topped w/ possibly nutty, crunchy sunflower seeds & small, dried currants. Raw egg yolk hidden underneath. 6) Crowning glory: Wabbit for Two (Was the bunny salt brined then sous-vided since the meat is so uniformly soft, smooth, moist, succulent, tender yet meaty & dense?) a) Stew of belly, whole chickpeas, onions, faint red due to brothy, acidic tomato. The jeweled rice was a perfect pairing. b) Brochette of loin & Mexican zucchini. c) Hind quarter sprinkled w/ black & white sesame seeds. Accompaniments: a) Wilted salad in mint vinaigrette & cilantro b) Crispy grilled, golden brown pita bread in olive oil c) Torshi/Persian salted pickles of Tokyo beets, carrots cucumber d) High cream Labneh like richer, thicker, more fermented Crème Fraîche. e) Tahine: puréed roasted sesame seeds & cumin for a touch of smokey bitterness, olive oil, sumac powder. f) Chile paste w/ lacquer, lipstick, horse radish like, piquant undertones. 1-6a) Citrus sharp, sweet lemonade, soupçon of rosewater paired w/ the meal. 7) Chocolate Crémeux/dark chocolate mousse, icy buttermilk granita, blackberries rounded out the great meal. Gabriel, General Manager, sharp eyed is everywhere to ensure service is great. He proactively & astutely steps in & helps when there is a need to keep a smooth running ship. Since super Yelpers Isobel L. & Kim T. inquired about the chef. Gabriel was generous in getting Sous Chef Julia to take a break & briefly meet us. She is a jewel who is kind, enthusastic, motivated in creating a rather fine tuned, exacting cuisine. Her passion shows. Thank you, Chef! 5 Yelp stars for great food and the warm, convivial hospitality. It was Kismet. read more

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Delicioso! Fair amount of food . Decent employees. That wedge salad ! Omgah ! That chili oil (mouth watering) Yessss go ! read more

not the proper temperature of food, the vibe was very much off and i found the servers rude and quiet appalling. I will not be returning here. read more

I love this place so much. I come to the east side regularly just to get it. It's really simple, but perfectly done. The balance of everything, sauces, textures, my mouth is watering just writing this. If I could live off Kismet, I would. Good job guys. Please don't ever leave. read more

Fantastic food, service, and ambiance. Everything my girlfriend and I ordered was fantastic. Compared to dinner at AOC a few weeks earlier, Kismet was better in all areas, especially value. Highly recommended, and would absolutely go back again to get deeper into their menu. read more

Always a favorite! Most delicious meal, perfect service, pretty ambience. I'll be back again and again.

The server was very knowledgeable and happy. This place definitely has a trendy vibe with loud, hip music. It's a bit difficult to have conversations, you need to speak up. The food is good. I really enjoyed the salmon and the cabbage. Most of everything else was drenched in oil--but that's the Mediterranean diet. They're very good at crunchy everything--crunchy bread, crispy rice, etc. I get the hype, though personally not a fan of eating that much oil. Cons: This place is not suitable for groups larger than 5. We had 7 in our group, and after waiting 20 minutes outside in the cold, we were shoved into a tiny booth that would sit 5 comfortably. Two of us had corners, and all the food and drinks were crammed. This made family style dining very difficult and messy. So, I don't recommend this place for larger parties. It's a very tiny restaurant -- and very busy one at that! read more

One Star is for the interior, it's a beautiful space, small but quaint, modern and simplistic. The other star is for the food, the Turkish Breakfast ($26) is a great dish to share with one or two people. The Polenta was also good, we really enjoyed that dish. I liked the iced Turkish coffee, as well as the milk bread with jam, I highly recommend that. The last star is for...the toast. What was lacking in my first experience here was any kind of friendly service. The waiting staff was too cool for school. All of the women that assisted us and everyone around us, not one smile, not one thank you. I kept making eye contact with the hostess who was across the room doing something else, taking her time to seat myself and my friend, as if she was dreading to help. What got more uncomfortable was people started to arrive behind us, and she felt zero urgency. There were a lot of empty tables around, but she took her sweet time to seat everyone. When she came to take our order she was very dry, and though she was cordial it was not genuine. We ordered a lot of food at our table and the bigger table next to us seemed to have more room. When we nicely asked the other waitress who had a shaved head, she meanly replied "NO, that's for bigger parties" and walked away. Like damn our bad for even asking! That same woman, gave us another dish that we didn't order, we said "sorry we didn't order that" she picked up quick with an attitude and said "OH", just super awkward. The last waitress who gave us our check, didn't say anything like thanks for coming, how was your meal, nothing, just dropped the check off. When she came to get it again with my card same thing, no words, and again. Kismet, if there's one major thing that needs work, please tell your staff that they need to remember that just because you automatically add a 20% service fee, that doesn't mean they can make your patrons feel like they're not wanted in your restaurant. No one is too cool, but apparently your staff seems to act that way. I'd love to come back, but I'd prefer enjoying your milk toast with a smile to go with it, because something small like that goes a long way for me. read more

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I think this restaurants only personally trait is being rude. It's getting old. Food was great. STAFF IS TERRIBLE. It's the third time we went and every time they are so rude and pretentious, they don't even try being polite. I think they hire the staff based on attitude. read more

The food was exquisite and the ambiance was top notch. The service was extraordinary. Highly recommend.

I'll start with the bad news first. We got there right as it opened with reservations and all, first ones in the restaurant, actually. I understood that there might be a little delay as they had just opened for the evening but it also seemed like this was a soft opening given the experience of the wait staff an hour passing before receiving our final dish. The first contact, the person who called us in to sit, was pretty rude and seemed like she was going through it. The water was room temperature but I guess that's a personal preference. None of the waitresses seemed to know what they were supposed to be doing and they never checked in on us. We had to initiate every contact or else we would probably still be there. The service was actually so poor for another table that they left without receiving their last dish. The good: The food was okay. Like 7/10. We got the crunchy rice, broccolini, chicken pies, and the meatballs. All of it was good. And the table that never got their dish before leaving in utter frustration had a cool baby which was entertaining. read more

First time we were little shocked by the patio size but the receptionist found the way to make us more comfortable! Appreciate her. The food was ok very traditional Hanukkah menu but more like European Jew style my girl said! But the weird thing is the name Kismet is old Turkish that means fate as my lady mentioned I've researched lil more it means Some other god's fate not our Almighty fate lmao! First beets salad was amazingly balanced and savory tangy and juicy enough to appetite , the Challah was pretty traditional . The chicken liver was quite bloody we had to return it. After that kugel was scrumptious soft and fluffy enough the latkes was little over fried but with trout roes and sour cream it was decent enough! I've very much excited and enjoyed the first Hanukkah meal with my lady! Also indoor dining room was cozy enough to enjoy the awesome Jewish meal I guess. Happy Hanukkah! This is why 5 stars but to be honest food was 3.5 but the service was 5 stars service. read more

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The food quality at Kismet was in the 4-5 star range with some decent dishes. The rest of the experience was 1-2 stars at best. - The restaurant seats parties of three at two tops that make the experience sitting near these very uncomfortable (especially during covid). - The portions are tiny and a complete joke. I have been to many small plates restaurants and this is significantly below the industry standard. These small portions came with high price tags which were not warranted. - The staff was rude. I would not return to Kismet. read more

First of all, the space is so beautiful. Very minimalistic, clean, and natural vibes. The staff are very friendly, and the food was great too. Best for a small group or a date. Walkins are welcome but reservations are recommended. My favorite dish is the little gems salad. Who knew that mint would work so well with pistachios? The Persian crispy rice was also fun to eat. Made of a crispy outer layer of golden rice topped with pumpkin seeds and currants that you break into to find softer buttery rice and egg yolk inside. Parking is street metered parking. read more

Right before coronavirus hit, I was lucky enough to dine at this gem of a place called Kismet. Wow wow wow!!!! This place is incredibly delicious and creative. From start to finish I was mesmerized by the cuisine. Basically get everything off the menu. For my drink, I got the rosewater lemonade. For food I got the freekeh fritters, fried cauliflower, cucumber & citrus salad, roasted black cod, Persian crispy rice and satins gold potatoes. For dessert we couldn't decide so we got the Meyer lemon tart and saffron tres leches cake. Seems like a lot of food for 3 people but honestly it wasn't. If I could I would order everything all over again. I don't think I've ever had Mediterranean food with such amazing twists to them. It was delicious. I never thought mixing cauliflower with yogurt would taste as amazing as it did. Or putting rosewater in lebneh would be good. Nor did I think I would love a buckwheat crust lemon tart. But honestly everything was delicious. The service is calm and cool. You don't get the smiles you're used to in LA restaurants but everything was done accordingly. We were quickly seated and even given an option as to where to sit. Also, the food comes all at once so the waiter insists on ordering everything all together. They're very helpful and don't make you over order. Reservations are kinda hard to get since the place is small so plan accordingly and go early because it's street parking. One thing that kinda confused us was the additional 20% service charge. They had a statement that read the service charge is to give employees a fair wage, so we were kind of confused if this was gratuity or if we should add gratuity. read more

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I'm honestly shocked Kismet has 3.5 stars and not higher. I completely understand why Resy chargers a fee per person due to last minute cancellations. My god, restaurants were severly hit during Covid, have a heart. Anyways..... I enjoyed my meal here on all levels; food, ambiance and service. In my opinion, everything is best shared so you can experience a number of dishes. Prices are moderate, it definetly isn't as steep as Bavel but not an inexpensive meal. For a party of 2 we ordered the following: 1. fried cauliflower 2. little gem salad 3. clams 4. chicken skewers 5. seeded bread 6. marinated feta 7. tahini 8. chocolate tarte 9. 1 glass of wine each My favorites included the fried cauliflower, marinated feta, tahini and the bread. I probably would take a vegetarian route next time. I wasn't overly impressed with my chicken skewers, for $19 it was severely lacking. It's literally just 2 skewers on a plate, that's it. I think they excel with the more vegetarian focused dishes. If I returned I'd repeat order the feta, tahini, cauliflower in addition to order the Morrocan carrots, Persian crispy rice and the beets. Dessert was subpar, too hard to cut. Honestly nothing special for a dessert. I was surprised there was not halva or baklava spin on dessert, this is a suggestion *hint hint.* I found service great, he offered suggestions and was attentive but not annoying. Ambiance is decent, nothing special but low key. Definetly make a reservation, we were here on a Tuesday at 6pm and this place gets PACKED! read more

I think this was solid, sometimes a little too salty and expensive, but I wouldn't be surprised if some Silverlake girl said it was her favorite place. Cute vibe. read more

I had a reservation for 7:30 PM as my husband and I were running errands in the area and finished early so we decided to eat early and arrived at 5:00 PM. We came into a rather empty restaurant with only three parties of two and empty tables abundant. We were told we could be accommodated early at the counter section, amongst a sea of empty tables which a little cramped but was fine as we understood there might be reservations for those seats already. Sitting down the interior is beautiful and very neutral tones are inviting and pleasant to the eye. Not overly trendy. A nice change. We ordered the fried cauliflower, olives, and labneh for starters and the black cod and the lamb belly for my main course. The best part of the meal was the fried cauliflower. Olives are just olives you can get from a jar in a store. Labneh - a yogurt based dip if you're not familiar was nice but bread costs extra if you order it does not come with the order of the dip which was odd to us. Asking for more bread also an extra charge. The black cod was cooked well, nice and flaky, but overwhelmed with the bitterness of the sauce and the greens. The lamb belly does not have much meat to it but also pleasant but nothing extremely memorable as well. Keep in mind that there is a 20 percent service charge which is automatically added to each bill. I've said this in other reviews and I'll say it again, I don't mind paying 20 percent gratuity as long as there is exemplary service but we were often forgotten as more parties came in and otherwise would've been forgotten if we didn't wave down a server. Overall, an un-memorable experience. read more

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Such a cozy place with a warm vibe. Everything was delicious, we tried and shared a few things. The marinated butter beans and marinated feta apps were so good, while the shrimp and trout dishes were exceptional. Our server Elenna gave great recommendations while being super attentive. I can't wait to go back. read more

Food, service, and ambiance were all 10/10! Every dish was cooked perfectly and all the sauces were so delicious! Highlights were the cauliflower with yoghurt sauce, the cod, spiced carrots, and crispy bread! Don't forget to save room for dessert read more

Had a wonderful dinner with friends here last night. Everything is shared style and we probably ordered too much, but sorry not sorry, cause everything was delicious. The cucumbers with melon, the fried cauliflower are what dreams are made of. The squid and the steak, were so tasty and you cannot forget the flakey bread (get all the sauces) and epic rice dish! Now I have a new place to order take out from, until I can return to have a proper dinner with friends! Thank you so much! read more

Hipsters go Med. What a gem in Silver Lake with delicious offerings from all over the Mediterranean. A tiny little knook on Sunset with simple and sleek decor but lots of flavor! I am very familiar with this type of food and have been eating it for most of my life so I appreciate a good modern twist to it. I had the freekeh fritters with a unique spinach purée sauce, the marinated feta which was more like a cheese and bread appetizer rather than a salad, the tahini spread with mushrooms, and finally the tadik crispy rice (no egg) that went perfectly with the spiced carrot dish. Wine selection was unimpressive but I will definitely be back to try more and especially get dessert next time around. read more

Kismet - Roasted spiced carrots & tadik rice without egg - Mediterranean Near Me - Los Angeles, California

1. We were party of three made reservation for dinner but got seated at a table in any restaurant in the world meant for two people. Communicated with the host the answer she gave us was "that's how we do things here". Fine let's squeeze in. 2. The waiter brought the three drinks we ordered, two were spilled across the tiny table and two of us got completely wet including me. The waiter apologized. We requested to move to a bigger table because obviously this table didn't work but we're told again we can sit at a different table but not a bigger table. Fine will make it work. 3. The host came over after we switched table and made a "joke" saying WE did that on purpose and brought over the spilt drink. She just dropped the half empty drink on the table without saying a word, not a "are you guys ok since our server spilled two drinks on you". Nothing! Ok. Disappointed at this point. 4. The so called family style is a joke. It's barely enough for one person never mind sharing. 5. A different waiter brought us the bill. The waiter spilled the drinks never showed he's face again. Never will we. read more

I'm so glad this place exists. I went last night and ordered the little gems salad, chicken skewers, and the Persian crispy price. I'm half Persian so I was excited for the rice and it blew my mind. They add yolk to the rice which wasn't bad at all! The chicken with the rice is the perfect combo! The salad was great too! Everything I tried was amazing, the waiter and host were amazing, the place was so cute and I love this place so much. I'll be back very very soon! read more

Love this place! Amazing service delicious food! Highly recommend. Great wine selection too

why is the staff so rude and cold :( I know people have off days, but quite literally every interaction we had with the staff was so disappointing. y'all - it's not hard to be kind and treat people with warmth, especially a group of people who came SUPER excited about this place. the energy here is so low, even though the food is delicious. this place needs to be saged and all employees need some reiki, praying for u read more

Even on a Monday night, you need to make a reservation! This place is that good! We were seated at 630pm and by the time we left it was full. I'm a piggy and jumped in to eat the first dishes so I don't have photos of the baby gem lettuce - so good! Who knew lettuce could be that amazing, topped with pistachios, mint, and some special kind of love. My friend says she thinks they put rose water on it. We also had the cucumber with a delicate melon. And I'm not usually a fan of cauliflower but this one had some kind of addictive umami that made me go, "Wow! This makes me really like cauliflower!" My friend loves the flaky bread. You can see in the 3 photos what else we dug into. Easy parking on a Monday night along Hollywood Blvd. Excellent choice for gluten free eaters and healthy foodies! read more

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Kismet was a fantastic experience start to finish. Warm, professional front of house, a unique combination of spices and flavorings on a diverse menu, intimacy, and perfect vibe. The chicken skewers are a must. read more

Ehhh, this place is overrated. To be honest the outdoor seating sucks- no heater and kinda far from actual restaurant. The food was OK. Nothing to rave home about. Crispy cauliflower fell flat as it was soft & let's be real every restaurant in America has crispy cauliflower on their menu right now. Crispy rice was bland and pretty much tasted like nothing. The shrimp was good but all the seasoning and flavor was cooked on the shell so once that came off there was no real seasoning. Lamb meatballs could have been skipped. Not really sure what the hype about this place is... read more

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This is my favorite restaurant in LA! The changing menu is always incredible and the ambiance is so calm and homey. Few restaurants in LA display seasonal local produce in such a thoughtful, creative yet simple manner. It feels like going to a dinner party at the home of an amazing cook. The waitstaff are always friendly and cool--a very eclectic & diverse group of people. A true oasis in this chaotic city! read more

Had dinner here last night with family, and it was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. We ordered the lime cashews, olives, cucumbers, fried cauliflower, crispy bread with tahini, tahdig, chicken skewers, pork collar, cod, squash, and carrots. Everything was exceptional. The standouts were the pork collar with the pear cabbage and the cucumber persimmon salad. Both were seasoned so beautifully I didn't want to stop eating. It was a truly delicious meal, perfect for a special night. Highly recommended if you like high quality food that tastes good. read more

Been wanting to try this place for a while. Hostess is awful. I asked to be reseated since our party of 3 was placed at a two top. She said it wasn't possible. After a drink was spilled in my lap and then another was knocked over on my husband we got up and were offered another table. The hostess came over and said to me "I think you did that on purpose". I'm standing in the middle of your restaurant looking like I pissed my pants and your response is to blame me so I can get a slightly larger table? She then proceeded to bring the knocked over and now half empty bottle over to our new table along with a torn napkin/rag for me to wipe myself down? Dinner was fine. Portions are tiny for "family style." The waiter maybe understandably stayed away from our table the rest of the night. We barely got a goodbye on our way out. read more