I visited Samarkand Cafe for their pilaf, and it was absolutely delicious--authentic Uzbek food full of flavor. I also loved their compote; it was refreshing and very tasty. The atmosphere is warm and cozy, with a beautiful traditional Uzbek-style interior that makes the experience feel even more authentic. If you're looking for real Uzbek cuisine, I definitely recommend this place. read more

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This place is a complete scam. The food they advertise and what you actually get are two totally different things. We ordered plov expecting the full dish shown in the picture, and instead got a pathetic pile of plain rice with a tiny piece of beef literally the size of my palm and one sad, undersized boiled egg that looked like a joke. Then we ordered lamb skewers and got ONE skewer, even though the picture clearly shows 4-5. It honestly feels like they're intentionally misleading people to squeeze more money out of them. To make it worse, we spoke to the manager about it, and all she did was say "sorry" without giving any real explanation or trying to fix the situation. Completely dismissive and unprofessional. We were so fed up that we ended up calling the cops because of how blatantly misleading this whole thing was. Portions are embarrassing, the advertising is deceptive, and the service is a joke. Avoid this place unless you want to feel ripped off. read more

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I hope they go out of business for serving myself and another raw- Completely raw salmon skewers. Weren't raw the first time there. What was worse. lol. The liar going in the back coming back to say they have no more and just didn't charge us. I bet they cook it more and give it to another customer. Dishonest and cannot cook properly. Been eating these for yrs. Never had a problem except on that day. I will not return. I work in same strip so I tell everyone. Now they won't even try it. lol lol. read more

Second time here. Unassuming from the outside but beautiful on the inside with delicious food!!! Great for parties as well, has party room & dance floor with high end decor. Enjoyed the Manti dumplings & rice with meat & kebab! read more

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We had an event in this restaurant. Our event ran about 30 minutes late. Rather than talking to an organizer and making some arrangements the owners turned off the light and called the police. No warning, no nothing. Just three policemen showing up. This is the best way I know to make sure your customers will never come back. read more

I should admit it looks like these people are trying to do their best, but here what it is. The setting is quite OK, clean and neat. Service: only one person can understand/speak English, but she is also the cook as well as the owner per my understanding, so communication is OK when the place is not too busy, but if it is busy it's a problem. However they all speak russian and Uzbek. As about food - I've been in Uzbekistan and I know what it should be like. What they serve is hardly represent the real dishes. Tandoori Samsa I've ordered was with beef as it stated on the menu, but very little onion. Originally it should have ~1/1 meat/onion, also meat should be lamb. In addition it should not be puff pastry which this was. The same time it was the best dish I've had in this place. I also ordered cheburek, the same story about beef, not lamb as it should be, but they say it on the menu. That meat should have a lot of liquid (like broth) inside this thing, but it was quite dry. It also was way overcooked, maybe that was the reason, I cannot say, but that cheburek was not very good. Manti that I attempted to order were frozen, I had to wait 40 min, so I ordered lamb kebob. That was a joke - the pieces were so small that they got dry before they were cooked. I should think better - for $15.99 it's not possible to make a good kebob even at home. My wife had Kazon kabob - meat was lamb, not beef as the menu said, but we think it was boiled, at least it tasted like that and small whole potato seemed to be deep fried separately, but definitely not roasted all together. After all it was not much $$, but quality was quite low (I can do better at home!). We're not going there again, that's for sure. read more

We came here per recommendation from our Uzbek friend since we've never tried Uzbeki cuisine before. As a first time cultural experience, the restaurant definitely delivered. The interior decor and table settings were banquet hall like and we definitely got what we were looking for! The host/server had very little English so we just had to point to various dishes and had a hard time getting much of his insights. Thankfully we had our friends' recommendations to try the Samarkand Plov (rice dish), Beef Kebabs, and Shurpa Soup. The additional Garden Salad we ordered was just a mix of chopped tomatoes and yellow peppers, nothing much more to it. The Plov and Shurpa were the unique Uzbeki experience that we were looking for. And the kebabs were well flavored but the portions were a little sparse. That being said, as an introduction to Uzebk food, we felt like we paid and received an authentic experience. During dinner time, there was a constant flow of dine in and takeout orders from customers who were conversing fluently with the host/server - the Samarkand Plov seemed to be the most consistently served dish. So the four stars are moreso because this felt like an authentic taste and atmosphere of Uzbekistan and so if that's what you're looking to experience, then I'd recommend Samarkand Cafe... but it definitely was a cultural experience first, culinary experience second. read more

Great place with delicious food! A friendly server Shakh helped with a menu selection. I would definitely recommend this restaurant! read more

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Love the food tasty and cooked properly. Communication is quite tough though. Gotten the order messed up a number of times Didn't matter everything is delicious. All you need is a translator and a phone number You can be reached at. If nothing else, keep cooking that good food! read more

We had a coupon for this cafe and have been passing it for a year, so we decided to give it a try. We were pleasantly surprised! The atmosphere is ok. There were several family parties going on and all the tables are spread out. We were seated immediately and Suraya, our waitress, was very polite. She greeted us with the knowledge that they had been very busy that day and because they make everything fresh, there were some thing that they did no longer have on the menu. She guided us with two appetizers: a puffed pastry filled with chunks of meat and onions that was excellent, and a plate of their well known dumplings that were superb. She guided us towards the kabobs (of which they have lamb, prime rib, sirloin, beef, chicken, salmon, and lamb). My husband picked the lamb and I picked the beef. She told us the kabobs take 15-20 minutes to cook. We appreicated that as well. The kabobs were excellent. They were served on a plate with pickled onions and french fries. They were perfect portions and we did not take anything home. We chose not to have tea or coffee after, but such a beverage is served in a China teapot with China cups. Every table gets several individual pots of coffee. Overall, it was an excellent experience. Suraya, who was one of 2 servers there, was as attentive as she could be (and kept appolgizng) for being 1 of 2 serves for all those tables! The beef was seasoned very well and was extremely tender. My husband's lamb kabob consisted of lamb short ribs with very little meat on them. He said he wouldn't order them again. The only complaint I have is that I ordered a dessert that was supposed to have Bavarian cream in it, more like a cream puff. The dessert I got was a roundish coffee cake with no Bavarian cream in it. I had pointed to what I wanted after Suraya told me what it was. Before we left, I went over to the dessert case and saw that the dessert I ordered was in the front of the tray and she had taken one from the back of the tray that had no whipped/Bavarian cream in it. That was a dissappointment and the dessert was fair. The prices are reasonable and range from $3.00- $22.99. Most of the main courses were $15.99. Everything is A La Carte. Other than that, we would highly recommend this restaurant as a Uzbekian experience. The food is hot, fresh, well seasoned and excellent. And make sure you ask for Suraya as she is pleasant, patient, and willing to explain the menu to foreigners like my husband and me! read more

The restaurant's interiors look nice and comfy. Music though is too loud, but this is an obvious feature of any former Soviet nation's restaurant. Back in the Soviet Union restaurant was considered a place for partying and having good time, not just eating. This is a mentality thing that's hard to change. It appeared to us that the personnel is very poorly trained. Our server didn't speak any English and his Russian was poor. Since none of us spoke any Uzbek, communication was difficult all along. The guy was just bringing over dishes and mounting them in the middle of the table without comments, leaving us to second-guess what is it and for whom. This restaurant doesn't know how to serve food. My Shurpo soup was tasty, however it contained 3 huge chunks of beef, so I had to ask for a knife (which was absent from the beginning) and a separate plate to handle the meat. This is not an appropriate way to serve soup. I am far from being an expert in every cousine, but I happen to know what Kebab means, and I am sure few tiny unchewable pieces of lamb don't constitute Kebab. Also french fries is hardly a suitable side dish, this is not McDonald's. Besides this 'kebab' was served on same plate (!) with my wive's meal, which is totally unacceptable. We are not coming back any time soon. If this place survives, it will be a surprise. read more

Beautiful decor and home style Uzbek meals. The Samarkand salad is delicious. Looking for something different? Give this family-owned business a chance read more