*This is part of a series of restaurant reviews we are doing in anticipation of Michelin coming to Atlanta. We have been to several Michelin restaurants around the world (nothing in the US yet), so we consider ourselves somewhat of a Michelin snob. Michelin publishes their official criteria of earning a star (or stars), which are the 5 tenets. We won’t discuss those tenets here because we do not believe Delbar is a Michelin “star” type of restaurant, however, we strongly believe that Delbar is a great candidate for a Michelin “baby star”, the Bib Gourmand.

Delbar is a Middle Eastern restaurant chain currently with 2 locations and another one on the way. Being a restaurant chain does not exclude it from getting a Michelin star but the award will be location specific. We visited the Alpharetta location since this one is closer to home. This location just opened on May 10th of this year, while their Inman Park location has been serving customers since 2020. Delbar features authentic Middle Eastern cuisine, featuring dishes from Chef Fares Kargar’s childhood days in Iran. Delbar means “heart, captured” in Farsi.

Unlike the other restaurants we’ve tried so far, Delbar doesn’t have a tasting menu or Chef’s Table. Instead, you can order from a variety of dishes and sharing is encouraged. We got the following food and drinks:

Complimentary:

Sabzi khordan

Sabzi khordan is a common side dish served at Persian restaurants. It can be any combination of herbs with fresh and raw vegetables. Also with the sabzi khordan, we were served lavash bread. This course is free and even has free refills. I love eating radishes and herbs like this, but I wasn’t a huge fan of raw walnuts. I like my walnuts crispy. The bread was absolutely delicious.

Cocktail

Saudi Money

Delbar had some great sounding cocktails on the menu, with many ingredients and spices imported from Iran and nearby regions. The Saudi Money is made with bourbon, amaro, tart cherry and lime. The result was a tasty, fancy cocktail that we fought over.

Mazze (Appetizers)

Adana Bite

Adana Bite is made with Adana Kebab on a taftoun bread, with Zhoug sauce and spicy tahina. This was cut into 3 pieces and it was so good.

Greens & Grains

Sabzi Polo

The Greens & Grains section had many choices of “polo”, which the server explained to us is rice. It was hard to imagine paying $12 for “rice” but the server strongly recommended Sabzi Polo so we gave it a try. This was not any rice dish I had ever seen before. The serving size was large and it had A LOT going on! The basmati rice was scorched to a crisp (tahdig) and it had scallions, parsley, cilantro and fenugreek in it. This was a very nice dish that I have never come close to having before.

Grilled Vegetables

The grilled vegetables were super tasty and came with cauliflower, endives, onions and peppers. Even though it tasted good, I didn’t like how burned the veggies were.

Meats

Chinjeh

Chinjeh is made with prime beef sirloin, saffron, onion, and yogurt marinade. It was very tender and tasty.

Whole Stuffed Branzino

The whole stuffed branzino came fileted, with a paste inside the fish made with pomegranate, walnut, shallot and herbs. It’s so different from how I’ve ever had fish. Because of the pomegranate, the filling was rather sweet. It was good but so weird that I don’t think I would get it again.

Sweets

Bastani Nooni

Delbar has many dessert options on the menu. The server recommended Bastani Nooni which is a Persian ice cream sandwich. It’s made with crispy vanilla wafers and pistachio rose water crumble. The rose water gives the sandwich a very floral taste and smell. Like the other dishes, this is quite different from desserts I’m used to, but it was very very good and the size was larger than I expected – definitely enough for sharing.

Conclusion

Delbar encapsulates Chef Kargar’s life story, from learning how to cook and entertain family and friends at the age of 7 or 8, to running away from Iran to avoid the compulsory military duties at the age of 17. I consider myself to be a world traveler and familiar with world cuisine, but majority of the food on the menu are new to me. The food on Delbar’s menu are priced very reasonably and the cocktail menu and dessert menu are equally impressive. I strongly believe Delbar is a great candidate for a Bib Gourmand star.