Most people are already aware of the Conflict Kitchen concept (of serving food from places the United States are in conflict with). It has received lots of praise and I understand why. The menu rotates and great care is taken to understand the country represented and its people and politics. Equal care is taken to reach out to said community in order to make sure the food offered is authentic.
I stopped by with a friend on a cold winter's day when the country represented was Iran. The menu wasn't as intimdating as I thought it would be, though we ordered food by the description because we didn't want to butcher the language. We ordered a bit of everything to share: Kookoo Sibzamini (pan-fried potato and onion patties served with rice, herbs tomato and onion), Kabab-E Kubideh (ground beef and lamb kabob served with rice), Salad-E Adas (lentil salad). I also noticed that they offered hot black tea with purchase. It was freezing and we had to wait for our food but they would only give us one hot tea because we ordered all our food together. And we had to ask for it, they didn't just offer it to everyone. I was rather annoyed by this at the time. And even more so once we got home with our food.
The food was not as flavorful as I expected it to be. Even when the rice was eaten together with the herbs, tomatoes and onions it was still bland. The kabobs weren't chunks of meat like I expected. I also felt the portions were small when considering the price. My favorite thing, surprisingly, was the lentil salad.
Conflict Kitchen has a great location in Schenley Plaza. Maybe I'll go back when the menu and weather has changed and I can enjoy my meal outside. This first time around, though, I just wasn't impressed based on all the hype.
The concept definitely gets 5 stars. The menu itself gets 4 stars. The execution brings it down to 3 stars. But not offering that extra hot tea on a cold winter's day? I'll give it another try when there is a new menu available but I won't update my review unless the next experience is an improvement.