I was excited to try Azerbaijani food so I convinced hubby to take me to Kavkaz as soon as it opened so we wouldn't have to deal with the lunch crowd.
No hostess/waitress to greet us so we had to ask one of the cooks if we could seat ourselves. There's definitely a language barrier here, maybe that's why the wait staff were not very engaging with us and had a difficult time explaining the menu items. We sat ourselves at a comfy half booth and I grabbed one of the available pillows for my back. The place is nicely decorated and clean.
We glanced over the menu and decided on the following:
- Harcho soup - tomato based soup with meat, rice and fresh herbs. This was a delicious comforting soup.
- Quail kebab with potatoes - quail had good seasoning but was overcooked and chewy. The potato slices had good flavor but were oily.
- Bughlama with Lamb with a side salad - the lamb was tender and flavorful but it had a slightly slimy texture to it. The mixed greens salad had a light citrus vinaigrette dressing which was delicious!
- complimentary bread with pickles and pickled cabbage (I thought it was sauerkraut but the waitress said it wasn't) - nothing special especially since the bread wasn't even warm.
Once our food was dropped off we never saw our waitress again: there were two of them working and the restaurant was maybe a third full. We had to flag her down every time we needed something: water refills, to go boxes, the check (we had to ask for it twice). When the chef made his rounds, I notified him of the chewy and overcooked quail. He offered to replace my entree then started to explain that that's how it's suppose to be; I'm sorry but I just don't believe that.
One good thing that I learned is that I do enjoy the flavors of Azerbaijani food so I'm looking forward to my next encounter. I really wanted to give this place a higher rating but with food that's barely warm, chewy quail, slightly slimy lamb, the language barrier, and service that just does the minimum: I can only give Kavkaz two stars.