Shiraz Persian Cuisine

This restaurant is a bit on the pricey side. Their food is expensive but it’s worth it. I love tea so I will order the Persian chai. The rice and chicken is really good. I generally like spicy food but this food is not spicy at all. Also I really loved their cake. This place is definitely worth a try.

The highlight of an almost 100$ lunch for 2 was the Persian bread and it definitely should not be the case. The beef kababs were not great. Chicken kababs were ok. Had to order yogurt dip extra to make it all slightly better. Service - when asked for the high chair we were pointed at the direction where it is at. Enough said. Please note 20 percent gratuity is included. Will not return or recommend.

In a short time living in Boston, I have been in Shiraz restaurant a couple of time. My experience in almost the same every time. The food quality is good, not perfect. Comparing to American restaurants the portion is less and the price is high but overall I like it there.

You have not had great pizza until you've had persian pizza! The flavor is unmatched. That scene from The Goofey movie where the cheese oozed? This is that pizza. 10/10

The best restaurant in New England is this Shiraz restaurant, with the best quality and the most diverse delicious dishes. I always enjoyed their food and customer service, and I always celebrate the most important events of my life there; thank you to your professional team.

Excellent food and drink ! Absolutely loved the Kebob platter. It was our first time here. The waitress was nice and guided us well to make the right selection of order. The only downfall is, it is a bit expensive including mandatory 18% gratuity. However, considering the high quality Persian food, I am fine with it. I would definitely come back again !

An atmosphere with lighting that is gentle on the eyes and food that is stimulating to the tongue. Server was very knowledgeable about the food/menu. 👍👍

Do you enjoy eating delicious juicy Iranian food? This place will end all your hope in that avenue. We ordered aash, we were craving it so badly. We added on a mushroom Persian pizza and juje kabob. Was it what we ordered? No. The aash to-go lid was half open and it was spilled all over our other dishes. Poor us we didn't even get a refund. The mushroom pizza was one or half a slice of mushroom on each nasty slice full of mustard and cheese, no tomato sauce, and no appearance of beef. The juje (chicken) kabob was all burnt (just take a look at the picture!)- is their goal to give us all cancer instead of nourishment? I can now understand why I only hear bad things about this place by my friends. I have lots to warn them of as well, for their own safety. Why don't these people consider their customers as human beings with their own busy lives trying to care for other people, just trying to stay healthy and well fed? I don't think the staff at Shiraz can understand that. It's a disgusting twisted place that does not represent what they claim they are.

I recently visited the place again since i had an awesome experience last time. We ordered kashk bademjon, mast moosir and shiraz pizza. Also their taftoon bread to dip in the appetizers As always the food was fresh and delicious! The pizza tastes exactly how pizzas in iran tasted so that was very nostalgic!! Will happily visit again

I used to love Shiraz. But in the past few years it's like they've given up. The food tastes terrible, it's under seasoned, and overcooked. Like eating little bits of leather on top of pebbles of hard rice where everything uniformly tastes of soggy cardboard. This was my last time. Go anywhere else.

Ordered takeout. I got beef barg with steamed vegetables. It was terrible. Super sour, almost tasted pickled for some reason. I've had a lot of Persian food and this is not good Persian food. Waste of money.

Surprised to see so many low ratings here. The food is very solid and the service is sincere and polite. We got the joojeh king, a fried balsamic glazed Cornish hen, which was perfectly cooked. The khoresht e sabzi was also delicious. There were not many other diners, so it was quiet and serene.

The bread!!! Served warm and delicious! Cozy spot with lots of booths. Food was fresh and flavorful. The kebab plates can be served with rice or half salad. We will be back!

An atmosphere with lighting that is gentle on the eyes and food that is stimulating to the tongue. The server was very knowledgeable about the food/menu.

Great selection of kabobs. Service is excellent. Food arrived on time. Prices are great compared to other similar Iranian restaurants. Would 100% recommend this place.

Shiraz is fantastic. Great chicken barg, cute patio, kind service. And let's be very clear: anyone complaining about a mandatory 20% tip is out of touch with reality and part of a culture of self-centeredness here in the US. It's 2024. Prices are sky high and we all know it. Boston is one of the most expensive cities in the country, service workers rarely get benefits or make a living wage and depend on tips, and the job is physically and emotionally taxing - even more so in the face of dehumanizing garbage like the entitled complaining in the comments here. You want to be able to go out to eat? You want service? Pay for it. You want people to not get paid to do a hard job and treat you like a king? Get lost.

Just stay from this restaurant. Horrible management. Ok food. Will find numerous ways to charge you for things they made mistakes on. I promise you, the food is not worth it. Zero stars.

I'm not sure if he is the owner but I went to go pick. an online order and the stink said to go to the back door. There were two doors and I guess I pressed the button for the wrong one. He came out and yelled at me. It was an honest mistake and I get I went to the wrong door, but it definitely was scary to have this man yelling at me as i'm in some weird back door at 9 pm getting my food. food: It wasn't good. I got the lamb kabob and the beef koobideh. The rice and tomatoes were fine. The meat, however, was weirdly sweet and dry and tough. I was very disappointed and do not recommend this place.

The food is very good, and priced fairly. But I did not appreciate the AUTOMATIC 20% gratuity on our bill for just TWO people. I asked the young waitress if there was an upcharge for the specialty rice with our combo platter and she said NO, yet when the bill came there was an extra $4.50 added for it, along with a $3.00 charge for extra bread, I don't mind paying for these if they are legit, but I don't like surprises. Then, when the waitress brought the check back after running our credit card, she did not bring the ORIGINAL itemized bill, perhaps hoping we would be stupid enough to tip her again or on top of the amount that included a tip. (I find this to be a sleazy move, and even more so in places that add an automatic tip...) It just feels sneaky and it's a turn off.

The service was great. The food was great and came to table fast. Ms. Mahya was very courteous and knowledgeable about the menu.

Food was decent and the waiter was very nice. Parking can be tricky at this location would advise coming on a Sunday to since the meters are free.

Simply meh Food is super basic, the race seemed old, not recommended for the prices they are charging. Place is a 2.5 on best days.

Poor Food Quality + Rude Behavior = Shiraz Persian Cuisine I can call myself an expert when it comes to Persian Food and I should tell you that what they sell as "Kubideh" is anything but "Kubideh". OMG, just take a look at the posted pictures. DISGUSTING! I ordered 6 skewers of Kubideh and 5 skewers and half directly went to the garbage can (shamefully). I call the restaurant to discuss this with them and their behavior was very RUDE and DISRESPECTFUL!!! I ordered from this place for the first time (and last time for sure) to support a local business. 35$ was wasted but I will keep supporting local businesses, and you please do so. They need our support, especially, under this hard situation. However, this place failed on food quality and customer support miserably.

The service was great! I loved my waiter! Very attentive! And he deserved the mandatory 20% tip...but! I did enjoy the ambiance, the restaurant was beautiful!! drinks and food came out fast! I ordered the kashske bademjoon and Mast e muceer for appetizer! My mother did not like the burnt taste of the bademjoon and the sour taste of the yogurt but I liked it and ate it all! We are Persian by the way! Then the food came out! Combo plate of kubideh and barg! I can make better at home! Just like u go out for hamburger and fries??! Cuz u don't want to make it at home even tho u know u can! Sorry Shiraz! I make Better angus beef kabob than you! Is it really angus? Looks kinda yellow to me with all those fillers you are putting in there! Prolly some egg whites?? Lol..can't fool a cook! Don't insult Iranian cooks!! Well !! Guess what ? The 45 minute drive home I was in a lot of stomach pain and when I got home I threw up!!! My mother didn't get sick cuz she didn't eat the mast a mucir or kashke bademjoon... I did Next day I ate the meat and rice! And said to maman joon Let's see f I get sick!! Lol I didn't ! Should I try the leftover yogurt or eggplant dip? I want to know what caused the pain...but I will not go thru that pain again! At what expense?? I do not need to make a trip to the ER !! After spending $80 bucks for food and drinks! Guys!! Has anyone had this experience with there yogurt or eggplant dip? Beware!

The staff were very polite and put up with a lot. They deserve to be commemorated. The food was also very good, and they have a nice balance.

Stopped by this restaurant today and what a hidden gem !!!! Nice clean decor, and a beautiful patio. I must say the ambiance is def a 5 star, food is a plus. Will most definitely come back to Watertown just for SHIRAZ!!!

We dined at this venue on 11/6/22. When our invoice arrived it showed that the restaurant had automatically added an 18% gratuity. We paid by credit card. When the bill was processed we received a credit card receipt for signature showing the full total (that is, including the 18% tip) labeled "pre tip amount." The line under that was labeled tip and left blank for the customer to fill in...as if no tip had been previously made. The original bill was not returned for comparison. If we were not "on our toes", we would have ended up double tipping which I am sure many people have unwittingly done. This is an outrageous practice and should be ceased. I thus wrote to the owner expressing our concern. His excuse was that "after initiating this practice a few years ago (18%), we realized that most of our customers would like to tip more." " As for the wording "pre-tip total " there was no other choice given from our credit card processor system." Obviously the response is false on both counts. We urge anyone electing to dine here to carefully monitor your bill. In our case, we will never ever return here as the establishment, in our view, is just trying to rip off customers.

We decided to eat here mainly based on the nice photos on yelp. But the restaurant surprised us on so many levels during our dinner. The service was good, the server gave us our space to eat and chat and at the same time checked on us every now and then to see if we needed anything. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we saw a gentleman making fresh Persian bread and this is when we knew the food was going to be bomb digs. The ambiance is very homey and cozy and is perfect for friends, families or even a date night. To start of, I had the Persian Tea. It was so good with a nice flavor of cardamom. Then came along the freshly baked bread and it was amazing!! For food we ordered : -hummus : the only dish that was average -Mast-O-Khiar (yogurt, diced cucumber and mint): it was good, light and refreshing -Kashk-O-Bademjan(eggplant mixed with sautéed onion & garlic, topped w/ fried mint & creamy sauce): the dish was bomb dot com. It was such a great accompaniment to the bread and we pretty much cleaned the plate to an extent that they wouldn't have needed to wash it haha -Combo Platter (beef Kubideh, chicken Kubideh and combo of chicken Barg and beef Barg): the meats were juicy and well seasoned -Baghala Polo w/ Lamb Shanks: oh the lamb shanks were cooked to perfection and the sauce was heavenly -Persian icecream: saffron icecream with rosewater, match made in heaven -Chocolate Mousse Cake: decadent, airy and a perfect way to end the dinner. Cherry on the cake was the live music. The sound level was perfect where we could have a conversation yet enjoy the beautiful melodies. Cannot wait to go back!!!! Highly recommend!!!

By far this is the best Persian food in the area .Authentic dishes with real Persian spices . Highly recommend

Spectacular flavorful, juicy, and meal!! We had a bunch of different dishes: Baghala Polo with Lamb Shank Daily Khoresht Mirza Ghassemi Plate (eggplant!) Hummus with tandoor naan Chicken Barg Skewer Saffron Ice Cream Shiraz Persian Cuisine is a spectacular, small, local restaurant that harnesses authentic and well balanced flavor profiles reflecting a culture rarely seen in the Western World! I will definitely be back and am so fortunate to live around the corner. 5/5 10 stars! Well done and thank you!

One of my bests Iranian restaurant! Food is delicious and authentic. Service is great and ambiance is nice and cozy.

If I could, I would post a picture of a delicious meal, but we managed to eat every last morsel. Online timed delivery yielded perfectly made kubideh barg and rice so delightfully enhanced by (not over powered garlic) hummus and pita. Thank you for cooking tonight Shiraz! New entry: Oh dear, I logged in to Yelp to write this place a good review, only to see I have already written this place a good review. Today, we tried the smoked eggplant along with kubideh barg hummus pita. Perfection. During covid 19 keeping good clean food readily accessible is a true blessing. Thank you for cooking and delivery!

Food was delicious. Had the beef kubideh, lamb chops and the shirazi salad. All were very flavorful and cooked to perfection. Our server, Tiff, was great as well. Super friendly and attentive. Every time we needed something she was always there. We sat inside but they also have a great patio. Very spacious with heat lamps.

Good food, but cannot stand the mandatory TWENTY percent tip ... for any size party! Ridiculous. Plus, she didn't tell us ... tried to sneak it by in hopes we'd double tip. It's bad enough you do it, but at least have the courtesy to let us know? Food was good, but probably won't go back because I'm so perturbed.

Came for lunch on a Sunday with some friends. Place was completely empty which we didn't mind at all since it was quiet and felt like we had the entire place to ourselves. Started out with hummus and seasoned olives as appetizers which was easy to share with the group. Came with the house flatbread which was pretty good. I ordered the kish kabab which came with lamb, rice, grilled veggies, and salad. Presentation was great and the food tasted delicious. Others ordered similar dish except with different protein (beef or chicken). Heard that this place is as original as it gets but obviously I can't confirm or deny that since I don't know what authentic Persian cuisine is supposed to taste like. I thought the price was a little steep but you do get high quality food in return so I thought it was justified. Our waitress was very understanding and accommodated to our needs.

We went mid week for my daughters birthday, as per her request. It was delicious. Looking forward to going again!

The waitress was rude and acts like a bitch. She was racists. She did mistake by through water on the guest and even didn't say sorry. I don't recommend this restaurant for fun time .

I don't really get much of a chance to get dinner with a Yelp friend, much less a Yelp Gold Elite with the same seniority as I, so I was excited to grab dinner with one here. I expected some tight critique over this one. For an appetizer, we went for the mirza ghassemi, which is like a warm eggplant dip. I liked the robust and hearty flavor that came from the eggplant. It was rich and went well with bread. The cucumber side salad was tangy and fresh. My friend's chicken solani, which consisted a skewer of ground chicken kabob and chicken tender kabob, was a surprise to me. I tried the ground chicken kabob was flavored well but maybe too salty for some. Both kabobs were nicely grilled. Lastly, the rice with sweet and sour berries on top was actually good for this dish. I'm not really a fruity guy when it comes to my rice (hey, I'm Asian). However, it worked well with the strongly-savory kabobs. I've had experiences where ground beef/lamb kabobs would have a weird rubbery texture. This one here wasn't like that, as it tasted like ground beef. It was seasoned decently and had a grilled flavor. The decor is nice, with the combination of wood and some blue fixtures. Service was okay, but nothing amazing. (Thanks, Santi)

As a Persian, I don't recommend this place at all. The quality of food is nothing even close to what you'd expect for Persian cuisines. Koobideh was disgusting and tasted eggy.

Not bad. Try taftoon bread which was bomb with "Mirza- Ghasemi". The rice quality wasn't perfect and the glasses were smelly. Try persian pizza. It's a different experience compare to American pizza.

My first time at Shiraz was this Friday, and it was an amazing experience - seriously. Ambiance: there was live Persian music played by incredible musicians, and while a little loud, it was awesome! Service: the servers were really nice, very accommodating - and would go out of their way to help us. Food: Shiraz really delivered on the food. We started with the dolmeh and the hummus - and they were tasty incredible, and the pita was warm and delicious. We got the sultan for the main, and it was perfectly cooked. Would definitely suggest as a place to go - with anyone !

The restaurant was empty nobody was inside just a girl sitting at a table sewing something and on her phone. Not attentive at all. The food is over priced for what it's worth. The other Persian restaurant around the corner was packed and this one was totally empty. It explained a lot. Next time we'll wait for the other place This one was food that was heated in the microwave honestly the rice was hard and the meat had no flavor at all. Sorry but being in the restaurant industry and a Mediterranean restaurant owner I know what the food should taste like. Thank you but $29 for a plate that should be priced at $19.99 even that's aiming high honestly but I'll budge just because I feel bad for them. No service at all she just sat at the table in the back leaving the drink cups empty and not checking to see how everything is. Bad service.

Great food, very nice and accommodating staff. Been there twice now. Both times, great experience.

Food was okay the time to bring the food was reasonable. The taste didn't blow me away. I didn't appreciate getting our desert on a dirty table. They don't clean up after the meal. Who does that?

Definitely way more flavorful food than Sabzi. Great ambience, very friendly host. Their bread is great! Not sure what the bad reviews are about.

To summarize below: we were completely ignored for forty minutes and left without exchanging more than ten words with the staff. The restaurant at the time was well below half-capacity. I made a reservation for a dinner party of 4 last weekend, and twenty minutes after our arrival, we were squeezed into a corner table directly behind a busy table of eight. Not great, but ok. If that didn't make us feel burdensome, being ignored for *another* twenty minutes certainly did. No water. No offer to take drink, appetizer, or entree orders. No interaction at all. After scouring our menus and watching other tables finish their meals, laugh with servers, pay their bills, and leave without any urgency, we watched our server continue to ignore us as she spent the next few minutes clearing, cleaning, and resetting the tables next to us. We discreetly waved & smiled at her, and once or twice even made eye contact, but she would turn and walk away as if she didn't see us, or as if she wish she hadn't. It was bizarre, as if we had done something offensive. Mind you, we're a normal, polite, well-dressed bunch, but for some reason, I felt like Cletus Spuckler at the Russian Tea Room. Since we weren't in the mood to run after our server, we put on our coats and ran back into the cold, wicked hangry and anxious to find an alternative nearby. I give one star for the ambience - clean, warm, and pleasant - and a reluctant second star to consider the possibility that our negative experience was simple negligence. I don't like giving such poor reviews for small local business, especially for Persian food, since it's such a rare cuisine to find in Boston. In cold weather like this, hardly anything sounds better to me than a big bowl of fesenjan with tahdig, and I was anxious to see if the food at Shiraz even came close to rivaling my mom's. I guess I'll never find out! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I live right down the street from here, drove by many times, and today I decided to stop by for some apps and drinks. I walked in feeling a little odd, but I instantly felt welcome. The waitress Tiff offered me a table on their brand new patio, all I can say is wow. One of the nicest patio I've seen around town. Had a few glasses of wine, along with the hummus, Shiraz salad and their fresh made bread. Next time I will come by for a full meal most definitely.

After a beer and some music at Donohue's across the street, stopped in on a whim for some take out. Interior was attractive, and service was quick ( under 10 min) and friendly, but the food was just OK, nothing special, so I probably won't be rushing back. Dolmeh - Imported grape leaves stuffed with cooked rice, parsley, spring onion, mint & spices ($5.99) ~Small, and rather flavorless. Hummus - Chick peas pureed w/ tahini, garlic & lemon juice ($4.99) ~A moderate size container that was a tad on the thin side and not very flavorful. But it did come with an excess of pita bread, which was appreciated (don't you hate running out of bread before hummus?). Beef Kubideh - Two skewered seasoned ground beef grilled on open fire ($12.99) ~Two fairly sizable "sausages" (with an usual undulating ribbon-like shape, in contrast to the more usual hand shaped roll), well seasoned, and nicely grilled, served with a large amount of rice and a grilled whole tomato. Boneless Lamb Kabob - Boneless tender chunks of lamb marinated in special sauce, skewered and grilled on open fire ($18.99) ~Less meat than the Kubideh, but I liked this dish the best. Again, served with a lot of rice and a tomato. A group of older musicians was setting up as I waited (one clarinet, so perhaps jazz?), so presumably they offer live music on at least some nights of the week. Easy metered parking on the street ($0.50/hour; 2 hour limit).

They wanted to charge an extra fee because it was a religious holiday! Shouldn't you give a discount for holidays??! We almost walked out until the manager changed mind and said we can pay the regular price. I was too pissed to enjoy the food!

I will never EVER go back to this place again. This was my second time coming here and the only reason was because we spent 45 minutes getting lost because we couldn't find Lala Rokh since we're from out of town. We walked in at 9:30pm and there was no-one in the restaurant. They had no customers besides our group of three. We were seated and immediately after the waitress went into the kitchen we could hear someone screaming about why we were there so late. If you don't want to be open late, then change your business hours! The appetizer kashke bademjoon wasn't bad, but wasn't the best I've had either. We were so hungry from shopping all day that we just wanted food. The food came out quickly but for our appetizer we were shorted a bread. Two separate plates, two separate breads. It's just simple math. Our main courses came out quickly. I had the combo meat and chicken soltani, my friends had the kubideh and soltani. The barg wasn't bad, but again we were starving and not too critical. The kubideh, both chicken and red meat were not cooked all the way through. The insides were red/pinkesh and raw. I'm not sure how the cook likes his red ground meat, but we like ours cooked. We asked the waitress if she could have them cooked. She hesitated and went to ask, then proceeded to take our kabobs to the kitchen again. Five minutes later they were brought back out. This time they were burnt on the outside and still not cooked on the inside! Being annoyed and pissed off at their total incompetence, we asked to see the manager or owner. The owner, an arrogant and rude man, came out and asked us what the problem was. Then he tried to justify his undercooked meat as being normal and that's how all kubideh kabob is. Being Persian I told him that's absolute BS and he started to yell and fight with myself and my two other friends. Then at the end he said "that's what the food here at Shiraz is. If you don't like it, don't come back." We were shocked and outraged and actually contemplated calling the police because we didn't want to pay for this horrible meal. We asked for the check and they had included and 18% gratuity even though we were only a party of three. We asked why and they said it was 'restaurant policy'. Steer clear of this place. There are many other Persian restaurants to go to that don't have crappy food and atrocious customer service. Note to the owner: don't verbally assault your patrons, they won't come back.

My Persian boyfriend says this is his favorite Persian place in the Boston area. Each time I've gotten food from here the portions have been large and everything was cooked to perfection. Very flavorful

Dined here dined here for the first time tonight with on there new heated patio. Patio was beautiful and warm. Food excellent. Highly recommend the Lamb Shish kabobs. Waitress and owner very friendly.

This is one of our all time favorite spots to relax, take friends and family and celebrate family events with excellent Persian food. The atmosphere has always been cozy and welcoming, and now the owner, Mohammed, has created an outdoor space (COVID secure!) that is enchanting, beautiful and safe for families concerned about safety while eating out. Go and check it out! You won't be disappointed. The food, service and ambiance are all equally excellent. And, their signature drinks from their bar complement all their tasty dishes.

Delicious food, nice atmosphere, great service. Glad they have introduced an appetizer portion of the main dishes at a fair price. I wish they would hire an interior designer to redo the inside (furniture is a bit tacky for my taste) to make it to the top list of middle eastern restaurants in the Boston area.

I'll keep it simple. The food is AMAZING! The service, unparalleled. The owners make you feel at home, even during a pandemic! I look forward to comfortably dining "in restaurant" and encourage everyone to get the full Shiraz experience that way if possible. Also, give yourself a treat and experiment, especially with the rice! Who knew?

DO NOT EAT here. Food Poisoning. First, I ate here for the first time and last time on March 13,2022. I asked a friend to join me. She is a vegetarian and looked at the menu a head of time and said sure. WE were there on Sunday at 5;05p.m. I know this because I was excited to get there. When we walked in only 1 table was occupied by a father and child. We gave are order, the waitress states that they are out of the pork chops. My friends boyfriend had his heart set on that. I convinced him to go ahead with the lamb cabob plate. I ordered an appetizer, dolmeh. My friend ordered a soup. I also ordered the lamb shank for my main course. My meal came out 1st, instead of juice from the lamb the liquid around the meat appeared watered down. My friend who ordered a vegetarian plate, looks at it and tastes the veggies and says these were frozen. The easiest food to cook is a vegetable and your serving frozen veggies. After about 15 minutes about 5 other gentlemen come in. The father and child leave, I am giving you this information because another thing this restaurant does is it adds a tip in your bill. I always pay 20% or more. There's was set at 18%. The waitress took a while to get back to us every time. So speed ahead, the waitress is clearing our plates and says how is everything? I said my friend did not appreciate the frozen vegetables. And she says "do you want me to ask the chef to bring out some fresh veggies to go?" MY stomach started getting upset as I was leaving the parking lot, then I had to make my way to the bathroom through out the night. I texted my friend the next day and she said her stomach also had issues. I said what about your boyfriend, same. We all had different meals. Yet we all got sick. I am still having issues this morning. The only saving grace is that my plate came with rice. I spent 90.00$ which I dont have a problem spending. I ordered a 25.00 plate. I believe this restaurant cooks there food and freezes it and then defrost it to order. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY, TIME, Or stomach on this place.

good place, with room for improvement first the food. it was great. the kebab barg was delicious and well portioned, despite the protestations of the waitress, but we'll get to that. the menu has lots of choices without being overwhelming and other than slightly overcooking the meat, everything was prepared and plated appropriately (although it would have been nice if they had some white sauce) the service was kind of shitty and by far the only reason i couldn't give the place 4+ stars. the forced gratuity was ridiculous, and resulted in our waitress constantly trying to upsell us at every opportunity to increase her tip, which was annoying and patronizing. the water lady wasn't bad but she did ignore our table for most of the night so that's worth mentioning. all in all, i would definitely go back, but i'm not sure i'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't need to come here for dietary reasons, as it is one of the few truly halal spots in the boston area.