First Taste: Ravi Kabob House

"I don't know what the hell is going on here" whispered my roommate to me as we tried to make sense of the madness that is any given evening at Ravi Kabob House in Arlington.



Just one of the neon lit storefronts in an ambiguous strip mall on Glebe Road, this might be the last place you'd look, or expect to find a good solid meal.

But the crowds are often wrong, and you'll find them here. Meeting up with Emac (a friend and former co-worker of mine), we went right to work in trying to figure out what to get.

The menu is fairly limited, but in the good kind of way. Odds are, you're going to get some sort of protein (either chicken, beef or lamb) and rice with chickpeas, or you'll get one of the three kinds of karahi.

The three of us decided on kabobs, and were not disappointed.

The lamb that I got was very tender and seasoned very well. The real star of the meal for me though was the rice and chickpeas. The rice was sweet and the chickpeas had a bit of a kick to them, and went very well with the lamb.



Emac and Barss (the roommate) both got the chicken, which, again, like the lamb, was well flavored - just enough spice and heat to notice, but not to overwhelm the chicken - and very tender - enough to cut with a plastic knife.



Accompanying the dishes are fresh made flat bread which goes perfectly with the kabobs, and a yogurt sauce which is deceptively hot.

Ravi isn't without its faults though. It's cash only (which is a problem for a guy like me who never has cash), and the service is painfully slow at times (which I'm willing to endure for freshly made food). But when it comes down to it, Ravi Kabob House, with all of its madness, fighting through the crowds of people, is a steal, and will make it onto my list of go-to places.