On a recent lunch with co-workers, they voted for a new-to-us spot for lunch. On Fridays I give everyone two choices for lunch spots and the most votes win. I never place an actual vote since I choose the spots but I was happy to see the “new is better!” mantra come into play. Yay for my co-workers! We ended up hitting this spot in Carmel Valley called the Kabob Lounge. We don’t usually ever go north for lunch so it felt like we were going “far” away from the office. In reality it was only a few miles away, just north of Sorrento Valley. Funny how going in a different direction makes your mind think you’re “going far”.
The Kabob Lounge is located off El Camino Real, not too far from the I-5. It’s in a little office park area with solar panel covered parking. There’s a sushi place next door to the Kabob Lounge called Ken Sushi Workshop.
This is a walk-up and place your order spot. There was plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. It was stupid hot that day so we choose to sit indoors. Luckily there was enough room for all 8 of us.
There were lots of appetizers and salads to choose from as well as burgers (beef or chicken) along with kabobs. (See full menu here). I decided to go with an entree. First you choose a kabob, then your rice, and then your greens.
[ground sirloin kabob with sabzi polo and house salad / $9 + $1.50 for the fancy rice]
I picked the ground sirloin kabob with sabzi polo (a Persian herb rice pilaf) and a house salad. I really liked that there were other options for your sides to customize your meal. The sabzi polo cost me an extra $1.50 but I didn’t mind. The herbs in the rice made it much more flavorful to me and I really enjoyed it. The house salad tasted fresh with nice cubes of tomatoes, red onion, cucumbers, leafy greens and a nice slighty tangy dressing.
The sirloin was incredibly juicy and the meat was quite tender and well seasoned. I loved the bit of char that was on the edges of the meat. Everything was fabulous and tasted great – it’ll definitely be on my revisit list in the future so I can talk about some of their other offerings. I’m interested in trying a few of their chicken dishes, such as the Chicken Tandoori Kabob or the Cornish Kabob – yum!
Kabob Lounge
11375 El Camino Real #170
San Diego, CA 92130
(858) 720-6600
11:00AM – 9:00PM Daily
I’ve been wanting to come here (I have a free appetizer or something coupon). Stupid hot is probably the best description of the weather that week. Did they have nice a/c inside the restaurant?
i think i have a coupon for here too! it’s in a big pile of papers on my desk that needs to be sorted. i love kebab dishes but they aren’t a ‘cheap’ lunch at $10+ per plate. i typically enjoy the beef kebabs but the chicken ones seem to vary the most… i always hope for JUICY chicken which is harder with chicken breast meat…
Usually I manage to just eat half and save it for another meal! Too bad the salad wouldn’t really last though with the dressing still on (though you could get the dressing on the side). I avoid getting chicken breast when going out, a lot of places tend to overcook it sadly. I’ll have to go try the chicken and report back!
My only hope is that we get 60’s weather soon. And that it stays that way for awhile! Please, no more 90+ days, uggggh. The a/c was nice. Was the coupon in one of those mailers? Man, maybe I should actually look at those things.
I wish I had willing and adventurous co-workers who would be open to MY lunch choices, haha. But it’s kind of boring down where we are. If I worked up in Mira Mesa, I would go nuts becuase of all the awesome eatery/restaurant choices up there.
Those kabobs look so good…I still remember our food from Ariana Market. We should go back and try their other stuff.
Some days I feel like we’ve been everywhere, but new spots keep popping up! We have a good area to choose from at least! I went back to Ariana not too long ago and got what you had ordered, it was really good. I’ll have to explore the menu a bit more. If you ever have time to visit me for lunch, I’ll take you to Supernatural, it’s pretty close to my work!
Yes, definitely. My next break is the week of Thanksgiving. Let’s do it!
Hooray! Sounds like a plan!