Eating dinner with my wife at ZZ Kabob in Winchester last Sunday helped clarify something for me that I guess I’ve always kind of known; I don’t mind restaraunts where I pay a lot for really good food, and I don’t  mind restaraunts where I don’t pay much for mediocre food. What I really hate are restaraunts where I pay a lot for dismal food.

OK, so “a lot” is relative. Dinner for two at ZZ Kabob was about 25 bucks. Not much by big city standards but on the pricey side for WInchester fast food.

Both of us love kabobs and some of the best kabob places can be tucked away in the plainest of strip malls. ZZ Kabob fits the strip mall description (it’s tucked away between Starbucks and Sonic just east of I-81 on the north side of Route 7) but that’s where the comparison to “good food, plain digs” ends.

I ordered kubideh kabob (ground sirloin, onion and seasonings for $8.99) and my wife ordered the lamb kabob ($10.99). I guess that we should have been more careful in verifying our order with the Spanish-speaking staff serving food from behind the counter. When the food was delivered to our table my wife’s order was correct but I received the wrong meal. Instead of kuideh kabob I received the plain beef kabob instead. Since the food had been made to order (which I fugured was a good thing) it took about 15 minutes to prepare. Sending the food back would have caused several problems including a delay since my wife’s food had already been delivered. Plus, as we were the only two customers in the place at 5:30 p.m., I felt bad about wasting the food. I like beef kabobs anyway so it seemed like a minor inconvenience.

My beef (no pun intended) and my wife’s lamb shared several characteristics; tough, overly salted and dry. Although the meat was served on a large pile of basmati rice, the colors in ZZ Kabob’s basmati rice just weren’t characteristic of what has long been my favorite rice variety. Both my wife and I wondered if this basmati was a knock-off variety. The taste of the rice was unremarkable.

Kabob meals always come with some type of flat bread. Once again ZZ Kabob was a disappointment. The bread tasted (and looked) like it had been picked up across the street at Martins Grocery. It was, well, dry and tasteless.

It seems like “dry & tasteless” is becoming a theme in this review. Hmmm…

On the positive side, ZZ Kabob seemed very clean and the staff was friendly and courteous. I kind of wonder if my opinion would have been different if I had actually gotten the meal that I ordered. Unfortunately I’ll never know because I’ll never go back.

ZZ Kabob’s -161 Gateway Dr – Type:Mediterranean (540) 667-2022