Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Woodfire Kabob Grill Breaks the Curse of the Old Elephant Bar Spot


Woodfire Kabob Grill
24155 Laguna Hills Mall #1055
Laguna Hills, CA 92653

I never thought I would be walking through this restaurant door again. The restaurant that houses Woodfire Kabob Grill in Laguna Hills used to be home to one of the worst restaurants I have ever been to, the Elephant Bar. The food there was so awful that I rated it as one of the ten worst restaurants two years in a row. I'm wondering how they still have seven locations in operation, but I'm just happy that OC has none left so we can be spared their awful cuisine. Sorry Torrance, you still have to avoid Elephant Bar. Good luck.

Another reason I was not sure I would be coming back to this address is the simple fact that the Laguna Hills Mall is all but a shell of its former self, and its existence is very much in doubt. It was going to be torn down and rebranded as the Five Lagunas, but that project has been suspended. They have recently been holding public meetings to decide what to do with this space, so everything is still pretty much up in the air.  Luckily, the restaurants surrounding the abandoned mall are still operating, for now, so we headed to Woodfire Kabob Grill to give them a try.

Woodfire Kabob has been in operation for close to half a year now, and with the uncertainty of their space, I'm not sure how long they will be here. Even with all of this uncertainty, Woodfire has garnered some very good reviews both online and in print media. Their Yelp rating is a mighty impressive four and a half stars with over 200 reviews. They have been featured in both the OC Weekly and the OC Register with glowing reviews for their Mediterranean cuisine. With praise like this, we quickly grabbed our new friends Mazi and Marita and headed to Woodfire on a recent Wednesday evening.

They have not done too much to the dining space of the old Elephant Bar. The restaurant is huge, with a tinge of a jungle theme running through it. There's a big bar in the front portion of the house, but with no liquor license, it's just wasted space now. The menu at Woodfire Kabob is full of kabobs predictably, but there are also other lesser-known Mediterranian specialties and appetizers, and for people that are not into this kind of food, there are even burgers, hot dogs, and chicken strip options. Prices for entrees range from $14 to $28 with some suggesting that plates are able to be shared between two people. No sharing for me this evening since I was pretty hungry, so let's see how everything turned out for the four of us.



Before we had even ordered, this plate and basket of bread were brought out to the table. From reading Edwin's always excellent restaurant reviews, I learned that this plate is called Noon Panir Sabzi, which translates to Bread Cheese Herbs, and is commonly eaten for breakfast in Iran. It is paired with a basket of lavash, which is thinner than pita, but still a great vessel to help you build your perfect wrap from the feta cheese, sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and walnuts. Be sure to check out Edwin's more comprehensive review in the OC Weekly by clicking here.



Whenever we are in a Mediterranian restaurant, Hummus ($5.99) is a must-order. This was a very solid version of one of our favorite dips. It was very smooth, with a slick of olive oil floating on top of it. It was not the most flavorful we have had, but I liked the subtleness of it. This also came with plenty of lavash to dip with.



Let's start the entree portion of the night with what I had, the Koobideh Combo Plate ($14.99). This came with one skewer of ground chicken and another one of ground beef. Think of it like a seasoned meatloaf in strip form. This was a good-sized plate that also came with roasted tomato, onion, and a big scoop of basmati rice. The meats were tender and the seasonings were on point. I actually saved half of this for lunch the next day and it was just as good. The rice was excellent and I liked mixing it with a little bit of the hummus in alternating forkfuls. I would have liked a little more in the way of the roasted veggies, but this ended up being one of the better Mediterranian plates I've had.


Mazi went with the Barg Kabob Plate ($21.99) for his main meal on this evening. At Woodfire they use tender filet mignon to create this delicious strip of meat, which Mazi was generous enough to share a slice of this with all of us. I'm going to be getting this on my next trip here. I was a little surprised it was not in chunks, but it did not affect the taste at all. Mazi has pretty much grown up on Mediterranean food, and he was pretty impressed with the meal he had here. High praise.


Katie kept the kabob train rolling with this Chicken Soltani Kabob Plate ($20.99). This combo plate included a ground chicken koobideh and a chicken kabob. Katie, much to her surprise enjoyed the ground chicken better than the regular chicken kabob. The seasoning on both was good, but the chunks of chicken were not as tender as she would have liked. The koobideh was moist and flavorful throughout. She loved the rice and roasted veggies as well. She would have liked a garlic sauce to go along with this, but it was not offered here.



Last but not least was Marita's selection this evening, the Fesenjoon Plate ($18.99). This was a walnut and pomegranate sauce with chicken breast. Kind of like a stew to me. The sauce was a little nuttier than I thought it would be, but it worked well with the chicken. Our major gripe with this, especially from Marita was that there was not too much in the way of chicken in this. Unlike the other meals we had up until this point, this one was skimpy in comparison. After she shared with the three of us, she was left with a couple of bites and then had to resort to picking off Mazi's plate. This ended up being the only hiccup of our evening at Woodfire.

I was pretty happy leaving Woodfire, something that I'm sure rarely happened when this used to be home to the Elephant Bar. It definitely never happened when I left this building before Woodfire opened up here. These were some of the best kabobs I have had in recent memory and I look forward to many more visits to Woodfire to explore more of their menu. Service was fine, as there were not a lot of people here, but our server was a little slow in checking back on us and with refills. Prices seemed more than fair, especially when you consider how much food you actually get, except for Marita's selection this evening. Even though their location is in peril, to say the least, we look forward to many more trips to Woodfire in the very near future.

Out of five mint juleps, (because it's the official cocktail of the Kentucky Derby and when the Laguna Hills Mall opened in 1973, Secretariat had the most dominant win in that race's long history, winning by 31 lengths) five being best to zero being worst, Woodfire Kabob Grill gets 3.5 mint juleps.

For more information about Woodfire Kabob Grill, head to their website here: https://woodfirekabob.com/

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