My friends and I went for the Ramadan Iftar Buffet. There was plenty of great and delicious food. The staff are all kind and very helpful. It’s a wonderful atmosphere to be in during Ramadan— to feel the Muslim community around you and hear the Athan. I highly recommend visiting during Ramadan and outside of it. The decor is exquisite and beautiful! #LAF Warmly, Layla
Aziza S.
The food was delicious! We had a variety of south Asian and Uyghur cuisine. Service was outstanding.
Boris W.
My wife and I ordered the Big Plate Dapanchi ($50) and a SAMSA ($6) to go. The total was $60 with tax. Here's my breakdown of the two dishes: SAMSA: for $6, I though the two piece SAMSA was definitely underwhelming in terms of portion. However, the taste was incredible. The drive home from the restaurant was exactly 20minutes. So for the SAMSA to taste incredible after a 20-minute wait is awesome. The pastry surrounding the meat was so good! The meat inside was okay I guess haha. I would definitely order this again just for the incredibly seasoned dough! 4.5/5. Big Plate Dapanchi: for $50, I thought the portion was on point! My wife and I ate exactly 1/3 of the portion for dinner and we were pretty satiated. As for the taste, I don't think it was that good. The potatoes, noodles, and green/red peppers definitely outperformed the white-meat chicken pieces. I thought the chicken was not flavorful enough. The flavors were abundant in the other ingredients in the dish. Maybe the chicken wasn't marinated over a long period of time. 3.5/5. I will definitely go back for an in-person experience of the two dishes as I think the dishes would probably fare better when eaten immediately.
Nora B.
Solid stir fry ! The deco is lovely and homey ambiance. They have a super diverse tea selection ... (15.01.22)
Tashi I.
I had this place when it first opened up and really liked it as it was super flavorful. But I just had it two days ago and it completely lacked any flavor. We got chicken & beef laghman but the noodles tasted like they were just boiled and thrown together without any seasonings. Had to recook it at home and was super disappointed.
Syed K.
This place is one of a kind. I did takeout and I didn't feel any diff in food after heating it up.
Julius D.
So, your first question, if you've never been here or had the cuisine before, is what is 'Uyghur'? Well, as to the people- they are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. They are one of China's 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities. The Uyghurs are recognized by the Chinese government as a regional minority and the titular people of Xinjiang. That's thanks to Wikipedia, which I corroborated with a couple of other searches because you know, the Internet. With that said, you might expect the cuisine to be somewhat like what we consider to be Chinese (which is in itself Americanized based on what we like as far as taste- if you've ever had authentic Chinese, you know how much it differs to what we Americans consider to be Chinese cuisine) but you'd be wrong. Firstly, it seems Uyghurs are more Arabic than Chinese, with some Russian thrown in there somewhere and the resulting cuisine is a good deal different than what you'd expect. Oh, you'll see things you recognize, like spring rolls (which I feel like is more a concession to our American taste and recognizability than being something they themselves eat, but I could be wrong) or samsa, which you may recognize as being similar to dumplings or bao- but the flavors are different. I'm no expert as I've been only once. A little background; before the pandemic, I had the good fortune to become part of a lunch group, diverse ethnic backgrounds, whose only purpose beside the camaraderie was to try different foods based on our collective tastes and experiences. One of the group, who has turned out to have the most suggestions for new places, suggested this one and we all agreed once we looked at the menu. Our Arab compatriots had a better handle on the menu and made suggestions based on individual tastes- you'll see a lot of what you'd see in a Middle Eastern or Indian establishment with things like hummus, falafel, naan and shakshukah. That last one is basically scrambled eggs but they are unlike any eggs I've ever tasted before- with tomatoes, parsely, onions and peppers it was incredibly delicious and nothing like a breakfast dish, at least, none that I'd ever had. The naan is also different from what I'm used to from Indian places; a little thicker (though they have a thinner, crispier variant as well). Everything on the menu is fresh and made to order; some items actually require a day in advance to order because of how it is made- like the lamb shank pot pie, probably to source the right cut of lamb and the time required to prepare it. I ordered the Uyghur chicken kebab because I felt like chicken that day and let me tell you, though my visit was over two years ago, I still remember it- very, very good. I ordered rice and naan to go with it, it was very tasty. Were it not for the pandemic, I'm sure we would have visited it several times over the last two years. If you ever find yourself in that neighborhood and want to try something tasty and new, you'd do well to pay this place a visit!
Casey T.
TLDR: The food was delicious, flavorful, and all the meat was incredibly tender. I'll be having dreams about this food for the next week. The hibiscus peach tea was a nice floral-fruity drink. It was slightly sweet and a little tangy. The SAMSA: A crispy, flaky crust that is so soft and moist on the inside. There was a creamy texture and something tasted slightly like cheese. The filling was so tender and it was bursting with savory goodness. The Lamb kebabs: Heavily seasoned in a good way and satisfyingly salty and savory! It has a very warm and whole flavor (does that make sense?) The somen: Tangy and powerful with hints of sesame. The crunch of the veggies complement the delicious, chewy noodles. I appreciate how they grab onto the sauce. The Goyro Laghman: has a gentler, subtler flavor than the somen. I tasted a cinnamon undertone. The noodles are just as chewy and yummy. The veggies go well and my dinner date was excited she got to eat wood-ear mushrooms:
Maggie C.
My friends and I were very excited to try Uyghur cuisine for the first time and Eerkin's did not disappoint! Our server was extremely welcoming and attentive. Highlights from the meal included the lamb kabob and the gambian soman but everything was delicious. The Tea Bar was a pleasant surprise; they had so many options honestly would come back just to try more! Overall 5 out of 5 excited to eat more of this cuisine~
The stir fried hand pulled noodles had a good texture but it was rather bland. The chicken and rice was also lacking flavor and seemed to be something that we could've made at home.
Gregori K.
Over priced and low quality food. Stopped in for take out order, ordered the fish kabobs, shrimp kabobs which both came with nothing but the kabobs, an order of babagnosh and 3 orders of nan, shrimp and fish over cooked and dry and the order came to $50 The shrimp was 5 shrimp nothing with it for $15.95. Fish was 4 tiny pieces of bite size salmon with nothing with it. This was our 2nd time going there we were not happy the first time but decided to give them another chance. We will not go back and suggest others go elsewhere.
Manda Currell
Omg, try it!
Tiffany Y.
tldr: The food uses pretty fresh ingredients! The taste is a little similar to Chinese food if you've never had Uyghur cuisine. Service is slow and basically non-existent unfortunately. My husband and I came on a Sunday afternoon. Restaurant was basically empty, and for some reason, the server wanted to seat us at the only table right next to the door. Unsure of his reasoning (was it because of how we were dressed?) but we found that very upsetting because it made it seem like we weren't welcomed. I'll chalk it up to bad training. Uyghur salad - was basically just carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, and green onion in soy sauce. Didn't taste much of the spices as advertised, although it was refreshing! Yellow cold noodles and lamb skewers - noodles were soft and over cooked, but refreshing and had a great spicy, vinegar sauce. Lamb skewers were a little dry but the flavor was good. Dapanchi - Chicken was dry but the noodles were chewy. Sauce was a little bland (maybe added too much water) but had an interesting flavor profile from the star anise. Service is alright - we came on a Sunday at 1pm with one guy serving/bussing. Seems maybe the employees here need training on running a restaurant and working efficiently. They were nice enough but really really slow. No one will check up on you and you'll have to flag them down, so don't come here if you're in a rush.
Darryl R
I heard about this place and was interested in trying Uyghur cuisine, which I have never had before. So, I opted for take-out one afternoon and was not disappointed. Being low-carb, I avoided the rice and noodle dishes (although they sounded really interesting), and got three lamb kebobs and the eggplant salad. The lamb was tender, flavorful using a unique mix of spices. Each $4 skewer had 8 cubes of lamb (about ¼ lb) so three was plenty. The eggplant salad ($9) was even better. The eggplant was tender and the other vegetables (scallions, etc.) crisp. The black vinegar-based sauce was a knock-out. Server and timeliness of service was excellent – the food was not sitting around, and I only had to wait a couple minutes for my order. The atmosphere was modern casual. This is not a fast food or fast casual place. The location was difficult to find (poor signage) and difficult to find parking in a small lot behind the restaurant (Quality=4, Service/Timeliness=5, Atmosphere=4, Value=4).
U love the food ?
My friends and I went for the Ramadan Iftar Buffet. There was plenty of great and delicious food. The staff are all kind and very helpful. It’s a wonderful atmosphere to be in during Ramadan— to feel the Muslim community around you and hear the Athan. I highly recommend visiting during Ramadan and outside of it. The decor is exquisite and beautiful! #LAF Warmly, Layla
The food was delicious! We had a variety of south Asian and Uyghur cuisine. Service was outstanding.
My wife and I ordered the Big Plate Dapanchi ($50) and a SAMSA ($6) to go. The total was $60 with tax. Here's my breakdown of the two dishes: SAMSA: for $6, I though the two piece SAMSA was definitely underwhelming in terms of portion. However, the taste was incredible. The drive home from the restaurant was exactly 20minutes. So for the SAMSA to taste incredible after a 20-minute wait is awesome. The pastry surrounding the meat was so good! The meat inside was okay I guess haha. I would definitely order this again just for the incredibly seasoned dough! 4.5/5. Big Plate Dapanchi: for $50, I thought the portion was on point! My wife and I ate exactly 1/3 of the portion for dinner and we were pretty satiated. As for the taste, I don't think it was that good. The potatoes, noodles, and green/red peppers definitely outperformed the white-meat chicken pieces. I thought the chicken was not flavorful enough. The flavors were abundant in the other ingredients in the dish. Maybe the chicken wasn't marinated over a long period of time. 3.5/5. I will definitely go back for an in-person experience of the two dishes as I think the dishes would probably fare better when eaten immediately.
Solid stir fry ! The deco is lovely and homey ambiance. They have a super diverse tea selection ... (15.01.22)
I had this place when it first opened up and really liked it as it was super flavorful. But I just had it two days ago and it completely lacked any flavor. We got chicken & beef laghman but the noodles tasted like they were just boiled and thrown together without any seasonings. Had to recook it at home and was super disappointed.
This place is one of a kind. I did takeout and I didn't feel any diff in food after heating it up.
So, your first question, if you've never been here or had the cuisine before, is what is 'Uyghur'? Well, as to the people- they are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. They are one of China's 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities. The Uyghurs are recognized by the Chinese government as a regional minority and the titular people of Xinjiang. That's thanks to Wikipedia, which I corroborated with a couple of other searches because you know, the Internet. With that said, you might expect the cuisine to be somewhat like what we consider to be Chinese (which is in itself Americanized based on what we like as far as taste- if you've ever had authentic Chinese, you know how much it differs to what we Americans consider to be Chinese cuisine) but you'd be wrong. Firstly, it seems Uyghurs are more Arabic than Chinese, with some Russian thrown in there somewhere and the resulting cuisine is a good deal different than what you'd expect. Oh, you'll see things you recognize, like spring rolls (which I feel like is more a concession to our American taste and recognizability than being something they themselves eat, but I could be wrong) or samsa, which you may recognize as being similar to dumplings or bao- but the flavors are different. I'm no expert as I've been only once. A little background; before the pandemic, I had the good fortune to become part of a lunch group, diverse ethnic backgrounds, whose only purpose beside the camaraderie was to try different foods based on our collective tastes and experiences. One of the group, who has turned out to have the most suggestions for new places, suggested this one and we all agreed once we looked at the menu. Our Arab compatriots had a better handle on the menu and made suggestions based on individual tastes- you'll see a lot of what you'd see in a Middle Eastern or Indian establishment with things like hummus, falafel, naan and shakshukah. That last one is basically scrambled eggs but they are unlike any eggs I've ever tasted before- with tomatoes, parsely, onions and peppers it was incredibly delicious and nothing like a breakfast dish, at least, none that I'd ever had. The naan is also different from what I'm used to from Indian places; a little thicker (though they have a thinner, crispier variant as well). Everything on the menu is fresh and made to order; some items actually require a day in advance to order because of how it is made- like the lamb shank pot pie, probably to source the right cut of lamb and the time required to prepare it. I ordered the Uyghur chicken kebab because I felt like chicken that day and let me tell you, though my visit was over two years ago, I still remember it- very, very good. I ordered rice and naan to go with it, it was very tasty. Were it not for the pandemic, I'm sure we would have visited it several times over the last two years. If you ever find yourself in that neighborhood and want to try something tasty and new, you'd do well to pay this place a visit!
TLDR: The food was delicious, flavorful, and all the meat was incredibly tender. I'll be having dreams about this food for the next week. The hibiscus peach tea was a nice floral-fruity drink. It was slightly sweet and a little tangy. The SAMSA: A crispy, flaky crust that is so soft and moist on the inside. There was a creamy texture and something tasted slightly like cheese. The filling was so tender and it was bursting with savory goodness. The Lamb kebabs: Heavily seasoned in a good way and satisfyingly salty and savory! It has a very warm and whole flavor (does that make sense?) The somen: Tangy and powerful with hints of sesame. The crunch of the veggies complement the delicious, chewy noodles. I appreciate how they grab onto the sauce. The Goyro Laghman: has a gentler, subtler flavor than the somen. I tasted a cinnamon undertone. The noodles are just as chewy and yummy. The veggies go well and my dinner date was excited she got to eat wood-ear mushrooms:
My friends and I were very excited to try Uyghur cuisine for the first time and Eerkin's did not disappoint! Our server was extremely welcoming and attentive. Highlights from the meal included the lamb kabob and the gambian soman but everything was delicious. The Tea Bar was a pleasant surprise; they had so many options honestly would come back just to try more! Overall 5 out of 5 excited to eat more of this cuisine~
Restaurantji Recommends
The stir fried hand pulled noodles had a good texture but it was rather bland. The chicken and rice was also lacking flavor and seemed to be something that we could've made at home.
Over priced and low quality food. Stopped in for take out order, ordered the fish kabobs, shrimp kabobs which both came with nothing but the kabobs, an order of babagnosh and 3 orders of nan, shrimp and fish over cooked and dry and the order came to $50 The shrimp was 5 shrimp nothing with it for $15.95. Fish was 4 tiny pieces of bite size salmon with nothing with it. This was our 2nd time going there we were not happy the first time but decided to give them another chance. We will not go back and suggest others go elsewhere.
Omg, try it!
tldr: The food uses pretty fresh ingredients! The taste is a little similar to Chinese food if you've never had Uyghur cuisine. Service is slow and basically non-existent unfortunately. My husband and I came on a Sunday afternoon. Restaurant was basically empty, and for some reason, the server wanted to seat us at the only table right next to the door. Unsure of his reasoning (was it because of how we were dressed?) but we found that very upsetting because it made it seem like we weren't welcomed. I'll chalk it up to bad training. Uyghur salad - was basically just carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, and green onion in soy sauce. Didn't taste much of the spices as advertised, although it was refreshing! Yellow cold noodles and lamb skewers - noodles were soft and over cooked, but refreshing and had a great spicy, vinegar sauce. Lamb skewers were a little dry but the flavor was good. Dapanchi - Chicken was dry but the noodles were chewy. Sauce was a little bland (maybe added too much water) but had an interesting flavor profile from the star anise. Service is alright - we came on a Sunday at 1pm with one guy serving/bussing. Seems maybe the employees here need training on running a restaurant and working efficiently. They were nice enough but really really slow. No one will check up on you and you'll have to flag them down, so don't come here if you're in a rush.
I heard about this place and was interested in trying Uyghur cuisine, which I have never had before. So, I opted for take-out one afternoon and was not disappointed. Being low-carb, I avoided the rice and noodle dishes (although they sounded really interesting), and got three lamb kebobs and the eggplant salad. The lamb was tender, flavorful using a unique mix of spices. Each $4 skewer had 8 cubes of lamb (about ¼ lb) so three was plenty. The eggplant salad ($9) was even better. The eggplant was tender and the other vegetables (scallions, etc.) crisp. The black vinegar-based sauce was a knock-out. Server and timeliness of service was excellent – the food was not sitting around, and I only had to wait a couple minutes for my order. The atmosphere was modern casual. This is not a fast food or fast casual place. The location was difficult to find (poor signage) and difficult to find parking in a small lot behind the restaurant (Quality=4, Service/Timeliness=5, Atmosphere=4, Value=4).