A friend of ours recommended Karoun in Newtonville. We've never had Armenian food before so we decided to give it a shot. The restaurant was a weird kind of family dining place. There was live music and a dance floor. But thankfully no one was dancing.
I didn't find the menu too exciting. It was mostly kebab dishes. I don't know much about Armenian cuisine but I was certainly expecting something more exciting than kebabs? I mean the Greeks have kebabs, the middle eastern folk have kebabs, the turkish have kebabs, and now the armenians too? Yawn.
Anyway, Pacman got the lamb kebabs (can't go wrong with the house specialty) while I got the Pork Tenderloin Kebab. I tried to pick the most exotic sounding one (it wasn't that hard). Pork Tenderloins marinated in pomergrante juice. But alas, the dish itself didn't live up to my expectations. It wasn't awful, the meat was tender and it tasted good but I could probably have gotten something similar at some other Mediterranean restaurant.
Pork Tenderloin Kebab:
Oh wait before this became another boring meal, there appeared the belly dancer to the rescue. That was vaguely entertaining. Check out the video for yourself.
Karoun
839 Washington Street
Newton, MA
(617) 964-3400
Chomp Meter:
Neh probably won't go back. Karoun touts itself as an Armenian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurant. Reminds me of my pet peeve, restuarants that serve korean, japanese, and thai cuisine! To me that is a warning sign that the food there isn't authentic :p or the restaurant has lost it's way somehow ... but I'm hard to please.
