WTN: Rhone, Malbec, and sparkling Loire at Persian restaura

Last night we made a last minute to decision to join some friends at a local Persian restaurant. Dave went with us, and we enjoyed hummus, spinach and yogurt, & eggplant appetizers. I had a couple of type of beef kebabs (steak and seasoned ground meat ), other enjoyed other kebabs (and one person had lamb shanks). Place is BYO, and we enjoyed:

NV Pinon Touraine rose
I just love this stuff. Strawberry and cranberries, a nice bitter edge over fairly fruit, moderate mousse, good body, length. Goes quickly. B+/A-

2006 Texier Cotes du Rhone Brezeme
Step back, I'm here to hype this. A seriously good value. Ripe black fruit that pleases my fruithound friend, peppert spice, good acids. Juicy, lively, excellent Syrah for level. B++

2006 Norton Reserva Malbec
Fairly big tannins, oaky, somewhat clunky dark fruit. Others really liked it. B-/C+

Nice food, great company, hilariously poor service.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

...hilariously poor service.

Hi Dale - I have not any of the wines your mentioned but I love your positive attitude on the service.

So, on the service, are we talking Manuel from Fawlty Towers??!!

Well, Basil wasn't hitting him.

Let's see:
As we enter we told owner reservation name, he glances at screen (21 flat) checks OT, points at 2 5 tops says "your choice" Goes back to staring at screen. Stayed there all night, I checked mirror behind him, just surfing web (CNN, etc)

About 5 minutes later, Ron and Nancy arrived. Waiter brought over 5 menus, set on table (not a word). I went ahead and opened my bubbly and CdR. Couple minutes later, waiter brings over 5 glasses. Puts one in front of Dave, one in front of me, two in front of Ron (one upside down), one in front of Betsy (upside down). Ron gave Nancy one. I flagged waiter,asked for water. He brings 5 glasses of ice water from station in far back (we're in front window)- 2 glasses, 2 glasses, 1 glass. Took about 6-8 minutes. He tries to leave but I say loudly "we'd like to order now". And so on (all orders placed in front of wrong people, etc). Hey,the place is pretty cheap and food pretty good. With no corkage fee it becomes funny- would be irritating at more expensive place. We still tipped about 25%, who cares at those prices. To be fair, I think the waiter's English was very limited. But the funniest thing was the 3 trips to bring 5 waters

Mmm, that Texier sounds delicious.

What was the Persian place you went to? Regardless of service it sounds like the place I'd love to visit the next time I'm around the Waterbury or White Plains area - kebabs and byo.

Salil, good not great. If you were in White Plains and wanted a bargain dinner with BYO, it would work. Waterbury? Probably an hour and a half drive!

Oops - got my geography very badly mixed up. (And I've only been out of the country six weeks, sheesh.)