Diana's Classic Armenian Cuisine

What's it like?

One of our good friends is back in town for the holidays, so a group of us gathered for dinner; Megan is Armenian, and wanted to try out Diana's at the recommendation of the other couple that joined us.

The restaurant is small, but clean and cozy. On the wall, I noted a plaque recognizing it as the Best Armenian Restaurant by Fresno Magazine for 2006. Besides our party of six, only one other table was being used when we arrived (though there were only 10 or so available in the whole restaurant).

We started with hummus, which was good (very similar to what I make at home). The waitress—a teenager, and daughter of the owner—didn't know what draft beer is, so I ordered a Bass Ale, and Kim ordered a glass of house wine. For dinner, each couple split a kebab plate. Kim and I ordered chicken, which was par (not sure how you could mess it up, actually), but we sampled a bite of the lamb that another coupled ordered, and were quite impressed with how tender it was; I couldn't have eaten a full meal of the lamb, though, because of the salt. For dessert we tried baklava and a lighter cream-filled pastry, both of which were excellent.

I love the feel of the restaurant, and that it's family-owned, but if I'm not sure it justifed the drive (none of us live anywhere near Diana's). The food was good...not great, but definitely good. Maybe I'm just spoiled by Ara's cooking (which is right around the corner)! If we're in the area, though, I wouldn't mind stopping back in for dessert and hot Persian tea.