Absolutely amazing food, portions and service at a reasonable cost. The chicken shawarma is mind boggling good cannot recommend enough. Everything we got was delicious

My husband and I went here and had a great time conversing with the staff and trying Somali food for the first time. The food was so delicious and I couldn't stop eating even after I was full! Definitely would recommend!

A friends and I stopped in on a voyage to eat more internationally. Our first crack at Somalian food and it was A1. You have to go in here and leave behind your American standards.... You are given a styrofoam cup full of a delicious vegetable soup, pineapple juice and a banana, yes, a banana. The soup alone is worth a trip back. After staring around at other diners we realized the banana was to be eaten with the main dish. It really cools your mouth after using the spicy red sauce. We got the lamb dish and the goat dish, both were awesome! The one complaint we have is the flies. There are just too many options to get rid of the nuisance. Other than that, friendly service, good food, we'll be back.

On Saturday we decided to knock out the letter "D" in the alphabet challenge. I knew where we were going to go for this one from the start because I have wanted to go for YEARS. For lunch we made our way to Durbo which is a Somalilan restaurant on Cleveland Avenue and it was delicious. When you drive by Durbo (which I did twice before I found it) it doesn't look like much. It is just a brick house tucked back off of a busy road between 2 repair shops. The internet calls it Darbo but the sign out front says Durbo so that what I am calling it. On my third time past I pulled into the parking lot and called to see if they were allowing dine in. Once it was confirmed we headed in and grabbed a table in the corner of the empty dinning room. In a few mins someone popped out of the back and saw us sitting there so immediately brought us some menus. We started looking at the menu and next thing we know the server was back with 2 cups of a scalding hot cardamom tea. Less than a minute later he made his way back with a pitcher of pineapple juice and then just after that came back with cups of a broth style soup in a cup. Once we had all of these items he stopped to ask if we were ready to order. It is just the wife and I but we always order meals for the table instead of individually so we went with the goat curry and their house special, goat with rice. We had never had goat before so it was 100% a gamble but worse case there is always fast food on the way home. "When in Rome" and all that. When they brought our entrees out it took 3 trips to bring plates for us, 2 giant heaping plates of rice, and the entrees. This was clearly going to be WAY too much food but that is what trying new places is all about, right? Now lets talk about the quality of the items from start to finish since there are SO many things. The cardamom tea was very refreshing once it wasn't the temperature of the sun but neither my wife nor I are fans of cardamom so we set it aside. This was very clearly a personal taste as you can tell that it was a quality tea. The pineapple juice is absolutely something incredible that I had never had with a meal before. It managed to complement EVERY single aspect of the meal from start to finish. We ended up drinking the whole pitcher because it was SO good. I am not sure what it is cut with to make it so good but we tried picking up some pineapple juice from the store on the way home and it wasn't even in the ballpark of Durbo's. I thought that the tea was hot but the temperature that the soup was served showed that the tea was just childs play. It took me a solid 20 mins of stirring and blowing on it to get it to a reasonable temperature, at which point I destroyed it. The soup was a broth, that I am guessing was goat broth, with green peppers, onions, and bits of goat in it. I am not generally a soup fan but I would gladly eat this any day of the week. I want to tell you that I was very hesitant to try this place because my wife isn't generally a fan of curries and the spices of the African region. We started by trying the curry and she discovered that she didn't like this curry either. I went ahead and tried it over my rice and thought that it was a very quality curry but it was very tomato heavy curry and I am not a fan of that. This was another item where you could taste the quality but it didn't fit our personal tastes so we decided to split the goat with rice between us. After the wife not liking the curry I was pretty worried that she was going to hate everything and be mad about the decision. She took one bite of goat over the rice and her eyes widened, she looked up at me with giants eyes, and said "mmmmmmmm". I was so relieved that I can't express so I dug in. This meat was AMAZING. It was tender but still had substance. It had spices that I was not able to identify in the least but it made my mouth very happy. We decided that this was a great decision and we dug in. To speak to the meal sizes we were able to finish this one entree spplit in half between us. We had to box it up and we took it home and polished it off as a snack. When they brought us bananas with our silverwear I was a little confused but they told me to put it into my leftover rice when I was done and eat it as a dessert. It was such a great idea. It combines with the savory rice to be a very chill palate clenser and sweet at the end of the meal. We got all of this food and the experience for $29 plus tip. I am not sure that I have ever had a better value for my money at a restaurant before. Overall I would give this place a solid 9/10. If you can look past the dingy exterior and make it into the building then you will find an absolute delight of a restaurant. If you are looking for something different in Columbus then I highly suggest stopping by Durbo. You won't regret it.

So let me just start by saying the portions here are GENEROUS. And when I say generous, I mean generous. We ordered two meals to split between two people and I think we had 8 meals between the two of us. Anyways, the restaurant itself is super easy to miss. Its right off of Cleveland Ave and if you aren't familiar with the area, you can drive right past it without noticing. Google maps does help but if you're like me and have no idea what "on your left in 1000 feet means" then best to try and look out for the sign and be prepared to make a u-turn. There is a small parking lot out front but again, very easy to miss, especially in the dark. As it is still COVID times, I can't rate the interior dining experience. I do have to admit, it didn't seem like the nicest area but the best food always comes with a journey and a story. We parked, went inside and were greeted with a wide array of tantalizing scents. The staff was friendly and had our food ready for pick up. Basic COVID measures were in place, masks, social distancing, cleanliness. With our food they included soda and bananas, more on the bananas later. We also got a couple cups of soup, so protip, ask for soup if they have some! So we took this behemouth bag of food home and finally sat down to try it. I'll start with the soup, it was such a great flavor. Heavy on the goat/lamb flavor if you've ever had that but not in any overwhelming way. It was just so flavorful! The chicken kalankal also was just bursting with spices and was a great accompaniment to the yellow rice it came with. It was a very warm dish and very reminiscient of South Asian curries. The goat cubes were also delicious, fairly tender and again all those spices and sauce was very well soaked up by the rice. There are bones that come with the goat cubes so if you aren't used to eating things with bones, be careful cause there could be little pieces here and there. Overall, the food was amazing and I'll definitely be coming back to try more dishes in the future. So about those bananas. My friend and I, being ignorant, had no idea whether the bananas were dessert, appetizers, whatever so weren't really sure how they fit into the meal. However, I do have one friend who told me he eats bananas and rice so I tried a piece of the banana with the overall dish. It actually worked really well, the sweet creaminess of the banana balanced out some of the spices from the meat very well. Whether or not I did the right thing is up to y'alls interpretation. Anyway, this was a very long review but in summary, Darbo is a great restaurant to try if you want some flavor heavy food. Also ensure you come with an empty stomach cause you can eat a meal for days!

One of the perks of living in Columbus is amazing ethnic restaurants like this. All of their food was incredible. So after you order your meal they have an amazing broth soup and chai tea on a table close to the kitchen. Both are incredible and things you must try. They also bring out pineapple juice in pitchers and it was actually real juice with pulp in it! As for food I ended up getting the curry goat and my wife got the grilled goat. Incredible flavor. Huge portions. Watch out that the goat has chunks of bone in it. The meals come with a huge plate of rice and plantains. They make their own hot sauce as well...and yes it is deceptively spicy as it has a green and creamy color. And every meal is under 12 dollars. This place is a steal! The owner is very friendly and mentioned he's owned this place for 10 years and has had the same cook the entire time. Definitely a place we'll go back to!

Met fellow Yelper Arvid for dinner. He picked this place based on several glowing reviews (thanks Van!). It was close to seven, and we were the only seated patrons during our stay. However, there was a steady stream of call ahead/take out orders being picked up. Darbo's building, and location, is rather plain and nondescript, but I'm glad we looked past that. The combination of very flavorful, well cooked food and the excellent customer service were all right on par! Ali, the gentleman working when I arrived, was a sweetheart. Personable. Friendly. Accommodating. He sat us and gave us time to decide what dish to try. Yes, as other reviews have stated, he brought us out each a banana and pineapple juice to wet the palate. I was pumped to try some goat, so I picked their Curry Goat dish. Hugh ass portion of meat and veggies! The large plate of rice was the perfect accompaniment. No problems getting it not spicy. I also tried a bite of their Chicken Kalankal, which I loved the spices used in that entree, too!

Darbo is another gem of a restaurant that I would not have discovered on my own if it weren't for Yelp. So thank you Van S. for suggesting this wonderfully divey Somali restaurant. It's located in North Linden,on Cleveland Ave. right before Morse Rd. Not exactly the most prosperous area, but don't let the neighborhood or the restaurant's humble appearance dissuade you from dining here. Humble in appearance, but rich in flavor and hospitality - that's how I would describe Darbo. Alie (sp?), the restaurant's sole host, was extremely friendly, helpful and quick to offer food recommendations. He also kept our pineapple juice pitchers constantly refilled and even offered more rice for my entree. The excellent service combined with his infectious smile made for a wonderful dining experience. As far as the food goes, everything was delicious and portioned generously. I ordered the chicken kalankal, which came with a huge mound of Somali rice and a side salad. The chicken was well-seasoned with spices and super tender. It also had a bit of heat, which I really enjoyed. The rice was pillowy soft, long-grained and reminded me of biriyani with peas, carrots and corn mixed into it. I had a bite of my friend's curry goat, which was fall-off-the-bone tender and very delicious as well.