Bay area has too many Afghan restaurants, but the food & service at this Afghan restaurants beats…read morethem all! I am from Afghanistan and I love & eat Afghan food every chance I get. I know how authentic Afghan food should taste like, THIS IS IT! The leek bolaani, the pumpkin bolani, manto, ashak, sabzi chaloo and qabli palow with lamb shank are some of the bests that I have tried. If I could, I would be here everyday! Love it!

We've been coming to Zalla Kabob House since the days when they were located in the old livery in…read moreDanville. My father passed away last week, and in Afghan culture you normally host family and friends day one. We needed catered food for around 50-60 people on very short notice. Even though Zalla was already catering a wedding, they still made sure to accommodate our large order. They delivered 7 different dishes to the house, handled the setup, and helped make a very difficult time easier for our family. After my father's burial, we hosted a Khatm-e-Quran at Ruby Event Center in Livermore and again asked Zalla to cater, this time for 250 people. Once again, they came through for us. Every guest commented on how delicious the food was. Between the white rice, the shola, the kabobs, and the desserts, everything was excellent. More importantly, the compassion, professionalism, and service their team showed our family meant a lot to us during a very hard week. We truly appreciate everything Zalla and their staff did for us.

Still our favorite Afghan place in the Tri-Valley. Nothing fancy but always freshly and flavorfully…read moreprepared. Pricing are going up everywhere but Kabul Kebab has somehow become a pretty decent value! Ordered 3 dishes for 3 adults and it was more than we really needed. Also ended up ordering potato bolani which was absolutely delicious, but probably not needed as our main dishes were more than enough. Happens when you order hungry sometimes. Service is always pleasant and easy. Still one of our go to places after church. Definitely our favorite Afghan/Kebab place!

I love Afghan cuisine, but unfortunately this did not meet my expectation at all. We ordered…read moretakeout and tried the following dishes: 1. Triple Kabob (with Chicken, Koobideh, and Beef Chapli): 2/5, despite having lots of spices, probably had not the right combination of spices, not well seasoned, kind of bland, and very dry 2. Beef Teka Kabob: 1/5, extremely overcooked and not well seasoned 3. Qabili Palaw: 2/5. Sooo disappointed, because this is my absolute favorite Afghan dish, and it was not well prepared at all. It looked like all components were separately cooked and put together. 4. Beef Manto: 4/5. this was actually pretty good. Still not the best Manto I've had, but something that I would like to order again 5. Bolani Kachaloo: 3/5. Good, but not great. It could have had more filling and more flavorful. I've had much better Bolanis before as well.

Khyber Pass is such a comforting place to come to, and time after time they have been incredibly…read moreconsistent with their food. I highly recommend the mantoo and bolani for appetizers, and the vegetarian dish and lamb shank for entrees. The dahl soup is also incredibly rich and comforting, and by far my favorite place for it. The service is always incredibly quick and welcoming, and the owners always help us receive exactly what we want. The inside has beautiful tables, and on the side, there is floor seating for large parties and celebrations.

Tried this place for lunch for the first time. The elder lady (i presume owner) was taking the…read moreorders and handling the register. She was very nice. Although, she took our order and literally mixed up everything, giving us another tables order, tsking our order to them, forgetting our drinks, just endless absent mindedness. Not sure if its just due to age/memory but I dodnt hold any of it against her or this review. I got the koobdieh plate. My daughter got the chicken curry. We got the mantoo as an appetizer. Free salad = good Mantoo = good (but neded more spice) Koobedieh = okay, have had better Rice = very grainy/hard, not your typical basmati rice...maybe it's supposed to be that way? Chicken curry = terrible. The chicken was weird like a stale chip...not sure if it was frozen too long but it wasnt good at all. The curry itself was pretty bland. Rice was the same as I mentioned earlier. I think you can get you "fix" if you're in the mood for middle Eastern food but it really wasnt very good and it isnt the cheapest.

Food at Hayat Kabob House is absolutely delicious. Plus, you have an opportunity to experience a…read morebeautiful view of the lake with swans right across the restaurant. I typically choose outdoor seating. Service is very good. Our waiter ensured we were well taken care of. Highly recommend! There is also a museum by the restaurant with various statues displayed outside.

Quick review update:…read more Food (4 stars) + Kids Chapli is a huge portion that can feed both of my little ones. It is very good too! Nice crispy minced beef with afghan spices that I cannot make out. Rice is very flavorful and their lavash style bread makes it that much more special. (5+ stars) - Lamb chops were over cooked even though we explicitly said medium rare since we requested it to go. We wanted to be able to warm it up at home, and still keep it tender. Nope, it's well done. (2 stars) Service/Ambiance (5 stars) + It was just one guy working the front and a cook in the back, but he took care of us just fine + No one was there on a weekday around 4pm I'll still be returning because it's located in a very nice plaza. Location is totally underrated and this is a perfect date night place.

We walked in Saturday around 12pm. It wasn't busy at all. We ordered the Korma chicken, sabzi lamb,…read morechaplee, lamb kabob, and mantoo. Everything was good. Tender meats and not too salty. The main dishes all came with a side of basmati or seasoned rice. The seasoned rice was very salty. Service was pretty much nonexistent. The staff just brings your food to you and doesn't check up on you. If you can get past the service and just go there for the food. Parking lot is shared with other businesses. 1 restroom.

Came here recently and honestly had a mixed experience. The bolani comes as either a half (6…read morepieces) or full (12 pieces) order that was strange when normally its just one order and its good for a bunch of folks. Flavor was all over the place -- a couple pieces had no salt at all, while others were way too salty. And the spicyness wasnt(aka chilli flakes) in the potato mixture wasnt spread well either. I got the triple kabob plate and the rice portion was surprisingly small compared to other Afghan spots. Chicken kabobs were inconsistent: some pieces were super salty, others were fine. The beef was tender, but not every bite had the same flavor. Chicken was tender though, cut well. Could have been flavored a bit more Plates overall felt smaller than what I'm used to at similar restaurants. Also worth mentioning -- they serve alcohol here, so if you're strict about halal, that might be a consideration. Since a place selling wine- not sure how strict they are on sourcing halal meat (hand slaughter for example). Also very pricey location compared to others maybe since they serve wine they catering to folks that drink who may spend more without caring All in all, not terrible, but definitely inconsistent and portion sizes could be better. Worth mentioning that all these de afghanans are not same - they have diff owners etc. Not bad seating, was empty for a sunday lunch at noon .

This place has earned the title of the best Afghan food in California, especially this location…read more The service was excellent, and the staff were kind and welcoming. The food was delicious, from the bolani to the chicken, the beef, and the freshly baked bread. If you want great Afghan food, this is the place to be.

Very small space. We ordered bolani as an appetizer, but it took forever. By the time it was ready,…read morethe waitress brought our main dishes along with it. That is not proper service. What is the point of an appetizer if it's not served before the main dishes? We were very disappointed. Taste wise, bolani was very thin and bland. Barely any potatoes or stuffing. The bread was very thin too. Kunduz Kabab's bolani is top tier, we should've just had dinner there. The Chapli kabob and Karahi chicken were also disappointing, I think the quality has changed perhaps with new management. We also noticed the waitress kept gloves on, the same gloves she would handle payments with, she used to hand us our plates and cutlery. That is very unhygienic and quite frankly appalling. You're spreading germs onto customers' plates. Will not be returning.

Sarah our server was so kind. She checked on us multiple times throughout the evening. It was…read morepretty busy on a Friday night. Shared the beef kebab entree with the pumpkin, yogurt and meat sauce dish and a side of spinach. I like how the restaurant is tucked in the corner of a strip mall and non descript from the outside. On the inside it's bustling and usually a small wait (cuz people love it here)

We've been coming to Kabul Afghan Cuisine for over 12 years and my dad has been coming for more…read morethan 30. This place is part of our family history. I came in this past Saturday (in the rain and recovering from surgery) because I just needed to be at my favorite restaurant. The moment we walked in, they greeted us warmly and still remembered us, even though we hadn't been in for about three years. That kind of care means everything. The food is unmatched. The lamb is incredible. The potato appetizer with the meat sauce is our all-time favorite. The shrimp on the combination skewers are huge and full of flavor. The warm bread and perfectly cooked rice make every meal feel comforting and special. The service is amazing, the family who owns it is so kind, and the whole place has a welcoming, homey vibe. There is no Afghan food around here that compares. This will always be our favorite spot for special occasions. If you haven't been here yet, you're missing out.

I went back to introduce five different friends to the Afghan cuisine…read more The gracious Yasmeen had a table organized and reserved for us. We ordered one potato bolanis for appetizer with beers and five orders of kabob. There were no kabob leftovers! Everything was freshly cooked and delicious. The kitchen was kind enough to serve the food family style and there was plenty of spare naan and rice, but the delicious kabobs were all gone. Folks really liked the lamb, but my favorite is still the mildly spicy chapli kabobs! I took a bolani home. It is perfectly crispy after a few minutes in the toaster oven. It is a smallish restaurant but Yasmeen manages the front end well with a helper. Highly recommended!

We've been fans of this restaurant for a while now -- the food never disappoints -- but what really…read morecemented our loyalty was when they catered a family dinner for 30 people, including about a dozen kids, a mix of vegetarians and meat-eaters, and guests with nut allergies. Not a simple order by any stretch. Getting the owner (?) on the phone to place the order took some persistence, but once we connected, she was fantastic. She helped us figure out quantities, steered us toward the right dishes for the vegetarians and the kids, and was upfront about what contained nuts. She even threw in extras (salad and dessert) to complete the meal. I felt like she treated us like family. Pricing was very reasonable, everything arrived on time -- delivered by her uncle, no less -- and there was so much food that every guest went home with a takeout container -- the true mark of a successful spread. My husband was considerably less thrilled that I didn't save any of the meat dishes for home (he still laments it every time we talk about this awesome catering experience to others). For dine-in, our favorites are the lamb kebob, the Qabili, and the chicken kebob. We'll keep coming back.

TLDR; perfectly adequate kebab place…read more FOOD Kubideh Beef Kebab - 3/5 Potato Bolani - 3/5 Doogh Yogurt Cucumber drink - 4/5 Chicken Breast Kebab - 3/5 SERVICE / AMBIANCE This was a pickup from downtown Oakland. Online order via their branded website for some reason required a call from the restaurant to go over everything. Next time I would just call it in directly Overall this was a perfectly adequate place for kebabs if I were in the area. Seasoning/spice was a little light for my liking. My standards are Chelokababi in Sunnyvale and Shalizaar in San Mateo and this did not hold up to those.

Kamdesh in Oakland does what it does very well, but it is important to know what you are walking…read moreinto. This is a meat-forward menu in a serious way, and if you are vegetarian, this is probably not the place where you will feel especially catered to. For everyone else, the food is consistently excellent. The flavors are deep, well-spiced, and clearly cooked with care. Nothing feels rushed or careless. Everything we tried was good, but the lamb shank is on another level. Fall-apart tender, richly seasoned, and deeply satisfying in that slow-cooked way that makes you stop talking mid-bite. This is what the chef's kiss gesture exists for. Kamdesh is confident in its lane and does not try to be everything to everyone. If you love meat and bold, comforting flavors, you will be very happy here. If you do not, you should plan accordingly. Five stars for execution, especially that lamb shank.