De Afghanan

Nice food and good service
Ordered kebob and yogurt drink
Tastes good
Fast serving polite and nice

Thats my second visit omg they are always best. even they were closed but the nice blondy chef took care of me and she said its ok guys i will cook for u … best kabob ever ever

After a day of errands, De Afghanan became the best and most unexpected find of the day!
Walking into the restaurant, you’ll see that it’s simply decorated yet rich in ambiance. Very down-​to-​earth with lovely staff.
The servings are generous and incredibly flavorful! I ordered the combo kabob plate with beef and chicken but I sampled some lamb kabob as well. All three meats were delicious although I favored the chicken over the lamb and the beef. Above all (surprisingly), I loved the brown biryani rice for the seasoning and the pillowy-​ness of it. I ate everything with their cilantro chutney and a squeeze of lime.
My only complaint about the restaurant is the water that they serve to customers because I thought it tasted awful.
I would love to come back to De Afghanan! I just wish it were more closeby!

If only you can send the aroma of the food to your friends in a text…
This was not only the best chicken kabob I have ever eaten but the rest of the meal was also on point. Job well done!

Love this place. Lucky to live down the street one of the best restaurants in Fremont. Both the kabab house next door and the restaurant have great service.
Remember the kabab house next door is CASH ONLY.
They are a little on the pricier side but they give you excellent portions of fantastic cuisine.

Awesome place. Too bad there not one in San Jose. There’s really nothing bad about this place other than smelling like grilled meat when you leave. Just avoid zoos with man eaters after your meal.
Faves are lamb kabob and chaplee. Go for the brown rice (not really brown rice) with carrots and raisins.

A-Ok…on all levels.
Food:
I tried:
Appetizer:
–Pakaura: Potato Fritters thinly sliced potatoes dipped in a besan flour batter, deep-​fried and served with cilantro chutney: Delicious
–Bodinjon: Roasted eggplant topped with garlic yogurt, dry mint and served with Afghan bread: this was ok. Not too flavorful.
Entrée:
–Kado Borani: Roasted squash topped with garlic yogurt, dry mint and served with white rice: Ok so let’s be real. This dish exists just to make sure non meat-​eaters like me don’t starve here. I seriously have no idea if there’s anything authentic about this squash but it was well-​roasted and very soft. It came with this cucumber sad salad and a LOT of rice. This is clearly how they fill you up. I like that it’s long grain but really, all their entrees are just a whole lotta rice.
Drink:
–I had a yogurt drink with cucumber and dry mint. It was… tart.
So, I’m not sure what this place’s obsession is with dry mint but they really ought to replace it with fresh mint. It’s much more fresh and with these prices for a platter of mostly rice, it really ought to include real mint.
The rest of the group thought the chicken kabobs were good but too salty and the beef good but too spicy.
Service:
The service here is slowwwww. I think it’s a family restaurant and just really understaffed. The waiters work hard but they forgot my drink and all the entrees take about 30 minutes to arrive. One of the dishes at our table wasn’t what we expected. We didn’t send it back; we decided to take it home and order another but that took another 30 minutes. I asked the waiter to check on it because we were about to cancel it but he insisted it already hit the grill. We watched the cook make it and he seemed annoyed and threw the plate on the counter. Jalapeños fell off. He replaced it but… man, that dish was not made with love. I totally understand the family restaurant and logistical issues but hopefully they can work out the speed issue soon.
All in all, De Afghanan is ok and is probably more for meat eaters and rice lovers.

a weak 4 star.
This place is small from the outside and the parking area is very small/​compact.
I ordered the chicken kebab with white rice along with the green/​squash pancake. The chicken was very juicy and soft (six pieces) but they seemed to really skimp you with the rice. They could added alittle more rice with the meal. Though the pancake was excellent dipped with the yogurt sauce.
Overall the food was really good but service was just ok to me. They don’t greet you or say thank you for coming but I will try this place again.

O man I must say that this place have the best kabob in the Bay Area. Hands down. White tender flavor full chicken I ever had. Owner was really friendly and he made us laugh with his jokes. Amazing owner and amazing food can’t ask for more. It’s a small shop in the corner but I must say good things come in small packages. Only one thing I didn’t like is that they take cash only. But as long food is good I don’t mind running to ATM. Keep it up guys. I’ll be back. God bless.

A group of 8 was easily accommodated for lunch on a Saturday. We had all come from hiking Mission Peak. You can imagine we came ravenous. We ate all the food put in front of us. I don’t remember all the plates names, but each one was flavorful and soothed the hunger we all were struggling with. The restaurants location reminds me of Artesia in SoCal, a ton of southeast Asian aka Desi shops and restaurants in the area. I would recommend to anyone.
FYI — one thing I did not enjoy was the Rose flavored ice cream. That didn’t do it for me. It was as if I was consuming potpourri.

There’s no reservation here so please come early. The food is amazing. You only need to order three things. The potato bolani basically potato pancakes, lamb kebabs and combination kebabs which is basically beef chicken and spicy kebab. The spice isn’t the hot kind of spice. It’s more of a seasoning spice. They give you a choice of white or brown rice and I think they both taste well cooked. Something I appreciate about this place is that they ask how well done you want your meat to be cooked. Not a lot of places ask for that.
The ambience is noisy but you can definitely hear your table. They have a fair amount of large tables but I can imagine that large groups might have to wait a while. I waited for 15 minutes around 6:00pm even though they told my party of 2 20 minutes

Finally, finally checked out this kabob house after hearing so many people rave about it. And? It was probably the best kabobs we’ve eaten!
The chicken kabob was super flavorful, and light. Light? Yup! You don’t feel overly full after eating these, as you do at other places. Portions were also right on.
We also ordered a ½ order of the bolani (with leeks). Oily, but delicious! A ½ order was more than enough to share among 3 people.
It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the ambiance is surprisingly nice inside. Packed on a Friday night — be sure to come early, or be prepared to wait.
P. S. They also have a takeout window operation just across the way.

I’ve been to De Afghanan a handful of times and this place is BOMB! Love the environment and food.
Pros:
+ I’ve loved everything I’ve tried here! This includes the chicken, beef, and lamb kabobs, and the chapli. I’ve also tried the bolani and it’s good too!
+ Seating and environment is cool.
Cons:
— May be hard to find parking.
— May be kinda hard to find the actual restaurant. LOL
— Kinda pricey!
Overall: The food makes up for the cons and has kept me coming back. Can’t wait for my next visit to De Afghanan!

Gotta tell you this beef kabob place was absolutely the best kabobs ever…
The waitress was friendly and helpful, but no smiles from anyone else…
The food was delicious, took over 25 minutes to get our food, it was becoming uncomfortable… finally get our food and it was yummy to the tummy…

Didn’t get to make a reservation for our group of 4 girls. The restaurant is on the smaller scale and most of their tables are for 2 – 4 seaters which means if you have a group of 6, it could be a really long wait until they have enough tables to merge together. It was pretty packed when we arrived, but luckily our wait wasn’t too long since we caught the wave of wave of groups finishing up their dinner. We got seated in about 20 minutes. Since we had one person who had previously dined here before, it didn’t take too long for us to know exactly what we want to order (their menu isn’t exactly extensive either so that made it a little easier). We ordered two appetizers and two entrees, here’s my thought…
Bolani with potato filling (full order)
This was so so so so good. The outer layer was a nicely baked flat bread like consistency. Then the inside is filled with soft potato filling. Paired with fresh yogurt (a little bit more tart than most yogurt) and their green house sauce. It was perfection. The smell is delightful too, straight out of the oven… perfect thing to start the meal.
Bodinjon
This is interesting. Eggplant baked to a soft texture layered with red sauce all over it. Almost like a lasanga but not quite. It’s so soft that it just dissolves in your mouth, no chewing required. I personally like a little bit more of a texture since this almost reminds me of baby food (but way more delicious of course). It’s somehow missing a crunch to me. Pretty good nonetheless.
Chicken and Beef Kabob
I feel like I’m repeating myself at this point because this dish was also really good. The chicken was tender white meat, flavorful. The beef cubes were really good too. It had a good spice to it. We got brown basmati rice with it and that was good too. Lightly flavored to compliment the meat. I also religiously used the yogurt and green sauce with this, it goes with everything!!!
Chaplee Kabob
This looked like a hamburger patty to me. While it was decent, it was the least favorite dish of the night. It’s something in their seasoning that I didn’t care for? But I liked the little spicy kick it has. Definitely a hit among people who likes hamburger/​sausage type of food group.
I’m throwing both of arms in the air and wave them like I don’t care if you are going to ask me if I’m returning.

Whoops! This review is from 2013, but I posted it to the wrong restaurant:
Okay, 3 stars for the kabobs, and 1 extra star for the bolani which was super awesome. This place is kind of hard to find because there is no street parking and it really is like a hole in the wall. You can park in the back of the restaurant; just look for their conveniently placed sign pointing in the right direction. They have a small but nice patio area out front, but I visited on a very rainy day so the chairs were all stacked up.
The inside is actually decorated really nicely, with a lot of original metal sculpture art work integrated into the structure of the building. For example, there was a metal relief of what looked like a cliff side with a statue carved into it on the chimney.
Service was very friendly and prompt, especially because we were one of only three total parties dining at around 6pm. The server brought us menus and waters and also was kind enough to ask if this was our first visit. I knew that I wanted to try the various kabobs, but I was slightly disappointed to hear that they did not have the Shami Kebob which is ground beef with seasonings, kind of like a koobideh kebab I assume. So I went with a combo of chicken and beef shish kebabs. The chicken was very tender and well seasoned, while the beef was a bit more tough. Both were still quite delicious though, especially with the brown pallaw. I have to admit, I did think that Kabul in Sunnyvale did the kebabs better though.
And of course, no visit to this place would be complete without an order of the bolani, described as leek & potato-​filled pastries baked on a flat pan served with yogurt and cilantro chutney. We went with a half order, which came with 10 giant pieces of delicious mashed potato filled fried goodness. I could eat this all by itself and be satisfied. I think this is the real winner, and I will definitely be back for more of this!
Portion sizes are generous.

So, for me, I’ve always been torn between Salang Pass and De Afghanan. Since there is a hype around De Afghanan, when we are with friends, we go there. When we are with family, we go to Salang. That said, I must admit, the service at Salang is much better.
On Saturday, there were 12 of us planning to eat there. We called 3 times in one hour, but no one answered. We got there 40 minutes before closing (3PM), and the first question the lady very rudely asked us was if he had called. I showed her my phone and told her we had called a few times, at which point she said, ‘it doesn’t matter, we don’t take reservations’. So I responded back immediately and said ‘what’s the point of the question in the first place then’?
She very rudely then told us she had no room for 12 people and that the kitchen would close at 2:45, so she couldn’t serve us. I immediately just told her that we would just take our business across the street. Which we did.
At that point, the look on her face was priceless :)
She said she could make room for us and what not, but we had decided we were going to Salang, and we did. And the food at Salang has never disappointed. Hands down, their aush and chaplis are better.
I like eating out, and the service is part of the entire experience. A rude server is a turn-​off.
Not going back to De Afghanan anymore! I have options and I shall exercise them.

I was there a short while ago. At first, it looked quite disgusting given that the server who welcomed me was wearing a long-​bushy beard. I was aghast, thinking that hygiene comes first in food business, but I gave it a go and tried it. It seems very disorganized with staff yelling at each other, but the food was delicious. Ambience is terrible, but food is okay.

Surprised I haven’t written a review for this place yet! It is soooo good!!! I almost want to take down a star because the location kind of sucks and parking sucks, but the food is so good that I can’t knock it for that. Loved the kabob plates, we usually get the combo plate and the lamb plate so we can get a little of each meat. The meat is so juicy and flavorful. Soooooo good!!! We also enjoy the bolani. One day I will try dessert here because I’ve heard it’s good. Service has typically been good as well. I’m looking forward to goin back here. Tonight. =P

I have been eating here for years. Bolani and chicken kebabs are my favorite.

The best, the original, the one and only De Afghan Kabob House. This spot (and Salang) has made Fremont famous for Kabob and Afghani food.
Favorite Meal: Half order potato bolani, chicken kabob plate with brown basmati rice. Chopli is also very good. I enjoy iced tea but find it very unusual that they charge for every refill, even when the ice is overflowing. (one star deduction for that).

Fair warning. It is packed on Saturday nights for dinner. Ordered the chicken plate, lamb plate and potato bolani. All were delicious and the meat was perfectly cooked. Great service and ambiance.

Amazing prices for such great food. I went here with friends after our hike to Mission Peak, and the food really hit the spot.
We ordered a half sheet of potato bolani, mantu, and the chicken, beef, and chapli kabob platter. When we split the costs, it came out to $ 12 something, since the total was around $ 34 something.
I’ll definitely be coming back the next time I find myself in the area, however, I’ll remind myself to tell the waiter to tell the chef to make the chapli kabob spicier.

Love the food! Location is really small, but they’ve been around for a very long time. I know the owner is looking to get the take out only next door reopened soon. The kabobs are always cooked perfectly moist and my favorite is the brown rice. Can’t get enough of it!
The potato bolani is really delicious as well, not oily and goes well with the kabobs. Staff is always nice and accommodating for when my friends and I decide to go in a big party for birthday lunches. This restaurant is on my regular take out list!

I visited this place a month ago for my very first time, since then I’ve been there 5 or 6 times.
Kabobs are really good, my favorite is chicken.

How have I never written a review for this place? This is absolutely my favorite place to dine in Fremont!
Their bolani is the best appetizer, pan fried pancakes of leek or potato, with a delicious dipping sauce of yogurt and cilantro chutney sauce. Their mantu is also pretty good too, but prefer the bolani over the mantu.
I love the lamb with their flavorful rice, and again, it tastes great with the cool yogurt and chutney. I tried a piece of the chicken, and it is incredibly tender and moist, but prefer the lamb.
The restaurant is on the smaller side (and cold!) so do expect a wait if you come during prime lunch or dinner times. One con is they do charge you 75 cents for a fountain soda refill, which is really unheard of.
There is a small parking lot behind the restaurant, but street parking may be easier.

We waited 20min at 12:45 for a table, but since it was really delicious Afghan food, it was worth it. I came here for the first time with my dad and a couple of others on a Tuesday. We ordered the potato bread as an appetizer. Though I didn’t have it, it looked and smelled all kinds of amazing.
We each got different kabobs with rice. I got the chicken with the brown rice and it was perfect. The chicken was beautifully done– both tender and flavorful.
Everyone else had a combination of meat including the beef which I heard was even more delicious. There is a good amount of food that goes into each platter so we were completely satisfied.
Just be prepared to have a good food coma after your meal.
I will definitely be coming back again… but I’ll keep in mind the wait situation and plan accordingly next time.

Superb food: we had chicken and lamb kabobs, very tender and tasty, ghee soaked rice, a giant potato filled borani, and tender and savory dumplings. But they seemed overwhelmed at lunch, by the big tables of tech workers with Tesla badges and women in hijab. They forgot part of our order, promised to bring it, never did. It took 2 hours for our meal. Maybe the key is to order and eat before noon — it opens at 11:45 am.

Second time trying Afghani food and wanted to see if there would be a big difference from Salang Pass down the street. Co-​worker said De Afghanan while friend argued for Salang Pass. Let’s let the food speak for itself.
Ordered half bolani kadu (butternut squash) and half bolani kachaloo (potatoes). Firstly, the order is massive. The tray/​dish they brought it out in pretty much fit half the table. i feel like they gave us ¾ potato and ¼ kadu in my opinion but I liked the potato more anyway. The yogurt they gave us still had frozen chunks in it and the green chutney that was already at the table that the waiter said was cilantro chutney wasn’t to my appeal. I have a personal preference of having my kadu more cooked and mushy like the potato but they were stringy. I feel like it lacked flavor compared to the potato bolani. I think the bolani at salang pass was much better.
For my entrée, I ordered the chicken kabob with brown rice. The portion was smaller than Salang Pass in my opinion. The meat was drier than I had hoped. While beautiful in presentation, it left me wanting more out of the flavor. Both the rice and meat were lacking compared to the Chicken kabob at Salang Pass, which gives more rice and their brown rice is so tasty.
I did not get dessert at Salang Pass so I don’t have anything to compare since I did get the dessert at De Afghanan. My co-​worker recommended the Sheer Yakh Jhala. The concept sounded really interesting with the rice noodles. A small was plenty for two people. It took me a second to adapt to the flavor because it reminded me of incense but it gradually grew on me. I found some chunks of ice at the bottom, I think the rice noodles were still defrosting but I think they added good texture. I liked the dessert for sure. I would come back for this dessert if the one at Salang Pass does not taste like this (and I will find out in the future).
All in all, I think I agree with my friend over my co-​worker. While this place had decent food, I think Salang Pass had tastier dishes. So I’ll stick to Salang pass but great dessert De Afghanan! If I eat at Salaang and have room for dessert, I may head to De Afghanan for their Sheer Yakh Jhala :)

To be honest, I was never a huge fan of Afghan food because many places make the protein dry and tasteless. But De Afghanan redefined what it means to have quality Afghan food for me!
I ordered a chicken and beef kabob with white rice combination plate and shared a half/​half leek and sweet potato bolani with my friends. The rice was SO YUMMY and moist. It went extremely well with the tender chicken and juicy beef. They grilled it just right and the seasoning wasn’t overpowering — you could still taste the natural flavors of the meat. At most places I’d be biting into fat and tendons but here, it’s purely meat. The bolani was also delicious and crispy. The leek reminded me of Chinese scallion pancake whereas the sweet potato was more unique.
For $ 13, it’s a smidggeeee expensive considering you only get 3 pieces of chicken and 3 pieces of beef. However, the quality makes it absolutely worth it!

Delicious food, starting with the bolani, which to the unfamiliar (me, namely) was surprisingly similar to stuffed naan. Indeed, there’s a variety of stuffings and ingredients to choose from. Next, a lamb kebab plate was super tasty, although the meat was on the fatty side. Even then, the price was perfectly decent given the helpings. Service is also fast and efficient.
Apparently there used to be a takeout place in addition to a sit-​down place. The sit-​down place listed here does indeed have plenty of seating, although it is so popular with families that there can be a wait at the most random times. Still, it’s worth the wait no matter what.

Came here for the first time based on all the reviews & I can honestly say I am very disappointed in this place.
First off, service was HORRIBLE. My plus 1 & I sat there for a good 10 minutes after being seated & we finally got the menus. After looking at the menu, it took probably another 10 minutes to get our orders taken. By the time we finished eating, we waited AGAIN to get the check. By then I had ran out of patience so my plus one just paid in cash & we left. No «thank you», from anyone, nothing.
Food: My plus 1 ordered the Chapli, which we both felt would’ve been good if it was turned into a burger lol. The spices were good, but it wasn’t great.
The chicken kebab was very flavorful & definitely my favorite there. However it wasn’t like any kebabs you couldn’t get anywhere else.
We also didn’t get any bread while everyone else did.
Overall I will never come back here or would recommend it to my friends.

The large green door, dim lights, and delicious smell is very inviting. Family owned, jam packed, and although it is a small space it’s decorated with beautiful murals, while clean and spacious enough for simple eating comfort.
The wait and line can get crazy, be sure to call in advance since they do take reservations. Beware if you’re late they’ll only hold your table for 5 min due to demand. Service is a hit or miss overall.
Appetizers to start:
(1) the Bolani (similar to a savory naan pancake with choice of leek/​squash/​potato) — the potato one is the best! Be warned this is hug! ***One full order is more than enough for 4 – 5 people
(2) the Bodinjon (roasted eggplant with garlic yogurt sauce and spices)
The kebabs are obviously the best entrée to choose! Shoot for a combination kebab plate to try different types of meat, the chicken/​beef/​chapli is perfect.
— The chicken here is one of the best I’ve had, the delicious red seasoning and juicy pieces are heaven.
— Beef is also good, and although I’m not a fan of lamb others have told me it’s also tender and tasty.
— For the spicy lovers, the Chapli is perfect, it is sort of a spicy ground beef patty — but be warned it is damnnn spicy.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Fremont. The food is amazing! We came here on a Sunday night right when they opened at 5 and were seated immediately. After about 15 minutes the restaurant was already full and there was a line out the door. We got the half potato bolani and half leek bolani which were both really good but I prefer the potato bolani. The yogurt sauce that came with it is good but what’s even better is the green sauce they have at each table. It’s spicy and goes well with everything! We also had the combo plate with lamb kebabs, chicken, and chapli. The lamb is cooked to perfection! It’s tender and has great flavor.
This restaurant is definitely worth going out of your way for! The service can be meh but the great food makes up for it!
You can easily find parking on the street in front of the restaurant.

Finally! I have been wanting to try out De Afghanan for the longest time now. The long anticipation has finally ended when I visited my friend in Fremont to help him fix his car can we decided to go to De Afghanan for lunch.
We only had two items from the menu: Bolani for appetizers and Lamb Kabob for lunch. First off, the Bolani was absolutely delicious. A little bit greasy, but perfectly seasoned and accompanied with an addicting yogurt chutney sauce. The Lamb Kabob was spot on. Perfectly charbroiled and marinated and season properly. The Lamb Kabob is one of the reasons why De Afghanan is high on the list if craving for delicious afghan.
Some cons though; the restaurant is a little dark inside and expect longer than usual wait for food. Also De Afghanan is high up on the list of Afghan restaurant but surprisingly, the other Afghan restaurants I have been to were not too far behind.
Alas, De Afghanan is spot on and I expect to visit and explore their menu when I am in the area and crave Afghan cuisine.

Small lil joint. I would say this is one of the better places in fremont but compared to my boys place Kabul’s of Sunnyvale it doesnt even compare. I think I would give it a 3.5 if I could.
Food–
Potato Bolani: One of the best things we ate. It was very crisp and the potato inside was good.
Combination Kebab Entrée (Chicken, Chapli, Lamb): The chick was just wutevers. It wasnt tender and juicy but it wasnt too dry either. First time ive tried chapli, it was pretty good but I wouldnt get it again. I would recommend it if its your first time tho just for the experience. However, the main thing I would come back for is the LAMB. Lamb was FIRE. It was tender and juicy and cooked perfectly.
Overall, I dont think id come back as I enjoy the salmon, chicken, and lamb at kabul’s too much, but If i was in the area, I would get the lamb and would probably try the beef.