Afghan Express

It’s more like 4.5 stars, but I would go with 5 instead of 4 stars as the food is indeed excellent. Definitely on par if not better than Afghan Village. We ordered Combo #2, and #3, plus the Kabulli Pallaw. This is definitely the best Afghan food in Houston, as good as it gets. Pretty much the same quality and quantity as the one I had in the best Afghan restaurant in SF Bay Area (don’t remember the name, somewhere in Sunnyvale, CA). For anyone who likes Kebab, this is definitely the place. It’s probably a hole-​in-​the-​wall kinda place, but flavor-​wise would make me forget the ambiance. If the owner can work on their interior, I could give full 5 stars.

This is the best afghan place in Houston! I’ve been to a few others, and I decided to give this a try based on great Unilocal reviews. I was not disappointed! The food was flavorful, and prices were reasonable. I went there for iftari, and my favorite items were the chapli kabab, kabuli rice, and chicken chholay (chick peas). Definitely going back for more!

BEWARE!!!
These people are thieves. They steal credit card numbers and use them for utility bills. I filed a police report yesterday and they are investigating for fraud and probably will make arrests:

This is my husband’s favorite restaurant in town! Today is our second time here. Small, no frills, strip center restaurant. Clean and very friendly employees. They have a 9.99 buffet everyday for lunch (11 – 3). Everything was very tasty. We will be back.

From my experience, having traveled to Afghanistan, Afghan Express is one of the most authentic tasting Afghani restaurants I’ve been to since my return. Staff was very polite and quick on their feet. Food was well cooked and fast to our table.

Delicious kabobs and soft naan, what more can you ask for? The people here were so sweet and answered all our questions and gave us great recommendations! They also give you green tea to go with your meal. Highly recommend combo #2 so you can try all their most popular kabobs altogether. They also have a $ 9.99 lunch buffet and I hope to try next time!

look out afghan village… there is a new competitor in town… and they don’t run out of mantoo (even though i like the mantoo at afghan village better).
My wife had mentioned this place, but looking at the location, i was doubtful… and boy was i wrong.
We arrived a bit late, around 9:50pm. they do stop taking orders at 10:00pm, so if you are running late, try to be here before 10 pm. for some reasn in thought they are open till 11 pm.
they were really kind to let us dine that late.
We ordered mantoo, chappli kabab platter and combo#2 platter. the hot tea is complimentary. the chappli kabab was ginormous in portion and was really good. the afghani pulao was just right. if you are visiting for the first time do try combo#2 it had lamb kabob, chicken (ground) kabob and chicken shish kabob.
I was really surprised with how good everything tasted.
the mantoo however, was a bit heavy on yogurt and the dumpling was also doughy, which would unfold when i tried to eat (maybe i was just sloppy). For comparison, at afghan village the mantoo has a lighter yogurt base than the one here and you can actually taste the filling in the dumpling.
Definitely coming back for more.

Lunch buffet was terrific! I’m a picky eater and thought it was very good. Highly recommend!

On the street with so much awesome food this one stands out as one of the best. Definatley try the buffet.

Just had the most delicious afghan food!!! We were driving by and saw the place and stopped for dinner. Ordered a bunch of stuff from the menu and they were all good! My Chapli kabab was the best! If you want some good afghan food stop by and try this place. They have a lunch buffet also.

We had their lunch buffet and it was very good with good variety. Only wish they would add humus as a choice, but otherwise great.

This place is delicious. I randomly found it through Unilocal and decided to give it a shot. We ordered the lamb karahi and chicken kebab for takeout. Both were excellent. The lamb was perfectly cooked, fell right of the bone (they give you the bone!), and came with a savory mint/​tomato based sauce. The kebabs were spiced very well and also very tasty. Service was excellent; the proprietor is very friendly and gracious. The food was so tasty that we came back a week later for more.
They were also able to answer some questions about diet restrictions (gluten/​dairy free!) without confusion and without having an attitude, which is always nice. They gladly substituted rice for naan at no charge.

Great place! The food tastes homemade and the staff is super friendly. Buffet had a good variety! We got there after 3pm (the end of the buffet time) and they event made us some fresh dishes.

The food is really excellent here. I had one of their combo plates — 2 kinds of chicken and 1 beef served over rice. Also the hummus is very good.
The staff was very helpful. Our waiter made iced tea fresh for us.
It was my first experience with Afghani cuisine and I loved it!
The restaurant was very neat and clean. There is an Indian ice cream shop,
Qwality Ice Cream, in the same strip center. We went there after dinner and had some wonderful mango ice cream.

Great food with out much frills and good service
Décor and ambience needs improvement

Never had Afghan food before so this was a great place to sample a lot of the staples with their lunch buffet ($ 9.99). It’s not a very large buffet but there was certainly enough to keep me satisfied. Everything is kept hot and fresh on their steam table, and I didn’t come across a single bad dish.
I’ll leave descriptions to more knowledgeable people but will say that I’ll be trying more Afghan restaurants in the future. The food feels like a cross between Indian and Persian cuisine. Lots of fragrant spices, light flavor, and rice heavy.
My favorite items:
— Potato bolani (flatbread with potato stuffed inside)
— Chicken seekh kebab — flavorful, juicy
— Chapli kebab (beef patty with a ton of delicious spices)
— The pan fried fish (mahi I think) — crisp skin, slightly lemony
— Firni (milk pudding dessert w/​pistachios on top) — slightly gelatinous, creamy, sweet, SOO good. Reminds me of kheer.
Other good stuff (pretty much the rest of the buffet):
— Okra /​tomato dish
— Dal (yellow lentils)
— The eggplant dish
— Sabzi (spinach)
— Kabuli pulaw
Also worth noting is that their green tea is fantastic. The leaves are left in the dispenser and come out when you pour, but there’s no astringency to it at all. Very drinkable tea, doesn’t need those sugar cubes they have out.

Stopped in on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. The moment we came in, we were greeted warmly by the staff.
We started with 2 appetizers — the Mantoo — dumplings with beef and Borani Kaddo — sauteed pumpkin with yogurt. They were both so delicious .
I had the chicken kabobs and they were absolutely perfect with nicely prepared brown rice and a lovely salad.
Another friend ordered the Kofta Challow. We all tried what each one ordered and we all agree that they were all delicious. I can’t wait to come back to this place and try other things on their menu. Oh, they also gave us a huge portion of salad and bread that came with the meal.
The price is absolutely reasonable.
I look forwward to keep coming back to this place!

First time at this place and it was totally worth it. ordered kabuli rice with tikka and afghan lamb chops, bhaeee waaaahh !! All the, afghan food lovers this is the spot !!! 5 star the environment is so afghaaaani

Excellent food! Best aghan restaurant in the town. been searching for one for a while. The staffs are really friendly too. Overall a good experience !

This was the first time we tried an Afghan restaurant in Houston, so I wouldn’t really compare it with the others here. But when it comes to food and service, I would rate this place a ⁵⁄₅!
Being a vegetarian, my scope of experimentation is usually less but they have quite a few options and from what the owner said they are planning to add chaat soon.
The veggie platter was delicious, it includes 4 curries: Egg plant, Okra, Dal and Spinach. We also tried their zamarud pulaw and Boulani which were pretty good.