Sansom Kabob House

The location and ambiance of this restaurant really complimented my family’s dining experience. The sambosa and hummus were delicious, and we enjoyed the chicken kabob and chapli kabob. The chicken was cooked to perfection, and the portions were just right! Would not recommend sharing one main dish between two people.

Overpriced apps and entrees for the quantity and quality of food. The rice, which is always a Afghani favorite was overcooked, almost watery and had absolutely no flavor. The kabobs were very tough, though seasoned. The appetizer was also bland and stuffed with what tasted like old soggy scallions. The one redeeming quality is the chutney and the basic side salad which is difficult to mess up. Poor service and extremely loud staff chatting amongst themselves was also a bit jarring for patrons. Very disappointing meal overall.

Ordered the lamb kebab and it was excellent! Others in my party ordered chicken dishes and they were just ok.

My girlfriend and I saw all of the good reviews and decided to give it a try and got two beef kabobs. We get kabobs all of the time from other restaurants and are not very picky. Needless to say these were the worst kabobs we have ever eaten. They were nearly inedible. They looked and tasted like overcooked hamburgers cut up in small pieces. We will never be eating here again.

Sansom Kabob House has picked right up where it left off in its move to its new digs on South Street. The food is still very tasty and nicely presented. However now the food is served in beautiful surroundings. This is the best-​looking Afghan restaurant in Philly. Oh yes, it is still as friendly as ever too!
Among the dishes enjoyed here was the bulani. These paper-​thin pockets with potato and onions are on the addictive side of the food index. The tasty ashak (scallion dumpling) is right behind them … and it also provides a dip for the fresh Afghan bread served here. For a main course, I went with the eponymous Sansom kabob platter and wasn’t at all disappointed… especially as the brown rice was cooked so perfectly.
Tip — Don’t forget to ask for their homemade Chatni hot sauce!
Welcome Sansom Kabob House to South Street!

We had lunch here on a Saturday — the food was delicious! I had three vegetarian sides — pumpkin, Dahl and cauliflower — with rice. Superb, especially the Dahl. My friend had the chicken kebab and a dumpling dish and said both were excellent.

The Samson Kabob house on 13^th and South is a surprisingly beautiful restaurant. The space is very tastefully decorated and has very nice lighting, chandeliers, tasteful artwork and high ceilings.
Samson Kabob is BYOB. We ordered the hummus and this came with Afghan style flat bread that was hot and tasty. I had the Lamb kabob and this dish was a winner. The lamb was tender and juicy with great spices and an awesome grilled flavor. We also had an Afghan Manti dish, which is sort of like small dumplings in a spicy yogurt sauce. This was delicious also. The Kabob was served with rice.
Samson Kabob house had a decent variety of vegetarian dishes on the menu also. Most entrees were in the $ 16 – 20 range. I really liked the food, atmosphere and service… and that lamb kabob!
4 solid Unilocal

Came here a few weeks ago on a Friday night, and the service was pretty awful. They confused our reservations for the night before, and then told us they could only seat us in the elevated section of the restaurant. When we got there, they sat us at an empty table instead, and we waited about 20 minutes for a server to come by.
We were in a rush so we quickly ordered and awaited our food. It took quite some time. The dishes were flavorful, but very similar in appearance and taste. Fortunately, this place is BYO so our time waiting was time well spent drinking. Not sure if I would come back — I miss their more casual location on Sansom Street.

Love this place! One of my favorites so far are the Scallion dumplings, lovely raviolis stuffed lightly with scallions in a delightfully light tomato meat sauce. It’s drizzled with yogurt. I liked it so much on my second visit I got the entrée size, and honestly would have licked my plate if there were no other diners there! Also of note, the vegetarian entrees — cauliflower and the eggplant. Their kabobs are nicely cooked and still juicy — not dried out like some other places.
It’s a BYOB and most dishes are under $ 15, so you can order to your hearts content and still go home with some $$ in your pocket

Magical pickup wonders. Imagine being jasmine, on a Persian rug, flying through the currently soaking wet disgusting hair bashing low lying weather compartment, and picking up your meal in old city — suddenly hair don’t care, wet don’t sweat but food is THE MOOD. this place has bangin afghan food, especially for newcomers.

Good food but service was incredibly slow. There were only two waitresses for the entire place (about 8 – 10 tables??). Saw them doing everything from taking orders to bringing out food to bringing glasses to bussing the tables after patrons leave. Can’t speak to whether it’s inefficiency or they need more staff. Byob. Come if you don’t mind the pace, else keep eyeing the staff and maybe they will bring urgency

Truly a hidden gem. Charming service, nice cozy atmosphere with unique and delicious home cooked food. Lots of vegetarian dishes, but we went in another direction. We started with an Ashak appetizer, an incredible lightly steamed dumpling covered with a meat, yogurt sauce. Also tried The Bulani appetizer. It was a crunchy fried potato and onion pastry with a yogurt dip. It’s a BYOB, so we brought a decent bottle of champagne and saved a lot on the bill. I ordered the Qablee Palaw which was tender marinated lamb with almonds, raisins, carrots, and rice. My wife had the lamb kabob, grilled, smoky and very tender. We finished the meal with afghan style ice cream, and baklava with two strong coffees. Perhaps the best and most affordable meal we’ve had in town in the last several years.

If you are looking for something different and casual for dinner, check out this place. The space itself is very cute and welcoming. I thought the staff was wonderful. I got a veggie kabob which was healthy but not very tasty. My boyfriend got the beef kabob and was absolutely in love. Its BYOB and we enjoyed a very nice dinner there on a Friday night, I would definitely go back!

So many layers of flavor, everything was really fresh and the service was warm and attentive. Great new location and remarkable «step up» from the old site on Sansom Street. We had the delicious and rich scallion dumplings, Chablee Kabob — a flat ground beef mixture with onion & garlic and Kufta Chalaw — Afgani meatballs in a tomato/​onion sauce with basmati rice… Everything was incredible !!

We missed this place when it closed on Sansom Street and were happy to find it at its new location. Excellent Afghan food, in a very pleasant environment — which is a definite step up from the «local joint» ambience at the prior location (although that was fine for lunch or very casual early dinner). The service is very pleasant, attentive. BYO. Its a very nice addition to the neighborhood

I’ve eaten here a few times this year. It has become my favorite restaurant. The food is heavenly… always fresh and perfectly seasoned. The environment is authentic, warm and comfortable. And they play authentic middle eastern music which adds to the experience.

Came in on a rainy night, the night before Christmas Eve. The waitress was sweet and attentive. The ashak appetizer was so good and warming.
I had the lamb under balmain rice with raisin, carrots and almonds, F had the beef kabobs… both delicious!

I just came home from a wonderful dining experience at Sansom Kabob. The food was so delicious. The flavors were artful. I am definitely going back to try the lamb kabobs. The Baklava is heavenly and their coffee is a wonderful closer to a great meal. Our server was so sweet and pleasant. Excellent dining experience.

Amazing, authentic, super delicious food. I know its authentic because my wife is Afghan and trust me, I know about authentic Afghan food. Try their Awshak or Buloni for appetizer and Qabuli pulao or Mutton kabob for main course and top it up with Firni for dessert. Excellent service, clean atmosphere and friendly hosts.

I work down the street so my boyfriend and I decided to stop in after I got done work one night. It was great! The food was delicious (we got qablee palaw and quarma chalaw), drinks were great (special yogurt drink, afghan tea, and coffee), and dessert (firni) was incredible! The décor is lovely as well and the staff couldn’t be sweeter. Would definitely recommend this place and will be coming back again.

Ate at the Kabob House last night. The décor was great, the food was excellent (and healthy), and the service was very attentive. I predict great things for this restaurant in its new location. Congratulations and keep the good times coming!

This place is amazing! I’ve eaten here throughout the years when I’m in philly and even after moving locations I was pleased to see that the quality of the food is as great as ever.
I always get the Sansom Kebob which is my go to dish. Definitely check it out if your in the area.

We went for lunch and there was no wait. The service was great and the food was excellent. My wife had the vegetarian pumpkin dish and it was amazing. We started with Bulani which was a great appetizer. I had a chicken dish, that I can’t remember the name of, but it was also delicious. Their saffron rice that comes with the food is as good as it gets with rice. I highly recommend trying this place out.

Amazing food and great service… so glad they re-​created from Sansom Street even closer to my house!

Total disappointment! Waited so long for the beloved kabob house to open back up only to experience terrible service and long wait time for food.
After some wait to even order, salad and bread took 45 minutes. We were starving. Dipping sauce for the bread arrived 15 after we received bread (why even bother?).
Hummus appetizer didn’t come until an hour into sitting there. And they brought only one of the two hummus we ordered. They ended up getting the other hummus and that only took 5 minutes. Not sure why the first hummus took an hour.
Dinner didn’t arrive until an hour and a half into the meal. The food was just decent. Not as great as I remember.
There was a pumpkin dish that was really good. Salad was okay-​drenched in yogurt dressing. Lamb kabob was tender, but salty. Check came quickly and Dessert was never offered though they did end up giving us complimentary ice cream.
Overall, I will never return. Service was terrible. It was not even busy on a Saturday night. The waitresses never checked on us and we had to ask for a lot of things (like silverware for our friend).
The new location and décor is really well devoted.
I know they just opened back up, but this isn’t your first rodeo. Hopefully they improve.

Went here for lunch and for dinner, and I think it’s a winner.
Ok, bad rhyme aside, the first thing that jumped out, even as they were working on getting this place ready for business, was how much effort they put into decorating. It really looks nice. The waitstaff was very friendly and went out of their way to serve us.
As far as food, the lunch menu is a bit different from the dinner menu. I went with one of the kebab plates, all of which are listed at around $ 10. It came with 4 pieces of meat, of varying sizes, along with Afghan rice, and was pretty good. Lunch reminded me a little of Sahara Grill, which is my go-​to Middle Eastern restaurant. The dinner menu is more varied and elaborate… and more expensive. I got the Qablee Palaw (also on lunch menu for a bit cheaper, and not much smaller, if at all), which consists of cubes of meat, usually lamb, along with shaved carrots and raisins, on a bed of Afghan rice. I’ve had this dish at a couple other Afghan restaurants, one in Philly and another elsewhere, and I must say this was the best of the three. Not too oily, and the ingredients tasted fresh (the opposite was my complaint about the other two places I tried). Both meals were accompanied by a small salad and a basket of bread. For dinner we also ordered the kidney beans with Afghan rice, and an eggplant based appetizer. The small samples I tried of both were very good.
The food didn’t necessarily come out fast either time, but was certainly within the realm of what I would consider acceptable. Subsequent visits have varied as far as speed of service. It seems like they tend to forget about you if it’s a slow day. This place is definitely worth trying, as long as you aren’t in a hurry. I wish them well, and hope they stick around at that corner.

We have waited a long time for Samson Kabob House to relocate and open at their new location. They opened today and their new location at South street is even better then the last one. Looks like some kinks need to be worked out but I am sure they will get there. Did wait a long time for the food but it was delicious. Looks to be a family business but they sure could use outside help.