De Afghanan Kabob House

If you’re looking for authentic Afghan food, this is the place! The Mantoo is a must have. A glass of dogh with your meal is also very refreshing and I would certainly have some sheer yakh for dessert. Absolutely delicious!

I can’t think of anything bad to say about this place. The food was good, service great and the place was cozy and nice. If I had to complain about one thing is that the parking sucks but they have no control over that. Try this place out! I will return!

Wow, just wow. I went to a concert last night and searched out what was close in proximity to the Great American Music Hall and De Afghanan Kabob House (with 4.5 stars) popped up. Thank the heavens above!
I wasn’t terribly hungry but, wanted to have a little food for hitting the show so I ordered the chicken kebab. Let me tell you about this chicken kebab as it’s no ordinary kebab. I don’t think I’ve ever had something so tender and flavorful come off the grill. Cooked traditionally over an open flame of coals gives the meat a perfect texture. There were two varieties of basmati rice, and a nice little side of diced cold vegtables that went perfectly with the chicken.
I’ll keep this short. Hats off to the best kabob in San Francisco.

Food was ok. Lamb was over cooked, mantoo was overdone, pumpkin bolani was inedible, though the potato was ok.
Worst of all, I was in a group of 4 and when we gave her 4 credit cards to split a $ 70 bill and the owner/​waitress refused to charge 4 credit cards saying that it was against her «policy» to only accept 2 cards from a table of 4, which is ridiculous bc if we came here alone, she would have to charge 4 cards. So it put us in a terrible inconvenience of trying to transfer money between us because she couldn’t bear the extra credit card charge which every retailer has to bear to do business in the city. She was incredibly rude about it. Needless to see, I won’t be coming back or taking my friends or clients here.

First time ever trying Afghan food. so how the heck would i know how good Afghan food is suppose to taste, right? I’m pretty sure i or most wouldn’t be too crazy about «real» Chinese food, so our opinions are based on what is served in this country… with that said, I am a fan of Afghan Bbq! At least at this place. The right amount of spice and whoo, huge portions. Will definitely try again. Hopefully, they continue doing what they do and not change.

I ordered the Lamb Platter ($ 16) and was pleasantly surprised by just how tender and how big the lamb shank was. The rice, carrots, and raisins were just decorations for the centerpiece of roasted, perfect lamb. I couldn’t believe the size and I had to share or else I couldn’t have eaten it all by myself.
The Beef Dumplings were also good, but the Lamb was Amazing.
We also got the Doh. Definitely acquired taste — it was yogurt in very pure form, very liquid with cilantro infusion and slightly sour.
Will be coming back again for the kabobs and bolani!

Nice and calm welcome greetings.
We ordered mixed lamb and chicken platter, the meats were tender and juicy given the big chunks.
Rice was fragrant, salsa very fresh and the bread was delicious. Both my boyfriend and I enjoyed it alot.
It is $ 14.95 though, not sure about the rates of Afghan food in San Francisco though, will try at more places to compare the value.
Overall, we like it alot and think this place serves very delicious and naturally flavoured foods.
Thumbs up

I’ve been coming to this restaurant since they were located in Berkeley. Imagine my surprise when they picked up and closed shop in Berkeley and relocated in SF, down the street from my house. Ecstatic, was the word.
The food was pretty good, and fairly cheap. I ordered the Borani (more on this), Triple Kabob, Combination Kabob, Quabili Polo and Firni. The Triple and Combo Come with a lamb, chicken, chaplee and chopan kabob, so we had a chance to have everything. The food is great. But I ended up having a little trouble with the borani. Online, its a pumpkin dish, which isn’t bad I assume, but I wanted potato. So we called and got potato instead of pumpkin. Mind you, it isn’t anywhere on the delivery menu, but you CAN order potato leek Bolani if you call the restaurant. In fact, I think most things are available for delivery, but NOT on the delivery menu. Call the restaurant to confirm.
Can I just say the Firni was SO YUMMY?! It’s a rice pudding with rose water, sprinkled with cardamom and pistachio over the top. It was soooo good, I might go there just for dessert some time.
In short, good food, good prices, albeit, confusing ordering process. Order what you want with the restaurant directly.

The best Lamb Kebabs, Lamb Shank, Ice Cream, and Bakhlava I’ve ever had in my life. I’m originally from Azerbaijan so I know what good lamb and bakhlava tastes like and this is seriously the best. I’ve been to dozens of middle eastern places around the bay area and even in places like London and Baku but I’ve never tasted lamb that was so succulent and flavorful.
The ice cream is not too sweet and has pieces of cream in it and the bakhlava is served warm and melts in your mouth. The sheer chai is a must, it’s like a hot chai latte flavored with honey.

My friends and I came here on a busy Saturday night, right around dinner rush. We had heard the hype and decided to see for ourselves. The place is small (only around ten small tables or so), and the let us know that the wait would be around an hour. I think it was well worth the wait, and my friends thought so too.
Food was amazing! We ordered the Borani Kadoo (pumpkin appetizer) and Mantoo (meat dumplings) to start. The pumpkin was so good, it pretty much melted in your mouth. A must try. For entrees, we shared the Chicken Qorma (curry) and Triple Kebab (tekka beef, chicken, and chaplee). The curry was a little spicy for me, but I ordered the Dogh (yogurt drink), which cut through the spice very well. The meat in the kebab combo was super tender and juicy, not dried out at all. If you try anything here, that Sheer Yakh (Afghan ice cream) is to die for! We also ordered the Firni (milk pudding), which was delicious as well. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I couldn’t get enough of their desserts.
As I mentioned, the inside is very small and it’s a bit tight if you’re standing there waiting. My friend also noted that the American flag was hung the wrong way according to flag rules. Minor details. Service was mediocre throughout the meal. For example, they took a while with the drinks and they were not very attentive. I think some people got complimentary bread, but our table didn’t. Not sure if this was because of the food we ordered or what. However, our waitress did an outstanding job of recommending dishes to us, so I think we’ll be back, perhaps on a slower night.

YUM! I have been here a handful of times, and service/​good is always consistent. We usually start with the Bolani. It’s kind of like a potato pancake and is super delicious paired with the sauces provided on the side. The chicken and beef kabob dishes are so so good and juicy! Never dry! They come with sides of rice, potato salad, a tomato/​onion salad, and some bread.
The place itself is pretty small, but well worth the wait.

Worst customer service! Almost bordering on discrimination.
Tip: invest in a clip board like every other civil restaurant has and write down names so you can attend to your customers in order.
Food– order chaplee kebab or the potato stuffed bread or the chicken tikka. You can’t go wrong with that.

Love this place. Been with a friend, food was delicious and was of good quality and great taste. Highly recommend this place.

This place is a gem. I had the lamb shank with rice, shornakhod, and the sabzi. All were absolutely delicious. Their menu is eclectic and I’ll definitely be back to try everything else on it especially the delicious looking kabobs. My review is for the food and service alone. The décor is nothing special and inedible so never really a deal breaker in my book. It’s BYOB, good thing there is a convenience store 1 block away.

Nice nice little afghani shop in a less nasty area of the tenderloin. Food is delicious and can be made as spicy as you want with that little green chutney you see in the main image. Definitely a solid choice when it comes to a divey food craving.

Awesome food. Very nice service. The place is small and gets crowded too soon. If you want to try come as soon as it opens to avoid waitng. Would love to come back.

Great food, and friendly staff. I’ve tried several afghan restaurant in the US and Canada, nobody makes the Bolani this place makes.

We wanted something different and Unilocaled this place
I know very little about Afghan food, but it seemed good. Tri tip kebab platter was the best dish we tried
Pleasant service and ½ block from many bus lines on Van Ness.

I LOVE this place. I come every weekend for their Chaplee Kabob, which is a delicious seasoned ground beef patty with scallions. My boyfriend loves their Tekka Kabob for the tender high quality beef.
The meat is served with two types of rice and a tomato cucumber salad. The brown rice has a lovely flavor from meat broth. There are sauces tableside but honestly I find the dishes so well-​flavored that I never add them.
This is a family run shop and the servers are really sweet and courteous. I see some reviews about slow service on here — but I’ve never had any issues.
Overall, hands down one of the best meals I’ve had in SF. My one complaint is that the restaurant is not closer to my house or I’d be here a lot more!

When I lived down the street from this place I’d stop in after work nearly weekly. Now I live on the opposite side of the lake and don’t ge in much anymore. But this place is great!
Go for the «Brown Rice». They put some flavors n there that will ROCK your world, and ask for the almond and raisin topping… forget what it’s called but it’s FANTASTIC!

So their food is good, but attitudes are horrible and that’s why they get one star. My husband ordered something that he didn’t like at all, so he asked if he can get something else. This lady came to us. She is fairly thin and big lips. She said «this is what your ordered and we can’t take it back this is not that kind of restaurant».
We were all shocked and my husband stayed hungry. We would never ever go back there.

*** In Short ***
Tasty, flavorful, tender meat dishes!
*** In Depth ***
I’m sorry you were our second choice De Afghanan, but we really wanted to go to a restaurant I no longer remember the name of! Fortunately, they were closed for some national holiday of theirs, so we ended up coming here and trying their:
* Punpkin Bolina — We actually didn’t order this, but some charitable gentleman gave us the rest of his, realizing this platter was far too large for one person to finish as an appetizer. That said, while the flavor and pan-​frying was rather reminiscent of green onion pancakes, were were disappointed by how bland it was, even with the sauce.
* Lamb Kebab — Oh, but this, this dish. Whatever flavor the bolina was lacking in, the lamb easily made up for, and was surprisingly tender and juicy too, to boot!
* Chicken Qorma — Well, okay, this dish as well, adding yet another explosion of flavors. I did recall the chicken being a little dryer than I’d like, but, that’s oftentimes the case with white meat isn’t it?
And if the dishes aren’t enough on their own, they have some table sauces lying around for that extra dash of flavor.
***Accessibility Info***
Venue — Another smaller, and slightly cramped venue, with tables places closed enough that only a handful of them are actually accessible if the place is full.
Bathroom — Didn’t try.

This place is really great! The meats were extremely well seasoned — everything was tasty, fresh, good quality, not greasy, and a good value. We devoured everything. I would go back in a heartbeat.

Food is good but service is AWFUL and incompetent.
Went for lunch with my husband today and felt totally disrespected. Ordered a kabob and lamb shank. Kabob came out first and we were almost done eating it and the lamb shank still hadn’t arrived.
Three lamb shanks then arrive at the table behind us who had sat down and ordered about 10 minutes after us. Server then comes over and says they ran out of lamb shanks and would we want anything else. I ask how they ran out when we ordered first yet the table behind us somehow got 3 a second ago? He then back pedals and says they ordered a third one last minute and he accidentally gave them the last one instead of us so its his fault.
No apology or offer to comp us a different dish. I just shook my head and said no I didn’t want anything else, I had wanted to try that dish. He then goes back to the other table and basically grabs one of the lamb shanks and tries to give it to me but it had been sitting on their table. I refuse and then he brings it back to their table.
Really bad service and I’m pretty sure this violates health code. Earlier in the meal he had dropped two kabobs at another table and the chef asks him if it was table 5. He goes back and checks the ticket, realizes his mistake and then removes the plates and takes them to the right table!
This was our second visit and had liked the food here but with service like this not planning to return. Luckily Helmand Place also serves Afghan food further down on Van Ness so will plan on going there instead.

Food was tasty and the wait staff attentive. Should’ve stuck with kabobs. Instead I ordered a dumpling dish that was more like ravioli. Flavorful dish, just not what I was expecting. My friend ordered a lamb rice dish that she enjoyed, but the yogurt drink was incredibly strong and she barely drank it.

#88
Quaintly situated on San Francisco’s busy Geary street there is a narrow restaurant serving some of the best Afghan food choices – I love this place!
We had a rowdy party of 6 (leaving from an event around the corner) and it was everyone else’s dinner time, so the place was a bit crowded. I never mind waiting for a table in a crowded restaurant, it usually foretells of great cuisine. The server got our table together after a pretty short wait, but none too soon, we were all hungry.
I, myself, have never eaten at De Afghan Kabob House before, but I PROMISE, I will return. One of our companions had eaten here several times before and promised the food was good. It smelled amazing, the crowd looked happy eating their food, and I think I believed that the experience was going to be one to write about!
We ordered:
Bolani potato and leek bread with a delicious yogurt dipping sauce
Cilantro pepper green dipping sauce (of which I almost drank it was so super good)
Chicken with shirazi and two kinds of rice
Tikka meat and chicken combo with shirazi and two kinds of rice
FREE Baklava dessert… FREE!!!
We enjoyed each other’s food, and our own as well. The joy of eating with a group of people is the ability to eat off of their plates too ;) My chicken was some of the most moist and well seasoned chicken I have ever had the pleasure of eating. The shirazi complimented the food perfectly, as did the rice sides. I ate so much food I needed help getting out of this little, narrow restaurant.
The service was superb, the food was stellar, the venue is inviting.
Stephani Smiles for De Afghan Kabob House ;)

WOW.
My mouth is literalyl watering as I write this review.
Flavorful BBQ that’s not at all spicy but nothing like mediterranean or South asian flavors. This place is legit and go. Run. get there by 9:30 because they dont offer seating in the restaurant, even though they close at 10pm. Really nice guys, but honestly, the food is so good, you pay attention to nothing else.
WOW.

I am familiar with Afghan cuisine. We have an excellent restaurant in San Carlos and Burlingame. So this was my first visit outside of my regular place. The menu had a variety of items, but less than I am used to. We tried Bolani — Leek & potato-​filled pastries baked on a flat pan served with yogurt and cilantro chutney and triple kabob. What they don’t tell you on the menu is they put chili flakes in everything. I am not one for spicey, so it ruined the meal for me. If they had not put so much chili flake, the food would have actually been pretty good. The meats were juicy and tender, but spicy. The bolani was on the bland side, but the sauce did help. Service was fair at best. Parking is street parking, so it’s the roll of the dice for you. Prices were okay.

Decided to try out this place in my work neighborhood after hearing about it from several people. I decided to meet up with a friend for lunch and try it out.
I ordered the Tri-​tip kabob platter which came with rice. The rice was simply perfect and the meat was very tender. I loved the jalapenos on the side, they pleased this spicy food lover off the bat. The cilantro sauce that they serve on the table was very flavorful.
I was very pleased with the service, quality of food and will be back to try more dishes.

Food:
–Qabili Pallow was above-​average, the versions from Helmand Palace or Kabul comes with better overall flavors
–Chicken kabob tasted standard
–Lamb kabob was too gamey
–Well seasoned rice with all the dishes
–Milk chai was too sweet
Service:
–Two servers for a Saturday night is busy but not short-​staffed for the small restaurant, and is no excuse for terribly inattentive service.
–I was never able to make eye contact with one of the servers to get his attention for any request as he walked back and forth with a perpetual tunnel-​vision and never bothered to check on our table.
–I get that life happens and you can’t always carry a smile on your face, but you could manage that appropriately especially in a people-​facing environment by taking some necessary breaks or work out something with the managers. That said, the aforementioned server also had the most miserable expression on his face the entire time and it felt like I was dining with Eeyore by my side.
Overall, very disappointed after seeing all the reviews. I’d recommend Helmand Palace nearby for better food, service, and ambiance.

Holy smokes! Why has it taken me SO long to find this place!
Now that I know about this place there is definitely NO turning back. I think I’m in LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!
In a perfect location on Geary Street near bars, shops and bus lines. Came here with a couple friends during the evening and instantly noticed that it’s a small restaurant but the wait wasn’t that long at all.
Once seated we all agreed on the appetizer of Bolani w/​potato, leeks & homemade yogurt sauce. One word to describe it. DELICIOUS! It was a lot but trusts me it didn’t last long.
The complimentary bread was amazingly good and was even better when you put some of that good ol’ Cilantro Chutney sauce on it! Yumm. makes my mouth watery just thinking about it.
For my main course meal I ordered: combination kabob (chicken and tekka beef) and I was truly happy with my decision. May I just state that I devoured my food! Like really? I took my plate DOWN! You would have thought it was my last meal I was living for. You can tell that the meat was marinated for a while because of how juice, moist and flavorful it was! OMG, my belly and I was in food heaven.
Then to top it off, our lovely server brought out Baklava which was on the house and let me say it was «a must get». The best way to top off the delicious meal and come down from our food high!
Prices are very reasonable and the portions are enough for 1 – 2 people. I only ended up paying $ 20 in total for my appetizer and meal. NOT BAD!
Customer Service was extremely nice and pleasant! He was constantly checking in on us and making sure we were satisfied. Plus we got FREE desert. Come on now, what more can I ask for?
I can’t believe that it has taken me SO long to come here! I definitely will be back sooner than later. Don’t wait… Bookmark this place and try it!

Love this place! I highly recommended trying it out if you’re looking to get your healthy veggies and protein fix. Everything was really delicious. I love the casual, easy vibe of the small restaurant. Service was speedy, simple, and sweet.
You really cannot go wrong with the Triple kabob platter. It came with chicken, tekka beef, and chapli, veggie salad, and two kinds of basmati rice. The chicken kabobs were my favorite — so juicy, tender, and flavorful. Mantoo dumplings were soft, flavorful, and yummy.
Everything tasted so clean and fresh. I love my middle eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. I really appreciate their use of whole ingredients for flavors like cilantro, mint, and lime. Clean and healthy eating for the WIN baby!