Kabul is not affiliated with any other restaurant in the bay area
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 998
Reviewed: 8/22/2007
Rating: 8
My photo gallery
It's been years since I've been to Kabul Afghan Cuisine in Sunnyvale. Last time I remembered, the food was top notch Afghani food with plates ranging from $10-16. We arrived on the late side for lunch and greeted with a packed house of tech nerds from Google. It's a good way to eavesdrop on conversations, Google phone (gPhone) is using blah blah and will be released sometime in blah blah.
We started off with Pakawra-e-badenjan which I've had on previous visits. It's a deep fried pastry filled with eggplant and smothered with yogurt and a greasy meat sauce. Not for weak stomachs and can create an incredible amount of gas to share with your favorite coworkers. I thought today's Pakawra-e-badenjan was too greasy and needed to be drained before serving. I would compare to the San Carlos restaurant but apparently are they in no way affiliated with any other Kabul restaurants in the bay area. They have a sign on the door; read it, learn it, and ask them just to piss them off.
salad - drowning in yogurt, next time I'll be sure to ask for the dressing on the side. Thick cucumber slice, 1 tomato wedge, and romaine.
shrimp kebabs - the price is expensive for lunch but the value outweighs the price by a mile. They give you 8 extra large shrimps that taste like lobster. I think they coat them in a yogurt marinade and mix afghan spices, place them on skewers and lay them over an open flame. Cooked perfectly. The pallaw was moist and they give you about 2 cups worth. I would highly recommend trying this as I'm almost positive you won't be disappointed by the flavors or portion size. I was so stuffed and happy, it's an easy repeat order.
Service was lacking. There was a large lunch group and not enough waiters. While the waiters would be doing laps around the lunch group, we were neglected and waters ran dry. By the time we requested our waters, we were nearly done with the meal. I'm willing to forgive on the score because their food was great. I've made 4 visits to Kabul Afghani Cuisine and haven't had a bad meal yet. Keep up the tasty work and I look forward to coming back.
Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 730
Reviewed: 8/22/2007
Rating: 8
My photo gallery
For some reason I am rarely excited to eat at an Afghan restaurant, yet usually find myself happy when I leave. Today was no different. We were driving around at lunch and Jason spotted this one and remembered it being a place he had wanted to add to the site. I went along but wasn't super eager.
The place was your standard Afghan restaurant interior - a bit upscale with nice decorations throughout. The place was packed inside, a good sign. The wait staff was moving around fast, yet mostly was focusing on a larger group that was there this day.
We were shown a table quickly and scanned the menus. I looked for a veggie dish and sure enough there was a decent selection to choose from. I played it safe with the vegetarian combo. It was a mixture of 3 of their vegetarian dishes, combined with rice and the flat bread.
The previous day, we had bombay garden and the dishes were a little reminiscent of Indian food, except I found them much more flavorful. While Bombay Garden tended to put a lot of cream to richen the dishes, the afghan versions were flavored much more by the ingredients themselves, giving the food a wholesome feeling, and a more exciting flavor. The rice was buttered up but not overly so. I could not finish the rice as there was so much.
Overall this is solid food. My only complaint (like most afghan restaurants) is the high price, so I dock a half point. And, yes, again I walked away with a smile on my face. Great job, Kabul Afghan restaurant.
Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 171
Reviewed: 7/17/2008
Rating: 8
My photo gallery
This place is worth it for dinner. The portions are huge but it’s either a hit or miss depending on the type of meat that’s ordered. There are plenty of items to choose from if grilled meat is not your preferred choice. I went for a birthday dinner so service was actually pretty good, with our waters and drinks being refilled consistently. This place seems to be popular during weekend dinner time as there was a wait half way through our meal. It’s located next door to some exclusive Afghan cigar club.
The salad is just meh. It’s salad with yogurt dressing. For appetizers we tried this ground lamb in this deep fried pocket pastry. Was very good and the lamb did not have that gamey taste I’m so offended by. I decided to go with the chicken and beef kababs combo and probably should have went with the lamb kababs as you get a choice of two out of three types of meats offered. The lamb looked juicy and cooked to medium rare, where as my beef was a little over medium well and tasted on the dry side. The chicken was superb. The chicken kabob was juicy and tender with excellent kabab flavours.
Someone at our table ordered a pakawra-e-badenjan dish, which is essentially pumpkin with yogurt sauce. The pumpkin is excellent as a dessert item and the yogurt sauce actually helped bring down the sweetness of the pumpkin. The dish was less oily as this was the vegetarian version without the ground beef.
Final total came out to be about $20 a person, so all in all not bad and I would be back. The portions here are huge and I had some trouble finishing off what was on my plate.
Reviewer: Dan
Total Reviews: 78
Reviewed: 3/17/2008
Rating: 8
My photo gallery
Since one of my co-workers swears by Kabul, I had to check it out. I arrived a bit late for lunch on a cloudy day and the place wasn't crowded at all. I was by myself, so they put me at a 2-top, but even with a mostly empty room, they put me in a location where I was practically touching elbows with another table. I don't know why. I should've requested another spot, but I had no idea at the time that the marketing guy at the adjacent table would drone on about himself and his enabling skills non-stop for 30 minutes. I immediately ordered the lamb kebab since this seems a pretty standard item here. While I was waiting, they served me a green salad that was completely soaked in dressing. Ew. Half of the lettuce was wilted with brown edges, so I ate a few bites and pushed it away. My meal arrived about 10 minutes later and was good-sized. The waiter pulled the meat off the kebab for me and left. Here's the breakdown: Lamb – by far the best part of the meal. Large pieces cooked medium rare and very tasty. Bigger quantity than I expected. Rice – had a nice cinnamon aroma, but nothing special beyond that. A little on the dry and lifeless side. Bread – nice style of bread but it was room temp and did not appear to be fresh made in the restaurant. This could've been store bought and just sliced and served. I didn't eat all of it as I was uninspired.
Service overall was very good, but not exactly friendly. Overall price including tip was around $15.50. OK for a sit down meal with so much meat. Something bothered me about this place though, and I was having trouble putting my finger on it. Maybe it was the annoying people next to me, or the wilted salad, or the dark room outlined in pink curtains, or the slightly sullen service. Worth further study. Rating is 7.5 so far.
My second visit here was completely different. I arrived on a sunny Thursday to a very crowded dining room. I ordered the lamb pillaw with carrots and raisins and sat back to read my paper. This time I asked for salad dressing on the side and they were happy to comply. My salad arrived lightening fast and the lettuce and tomato quality were good. With just a little of their yogurt dressing this made an enjoyable salad. My food arrived maybe 5 minutes later, a plate heaped with rice, sprinkled with raisins an shredded carrots. Underneath this were some serious chunks of lamb. The whole thing smelled strongly of cinnamon. This was a delicious meal, though the lamb pieces were a little too fatty, reminding me quite a bit of ossobuco. I would have preferred meat from the lamb kebabs instead. The cinnamon flavor and odor were also a little overpowering after a while. Like before, the bread was room temp, probably store-bought. (They could make this twice as good if they just heated it in the oven for a few minutes). Total cost with tip was just under $14. As for rating, my upset stomach afterward clouds things a bit, but I would have to say 8.5 for this visit, making this an 8 overall for both visits.
Pros: Some great tasting meals Cons: Sometimes surly service; variable salad quality; bread is not warmed
What dish did you eat? Chicken & beef kabob combo,
“What did you think?The service has declined since my first visit about 7 yrs. ago. The seasoning has also changed. Not for the best either. Service sucks @ Afghani House, but better food”
9/25/2007 9:48:07 AM
Bippy ate...
Lunch, not Kebabs
“Looks like only kebabs get you short changed for quantity at lunch time. The pallow's and challow's are still huge when ordered for Lunch.”
8/30/2007 1:10:16 PM
Bippy ate...
DInner.
“Dinner time prices are better value. A little higher but portions are much larger. The kebabs are always fantastic. The lamb pillau with sultans and carrots is superb. The vegi side dishes shouldn't be missed. Bring a big appetite.”
