Afghan Palace Cuisine

by Dave C.

I love this place! This is the kind of place critics and writers describe as having character, definitely a break from all the corporate chains. If the food was only decent that would be enough to go, but the food is awesome.This is probably a poor description but the chicken kabob tasted like what Pollo Loco would aspire to be if it was a 5 star restaurant. i am usually weary of getting the chicken a most place because it is usually dried out, not here the chicken is always so juicy and moist. The barg kabob, or fillet kabob, is so delicious. The soup too is amazing, so many good and spicy flavors. This is one of my favorite all time restaurants.

by staci w.

Found this place off of Yelp and was not disappointed when i got there. Starters: Was very impressed with entrees chosen: Eggplant and Hummus. My friends and I couldn't stop eating and was starting to get stuffed with all the fresh warm pitta. Soup came shortly after and was mind blowing. Husband enjoyed the chutney as well... (i didn't cause i don't like cilantro) Main Course- Love the Fish kabob and rice. Grilled perfectly and seasoned. Also had a side of felafel's and was blown away. Didn't eat any beef or chicken but my friends all thought it was good. Heard the chicken was super tender and cooked perfectly. Location- Could be better. The strip mall was pretty empty and bit iffy looking. Interior- Lovely! Very themed and made me excited to try the food. After the meal my friends and I came out full, satisfied and bit more educated on the history of the Silk Road by the owner. Owner was very nice!!!! I can only hope that the owner would consider opening a place near LA.

by Isabel S.

As weird as it's going to sound, I went to Afghan Palace to attend an Inauguration Celebration in honor of our 44th Pres. Obama. The menu was limited, but what I was able to try was really good. It was an interesting night being in an Afghan restuarant with members of Drinking Liberally, The Inland Valley Democrat group, and members of MoveOn (how I heard about it)... Also, in quite the contrast to what you would expect to hear in an Afghan restaurant, an Irish band was playing (I think just for the evening, It would be odd to think they were regulars), but right in line with the theme, a bellydancer (quite good, and quite hot) was performing. It was a seriously cool place to be... and with all of these diverse people, I think it was an example of diversity bringing people together. Alright, the restaurant.. I'm going, jeez... Food: We started with the cilantro dip and pita bread, and hummus with pita bread. They were both very tasty and of course the pita was warm and soft and everything carb loaded yummies should be. Then we had this amazing chicken and rice, I have no idea what type of chicken it was, all I know is that it was good, and I wanted more. The rice was amazing. I really like rice, and my rice is usually pretty darn good, but this was incredible. I have no idea what they put in the food to get these flavors, but I liked it. Ambiance: You walk in to a small foyer, and immediately turn left to find a mural of the National Geographic's (Thanks Jack G.) cover of the Afghan woman in the red head wrappings with the strikingly light green eyes. It's quite beautifully done. Then you open up into the restaurant, it's mostly tables, there are a few booths on the far right. I'm coming back, and I'm checking out the menu the next time.

by Bob C.

Wow.Wow wow wow.I came here for lunch the other day after having spied the reviews for a while (thanks Michelle C!).  It was slightly after lunch time so the place was empty and dimly lit.  Our hostess (Angela) was friendly and talkative and introduced us to some excellent eats and interesting conversation.To start, we had some pita with a cilantro-based (I think) dipping sauce - yummy.  She gave us an order of the eggplant dip which was also yummy.  We ordered the Mantu (meat sauce with pasta shells - awesome!) and the Hummus (not bad, but not great either).Before our main courses, Angela treated us to a cup of very flavorful soup.  For the main course, I had the combination kabob (lamb and beef) and they were sensational to say the least.  Perfectly cooked and melt in your mouth yummy.  So much food, I had to take some home.A definite jewel in the desert and will become part of my rotation of places to eat.Also to note, they have belly dancers Friday and Saturday nights and Angela was thinking of adding one to Friday lunches as well.

by Alex S.

Great place. Their ice tea is fantastic. I ordered the beef and chicken kabob plate. It was phenominal. So moist and flavorful. I love this place. Go for the food, the service, and for the belly dancing show. I believe they have hookah in the back also. Great quality restaurant.

by Jay t.Dave C.Leyla M.Paul A.Kathleen N.

Just went to the Afghan Palace lunch yesterday after a 3-month absence.I had the Kafka kabob lunch that includes pita, rice, hummus and 3 wonderful sauces. I also ordered  a side of eggplant Barrani.Everything was Excellent!!!  I had a very happy, but full belly.Great Service, excellent food and very accommodating; what more can a customer as for???I sure miss the Afghan Palace. I used to frequently work in the area but I rarely do now. Maybe I need to find work closer to the Afghan Palace, so I can come to eat here more often!I love this place! This is the kind of place critics and writers describe as having character, definitely a break from all the corporate chains. If the food was only decent that would be enough to go, but the food is awesome.This is probably a poor description but the chicken kabob tasted like what Pollo Loco would aspire to be if it was a 5 star restaurant. i am usually weary of getting the chicken a most place because it is usually dried out, not here the chicken is always so juicy and moist. The barg kabob, or fillet kabob, is so delicious. The soup too is amazing, so many good and spicy flavors. This is one of my favorite all time restaurants.Afghan Palace has really great service. The owner is super nice and always has great energy. The food is over all good. I have been here quite a few times, and in the beginning it was hit or miss (when they first opened), but they have improved greatly. The Kabobs are flavourful, the chaplee is pretty good. The Afghan menu items are pretty authetic. The Bolanee is delicious and the rice is pretty good. The houmous is very mediocre *houmous is not a typical Afghan dish, so I understand*. This place is also priced well, compared to the sub par Persian restaurants that are horrible and overpriced in the Inland Empire.What I find kind of funny about the restaurant is the decor. There is a couple of wall murals of the British invasion of Afghanistan and the Khybr pass....appreciate the historic aspect but it's hard to look  at dead bodies and soldiers while I'm eating.Come here for top-notch wait service, "Mashawa" (one of the best soup's I've ever had, loaded with dill) and great funky atmosphere.This place looks like nothing from the outside, but when you go in there is this great atmosphere.  The people that own this place are really friendly and provide wonderful service.The food was a pleasant surprise. Very tasty.  The kabobs were spiced just right.  It is a little pricey, but I was impressed enough with it after the first time that I have referred many of my friends there.

by Michelle C.

So, my co-workers are not generally advanterous when it comes to our lunch time options. But, another manager and I were able to convince them to step out of the 8 usual places we frequent for lunch and try Afghan Palace (aka Rancho Kabob and Grill).Walk into the rather long and narrow, dimly lit restuarant and you are surprised by the myriad paintings on the walls. We were later told by the bubbly, eager to teach you about Afghani culture owner that she selected murals that represent the Afghan culture and it's variety of influences including the Chinese (silk trade route), Alexander the Great, the Mongols etc.She brought hummus with pita chips. The hummus was good. Not the best I have had but certainly flavorful. She uses Citrus rather liberally. She also brought this FANTASTIC eggplant dip that was large bits of eggplant with a pureed tomato and bell pepper with yogurt sauce on it DELISH with pita chips.The eggplant was gratis as was the Desert Tea she brought us to sample.I had the Koobideh Kabob (ground beef and spices with ground onion) along with basmati rice with a tomato sauce as well as brown rice with carrots, currants and raisins. Sounds odd but was exceptionally flavorful as she uses cinnamon to flavor the rice.I haven't had this good of food in while. There are Belly Dancers for entertainment on the weekends and I saw hookahs in the back.I WILL SO BE BACK.LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT.

by Paul A.

Come here for top-notch wait service, "Mashawa" (one of the best soup's I've ever had, loaded with dill) and great funky atmosphere.

by Dan P.

I was introduced to the Afghan Palace by a friend (actually he dragged me out) but now I can't thank him enough. I had the Chicken Gyro and a taste of the beef kabob, which was insanely delicious. The food is great and I cannot wait to go back.

by DAHVIA I.

This is as god as it gets!Lovely staff ,owners ,ambiance and idea..Consider yourself a visiting dignitary in a beautiful afgani palace with art hookah and of course the history and culture of the places and dishes. all handmande homemade treats are just crazy good!We had the chicken  and a vegetarian platters. hard to say what was better. it was so wonderful and flavorful. I want to say something about crack here but it was so beautifully natural it would be sacrilegious.the Place has a wonderful healing vibe and makes the whole war torn nightmare of the middle east seem like somewhere you might want to visit someday  It might not be PC to  delve too deeeply but it seems that this is good place to savor and understand the owners Emil and Evania Hashiman's vision for middle eastern relations. She is a belly dance promoter as well!  I was entertained educated and introduced to a beautiful culture too!The whole experience was a stress beater .. felt as if i went on a magic carpet to another land and back again in an hour.. I dont know if it was the spices or what but i felt great all day!p.s. theres a menonnite thrift store in the plaza as well that is a dont miss.. you will be amazed!