Afghan Kabob House

by akbar m.

Best  kabob i ever had!1

by Jonathan S.

I grabbed Kabob take-out last night and then transported my food payload to Alexandria.The Negina (Jewel of Persia) and Chopan Kabob were warm and fresh-tasting nearly an hour after they packaged them up for transport.Afghan Kabob House, I like you.  Like more than a friend. This is one of my new favorite Courthouse stops.If you can find me another place in this area where…

by Dave C.John P.chris n.

For lunch in Court House, this is a really good deal and really, really tasty.  I frequently get the open faced Gyro, but have had the regular Gyro and the chicken kabob, and it's all REALLY flavorful and really good.This is a very "lunchy" place, but it's FAR better than any other lunch place in the area.  Definitely recommend it.  So very good.I'm so disappointed with this place, I feel like giving it just 1 star (lowest rating), but the fact is that the food itself was not horrible. But so many things about it were just utterly disappointing.First - The dishes do not come with rice. The kabobs come with bread (and it's pretty lousy bread at that), but vegetable plates don't even come with bread. To be clear: each kabob comes with two "sides", and you can opt for rice as one of them. I'm sorry - this is simply not competitive with the other kabob joints in the area. For the same price (more or less), I could eat like a maharaja at Kabob Palace, with bread, rice, and two sides - on EVERY dish - and it would all be excellent quality. Second - "Sam's" ground chicken kabob. I've never had ground chicken that was ground completely into paste. The texture was completely disgusting. I actually thought I was eating chicken LIVER, which I really don't like. Even the flavor was liver-like. I thought several times that maybe it was actually chickpea paste (since I figured liver was unlikely) and maybe the guy who took my order got it wrong. But double-checking their menu, it's obvious it could only have been the ground chicken. Utterly disgusting, texture-wise. Flavor wise, it was just meh.Third - and this is admittedly minor - their kadu (pumpkin) was overly sweet. I think they cooked it with prunes. LOTS of prunes. Their chickpea side dish was also distinctly inferior to just about any other place in the area. The eggplant dish was not bad, but had too much "other than eggplants" (onions, etc.) in it for my taste. As far as I could tell, there are no actual Afghans involved in the operation. I don't want to draw any unwarranted conclusions, but it may perhaps have something to do with the issues I describe above.wow, really good food, good delivery,  + affordable = awesomeI had a lamb kabob with an extra skewer, chick peas, and rice with spinich ... everything cooked well, lots of flavor, everything tasted fresh. also had hommus and naan and was surprised how good the hommus was.big portions too, 16 bucks and there was almost enough for two people.

by Courtney R.

Nearly love at first bite. Alongside Earl's, dining in Arlington is starting to look up with my discovery of AKH.At the super-cheery cashier's recommendation, I went for the chicken/lamb combo platter (even though I had initially been leaning toward the lamb kabob sandwich). The price was a tad high, but when I got my food, I could see why. You could easily feed 10 anorexics with this meal: one morsel of meat each and divvy up the rest, girls. Still, at $13.95 with a drink, this place won't make my everyday lunch spot list.The kabob was great--not the best, but great. The chicken left me unimpressed, but that's just personal preference; when it comes to kabobs, I simply lust for lamb.The salad I opted for was just salad. The spinach rice was a ho-hum "nice," (but I'm not a rice lover in general, regardless of culinary origin). The chick peas were bland--I won't be opting for that side dish on my next visit--but the naan was off the muscle. The tzatziki was too runny and somehow not sour enough--it didn't make my taste buds sing. Too bad, as one of my favorite flavor combos in the world is nicely charred and seasoned lamb doused in tzatziki.

by Dave C.John P.chris n.Matthew F.Peter S.

For lunch in Court House, this is a really good deal and really, really tasty.  I frequently get the open faced Gyro, but have had the regular Gyro and the chicken kabob, and it's all REALLY flavorful and really good.This is a very "lunchy" place, but it's FAR better than any other lunch place in the area.  Definitely recommend it.  So very good.I'm so disappointed with this place, I feel like giving it just 1 star (lowest rating), but the fact is that the food itself was not horrible. But so many things about it were just utterly disappointing.First - The dishes do not come with rice. The kabobs come with bread (and it's pretty lousy bread at that), but vegetable plates don't even come with bread. To be clear: each kabob comes with two "sides", and you can opt for rice as one of them. I'm sorry - this is simply not competitive with the other kabob joints in the area. For the same price (more or less), I could eat like a maharaja at Kabob Palace, with bread, rice, and two sides - on EVERY dish - and it would all be excellent quality. Second - "Sam's" ground chicken kabob. I've never had ground chicken that was ground completely into paste. The texture was completely disgusting. I actually thought I was eating chicken LIVER, which I really don't like. Even the flavor was liver-like. I thought several times that maybe it was actually chickpea paste (since I figured liver was unlikely) and maybe the guy who took my order got it wrong. But double-checking their menu, it's obvious it could only have been the ground chicken. Utterly disgusting, texture-wise. Flavor wise, it was just meh.Third - and this is admittedly minor - their kadu (pumpkin) was overly sweet. I think they cooked it with prunes. LOTS of prunes. Their chickpea side dish was also distinctly inferior to just about any other place in the area. The eggplant dish was not bad, but had too much "other than eggplants" (onions, etc.) in it for my taste. As far as I could tell, there are no actual Afghans involved in the operation. I don't want to draw any unwarranted conclusions, but it may perhaps have something to do with the issues I describe above.wow, really good food, good delivery,  + affordable = awesomeI had a lamb kabob with an extra skewer, chick peas, and rice with spinich ... everything cooked well, lots of flavor, everything tasted fresh. also had hommus and naan and was surprised how good the hommus was.big portions too, 16 bucks and there was almost enough for two people.Great place. I live nearby and will definitely be back. Had the chicken kabob special and I highly recommend it. Came with two skewers of dark meat chicken that were tasty and very well-seasoned. Also, was cooked perfectly. The meal also included Afgan bread, which was fresh, and humus that was flavorful, but not overly garlicky. The rice was rice and the spinach was solid.Also, the service was outstanding. The cash register lady was very nice and explained the different options to me and then explained in detail what all the available sides were as I picked out what I wanted.Afghan Kabob is pretty good but after eating at Astor and Ravi I can only give it 3 stars.The portions seem to be hit or miss. The first time I went I got a mound of food that easily became 2 meals! Sadly the next time the server got all stingy and my gf was so disappointed cuz I had talked about how much food they give.  The food was also less flavorful but still good.Overall though I would eat there again. Just wish they were more consistent with flavor and portions.

by Ryan S.

I am thrilled to have a top notch Afghan Kabob house within walking distance to my house. For the past 4+ years, I had to get into my carbon emitter and drive to Ravi Kabob if I wanted good Kabob's... but I think Afghan Kabob House is better!Why is it better? Friendlier for starters. Granted, this is the opening few weeks, and the owner is there and is all smiles. But I've always found the Ravi Kabob people to be particularly gruff.But it goes beyond friendliness. Unlike most other kabob houses of this nature, you have a choice of 4 different kinds of rice, you have a choice of several different salad dressings, you have a choice for different kinds of dipping sauces, and the number of choices for vegetable sides is greater.The portions are huge (honestly, unless I'm famished, I could normally split this meal with a friend) and the price is right. The food was delicious. My only nit pick is that they do not (nor does anyone else in Arlington so far) top the scrumptious chick peas found at Charcoal Kabob in Herndon, VA.... but they were still quite good.Oh, and one other nit pick... I'd like to see them put out a recycling bin.

by Sam G.

Just a little update... I've been here a bunch more times and the chicken kabob has been cooked perfectly and is extremely tasty. I've also had the lamb which is excellent and the rice is extremely tasty as well. I was excited to see that Courthouse Bistro closed down as I didn't see it lasting there very long…

by Gadget S.

I was pretty excited to eat here, but was quite disappointed once the food arrived. It was pretty much bland tasting - and the only way you could add flavor was if you used the mint chutney. One tasty item was the naan bread.

by Dave C.

For lunch in Court House, this is a really good deal and really, really tasty.  I frequently get the open faced Gyro, but have had the regular Gyro and the chicken kabob, and it's all REALLY flavorful and really good.This is a very "lunchy" place, but it's FAR better than any other lunch place in the area.  Definitely recommend it.  So very good.

by Danny M.

Today is March 3, 2009 and according to one of the employees, this restaurant has only been open about a week. I noticed it on my way from the Rosslyn Gold's as it is located on the right hand side as you're headed away from DC, across from the Wendy's. As soon as I saw the restaurant's "Afghan Kabob House" sign, I knew I had to try it. While I'm no expert on Afghan cuisine, I have had some in the past since I used to work at a watch store called Fashion Time and they are owned by Afghans. I was greeted warmly as soon as I walked in and immediately noticed that it was very clean inside. Although I love Kabob Palace, I've never really felt the original location to be the cleanest place. So I was hoping the food would be just as good. As soon as who I presume was the owner found out I am a patron of Kabob Palace, he promised me his kabobs were better. Plus, he added, they had a better selection of sides. Well, it is mostly true. I'm not sure I would go as far as to say the kabobs were *better*, but they were indeed very good. However, this place offers a MUCH better value and more choices! There were several curries from which to choose (even some vegetarian), at least four different rices, salad, several sauces, and a small selection of fresh fruit (cut honeydew, cantaloupes, and strawberries). There were also several beverages from which to choose, but none offered much out of the way of non-high fructose corn syrup drinks. I do like the fact that Kabob Palace is well stocked with Snapple's new Green Tea line that are sweetened with plain sugar. For me, that was the only thing missing for it to have been a perfect meal. I ordered the #1 white meat chicken breast, which is what I usually order at Kabob Palace, and found it to be tender and juicy. I couldn't tell if the buttery taste was coming from the kabob or from the yogurt sauce. But it was all good. I also had some of the rice that had raisins and carrots, and the vegetable made with cauliflower along with the fresh fruit. Everything tasted fresh and homemade. I will definitely go back to try some of their other dishes, as there are many options. Hopefully they will get a website up soon so everyone can see what they have to offer along with the pricing. So if you enjoy kabob, definitely check out this new restaurant. It also doesn't hurt that I can also walk to it from my house! (But I can't see Russia from my house, sadly...) Enjoy!