Jump to content

Afghan Kabob House, Afghan Quick-Serve in the Former Courthouse Station Space on Wilson Boulevard and N. Courthouse Road near Courthouse Metro


Recommended Posts

The Afghan Kabob is open where Courthouse Bistro used to be (and Atilla's before that.) (See previous discussion in the Courthouse Bistro thread.) It's an order-at-the-counter type of place. The menu includes various kabob plates and sandwiches, gyro sandwich, (freshly made) afghan bread. There's also vegetable and meat stews and curries and a few different kinds of rice in chafing dishes behind the counter. I'll have to come back and try a kabob sometime. There were a decent number of people in the place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there any place to sit?

They have lots of seating. I went back and tried a dish called meat lovers or something similar. It's stewed lamb with rice and gyro slices on top. The lamb was fine, but the rice (with carrots and raisins) was on the greasy side (they have four different kinds of rice). The gyro slices were a bit salty. The portion of the lamb/rice was on the smaller side, but the menu version I picked also came with bread, side fruit or salad, and a side vegetable (I picked lentils). They have Value menu and Express menu versions of some dishes, which differ in whether it comes with bread and some/all? of the sides.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've driven by this place a million times and never stopped until last night. Afghan Kabob House deserves more mention here. The kabobs and accompanying sauces we had were really, really good, and the steam table sides, while they looked a bit sad, were for the most part tasty as well. My ground beef shemi kabob was intensely spiced (though not nearly as spicy as Pakistani versions), somewhat green inside from what was clearly an herb paste that they mixed in with the beef. This was an excellent kabob, tender and very flavorful. The boneless chicken kabob -- always a difficult one to pull off well -- was also nicely spiced, tender, and not at all dry. The sauces that you can ask for with the kabobs deserve special mention, particularly a very fresh and homemade tasting yogurt sauce and a spicy cilantro-vinegar one as well.

Rice with carrots and raisins was a bit greasy as noted above. The other sides we got, spinach and cauliflower, were fine. I also really enjoyed the bread here, which seemed to be made with some part whole wheat flower, which gave it a nice flavor and consistency. It was thin, thinner than say the bread that they serve at Moby Dick, which it reminds me of, but didn't turn into a cracker as it sat on my plate.

The owner is super friendly and enthusiastic about the food. We will definitely be back for more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I finally made it there for lunch. There were a couple of hints on Foursquare that basically said "don't get caught behind a group or it'll take forever" - that was a hint, as my solo lunch did take a bit of time.

I got the lamb kabob sandwich and a meat sambosa. I'd probably not get the kabob sandwich again, and just get kabobs - the veggies and bread were quite good, and it was tightly rolled, but very messy and all my meat was really on one side of it. Still, I ate the whole thing. I got the saffron rice with it and found it tasty.

The meat sambosa was quite tasty, sort of spicy but also kind of sweet. Though, like the sandwich, I'm never quite sure what sauces to get and put on to what. I imagine people looking at me like I would at someone putting ketchup on their salad, but what do I know.

They have Coke Zero on the soda machine. SCORE.

They were playing Afghani (I assume) music videos. I am quickly mesmerized by music videos, especially foreign ones. So much for finishing my novel on my Kindle.

I'll definitely need to come here more for lunch when I work from home. Or, if I get really lazy, have them deliver to me. They said they have a four mile radius, but the cashier told the couple behind me that for the right price, they'll go further.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although I don't remember ever being inside of Afghan Kabob House, this has become my go-to GrubHub delivery restaurant, supplanting London Curry House for the time being (which has gotten a considerable amount of my business in the past). There's *no question* that London Curry House is the superior restaurant, but it's much more expensive for delivery (almost double, with a $35 minimum), and unfortunately, a boneless chicken kabob I ordered contained about 50% chunks of chicken that were aggressively inedible - something was very wrong with their texture - and I'm having trouble shaking the memory (when I was a child, and stayed home from school sick, I ate a tray of 24 Patio frozen mini-tacos - anyway, I got sick on them, and couldn't eat another taco for over ten years. A similar thing happened later in life with Whiskey. Enough! Let's move on ...

I've gotten delivery from Afghan Kabob House several times now, and it's good food (not great food), gently priced, and has been very consistent with quality. Instead of recounting individual meals, I'm going to use my cumulative knowledge to help you order delivery - sort of a "highlight reel" as it were.

Afghan Kabob House has a $12 minimum order on GrubHub, combined with free delivery - I generally leave a 20% tip on my credit card which is convenient, since the driver can just hand you the bag of food, and be on his way. I have yet to wait an hour for my delivery, and the wait is generally in the 40-minute range.

The one thing I've learned to always get here is the Triple Play Combination ($16.95), your choice of any 3 kabobs, a vegetable, a rice, a side, a sauce, and a goodly sized piece of hot Afghan bread. It's quite a lot of food for the money, and unless you're a really big eater, this alone is enough to fill up an average man. I'm not 100% sure this contains 3 entire skewers, but the amount of food you'll get for the money will not disappoint you.

For my vegetable, I started out getting the Chickpeas or Turnips (and still sometimes get them as an extra order, $2.95), but switched over to the Potato Curry as my staple - think of it as large chunks of cut-up baked potato, with just enough sauce to bind it together - it's not a large portion, but it's satisfying. I enjoy these potatoes so much that I've been tempted to get an extra order, but haven't as of this writing.

For my rice, I prefer the Brown Rice with Carrots and Raisins. Like the potatoes, this is a small portion of rice (the vegetable and the rice each take up one of the two small slots in the styrofoam container, and the meat takes up the one large slot). I'd say the rice might be the weak point of the dish, as it tends to be somewhat oily - not excessively so, but enough so I notice, and I'd rather it wasn't.

For the side order, you have your choice of 4 salads - which I'm almost certain would amount to chopped up iceberg lettuce and not much more - or Hummus, and every single time I've gotten the hummus. This is not great hummus, but it's "okay," and gives you something into which you can dunk your fairly large piece of Afghan Naan, which looks a lot like this. It also adds some moisture to the dish - a good thing, as it's not a particularly "wet" platter of food (although it's certainly not dry, either).

For the sauce, I've gotten either the Mild Sauce or the Tzatziki, depending on whether or not I want yogurt. I usually do, and sometimes order the mild sauce along with an 8-ounce side order of Tzatziki ($2.45), the unused portion of which keeps nicely in the refrigerator for several days. The sauce that comes with the meal is in one of those tiny little plastic tubs (which is another reason I order the hummus instead of a salad).

You'll be presented with a list of side orders which you can add, but you won't need them to fill up on - the turnips are pretty good, but it's also a pretty small order for $2.95.

Then comes the most important decision: the kabobs themselves. I've tried a whole host of combinations, and haven't yet been disappointed: lamb, steak, ground beef, ground chicken, boneless dark meat chicken, boneless white meat chicken - just pick three that sound good to you in combination, and you'll be happy. I tend not to get seafood kabobs at places like this, since the seafood usually isn't fresh, but I've never tried theirs.

Well, there you have it - this is a sub-$20 delivery meal that I think you'll be pretty happy with. The restaurant is in Courthouse, so it has a very populated delivery radius. Give it a try - I'd love some feedback on my opinions, and if you try something I haven't mentioned, I'd be interested in knowing that as well.

Cheers,

Rocks

PS - When you order, you may get a business card attached to your bag with a code on it. This code is good for $5-off any order of $15-or-more ($15 of food; not taxes or tips), but only if you order through their website. (This tells me that GrubHub is like OpenTable: a necessary evil). The code is limited to first-time users - hence, there's only one redemption per code. Also, the expiration date is listed as 12/31/16, but I'm assuming that's a typo, and it was supposed to say 12/31/15.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although I don't remember ever being inside of Afghan Kabob House, this has become my go-to GrubHub delivery restaurant, supplanting London Curry House for the time being (which has gotten a considerable amount of my business in the past). There's *no question* that London Curry House is the superior restaurant, but it's much more expensive for delivery (almost double, with a $35 minimum), and unfortunately, a boneless chicken kabob I ordered contained about 50% chunks of chicken that were aggressively inedible - something was very wrong with their texture - and I'm having trouble shaking the memory (when I was a child, and stayed home from school sick, I ate a tray of 24 Patio frozen mini-tacos - anyway, I got sick on them, and couldn't eat another taco for over ten years. A similar thing happened later in life with Whiskey. Enough! Let's move on ...

I've gotten delivery from Afghan Kabob House several times now, and it's good food (not great food), gently priced, and has been very consistent with quality. Instead of recounting individual meals, I'm going to use my cumulative knowledge to help you order delivery - sort of a "highlight reel" as it were.

Afghan Kabob House has a $12 minimum order on GrubHub, combined with free delivery - I generally leave a 20% tip on my credit card which is convenient, since the driver can just hand you the bag of food, and be on his way. I have yet to wait an hour for my delivery, and the wait is generally in the 40-minute range.

The one thing I've learned to always get here is the Triple Play Combination ($16.95), your choice of any 3 kabobs, a vegetable, a rice, a side, a sauce, and a goodly sized piece of hot Afghan bread. It's quite a lot of food for the money, and unless you're a really big eater, this alone is enough to fill up an average man. I'm not 100% sure this contains 3 entire skewers, but the amount of food you'll get for the money will not disappoint you.

For my vegetable, I started out getting the Chickpeas or Turnips (and still sometimes get them as an extra order, $2.95), but switched over to the Potato Curry as my staple - think of it as large chunks of cut-up baked potato, with just enough sauce to bind it together - it's not a large portion, but it's satisfying. I enjoy these potatoes so much that I've been tempted to get an extra order, but haven't as of this writing.

For my rice, I prefer the Brown Rice with Carrots and Raisins. Like the potatoes, this is a small portion of rice (the vegetable and the rice each take up one of the two small slots in the styrofoam container, and the meat takes up the one large slot). I'd say the rice might be the weak point of the dish, as it tends to be somewhat oily - not excessively so, but enough so I notice, and I'd rather it wasn't.

For the side order, you have your choice of 4 salads - which I'm almost certain would amount to chopped up iceberg lettuce and not much more - or Hummus, and every single time I've gotten the hummus. This is not great hummus, but it's "okay," and gives you something into which you can dunk your fairly large piece of Afghan Naan, which looks a lot like this. It also adds some moisture to the dish - a good thing, as it's not a particularly "wet" platter of food (although it's certainly not dry, either).

For the sauce, I've gotten either the Mild Sauce or the Tzatziki, depending on whether or not I want yogurt. I usually do, and sometimes order the mild sauce along with an 8-ounce side order of Tzatziki ($2.45), the unused portion of which keeps nicely in the refrigerator for several days. The sauce that comes with the meal is in one of those tiny little plastic tubs (which is another reason I order the hummus instead of a salad).

You'll be presented with a list of side orders which you can add, but you won't need them to fill up on - the turnips are pretty good, but it's also a pretty small order for $2.95.

Then comes the most important decision: the kabobs themselves. I've tried a whole host of combinations, and haven't yet been disappointed: lamb, steak, ground beef, ground chicken, boneless dark meat chicken, boneless white meat chicken - just pick three that sound good to you in combination, and you'll be happy. I tend not to get seafood kabobs at places like this, since the seafood usually isn't fresh, but I've never tried theirs.

Well, there you have it - this is a sub-$20 delivery meal that I think you'll be pretty happy with. The restaurant is in Courthouse, so it has a very populated delivery radius. Give it a try - I'd love some feedback on my opinions, and if you try something I haven't mentioned, I'd be interested in knowing that as well.

Cheers,

Rocks

PS - When you order, you may get a business card attached to your bag with a code on it. This code is good for $5-off any order of $15-or-more ($15 of food; not taxes or tips), but only if you order through their website. (This tells me that GrubHub is like OpenTable: a necessary evil). The code is limited to first-time users - hence, there's only one redemption per code. Also, the expiration date is listed as 12/31/16, but I'm assuming that's a typo, and it was supposed to say 12/31/15.

After seeing the above review I had to laugh.  Not at the review, but at how I would have described it;  "Decent, Its okay" with no descriptions of the food or other elements.  Yet since it opened in 2009 I've been there, picked up food, and had food delivered a healthy number of times over the years.  I know this restaurant and its food.  So after a quick interaction w/Don re his review, my prior inability to describe anything in detail, and his effort to describe Afghan Kabob House as a reasonable take out alternative in North Arlington, I thought I'd throw in my $0.02 as I suspect I've eaten their food possibly 40-60 times in the last 7 years.   I visited to eat in the last week with an effort to focus on dishes from that day.

The food is reasonably tastier on site than takeout.  Its a simple ample space never overcrowded.  Kabobs are made to order.  I think everything else sits in heated chafing dishes.  In seven years I'd say that the eggplant tomato stew vegetable has always been the highlight.  Eggplant tomato stew is a favorite of mine and this version with reasonably large pieces of eggplant, ample tomato, onions, garlic and some "secret spices" I can't place is a particularly tasty version.  I'd substitute this version for any version I've made over the years, if only I could learn the spice ingredients.  I'd always suggest it, and always order it now, along with another vegetable.  Last week I had the potatoes with curry sauce.  Meh.  A very mild curry sauce that doesn't add a lot to a simple cooked skinned potato.

Of the four rices the rice with carrots and raisins has been oily since day 1.  None of the rice dishes are deeply flavorful, with my favorite being the rice with spinach, well made nice rice...but it does better with salt and pepper.

On the kabob side white breast meat chicken invariably comes out dry, here and so many other kabob places.  Regardless of the spicing, there are better alternatives.  I'm partial to the dark meat chicken kabob, the ground beef, lamb and shrimp, all both tasty and more moist.   Finally that meal comes with a very large afghan bread, a worthy addition with either tzatziki or better yet add the hummus.

Prices are mild.  If you are in the neighborhood or wish to take out or order out, this is an establishment that will provide you with ample meals at a respectable price with certain dishes significantly better than others.

And to top it off, the owner is a helluva nice guy, although these days it appears you won't find him unless you are there for the early part of lunch.   Easily in my book the eggplant tomato stew is the overall winner.  Damn I want to know the spicing in that dish!!!!   :D

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Son of a gun.  Now these guys are closing.   Competition is tough.   While I hadn't been there or taken out from there in a long while, I stopped by a week or so again.  The eggplant/tomato dish is still excellent.  Hurry up and try it.  It will be gone at the end of this week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...