Afghan Kebab House II
“The owner was a very sweet man who let us know that the place was BYOB with ZERO corkage fee as soon as we asked about drink options.”
“I ordered the Aushak, which are boiled dumplings stuffed with scallions with a mint yogurt sauce.”
“AKH is a bit small and on the darker side of the spectrum in the evening but adds to an intimate and lovely experience.”
Afghan Kebab House II
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I needed to update my review because the previous 3/5 star does not do justice.
I'll start by saying this is MY FAVORITE take out place. I mean, absolute favorite. I have ordered from here at least 3 dozen times over the last 1.5 years. If my husband didn't stop me, I'd probably only order from here. I always get the same thing – the tandoori chicken kebob. It comes with a salad, bread, and the most delicious rice you've ever tasted. Flavorful, fluffy, buttery and just amazing. They also have this white sauce that is to DIE for. I have definitely just ordered rice and/or purchased a container of sauce because I love it that much.
This is MY "chicken and rice" of NYC.
Lets start with the positive sides to this place:
The decor is very cozy, intimate, and ethnic. I really liked it. It gave the restaurant some personality.
Service was alright but I can't say much as I went in early on and the restaurant was quite empty. The owner himself served me and we had a lengthy conversation. Made it feel more personal and home-like than formal, restaurant- like.
So now the food – I ordered the dumpling (appetizer) and the chicken kofta (side dish). Both dishes were not what I was expecting. The dumpling was not really a…closed dumpling; more of a flat opened dumpling with everything thats supposed to be inside layered on top of the dough thing. Interesting. The white sauce and the minced beef on top was pretty good. But the "dough" thing underneath became way too soggy due to the sauce and took away plus points from the dish.
Now the chicken kofta – it is a side dish. I ordered it thinking it would be the meatballs..which is what kofta usually is. So surprise numero 2. This dish was more of a chicken curry with large pieces of chicken cut haphazardly. I ate this with some bread. The curry was really really good. I enjoyed it a lot. However, the pieces of chicken were just not appetizing to me. Maybe if I had ordered some rice to go with it, I would've enjoyed it more.
This place has been around for YEARS – At least since 1997 which is when I started going. (I liked another Afghan place more – Pamir – but it closed).
Great Aushak and solid meat and kebab choices.
Decor could use a little brush-up and the lighting used to be quite dim.
Delicious rice dishes and stews and friendly Afghan service.
Wonderful for take-out too.
I'm a big fan of middle eastern food and Afghan Kebab House does not disappoint. It's a small, cozy restaurant. Most of the entrees range from $16-$23 and come with salad, rice and bread. The salad is fresh and I really enjoyed their yogurt dressing. The rice is also pretty delicious especially mixed with the cilantro and spicy salsa. I ordered the vegetarian entree with three veggies: eggplant, zucchini and okra seasoned with onions and tomatoes. The veggies are stewed so it comes out extremely soft and juicy. I really like that it wasn't overly salty. The manager came out and spoke with us at the end of our meal asking how everything was which was nice.
The green sauce is amazing!! Me and my friend basically used the whole container on the table!
The food is delicious but the green sauce really makes it in my opinion. I ordered the chicken korma for dinner and it would have been good on its own too. Each entree came with a salad (the dressing was really good in my opinion), bread and your dish. I love Afghan bread, I just wish they had given us more of it. It was just one slice per person. We also tried the Sambosa (fried dumplings with a yogurt sauce) which were also delicious.
The service was a bit slow in my opinion, though very friendly and the food itself was good all around. You shouldn't come here if you're in a rush because it might drive you crazy (even the salad took a bit of time to come out), but if you have some time, want to hang out and want great Afghan food, this is the place to go!
Such cute decor and excellent kebabs and rice.
Favorite thing here was the salad with mint yogurt dressing. Maybe I should have ordered the kebabs but I was feeling more into the veggie sampler of stewed eggplant, pumpkin, and zucchini. Rice could have used a few more minutes in the cooker (as I definitely crunched a few times), and the bread was a bit stale.
Let's just get this part out of the way: The owner/manager has his favorites and spent the first 10 minutes I was there laughing and joking with a regular. Meanwhile his second in command decided that I was actually a lamp, and refused to bring over plates, napkins, utensils, or even a menu until my friend arrived and requested all those things. I thought of just grabbing a menu from the stack behind me, but I didn't want to be smacked up the head by this scowling little man.
Then the owner didn't come by until we were almost done, and that was to ask me if I didn't like the food (my bad for uncharacteristically not hoovering up every last crumb within the first five minutes of the plate being set down).
I would come here over the other nameless sports bars on Second Ave but the owner could try a bit harder with the charm with the newbies too. Every regular was once a stranger who accidentally walked into the restaurant next door, sat down for 2 minutes, realized she was in totally the wrong place, and then grabbed her stuff and dashed out in a hurry.
I came here with a group of friends about a week ago for a late lunch / early dinner and decided on the kebob combo. I got chicken, lamb and beef with rice. The meal started out with a house salad and then your entree of choice. The three types of meat contrast in texture and flavor and the rice was definitely a wonderful complement to the meat. The raisins were a great addition to the rice. Now, I've never had any Afghan food to compare this with but the meal was good enough for me to come back. The whole meal was around 25. Not really expensive but it definitely isn't a meal you eat everyday. Overall a good experience.