Kabul Kabab House — Restaurant in New York

I would like share my unfortunate experience at this restaurant and hence the reason for the review. I have been visiting New York for about 8 to 10 years now and visit about twice a year on business/vacation. I usually stay at a hotel in Flushing. I have been visiting Kabul Kebab House each time and usually order take away food for one person almost daily for the one week that I stay in NY.

Recently I realised that my take away food did not have the side dish of vegetable salad which i realised after coming back to the hotel. (It has always been part of the take away package and had never been missed before in the 8-10 years that I had been there). So i called the restaurant back and enquired if the their menu policy had changed. However the person who packed my food (who later on claimed to be the owner and happened to be in the dispatch/kitchen area that evening) was very abrupt and did not want to listen to me and told me "Alright I am very busy and you were supposed to get the side dish" and hung up on me. Now, I was not really upset that i did not get the side dish but was upset more so by the response I had received.

I however accepted that he made a mistake and decided not to take it on. I went back this evening to order a single meal and met the same person (owner) in the grill section in the front. Since I am a visitor from another country I had a few quarters that I requested the "owner", if I could get off of me as I was leaving the country soon. The meal would cost me USD 14.50 and I had a fifty dollar bill and I planned to pay him 54.70 so that he could give me 40 dollars back. Now, How difficult is it is for someone to count 4.70 in quarters. But the "owner" seems to be bipolar and flipped from a smiling kid to a stubborn one in a few seconds. He got annoyed and said that he was too busy to count quarters (even though I planned to give him exact change) and more or less implied that there was no way it would happen and that I had to forego my meal. But the guy does not even what to listen to my intention. Now I am not sure if some one can refuse a customer just because they don't want to count a few quarters. He then brought up the previous encounter which he remembered, about the side dish and suggested that I implied that he was dishonest. However as I stated before I was annoyed by the lack of concern to discuss a problem with a customer and not because I felt cheated.

He then suggested angrily that he would fill the order (which worked out to USD 14.70) for 10 dollars but he didn't want to count the quarters. Now, in my opinion no self respecting person would want to feel they they should not let an opportunity to pass by, and pay less for a meal. I am sure many of you would feel the same way too. I told him that I did not want to buy his food following this encounter and left and decided for the first time in the 8 to 10 years that I had been visiting here, will not go back ever again. All because of one person (who I met there for the first time) and has no regard for customer service. I am quite convinced that I was reasonable in my expectations and discussion with him and firmly believe that he would not spare a chance to to "let it fly" at some other customer at the slightest misunderstanding.

This review does take away from the fact that the food is good and the other employees in the restaurant are polite...

The absolute BEST Afghan food in the country and yes I’ve tried almost all of the highest rated Afghan restaurants from NYC to California and nothing else compares or comes close. It is twice as good as the second best Afghan restaurant in the country. I’ve been to over 130-150 different Afghan restaurants and can’t help be think about Kabul Kabob on Main St. even as i eat at those places, you guys are the standard by which i judge Afghan food haha! how i wish they had a location closer to where i now live. This place has been a staple in the community since i was a toddlers going here with my parents till now me being 31 and still just as in love with it as i was as a kid. There’s not an item on their menu that isn’t worth ordering or trying at least once but the kabobs are obviously the main attraction and i couldn’t tell you which one to pick for your first time if i tried as they’re all equally amazing. My personal favorite are the lamb chops just because I’m a lamb chop person but i can’t settle for just that as i would at other Afghan restaurants, at Kabul Kabob i order the mixed family platter to get a decent portion of everything and have i mentioned that the rice is AMAZING no one does Afghan rice like they do they give my mother a run for her money and if you know Afghans you know how much we adore our mothers cooking. So flavorful and could be eaten on its own, how often could you say that about rice? I absolutely love that they aren’t stingy with their white sauce and chickney/chutney, they let you go as crazy as you’d like by leaving the bottles out there for you which is a huge deal to me as i drown my food in both and hate that most Afghan places especially outside of NYC either don’t offer white sauce (lame how could you have Afghan food without white sauce, this alone has ruined so many great Afghan restaurants for me) and they have a non traditional almost desi inspired chickney/chutney that they serve to you on the side in a small container that isn’t even filled up enough to cover a quarter of your meal. Keep doing what you guys are doing and thank you for sharing your awesome food and hospitality with my family and I for the last 30 years, my mother and father have great taste as they refused to go anywhere else for Afghan food growing up in flushing and this place always makes me feel at home and reminds me of a time having both my parents and my siblings come together to make memories and enjoy an...

We just moved to Flushing (2 months) and we made it a point to eat here once a week. I’m not going to lie, I really liked the food. There’s a reason why I came here weekly with family despite it being on the pricey side. However, yesterday as I sat with my family and ordered the combo platter nearly $13 and one entree, the chicken kabob dish nearly $15 with kabli on rice, additional $3, I was told that there would be a $5 sharing fee? My “family” includes my wife and 9 year old daughter who hardly eats a lot. That”s it! What the heck? I was never charged this in the other times that I ate here. It didn’t make sense so I told them that in principle, that was insane. We always gave good tips, and sometimes ordered upward of 60 bucks worth of food and planned on taking guests here where we would spend in the hundreds but this was just crazy. So for those who don’t get it, it’s NOT like we get 3 bread baskets and 3 salads for each person. Every time we went, the default was 1 bread basket and one salad and sometimes, no salad!!! Plus we always had them take back the water because we drink soda. Yet, even after grieving with the manager, there was zero budging and we were going to be charged the sharing fee. Last, the combo platter was nearly $13. Just because it’s a “platter “ and not an “entree” which is nearly the SAME price, they wanted to charge that stupid sharing fee. So you mean if I didn’t get the platter and exchanged it with a $14 “entree” then I won’t be charged a sharing fee? Huh? Enough. Lost our biz as we were “regulars” and were anxious to bring family and friends in our newly settled neighborhood. For me, it’s just the principle honestly. When you do biz, customer is to be respected and you need to weigh each induvidual account. From reading other similar experiences, I can see that good biz ethics do not exist here. If they are still making good money, then what they probably don’t get is that they could be making a LOT MORE if they respected the customer. It’s unfortunate because we really liked the food. However, that stupid sharing fee cost them hundreds from me every month and if there’s many like me, many thousands. There’s other Afghani cuisines. Looking to see how Main Bakhtar Halal Kabob will be, just a mile further. Btw that night we ended up eating at the Kabob House a couple blocks down and though not as aesthetically pleasant, we ate to our fill with left over for for half the...