Khyber Pass Zarparan Restaurant

I always passed this place and boy was I missing out! Every single dish I’ve tried here has been delicious in its own way.

I can’t compare the flavors to any other food. You just have to try it!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great amazing and welcoming place

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Authentic Afghan food with great service. Staff are very friendly and respectful.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

This food was very delicious and the service was great.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The food quality has declined in the passed years. Definitely not worth the price.

The worst of our experience was when we walked into the restaurant the waiter was asleep on the chair. His service poor, one of the worst I’ve seen. We kept having to send our kids to retrieve him.

It’s sad to see such a good establishments in the past go downhill with low quality food, high prices, and poor service.

Food: 3

Service: 1

We were a family of 9 visiting from Houston, Texas and looking for some Halal and Authentic Afghan/Persian food.

We googled and found good reviews and decided to go. Upon arriving, we saw the restaurant's doors were wide open at around 4:30PM during hot and humid weather with two customers eating.
We asked for the menu and sat down-
The following conversation took place before we started glancing at the menu:
1. Is your meat Halal? Yes.
2. Could you please turn on the AC? No AC.
3. How is your Chapli Kebab? We don't have Chapli Kebab, but you can order siesh kebab which is the same as Chapli. "No they are not"
4. How is your Bolani? Our Bolani consists of 2 small pieces, but it's not a typical Afghan bolani if you are looking for it.
5. How does it taste? Well, we have been here since 1984....
The menu had an alcohol and wine list as well. With Halal food, alcohol does not serve the requirements of Halal.
The restaurant environment was a little bit sketchy, since in Texas the majority of the restaurants comply with the requirements.

The restaurant can't serve food in an enclosed environment without AC. Having no AC means no AC in the kitchen and no temp controls for the food.

In the end, we all decided to leave without eating.
Response to the management:-
Please tell me what I have written is not accurate. We are proud to be Texan!

Atmosphere: 1

Really great food, it was our first experience with Afghan cuisine and it was excellent. Our server was friendly, made some solid recommendations and made sure our water karafe was always filled without asking. The portions were larger than expected but everything tasted so good that although we over ordered a little, we ate absolutely everything.

Parking: Parking during typical meal hours, in that entire neighborhood is pretty awful. We parked down the street and walked, which was fine.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Beef Shish Kadd, Beef Combo, Appetizer Platter

Loved the authenticity of the restaurant. The food was so delicious ? we loved the bukhari rice and kabob

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The best Ashan food in all San Diego

We were a group of 9. The owner of this Afghani restaurant took his time and explained the food items in details and happily customized dishes. The rice portion was huge so you may want to ask them to make it half rice half salad or something else but that's the typical middle-eastern portion of rice! The kabob barg or shish kabob was unbelievably soft and juicy. The same goes for the lamb in kaboli polo. The portions are large here.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Afghan Lamb Curry, Shish Kabob

Everything was good except the grauity charges was unreasonable and unfair. The reason owner mentioned was customers don’t pay tips to my waiter. I am really unsatisfied for the charges. ??

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 4

Amazing food. Amazing host. Family had a great time

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We tried this place while we were visiting San Diego, and they offer a large variety of different dishes. Also food is awesome and high in quality. We loved this place and highly recommend it.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Chicken Kabob, Beef Combo, Saffron Ice Cream

Really good Persian style food, amazing and kind staff. Definitely a good spot to eat and recharge while walking the area

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

super friendly workers who were also very accomodating! food was awesome, and the portions were so generous we couldn't get through most of it

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5