Pakistani food in Palo Alto

Pakistani food in Palo Alto starts and ends, for most people, at Zareen's on California Avenue. It is a casual restaurant with grilled kababs, biryani, paratha rolls and chai. It also stays open until nearly midnight. Zareen's began in Mountain View in 2014 and now has four restaurants on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. Farther south, Kabab & Curry's has cooked kababs and curries in Santa Clara since the 1990s and now has a second restaurant in Cupertino.

This guide covers Pakistani restaurants within about 15 miles of downtown Palo Alto. Each was confirmed in 2026 through its own website or a verified page in our business directory. Menus come from those sources and change, so treat dishes and prices as examples.

What Pakistani food is

Pakistan's kitchens draw on Punjab, Sindh, the northwest frontier and the Mughal courts. Meat is central, cooked over charcoal, in a karahi wok or slowly overnight. Bread comes from the tandoor and rice is cooked with whole spices. Many dishes overlap with North Indian cooking, especially across the shared region of Punjab. A few names to know:

• Seekh kabab. Spiced ground meat grilled on a long skewer.
• Chapli kabab. A flat, spiced beef patty from the northwest, fried in a pan.
• Biryani. Layered rice and meat cooked with saffron, fried onions and whole spices.
• Nihari. Beef or mutton stewed slowly overnight, served with ginger and lemon.
• Karahi. Meat cooked fast in a wok-like pan with tomatoes, ginger and green chili.
• Haleem. A thick stew of meat, lentils and wheat cooked until smooth.
• Paratha roll. Grilled kabab or tikka wrapped in a flaky flatbread with chutney.
• Halwa puri. Weekend breakfast of fried puri bread, semolina halwa and chickpea curry.
• Chai. Milky, spiced tea, often taken several times a day.
• Kulfi and kheer. Dense frozen milk dessert and rice pudding.

Zareen's, 365 South California Avenue, Palo Alto

Zareen's is run by chef and owner Zareen Khan, whose family comes from Karachi, Bombay and Punjab. After 12 years in corporate America she started Curry Village Foods in 2011 with cooking classes in Saratoga, then catering. The first Zareen's restaurant opened in Mountain View in March 2014 and the Palo Alto restaurant followed in October 2016. According to its press page, the restaurant took over the former Starbucks space next door, which made Palo Alto the brand's flagship.

The menu mixes street food, grilled kababs and home cooking. Snacks include chicken Memoni samosas, chicken shami kebabs and masala fries. Paratha rolls come in versions such as the gola kabab roll and the chicken tikka roll. Biryani and kababs are central. Comfort dishes include yellow daal with basmati rice and halwa puri. Larger plates include a chicken boti sizzler, thali meals and tikka masala. Malai kulfi, kheer and mango lassi round it out. The kitchen says it avoids preservatives and artificial flavoring.

Zareen's is open from 11 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. every day, with takeout only after 11 p.m. That makes it one of the latest kitchens in town, as our late-night guide notes. Prices are budget to moderate, with rolls and snacks at the low end and sizzlers and thalis higher. For parking, the restaurant points to free City Lot 7 behind the building. Our California Avenue guide covers the street.

Zareen's in Mountain View, Redwood City and Sunnyvale

The Zareen's locations page lists three more restaurants within this guide's radius. Each has its own ordering link and menu.

• Mountain View, 1477 Plymouth Street. About 4 miles from downtown Palo Alto. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday, to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Closed Mondays. Our Mountain View food guide covers the area.
• Redwood City, 2039 Broadway. About 5 miles north, near the Fox Theatre. Open 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The restaurant points to the Main Street lot and the Marshall Street garage for parking.
• Sunnyvale, 135 South Murphy Avenue. About 8 miles south, on the restaurant row by the Caltrain station. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days and to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Our Sunnyvale food guide lists its neighbors.

Zareen's also caters office lunches, retreats, weddings and parties. Its website lists Stanford, Google and several venture firms among its corporate clients.

Kabab & Curry's, Santa Clara and Cupertino

Kabab & Curry's started in Santa Clara and says it has served what it calls authentic desi food since the 1990s. Desi is the word South Asians use for food and culture from Pakistan, India and their neighbors. The original restaurant is at 1498 Isabella Street in Santa Clara, about 13 miles from downtown Palo Alto. A second restaurant is at 20007 Stevens Creek Boulevard in Cupertino, about 11 miles away. The group also runs Kettle'e, a cafe at 1610 East El Camino Real in Santa Clara.

The menu is built around the charcoal grill. Beef and chicken seekh kababs are sold by the skewer for about $5 each. Chicken barha, a house-spiced grilled chicken, comes as a half or a whole bird at about $16 or $30. Chicken boti, malai tikka, lamb chops, tandoori fish and salmon tikka follow. Vegetarian choices include haray bharay kabab made with peas and potato, paneer tikka, mushroom tikka and chaat. The lamb section lists korma, saag lamb, kadai and bhuna gosht. Samosas start at about $2. Online ordering for the Santa Clara restaurant runs through Toast.

At a glance

How to order a Pakistani meal

1. Start with samosas or shami kebabs and a plate of chaat to share.
2. Pick one biryani for the table. It is a meal on its own.
3. Add a grilled plate such as seekh kababs or chicken tikka, plus naan.
4. Add one curry with gravy, such as karahi, daal or tikka masala, to eat with bread.
5. End with chai and kulfi or kheer.

On a weekend morning, halwa puri with chai is the Pakistani breakfast. Paratha rolls are the fast option for one person.

Halal, vegetarian and spice notes

• Halal. Zareen's describes itself as a halal restaurant. Ask Kabab & Curry's directly about sourcing. Our halal guide covers other options in town.
• Vegetarian. Daal, chaat, samosas, paneer and vegetable kababs are meatless. Many curries use meat stock, so ask.
• Spice. Kababs and karahi can be hot. Ask for mild if you are unsure.
• Labels. Zareen's website does not list vegan or gluten-free labels, so ask staff about ingredients.

For the Indian side of South Asian cooking in Palo Alto, see our Indian food guide.

Frequently asked questions