Persian and Afghan food in Palo Alto

Persian and Afghan cooking share a long border and a long table. Both love grilled meat, fragrant long-grain rice and yogurt in many forms. Persian food adds saffron, pomegranate, dried lime and slow herb stews. Afghan food adds dumplings, stuffed flatbreads and rice studded with carrots and raisins. Palo Alto has one Persian restaurant downtown. Sunnyvale, about 8 to 10 miles south, adds a Persian kabab house and an Afghan family restaurant.

This guide covers places within about 15 miles of downtown Palo Alto. Arya and Chelokababi were confirmed through their own websites in 2026. Kabul was confirmed through its own ordering page and an official visitor bureau listing. Menus change, so treat dishes and prices as examples.

Persian and Afghan food in brief

A few dishes and words appear on almost every menu:

• Chelo kabab. Grilled kabob served with chelo (buttery steamed saffron rice) and a grilled tomato. Iran's national dish.
• Koobideh. Ground meat kabob, usually beef or lamb, pressed onto a wide skewer.
• Barg and joojeh. Barg is a thin fillet of beef or lamb. Joojeh is saffron chicken.
• Polo. Mixed rice. Zereshk polo has tart barberries, baghali polo has dill and lima beans and shirin polo has orange peel and nuts.
• Khoresh. A slow stew. Ghormeh sabzi uses herbs, kidney beans and dried lime. Fesenjan (often spelled fesenjoon) uses pomegranate and ground walnuts.
• Tahdig. The crisp crust from the bottom of the rice pot.
• Kashk-e bademjan. Smoky eggplant dip finished with kashk, a tangy fermented whey.
• Mantu and aushak. Afghan dumplings. Mantu are filled with meat, aushak with leeks or scallions. Both come under yogurt and sauce.
• Bolani. A thin Afghan flatbread stuffed with potato or greens and fried.
• Qabili pallaw. Afghanistan's national dish: rice cooked with lamb and topped with carrots and raisins.

Arya Steakhouse, 140 University Avenue, Palo Alto

Arya Steakhouse is a Persian restaurant and steakhouse at the Caltrain end of University Avenue. It was founded by executive chef Mike Hashemi and Fera Hashemi, who opened their first Arya in Cupertino in 2007. The Palo Alto restaurant now brings their earlier locations together under one roof. The restaurant's website lists hours of 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. every day, with the last reservation at 9 p.m.

The steak side of the menu gets the headline and is covered in our steakhouse guide. The Persian side is just as long. The July 2026 dinner menu lists joojeh, beef and chicken koobideh, barg made with filet mignon, a lamb kabob and soltani, the combination of barg and koobideh. Kabobs come with basmati and saffron rice, grilled tomato and sumac onions. For a small extra charge you can swap in adas polo, shirin polo, baghali polo or zereshk polo. Stews include fesenjoon with braised chicken and ghormeh sabzi with braised beef. Starters include a Shirazi salad of cucumber, tomato and onion, roasted eggplant with kashk and a panir sabzi plate of fresh herbs, walnuts, radish and feta.

The menu says all kabobs are halal and gluten free. Prices are upscale: most kabobs are listed in the $30s, with the soltani near $50. A service charge is added for parties of six or more. Arya also serves a weekend brunch and offers private dining. For parking, the restaurant points to the free High Street garage and lot. Our downtown guide has more on parking near University Avenue.

Chelokababi, 1236 South Wolfe Road, Sunnyvale

Chelokababi is a Persian restaurant in Sunnyvale, about 10 miles from downtown Palo Alto. Its name comes from chelo kabab and the kitchen cooks every kabab over a charcoal grill. Kababs come with barbecued tomatoes and a choice of saffron basmati rice, green salad or half of each.

The kabab list covers barg, koobideh, soltani, shish kabab, lamb fillet, rack of lamb, joojeh, chicken breast, ground chicken and salmon. One dish to look for is kabab torsh, which the menu describes as filet mignon from the Caspian region marinated with pomegranate sauce, walnuts, garlic and basil. Starters include zeytoon parvardeh, a Caspian dish of olives with walnuts and pomegranate, kashk-e bademjan, mast-o-khiar yogurt with cucumber and nan-o-sabzi, a plate of fresh herbs with walnuts and cheese. Ash reshteh, a thick noodle, bean and herb soup, leads the soups.

The restaurant has a tea house space and a happy hour from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday with light bites and wine flights. It is closed on Mondays, opens for dinner only on Tuesdays and serves lunch and dinner from Wednesday to Sunday. Reservations go through OpenTable. The website does not post prices, so check the menu or call before you go. Expect mid-range prices for a sit-down kabab dinner.

Kabul Afghan Cuisine, 351 West Washington Avenue, Sunnyvale

Kabul Afghan Cuisine is a family restaurant in downtown Sunnyvale, about 8 miles from downtown Palo Alto and a few blocks from the Sunnyvale station on Caltrain. Visit Silicon Valley, the regional visitor bureau, lists it at this address. Its own online ordering page shows a current menu and opening times.

The menu is a good tour of Afghan cooking. Appetizers include aushak and mantu dumplings, sambosa-e-goushti filled with ground lamb and chickpeas, bulanee turnovers and pakawra, batter-fried potato or eggplant slices topped with yogurt and meat sauce. Mains are served with challaw, white rice, or pallaw, seasoned rice. Look for qabili pallaw, lamb under rice with carrots and raisins, plus sabsi challaw with spinach, gulpi challaw with beef and cauliflower and lawand, chicken in a sour cream sauce. Kababs include lamb, chicken, kofta and chopan, a lamb chop kabab. Firnee, a cardamom milk pudding, is on the dessert list.

Most mains on the ordering page are listed around $25, with some kababs in the $30s. Lunch is served on weekdays and dinner every evening. Its booking page asks diners to reserve by phone. Because we confirmed Kabul through its ordering page rather than a standalone website, call ahead before making a special trip.

At a glance

How to order

1. Start with a herb plate or yogurt dip and bread. Mast-o-khiar and kashk-e bademjan are good choices.
2. Pick one kabob per person or share a combination plate. Koobideh is the safe first choice.
3. Add one stew for the table, such as ghormeh sabzi or fesenjan, so you taste the slow-cooked side of the cuisine.
4. At an Afghan restaurant, add a plate of mantu or aushak and a bulanee.
5. Finish with hot tea. Persian and Afghan meals usually end with tea rather than coffee.

Sprinkle sumac on your rice and kabob. It is the dark red powder on the table and it adds a sour, lemony note.

Dietary notes

• Halal. Arya says all its meats are halal. Ask the Sunnyvale restaurants about sourcing. Our halal guide lists other options.
• Vegetarian. Herb plates, yogurt dips, eggplant dishes, aushak and bulanee are often meatless. Several stews and sauces use meat stock or meat sauce, so ask.
• Gluten. Grilled kabobs and plain rice are usually free of wheat. Breads, dumplings and pastries are not.
• Nuts. Fesenjan, many rice dishes and desserts use walnuts, pistachios or almonds.

More Afghan food in Fremont

Fremont, across the Dumbarton Bridge, is home to one of the largest Afghan American communities in the country. The Centerville district along Fremont Boulevard is often called Little Kabul, with kabob houses, bakeries and grocers. It sits at the edge of this guide's radius. Many of its businesses do not keep current websites, so we have not named them here. Our Fremont food guide describes the area. For Turkish, Lebanese and Israeli cooking in Palo Alto, see our Mediterranean and Middle Eastern guide.

Frequently asked questions