In the city, there are not too many Afghan restaurants to choose from. I’ve only had Afghani food once in my life in NorCal, and it didn’t ever make me yearn for it. However, I thought the menu looked enticing since we were looking for hummus and kabobs around Long Island City. This restaurant is located on the busy Vernon Blvd, which is becoming a happening street for this area. This location of Sami’s Kabob is their second location, whereas their first location is in Astoria.
Ambiance
This is a pretty no frills value priced restaurant that might be something you’d find in the Village or, of course, in Astoria. It has a very mom and pop feel to it. We came into this restaurant at about 4 PM, and there was no other diners here. Since the weather was so cold, there were many delivery orders going out.
The service was of course very speedy since we had the attention of the behind the counter clerks and cooks. The owner(s) of the restaurant stopped by and seemed to be very appreciative of us coming in to dine.
Food
This was a side salad that seemed to be complimentary. It had some very light olive oil dressed on it. Around this time, they also give you a side of sauces: some red sauce, some green sauce, and some sort of yogurt (similar to greek yogurt and dill). The yogurt dressing was well suited for the salad.
The hummus ($6) came with warm fluffy pita bread that appeared to be homemade. This bread had a lot of airiness to it and was delightful to use as a vessel for the hummus.
The mixed afghan kabab ($21) came with beef kofta, chicken breast kabab, and lamb kabab. It was served with rice and a side ($1) of raised and carrots sauteed in a sweet cardamom syrup. The rice was fluffy and had some seasoning to it which I wasn’t too familiar with. The carrots dressed in the syrup were actually pretty good and complemented everything well. I was expecting this to be similar to Persian rice mixed with cherries, so it was interesting to see some of these differences. The meat itself were all flavored well, fairly tender, and fully cooked through. This is all a pretty hearty plate. My partner got the chicken thigh kabab ($17), so it was just slightly more tender.
The owner provided us complimentary Afghan green tea, which had Afghan Cardamom in it. The tea was surprisingly very flavorful and very delicious. It was not watered down at all, and made us felt serene and content. I thought the green tea was going to make us stay awake at night, but we were still able to sleep at our normal hours just fine.
Final Verdict
Sami’s Kabab House is a very cool and delicious Afghan restaurant. The prices and services were very reasonable, and the flavor of everything that we had left us a very good impression to recommend to others who are looking for kababs in the Long Island City neighborhood.