Comments on: Salang Pass: Restaurant Info

By: Cristino

Cristino — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:42:10 +0000

04 April 2009 I've been here three times each about ten months apart. The food is consistently excellent and the service is slow as molasses. The wait staff are prepared to discuss the food without exageration and with refreshing directness. The first two times I had a late lunch. The third time I had is dinner when the restaurant was beginning to fill up. The simple salad is fresh and robust which we chewed down with a special pan fried bread stuffed with herbs and potatoes. The texture of the bread is addictive. The spring lamb kebobs are gamey and the beef and chicken kebobs are tender and full of flavor. The kebos come with a basmati rice that is spiced without bring fatty/oily and heavy. The ground sirloin kebob is superior cooking also. I've haven't had the curries yet but did have the ravioli and meat dumplings which are in a class of their own. The eggplant dishes are tasty. We always order more than enough desserts to share. If you're uptight and you know who you are, don't go to this restaurant. But for a lingering relaxing chatty dinner bring a good bottle (2) of wine and let the food flow to the table in it's own time. You and the wait staff will all have a glorious time together. There's no need to challenge anyone with a critique that has nothing to do with the good simple life. This isn't Masa's or the upstairs Che Panisse grill. This is like Hogg Island Oysters at the Ferry Building or Original Joes Sphagetti House: Food classics from the Salang Pass region.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:50:25 +0000

My husband and I love Salang Pass Restaurant! It's the best Afghan restaurant we've ever been to. We've been there many times. The food is very fresh and delicious. The service has been excellent. We've brought many friends there who raved about it.

Colleen

By: Heather L

Heather L — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:06:39 +0000

I live in Fremont and we've got a lot of good Afghan restaurants and Salang Pass is by far my favorite. The food is very fresh, full of flavor and even good the next day after a quick microwave. The owner is quite nice and so is the manager (not sure, he seemed in charge so I assumed he is the owner's son/manager). He even sat down with us to explain some Afghan history. However, the service overall is on the lower side of fair; if they're busy there can be a wait without seating to accommodate and sometimes the main course comes out too soon (I really don't mind, there's plenty of space on the table to munch on both). The atmosphere is fun and festive; there's table seating or floor seating with comfy pillows and low tables under a beautiful multi-colored canopy. . To sum it up, the food is excellent, the service not so much, and the prices are reasonable. Well worth a visit! And if you've never experienced Afghan food, this is a perfect place to start.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 02:23:51 +0000

Salang Pass is my FAVORITE Afgan restaurant. I love the ambiance, the service and the afgan decor. The food is fantastic!!!

By: Dave and Pian

Dave and Pian — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 04:58:20 +0000

My wife and I visited Salang Pass based on the reviews on this website, and it was a great experience! The Pallow (kind of like fried rice) and Bolani (kind of like crepe with potatoes and leek) were very flavorful. Service was a bit slow and the default bread was dry and tough though (thank goodness the reviews here already warned us about it, so we were prepared).

By: dlin

dlin — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:35:30 +0000

This restaurant serves tasty Afghani food but the service is terrible. It took a long time to seat us even though we made reservations. After we were finally seated, the waiter did not come by to take our order until much later. Good food but very disappointing service.

By: Rutu

Rutu — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:50:25 +0000

@ Joshua I can understand where these people are coming from when they make bad remarks about the restaurant.

My husband had been to Salang Pass before and he had a good time with his friends. This time he took me there for the first time. I simply loved the ambience. But we stood at the counter for a whle before anyone even looked at us! Finally after like 10 – 15 mins we got our seats. Then it took them a while to come to get our orders.

Being a vegetarian my husband had eaten Borani the last time he was here. This time we wanted to order the same. But for the rest of the main course like to ask the restaurant to suggest something, so I asked him to suggest something in vegetarian, so he did. Then when we ordred a Borani, he told us that Borani is a vegetarian but it is cooked with beef and meat sauces on the same grill. Needless to say my husband was shocked that he was not told this before!!

We ordered a vegetarian dish which comes with a bread basket, but they gae us only two pieces of bread and hence we had to order more rice to complete the gravies. At the end when we saw the menu again we told him that he was supposed to give us a bread basket and a salad!!!! and first he refused to accept that he made a mistake by not giving us the salad and the bread basket then finally he says "ok so don't come here again!"

I am NOT suprised if anyone tells me that this place has TERRIBLE service.

By: Joanna

Joanna — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:25:46 +0000

What a feast! It's well worth the trip to Fremont for this amazing Afghan food. Going with a big group, we were seated on the floor next to the famous National Geographic picture of the "Afghan Girl." Very comfortable with plush, colorful over-sized pillows.

I had a chance to try many of the dishes, all bursting with flavor. Here are the best of the best:

* Borani Kadoo – Pumpkin with a yogurt sauce
* Aushak – Afghani styled ravioli stuffed with leek and seasonings, topped with ground beef and a special yogurt sauce
* Mantoo – Afghani dumplings steamed, stuffed with beef, onions, and seasonings, topped with ground beef, split peas and a yogurt sauce.
* Variety of chicken, beef and lamb kabobs
* Afghani Ice Cream – ice cream, flavored with rosewater and cardimon, topped with pistachios.

Bring a bottle of wine for small $5 corkage fee (no alcohol served). Portions are generous, so there's a good chance you'll be taking leftovers home (which my roommate drooled over). All in all, an unforgettable meal.

By: Natascha

Natascha — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:47:35 +0000

Salang Pass is my favorite restaurant! The people who work there are very friendly and the food is incredible. The pumpkin starter is amazing and anything I have tasted from lamb over vegetarian dishes to the desserts has been first rate. I can't wait to go back.

By: Juliet

Juliet — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 05:58:26 +0000

I hosted a birthday party with 18 guests in Sept 2006. All except 3 had experienced Afghan food before; everyone raved about the food at Salang Pass. Many said they would be back. The food was very tasty. I pre-ordered the menu since I knew people wouldn't be familiar enough to know what to order. The Quabili Pallow (a basmati rice and lamb dish) is my favorite; the lamb was nice and tender. The Mantoo (dumplings with ground beef) was a hit and Bolani (a calzone with leeks and potatoes) was also highly rated by the guests. Most of us ordered the homemade ice cream and the restaurant let us have a scoop of each flavor (rosewater and mango). It was yummy! We experienced very good service. There was even an error on the bill (my fault, not theirs) and they were quick to fix the situation to my benefit. I can't wait for my next visit to California.