Kabob Central

Food is fantastic. Beef was recommended. Now I highly recommend it. I will definitely be back.

I would give this place 4.5 stars. I think the food is unique and delicious, the owner is nice & service is quick. Minus ½ a star for atmosphere. They could improve their atmosphere by simply putting lights on a dimmer and hanging some curtains or something.
But I would wholeheartedly recommend this place. I’ve been here several times and am going back tonight.
I plus one this to all my folks.

I don’t know why I was so generous at the time. There are better places to eat in Alameda. It’s still ‘A-​OK’, but nothing more.

Went for lunch yesterday with a friend who had been raving about the food (she is an Afghani food lover, so isn’t TOO hard to please). I went in with high expectations given her reviews and was not at all disappointed. The food was great and the people running the store were very nice. Our Turkish friend joined us and also decided the food was fantastic; she said it tasted very much like home-​cooked comfort food to her. (She also said that she wants to bring her husband back TODAY.)
We tried lots of different dishes: kabob, bolani, mantu, and eggplant. All were delicious, pretty, and served hot. Thanks! We will be back.

Pleasantly surprised with our meal especially the vegetable soup. Normally, I only order soup as long as their is protein, but this soup was delicious although a tad on the cool side. I like my soup steaming hot. The meats used for the kabob platter and gyros were lean and generous portions given. The chicken was a tad dry for my taste, but the spicy cilantro dressing was a perfect accompaniment. The basmati rice was perfect — light and fluffy. The menu is simple and very well priced. I came in for take out based on most recent Unilocal reviews and I’m a fan. Support this new place. It’s located on Central, closer to Oak Street. not to confuse it with Troy’s (bleech).

An Egyptian and an Iranian walk into a Lebanese kabob joint at 9:00 on a Saturday.
Sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it’s what really happened.
We missed the early movie, and were hungry from our evening of dancing in the rain aboard the SS Scallywag (really).
Kabob Central was across the street from the movie theater, and I am so glad! The food was delicious, the portions were large, the service was cheerful and accommodating. Two thumbs up. Four thumbs even, since there were two of us. I’ll definitely go back!

Now under new ownership/​management!
A friend mentioned the above about this place, and so I went with a few friends, just to try the place out. At first, we were just hoping for some decent grub for the night, but the food really went above and beyond our expectations. Everyone at my table couldn’t stop raving about how good their dish was, especially the curry that we tried from one person. The employees are also extremely nice, and let us try out samples of a dessert that they were thinking about adding to the menu.

The food was great! The service was awesome!
The employee taking our order made a great recommendation to me as he could tell I was a noob. All employees were very pleasant.
I had the chicken tiki masala with basmati rice and salad and it was all very flavorful. Also tried the beef kabob and it had nice flavor and very tender.
Shared the masala with my 5 year old and he loved it.
Will definitely come back!

«students specials» screamed the standing billboard. persian burgers (4.95) was one item. i went in and asked if i qualified. the cashier smiled and said «no».
Kabob central’s expertise is afghan/​pakistani food but they also sell gyro, chicken tikka masala, persian burgers, fries, wraps, kabobs, etc. so i thought they were mediterrean.
eats:
–chicken tikka masala (6.99)
cubed semimoist chicken came w/​naan slices, and a plate of basmatic rice
tasty sort of, it’s the afghan version of an indian classic
fresh tasting and tasty, curry had a spicy kick but not the indian kind
rating 3.25 stars
foodnotes:
–cheap eats
–food cooked to order, steam table not used at lunch
–may try the afghan dishes, may upgrade to 4 stars
–owner previously operated «sam’s» in berkeley
–present owner just here a few months.
–very friendly, personal service
–few people (students) et al at lunch

The new owners got this right. Good food, good service, good times.
The Chicken Kabob was pretty amazing

We were in the mood for a gyro and it was between here or Troy’s. a couple of buildings down from Kabob Central. Since Elaine and I have already tried Troy’s, we figured we’d try Kabob Central. WRONG MOVE.
They were OUT of gyros (and this was around 7:30pm) and out of greek salad. As an alternative, the guy said he could make a chicken sandwich that is similar to a gyro. SURE, I’ll try it. Instead of a greek salad, the guy said he could make us a house salad.
First came the house salad. It was a plate of lettuce, cucumbers and some tomatoes with their house dressing. for $ 3.50. GEEZ. The dressing was OK — it had a nice tang to it.
The chicken sandwich was a little dry. Mostly because of the chicken and the toasted bread. but where was all that yummy tzatziki sauce?!
It was semi-​satisfying. maybe because we were both starving. Other than that, don’t think I’ll be coming back here anytime soon.

New Chef/​staff. Go see Sam, here’s
a link to his old spot in Berkeley.
. Shami kabob!

New Owner!
Kabob Central has a new owner and the food is not the same. The food now is very ‘food courtee.‘
The chicken tikka masala is not bad. The naans were freshly prepared and the person working behind the counter pretty friendly.

Now open under new ownership! Store just re-​opened today and got to meet the new owner. They are really nice and accommodating.
They were still in the middle of setting everything up, but had a pretty long line for lunch time and offer really cheap menu deals for students (the high school is down the street).
I ordered the chicken breast kabob, it could have been cooked a little more (but I just usually like everything cooked really well). The chicken was tender and seasoned right, the rice was really good (but a little cold) again the owner apologized since they literally just opened the store and I waited a while to be rung up. I was offered a free piping hot and flaky fresh naan straight from the clay oven and a free chilled canned soda since the fountain soda’s ice machine was turned on a few moments before the store arrived and not ready. Actually I pretty much noticed everyone getting free stuff while I was there, so definitely try this place out.
I love when people admit they are unprepared and try to accommodate you for it. They re-​assured me everything would be perfect next time I go in and I plan to go back.
The interior was really nice, great location. Lot’s of tables and the food was good. Prices were super cheap and parking wasnt hard to find which is also a deciding factor for me when I go some where. =]

I love this place – enough to make it my first review ever. Although, I have to admit – most of the things on the menu aren’t very good, and the chicken kabobs give you some pretty stanky burps afterwords.
So your typical kabob comes with: kabob (chicken, steak, ground beef), rice, and a little salad. The rice and the salad – pretty plain. Beef kabob – not that good. Chicken kabob – pretty good. But that becomes excellent when you factor in discount from the
coupon.
Overall: please go to this place. If you don’t, it will close down, and then I won’t be able to go to Kabob Central anymore!

I have to say that I dislike the food at Kabob Central. I went there to eat with my friends because I have a coupon from
. We order 2 combo kabob with rices. One of the combo is to go. The food is pretty pricy because one combo is already 10 dollars and it is not even include drinks.
I dont think the food is worth of the money. The chicken and beef kabobs are super small and the meat is so dry. I dont feel like eating my food because it tastes really bad.
I was disappointed about my to go box because we order the same food (combo kabobs with rice) and I cant believe they give us a very small portion… Rice is so less and chicken and beef are super tiny.
I am disappointed

This is a bare-​bones but clean Afghan diner, lots of take-​out. You need to be «in the mood» for the few things they do well — but those few items they do VERY WELL, as good as the more upscale places at half the price. You just don’t get the atmosphere or table service, which is a fair trade-​off, especially for a substantial lunch.
Excellent are the:
— side salads, which were crisp shredded romaine, thinly sliced fennel, pitted Kalamata black and Greek green olives, with a mild, slightly tangy dressing of garlic-​laced Greek yoghurt. Outstanding!
— rice is high-​quality Basmati, extra long-​grain and unbroken.
— chicken kebob is good, but the beef kabob is VERY good — marinated and tender, very tasty.
— if you want a sauce or dip, order the mast o khiar, which KC serves in a soup bowl that holds at least 2 cups of dip. It is thicker than raita, and pureed generously with mint.
— onion rings are worthy of a good burger joint: crisp thick rings, greaseless, and one side order could feed 3 if you’re also getting entrée plates.
Mid-​level was the:
— beef gyro, which came on the thicker toasted flatbread used here. This turned it into a much bigger sandwich than I was expecting. The beef is very salty and sliced thin, typical of gyros these days.

Me: Hi I’m a first timer and vegetarian what do you recommend?
Girl: Well this one time in band camp I had fries that I thought happened to be the best, so I told the chef, thinking he would take it as a compliment, IT’S POTATO not POTATOE he screamed, in a French accent, which is weird because he was from New Jersey, I think he faked the accent to seem important, but how important can you be serving kids at camp, right? Being a sensitive Virgo with a rising moon in Gemini, I naturally busted into tear and ran out. So what I’m trying to say is, don’t trust French chefs from New Jersey… Right. Don’t worry none of our cooks are chefs or French… yeah. Oh! The fries are good
Me: I’ll take an order of Aghani fries… to go.
Kabob Central is the new kid on the block. The small shop has 5 plasma screens! Three of the screens are animated menus and two feed out ESPN. The vegetarian selection is limited and the fries are nothing special. I don’t plan to return.
Items ordered: Large order of Afghani fries. $ 2.73

Warning: Takeout takes FOREVER. Girl quoted us 15 mins, we were waiting for 30 mins. Excruciating.
Lots of entertainment with the flatscreen tvs and I like the al fresco seating. Still not enough to keep me from going batty.
Food, good and different than what is readily available. Nice to have another region of the Middle East in the Park St. area! I really enjoyed the lightly flavored basmati rice and the tender marinated meats.
Pretty economical at around $ 40.
Next time, I’ll call ahead.

I’ll have to give this place a second shot but the first time wasn’t very good. You can’t mark down their service because you stand in line to order, take your number and they bring it to you. Drinks are self served, so it’s hard to screw the service.
The kids chicken nuggets and fries is palatable to anyone who can taste frozen food that’s been deep fried. Completely deficient.
I had the gyro, nice portion but again, nothing to write home about. The last dish was a Lamb and beef gyro on open faced naan, never again. It felt like I was eating flavored spam on day old bread.
Good luck and happy eating!