Shir Birinj
Sami's Kabab House

Sami's Kabab House

35-57 Crescent Street; Queens, 11106, Astoria, United States

Kebab • Casual • Afghani • Catering


"DISCLAIMER: This review is strictly about the family platter that is served by Sami 's Kabab House. There are lots of complaints about this from other reviewers. Proceed with caution. Background: I am a frequent visitor of Sami 's and have been coming here since they 've been a hole in the wall and have been here over 10+ times. TLDR: Avoid the family platter at all costs it is their biggest money maker at YOUR expense. If you 're interested in learning why, which I hope you do, please see below. It will save you lots of money. I came to the restaurant on 12/26 around 930p with 12 people. I 've ordered the family platter a few times from Sami 's and have noticed they always add stuff we don 't want such as salmon and lamb shanks each being about $30 40 an order. I never really cared but then I started to realize it was funny business. Sami 's family platter doesn 't explicitly say what it includes. I 've noticed that many times they just add random stuff and say it 's a platter. Stuff that doesn 't ' even make sense. I told the waiter, please do not give me any lamb shanks and salmon because I know they charge an insane amount of money for them and we don 't even like it. We 're here for the kababs. Lo and behold, he serves me 2 lamb shanks and says sorry I forgot you didn 't want it . So I replied by saying I mentioned when ordering that I do no want them. He 's like ok but you have to pay for it still because I forgot. ???? What? That is not my problem. He eventually removed it but not without a small argument. I took a look at the bill and honestly some of it doesn 't make sense. 1. They serve Afghan naan in the beginning. No discretion about being a cost to the customer. Why do you serve it without asking the customer if they want, especially if it is NOT complimentary. 2. I was charged for a mixed Afghan kabab platter. Why are you charging me extra for MIXED when the whole dish is a mix of kebabs? 3. I ordered 2 family platters, but they charged me for 3 lamb chops each at $28 an order. How does that make sense? I love the lamb chops, so I don 't have an issue but it doesn 't make sense to charge me for 3 when every other item is 1 or 2 of each. 4. Side rice with Qabuli. Why are you charging me for a side of rice when all the dishes come with rice? 5. I requested no salmon, yet was charged $52 for salmon. We ate it because we didn 't want to fight anymore but I mean come on. All in all, I see about $100 worth of markups for things I didn 't ask for. Don 't get me wrong, I LOVE Sami 's food. They have set the bar high in the Afghan cuisine. I just do not appreciate this sneakiness. I hope they fix this moving forward."