Zarab’s Kabobs

It’s ok nothing special.

I really like the chapali kabab. Love the samosas (both chicken and veggie). Love the chicken and beef over rice. Pretty much a regular selection on my weekends.

Love this hidden gym. Great tasting halal food. Super friendly staff. I’ve tried several of their dishes. The chicken paratha wrap is out of this world and such a good deal on price. Love their chicken biryani too. One of the best I’ve ever had (and I’ve had many).

Ordered through UberEATS. Very yummy, a lot more in quantity than I expected. There’s a LOT of rice in the rice: meat ratio. I like basmati rice though, so I’m not complaining. I think it’s definitely comparable to Halal Bros and Kismet. It seems to be about same quality as Kismet.
My only complaint would be that it does get a little bland with the abundance of rice. Maybe if there was more sauce on the side.

Tried the chicken kabob with rice and beans, OMG it was amazing! Really good portions and everything was seasoned just right! The grilled pita bread they gave me only improved an already great dish. Definitely plan on going back again

The food was good but the place is run down and dirty. The parking in that area is also terrible. My kids didn’t like the kebab and my husband thought his was so so. I liked my lamb & rice. We also had a spill and they were not interested in helping us mop up.

Dirty, run down. Food came out scattered. Food was mediocre at best and prepared well in advance.

We ate here soon we got into Austin I had the zarabs special chicken w/​Basmati rice and my friend had the Lamb Shank with Basmati rice. This food was very authentic Mediterranean/​Pakistani food… the flavors were perfect not overpowering. The Lamb Shank w/​the rice was a healthy amount, I would say it was a better dish than mine due to the fact the amount of Chicken in the Zarabs Special Chicken platter was not enough compared to the large amount of Rice given… Overall I like this place will return but I will get the Lamb Shank plate…

Food: Mediocre. I ordered the staple chicken biryani, but it was oily and tasted absolutely nothing like the biryani one gets at places at Biryani Pot.
Service: Atrocious. I was kept waiting for a long time for my food, even though there was not another soul in the place.
Ambience: Poor. Place looks rundown, menus are dirty.
Just not a good experience.

I came here after being lured by the positive reviews from both strangers and my peers. However, if you’ll notice reading the reviews for this place, it’s extremely divided. I now know it isn’t because of an expectation gap or anything of that nature. I believe it’s because of a timing issue.
Maybe a year or a year and a half ago, this place was indeed the delicious hole in the wall that people described. The owner must have been much more friendly and actually cooked all the items on the menu.
However, today, I can testify that this place is not great. The food is decent at best. My favorite part of my meal was the rice. Not sure what that says about everything else, but overall it was a dry meal. Ordering took several tries since the owner did not make most of the items my friend and I initially wanted. The place was absolutely empty at lunch time, and later one group of people came in. Despite that, our food took about 25 or more minutes to come out. I later found a small hair in my food, but I don’t know what would’ve happened if I tried to bring it up to the owner because I had left. I can’t imagine he would have dealt with it professionally. Plus, the price of this place isn’t super great. It’ll cost you around $ 10 just for an entrée, nothing special, not a huge portion or anything, and accompanied by a rather negative dining experience. If I could choose again, I’d MUCH rather eat at Burrito Factory or Teji’s.
I love a good hole in the wall and I gave this place the benefit of the doubt, but I will not be coming back again.

Very quiet at lunch. I ordered to go and not another soul walked in. I guess they must be busier during the school year. You get to wait in a peaceful calm that is only occasionally punctuated by beeps from the microwave cooking your food. The
I asked the owner what I should order and he recommend a lamb dish. That plus 2 veggie samosas came to just under $ 15. A little steep.
I would recommend getting chicken and rice, which is what I got on my second trip. Still, not worth eating here unless you’re in the area already. You’re WAY better off crossing the street to Teji’s

I got plate of rice without a single liquid thing… No daal no curi pokad instead they sent me cauliflower and baigan bharta…
N yogurt is size of pickle.

Be very careful with this restaurant. They operate with no real management skills or planning in mind. At any minute they can run out of materials and end up no delivering on the entire order. Service is also very inconsistent. The owner needs to up his/​her game in terms of managing a store. Just making food is not enough.

Potato paratha. OMGoodness. Get it.
I was in Austin for work. We’d been eating primarily barbecue and I really wanted something different. I found Zarab’s on Unilocal and a few of us ubered over. Was there possibly a small cockroach on the table? Yes, I suppose there may have been. But am I going to let that affect their 5 star review? No. Because this place is a total hole-​in-​the-​wall and that big had great taste in food. I guess what I’m saying is, this is not the place for snobs and socialites. Do not expect anything fancy… but definitely expect something DELICIOUS.
The Chicken Biryani was just made and it was to die for. And get the Potato Paratha FOR SURE. Both of these items were in our original order and we ordered seconds of both. Those are the items I’d get again.
It’s was also quick, very friendly service, and super duper affordable.

My first experience at this place (got the lamb dish) was positive enough for a second try. There will not be a third.
Came in at 1:00 on a Monday. Counter was staffed by a surly teenager who clearly has not yet learned how to speak to adults. That happens, but it was merely the tip of the one-​star iceberg.
Me: what is the «special fish.»
Him: Tilapia
Me: Yes, I’d like that.
Him: I’ll see if there’s any left.
Me: How about the combo platter?
Him: We haven’t made enough food today to make that.
Me: Okay, I’ll take the fish (if you have it) and two vegetable samosas.
He leaves and returns: no samosas.
Me: How about korma?
Him: Out of that, too.
I look at the grimy, laminated menu, annotated liberally with peeling stickers over items reading «out,» or «only on weekends,» and, a little perplexed as to why they don’t print up-​to-​date menus, I give up on ordering anything else.
I then inexplicably wait 20 minutes so that the one order ahead of mine and mine can be prepared, while teenager sits down in the dining room and texts on his phone. Class.
My food arrives. It is a small, lightly breaded piece of tilapia on a mound of plain basmati rice. Besides the weird and unappetizing chopped iceberg lettuce and raw white onions, there is only a tiny side of yogurt sauce to complement this otherwise totally unseasoned meal. I have had better frozen dinners. Since there is no music, I eat this awful food in glum, uncomfortable silence – thirsty silence, since I was never offered a drink.
I check out. The owner, who has made his way to the front, overcharges me by two dollars, apparently as a punitive measure for my terrible judgment in eating here.
So congratulations, Zarob’s Kabobs, you have earned a rare and coveted spot on my «Austin’s Worst» list. I do hope that you enjoy your stay there as little as I enjoyed my time at your squalid excuse for an eatery.

I don’t live far from this place at all, but I somehow always have another option to pursue when Zarab’s gets mentioned at dinner time. This was mostly due in part to the one, solely vegan/​veg dish (eggplant) on their website menu so I thought I’d be SOL if I ever went. Boy, was I wrong. Lots of vegan/​vegetarian options here so don’t let that stop you.
I got the vegetable korma like I always get when ordering Indian food. And you know what’s funny, I actually wished I gotten the eggplant. Ha! I will say if you want Samosas, be sure to order two if that’s what you’re used to with similar food fare… the order only comes with one. Albeit, it is very tasty.
It’s a family owned, family-​ran business. There was the uninterested teenager who took our order, the helpful kid that’s not quite a teen and the small child running amuck. It’s nice to see that dynamic in a restaurant and makes me want to support it even more. I will be back… and probably for that eggplant that kept me from going in the first place. Life is weird, yall.

This place is typical, New York Halal style food. I got a lamb dish over rice with white and green sauce. The meat was tasty although there were several chunks of pure fat it cost $ 15 which seemed a little high for what I was getting.
The guy working there was very nice and recommended the dish to me. I’m not big on a plate of meat and rice and I guess I like authentic Indian, Pakistani food over the Halal stuff.

I ordered a gyro and a beef Seikh kabob with rice. Overall, the food was well seasoned and flavorful, but slightly over cooked. The lettuce accompaniment was a bit aged for my taste. My drop in stars was because I felt the value for the price was low as the amount of meat was not worth the price. Also, due to the older lettuce and overcoming.
I enjoyed my experience and the food, as well as the sauces had a very flavorful taste, with a bit of a kick. If the prices were lower and everything fresh this would be a 5 star review!
Update
The business overcharged me for rice — their menu is set up to confuse you and I asked if there was an additional charge prior to ordering. This raised the price of my beef Seikh kabob with rice to 8.99.

The owner is very nice and friendly. He really cares about his customers and tries to get know you.
Nice big portions and really good Mediterranean food. If you don’t eat spicy, you might want ask about which of the dishes arnt because so far, everything I’ve had is quite spicy. The Lamb shank is HUGE and tender, definitely recommend, and also the chicken bryani is on point as well.
The wait is a little long though, so make sure you’re not on a time crunch

3.5 stars during their opening week.
Zarab’s is a new Pakistani joint on the south end of The Drag. It’s a family run place with the owners hailing from Peshawar. We went on their 2^nd day of being open, and it’s clear that they’re still trying to get a handle on things — much of which I’ll skip mentioning with hope that they get it sorted soon.
The samosas are made in house and were decent. The green chutney that seems to come with everything is pretty tasty. They didn’t have the beef kebab nor the chicken egg curry for lunch, so we opted for the grilled fish and chicken kebab. The fish is tilapia unfortunately, but it was very moist and had a spicy dry rub that tasted like the Lahore Fish Mix you get in a box at Indian grocers. The chicken kebab was a bit on the dry side, but was also tasty. The dishes come with a ton of basmati rice, and an afterthought of shredded lettuce, onion and tomato.
While there is potential for this to be a good addition to the campus, I’m worried for their survival.