Anaar Bar & Grill

My home town of Washington, DC and nearby No. Virginia has a slew of good Afghani restaurants. I couldn’t find any Afghani restaurants when I moved to Clearwater 8 years ago so I was excited to see a Living Social deal for Anaar. A friend (also from DC) and I went today for lunch and I can assure you that this is THE place for Afghani food in the Tampa Bay area.
We were early and the first of the lunch crowd. The owner greeted us at the door and asked if we wanted to try the lunch buffet ($ 9.99). The chef came out and described the dishes. It was attractive and smelled yummy so we decided on the buffet. There were lentils, a potato and chicken dish, summer squash, potatoes, fantastic meatballs, and one other item that I’m forgetting. All delicious. The server said that the selection varies from day-​to-​day and that okra and chick peas are often on the buffet. The seasonings were spot-​on: some dishes had a little kick but were not too spicy. We could have handled more heat, but the food was so good we didn’t miss it. Included in the price were iced tea, Afghani bread, 2 sauces, and rice pudding.
The only downside with the buffet was that we didn’t get to choose from the extensive menu. In addition to a great selection of Afghani food, there were some dishes remaining from the location’s days as a pizza place. We were told that the menu is being revamped and some items will disappear — I hope they are the pizza type food because I’d regret seeing any of the Afghani items gone before I can try them all!
This is an appealing restaurant, from the décor, to the food, and top-​notch service. Will we go back? Oh yes! We’ve already invited another friend to go with us next week.

Bummed to hear this place has closed. Only came once but the food was delicious. Mostly just didn’t return cause it’s a far drive for me. However everything I tried here from the appetizer to dessert was so good. We ordered a sampler platter option. The lamb legs were the best part by far. Service was really slow and that’s what kept it from 5 stars. Seems like the owners kids or relatives were the servers and they were slower than molasses on a turtles back. It was worth the wait in my opinion cause the food was that good. But maybe that’s part of the reason they are closed now due to slow service. It’s a shame such a unique place is out of business. Fresh authentic Afghani food is hard to come by.

First time Unilocaler! first time Unilocaler! Anaar has the Delicious Goodness. I ordered the kebab pita with steak which had a great flavor and was very tender. The Basmati rice was prepared perfectly. I went for lunch, the restaurant did not have a lot of patrons but our server, Jessica was fantastic. I forgot to take a picture of the food, maybe next time.

Upon my return because of our initial amazing experience here, I noticed a few things had changed, unfortunately, not for the better.
There was one server for the entire restaurant. Granted, they were not terribly busy, but it might have been one of the reasons why we had minimal interaction with our server.
We ordered an appetizer — Mantoo — it was not even warm.
Thank goodness our entrees were hot.
And, just also wanted to note that the décor has changed some since my last visit — looks much better… the private room no longer has pizza pans on the wall! :)

Great Aghani restaurant in Tampa? Wow, it’s like Tampa is a really city! The food is authentic and made to order. Everything I’ve had there (which is pretty much the whole menu) has been just fantastic.
The owner is super nice and always takes the time to say hello, even when he’s doing the cooking.
They have a pretty good draft craft beer menu, and it changes often enough that you won’t get bored with the beer. They have pretty decent wine choices and a full liquor bar.
They have rotating specials as well, from ladies nights, to karaōke, to a belly dancer performing.
Super delicious ethnic restaurant definitely worth trying.

Nice casual atmosphere. Very reasonably priced. Authentic Afghan cuisine here in S Tampa. Service for dinner can be a little slow, but lunch was spot on.
Definitely recommend. I’ll be back again.

The food at Anaar Bar & Grill really is fantastic. The steak kabobs and lamb chops were so tender and cooked to a perfect medium temperature. The rice, wow the rice! I don’t normally go nuts over rice, but it ‘s hard not to gush after you breathe in the warm cinnamon aroma of raisins, shredded carrots and rice. So many wonderful flavors! The menu is very reasonably priced. Most entrees are $ 10-​$ 15 and I consider that a steal with the high quality of meats that Anaar is serving. The portions aren’t huge so if you are really hungry I would suggest ordering an appetizer with your entrée.
So why not five stars?
Unfortunately our first visit took almost two hours to receive our food. The restaurant was completely chaotic that Sunday evening and none of the diners were receiving their food in a timely manner. We probably should have just paid for our wine and left, but we kept hoping our food would arrive. I realize every restaurant has a bad day, but it took 20 minutes before a waiter approached our table to take our drink orders and another 40 minutes before we received our hummus and pita appetizer! When our food finally did appear I realized that our waitress brought my sister and I the steak pitas instead of the steak kabobs I ordered. At this point I was starving so I just ate what I was served, but I was annoyed I waited two hours for the wrong meal. I appreciate that the restaurant is making the food fresh, but perhaps a little food prep work needs to be done in the kitchen before dinner rush?
We have been back since our first dining fiasco at Anaar, but we ordered our food to-​go to avoid a potential wait so I cannot tell you if the service has improved.

A friend of mine, who like myself is into ethnic food, sent me an article ranting & raving about this gem of a restaurant in Tampa called Anaar. When I discovered that there was a place so close to home where I could try Afghan cuisine, and it was a place that has received many praises on top of it, I just could NOT resist! When I saw that they are currently offering a «$ 20 for $ 40 Unilocal deal» that just sweetened the deal even further for me! My rating is based on 4.5 stars for food and 2 stars for service — so I arrive at a solid 3.5 overall.
The boyfriend and I came here for dinner on a random Thursday and it was pretty dead when we got here. We were sat and greeted by a young lady who we figured must be a part of the family that owns this establishment. She presented us with a menu that contained 2 options:
1) Order 1 app, 3 entrees and 1 dessert — Price $ 17 per person
2) Order 2 app, 2 entrees and 2 desserts — Price $ 20 per person.
We were more interested in trying entrees than desserts so we went with option #1 and then made the tough decision of what to order. There were so many delicious sounding choices. If you don’t want one of these combo options, you can order entrees and sides a la carte as well. The menu stated that in addition to the above items, the meal also included tea and naan bread. Even after we decided what we wanted, we had to wait quite a while to place our order, as the service was painstakingly slow and we had to wait what seemed like an eternity before our server meandered back over. We chose the sambosas to start. They were tasty, but not as good as those that i’ve had at some Indian restaurants. The outer crust left something to be desired, but the stuffing inside was tasty and fresh. For our meal, we chose the leg of lamb and curried chicken; my apologies for not remembering the exact name of the items off hand. They were served with 2 types of rice, garlic aioli sauce and a side of squash stewed in tomatoes and spices. The meats had a fabulous taste. The curry was perfectly done. Lamb was excellent as well, only could have been better if it was a bit more tender. The bf thought they were a little skimpy on the portion sizes and I would agree. We had to ask about 4 times for the naan bread before she finally brought it out and by that point we were already almost done with our meal. We never did get the tea that was supposed to be included, another thumbs down for service. We wrapped up dinner with afghan rice pudding, which was very similar to that which I have tried at greek restaurants. It was just the right amount of sweet. Very tasty.
Finally wrapped up our meal and waited a while longer for our check. The meal didn’t add up to the total cost of the Unilocal deal value (only cost $ 34 for the food, but the deal was for $ 40), so I had ordered a beer to cover the difference. When the bill came out, she said the beer wasn’t included in the Unilocal deal and so we ended up losing about $ 6 of the voucher we had paid for. Not a huge deal, but kind of annoying that it doesn’t state any exclusions in the voucher when there are indeed restrictions. Another customer service issue. Oh well.
Overall, even with the service being a bit below average, due to the uniqueness and extremely good taste of the food, I would come here again. I recommend anyone who likes to try new food should come here. Don’t expect stellar service, but do expect a heavenly meal.

We enjoyed a prix fixe meal for 4 deal, plus a child for a very low price using a Groupon… but they also offer a similar discount on Unilocal.We got 2 appetizers (Paying extra for one), great hummus with mantoo… beef dumplings and non-​stop toasted naan flat bread. Our 3 entrees were curry chicken, beef kabobs and Baujan (sp?) lamb and eggplant… all were served in ample bowls for sharing. and all very flavorful and sided by 2 kinds of rice and multiple dips for naan, etc… spicy aioli, regular garlic aioli, yogurt and a sweet pomegrate dip. Service was very efficient and helpful in making selections. We ended with an Afgan custard filled with almonds and flavored with cardamom. We left with 3 boxes of food for the next day. Even one of our party who is apprehensive of exotic/​foreign fare enjoyed the dishes and especially the sauces.
Décor is now very much Afghan oriented, with a mix of photos, wall murals, artifacts and ornate carved furniture, with nice bar separate from the dining room. We were also able to chat some with the owners father about the décor and life in Afghanistan.

This is my second time being here and it has improved quite a bit! They have a new menu which is clean and trimmed and beautiful! The general manager came over and chatted with us frequently and we had a great time talking to him! The food is just amazing, flavourful and bright. Will come again… Soon!

We have been to this restaurant several times and have enjoyed the food, although the service has been fairly spotty. But this time was simply one of the worst dining experiences we have had.
We walked in and were told to sit where we want. There were only 2 tables that were clean and one had the light bulb burned out. our waitress informs us that we were lucky to have come after the rush. We place our drink orders. a beer, a cocktail and water. Beer comes fairly quickly. Cocktail arrives in about 10 minutes, I again request a glass of water. and did so 2 more times.
It took close to 2 hours to get a sporadic serving of our dishes. and when they came to the table they were lukewarm. There seemed to be a lot of people in the kitchen, not sure what they were doing. Nobody busing tables. total chaos. We finally asked for take-​out containers, and took our food home. (Still did not get all of our dishes)

We did the family style menu bc we had a Groupon. The appetizers were great.. especially the beef dumplings. The two meat entrees (braised lamb and curried chicken) had uneven temperatures… cold to luke warm. The veggie entrees (squash and spinach) were ok. The rice was great, but it came out quite a bit later than our entrees which defeats the point. Service was good until we asked to have the lamb heated up more.. then we got «the look» ;) It wasn’t terrible there, but we won’t be going back. Side note: it’s a sports bar and grill. When we say down the Bucs were still on and the bar patrons were very loud cheering, which is totally fine except when you are sitting adjacent to the bar area trying to order or have a conversation.

Let me say that the food here is about 4 stars. Unfortunately the service was a 0 so I am giving a 2-​star rating for the average.
I had dinner here with a friend and there were 5 – 6 other tables with diners. The 2 servers were ‘sharing the load’ on a Saturday night. Overall, the service was horrible. It took a while to even be attended to or for any return visits. We waited about an hour for any food and never even received the Naan that was supposed to come before the meal. They indicated that the kitchen was short-​staffed. We finally get our apps and 1 of the 2 was not what we ordered (and happened to include beef when my dining partner is vegetarian). We said nothing since we thought it better to cut our losses at that point. We were then delivered a ‘complimentary’ app with the chef’s regrets for the wait (it happened to be the one that we had actually ordered originally). We soon got our entrees (about 90 minutes after arriving).
Both servers were young and clearly inexperienced. But also highly inattentive with no sense of urgency. While they apologized here and there, they did not seem to notice much of what was going on. We heard the male telling another table sorry that he is ‘so spacey tonight for some reason.’ I have a feeling that is every night.
Of the 5 dishes we had, 3 were wonderful and the other 2 were just okay. From other reviews, it sounds like the owners are good people. But if they want this restaurant to have any chance of surviving then they need to run a better operation, be present more, and get rid of staff members who will make people like myself not return, despite the good food items.

I cam here for lunch. They have a buffet, but it was pasta with meatballs, some vegetables, and rice, and it didn’t appeal to me. So I tried the menu.
The menu is different from the one I saw online. I didn’t see the fried chicken (so sad). As it was lunch, I opted for the chicken kabob wrap.
I had the nicest waiter in the world here. He was super attentive, and whenever I got halfway done with my Diet Coke, he had a new (full) glass ready to go. He also brought out toasted naan with yogurt sauce and pomegranate sauce to snack on while I waited for my wrap. That naan was heavenly, and the yogurt sauce was addictive.
My wrap was fine. It was loosely wrapped on one side, so the lettuce started falling out, which is a peeve of mine. The chicken itself was flavorful, and again, I loved the yogurt sauce. The fries that came with the wrap were really crispy and perfect.
I’d like to return to try dinner.

Décor: Neat and Clean
Service: Great server
Food–
Mantoo: Tasty dumplings. Ask for them without the marinara– like sauce.
Kabuli pulao: Tad salty, but good.
Firni: Rice Pudding like dessert with almonds and pistachios. Super sweet
Doogh: Yogurt drink with cucumbers. Super Salty. My blood pressure just went up…

So I’ve been to Anaar now multiple times and I’m definitely a fan. So far I’ve had everything from their hummus appetizer, to various sandwiches and various kabobs.
Since I have never had Afghani food, I was pretty excited to try Anaar and was fully and completely won over by their kabobs and lamb chops. I highly recommend both of them, but they can be a bit pricey for my budget so I tried some other things on their menu as well.
Hands down for the money, my favorite food they offer is oddly a cheese steak sandwich, which I will not begin to claim is authentic in any way but it’s absolutely perfect for me. The bread they use is toasted and chewy and the sandwich is moist and not at all greasy, and they have some of the best french fries in town. I’m so easy to please sometimes.

Tampa has a completely unique experience in Anaar Grill — excellent Middle Eastern food and family friendly service, along with reasonable prices.
Anaar’s focus is on Afghani food. As a novice, I brought along an expert taste tester who had experienced this style of cooking in action in Afghanistan. While my taste buds were having their own party, my colleague was «yumming» and «nomming» — describing fond memories of baunjaun bouranee and kabuli palow with kabob and naan. Delicious!
You will receive plenty of help from friendly and knowledgeable staff who guide you through the wide menu options. Vegetarians and carnivores find sanctuary in choices ranging from beef, chicken and lamb to eggplant, hummus, salads, and mixed vegetables — all in a variety of marinades or sauces that are prepared fresh in-​house. For the adventurous, request a chutney or ask if your dinner option comes «spicy».
Groups of all sizes are welcome here, so portions are generous — allowing everyone to «dig in»! If a family member prefers something more Americanized, you’ll find accommodations with pizza and sandwiches, no worries!
Anaar offers a healthy discount for military, veterans, and similar (police/​fire/​rescue/​healthcare). The lunch buffet is all-​you-​can-​eat for $ 9.00.
I am definitely a fan and will be back for an order of my favorite — sabzi chalaw (spinach and greens served with rice). Why not an overall 5-​star? As a newer family-​run restaurant, the investment is clearly in the food (where it should be) — so build out on infrastructure /​atmosphere continues, including the hope for traditional live music. Expect 5 stars when additional ‘niceties’ come along.

I was eager to try this new Afghani cuisine restaurant in Tampa especially after my good buddy Felipe raved about their food. I finally made it and I was not disappointed!!!
Fellow Unilocaler Aaron hosted and we tried a series of delicious dishes! A crispy naan variant with yogurt started us off and a they serve up a very tasty sangria. They have a delicious eggplant over yogurt dish.
For main courses we had a giant communal dought pita like bread over wonderfully seasoned chicken and beef kebabs. We also tried a lovely spinach dish and had a rich pilaf and goat dish.
How cool is it that you can now have delicious Afghan cuisine in Tampa!!! The restaurant décor isn’t anything amazing although I did like the mural and open kitchen setup. The servers are super friendly and ours were knowledgeable.
The seasonings are really wonderful and the meats tender. They also have several veg dishes and can do veg kebobs. Even though I was super full I still loved and couldn’t get enough of the rice pudding dessert. It has a terrific flavor (cardamom?). Really everything was tasty with great flavor and subtleties and textures. I hope the word gets out in this place. I want to try their lunch buffet and there are a lot of things to try on their menu so I will definitely be back. It’s a family operation I hear the mother is the best cook of all! The owner, Paiman, was there and explained some of the culture and traditions. This was a great experience and left me eager to return.
Plus they deliver!!!
Update: A friend of mine had them cater for a party and they did a great job. Everyone was buzzing about the great food.

They got rid of sangria. They changed menu. And changed a bunch of stuff. I was super Excited at first, but now it’s all
About how you order. Pick the right thing you are in for a treat. Pick the wrong thing. Then oops. That being said they still have potential
I can see great potential here. All the people involved have that passion you can’t seem to find just anywhere. I know they are doing a soft opening and are trying out new dishes and styles and getting everyone up to speed… That being said, they allowed us to try a bunch of stuff and I even heard they are doing a menu tasting where they invited the locals to help them create the menu! That is really cool as I have never been a part of that. Their food is very tasty and I hope they go with some of the products they showed us today! Man their sangria is the best I have ever had. They soak the fruit for several days and what comes out is the most awesome taste and man after one, my wife was feeling super happy!
I recommend this place to get you off the beaten path and try something new and you soon will love it too

This is my first time trying Afghan food it was a very lovely place, great service the food was very yummy definitely have to try it when you are in the area. Game room and a bar.