I don't normally eat this type of food but I am now a fan. Everything we had was awesome!! So cool that they have one in SF. I'm definitely going to try it. We had a big group of close to 20 and service was awesome. Our drinks were filled, the waiter made awesome suggestions, appetizers he suggested and desert was good. I had the mahi mahi with a tomato sauce that he suggested. It was sooooo good. I sampled everyone else's dishes, totally good. I'm coming back when I'm in the area in Feb. read more

Absolutely delicious food. The apps are all very good as are the entrees. Even the deserts. I honestly can't remember the names of the things I got because I was having such a hard time deciding, I asked the server to pick for me! He picked awesome things and was a total sweetheart throughout the entire evening. The food came out fast too, which I was a bit suspicious of, but after my first bite, I stopped questioning. It's always a good sign when there isn't much conversation over dinner because both parties are too busy MMMMMing out loud after every bite. We were the last ones in the dining room and we ended up chatting with the server for a good 20 minutes after the place had closed. Truly a 5 star experience. read more

Let's put it simply - the food is DELICIOUS, and the wait staff is AMAZING! They were unobtrusive but there when appropriate, never letting our glasses empty nor our palates pause. Appetizers, soups, and delicious flatbread served on cue. The main dishes were served with the last yummy bite of my ap! And we were visited by the host, the manager AND had the GREATEST SERVER (Lauren-ask for her!), although Brett made a great impression too with his bar tending skills. The food: though similar to some Indian/Mediterranean/Middle Eastern fares you may have had, this is a unique menu. The chefs indeed have captured and perfected the indigenous Afghani flavor - and rightly so, as the restaurant is owned by the FIRST FAMILY! I usually prefer lamb, but took Lauren's recommendation of the grilled beef. Soooo the right choice! I thought mine was the best dish at the table, but my daughter argued that her vegetarian meal was better, and my husband disputed that his lamb stew was the best! We were all satisfied, but I am sad to say that SOMEONE scarfed ALL of the leftovers later, so the one or two nibbles at the table of each dish were all that I had. Next time we will take a bigger group and ask for "family style." Yes, they can do that! Call ahead, make a reservation and ask the manager to arrange it. You'll get to sample a good selection of the dishes. Hint: call early, make reservations. It gets really busy on the weekends and it can be nearly impossible to get a table some nights. We were lucky - this last visit was on a Friday during Grad Week & we walked in at about 6 pm and were seated immediately. Within an hour it was packed, and all reservations booked! read more

This was authentic, well prepared food in a professional and stylish environment. I enjoyed the meal and the service was perfect.

Pretty nice space, intimate, with good service. But the food was a little uneven. The Kaddo Borwani appetizer was fantastic--one of the best dishes I've ever had. But my entree (don't remember what it was called) was awful. It was a 15$ bowl of tasteless, lifeless tomato soup. I was very much tempted to return it, but decided not to ruin the night for my friends. I sampled some of their food--various dishes. It tasted like underseasoned Indian food. Nothing special. I should probably give it another shot because that appetizer WAS fantastic... read more

The koftah pollaw was hands down the best meal I've eaten all year. It's amazing. I also recommend the pumpkin appetizer. Absolutely amazing food, beyond words!! read more

Everything was really good. My one complaint is that the waitress offered us bread, but didn't mention that it wasn't complimentary so that was a surprise on our bill. But otherwise, it was very good food. read more

Delightful food, quick service, and a great ambiance. Overall highly recommend this place if you're in Baltimore!

An absolute gem. Food service and ambience are top notch. The pumpkin appetizer is my favorite. Any of their lamb, chicken or beef dishes are incredible. I try to stay away from the bread but it never happens. To finish try their Turkish coffee. Heaven read more

Food was amazing. But service was not I expected on a Friday early evening for a 7pm reservation. Came at 7:05pm, table was not ready and after being seated for 10 minutes our server finally has time to check on us and finally start with the 1st order of the night which are drinks. We decided to order everything by that time. She kept checking the other 3 tables besides us that already had their food and already merry rather than taking out orders. And here is the catch, she did apologize but nothing was offered for the inconvenience and the inconsistency with slow service. I Know its a busy night and they want to push everyone out fast so they can get in new patrons. But guess what, the family beside us who she keeps checking were already done by the time we were eating out entree and was just "hanging around" not having dessert or coffee/tea. This was the one she kept checking on and giving them everything and to go Boxes rather than starting the service in our tiny 2 person table. Food is a different topic, would come back again for that! We started with the pumpkin appetizer (good but too sweet for me), friend got the Afghan ravioli very nice flavors. The naan bread which was not free at all were really good, came out fresh and warm. For entree I got the lamb lawaand, Very good flavor but the part of lamb they used got a little bit dry for the strew. The stew is not spicy, has mushrooms in it. The food came with a nice vinegary cilantro(?) sauce that you can put on anything. But guess what food came out really fast since its obvious it was already pre-cooked especially the stews so the flavors can steep in. Will come back for the food and nice venue (although can be very loud), hoping to have better service next time whether its busy or not. read more

This place is a Baltimore gem. I have yet to find another restaurant where you can get such flavorful food, great service & very refined atmosphere for an extremely reasonable price. There is a great selection of vegetarian entrees if that floats your boat. The Lamb Lawand is awesome - we order it every time. Try the baby pumpkin appetizer! I tend to stick to the wine list, as most of the cocktails I've tried have been overly sweet. Usually we are so stuffed by the end of dinner we don't get dessert, but if you have a sweet tooth, the cardamom ice cream is unique & delicious. If you're in the mood to take a layer of enamel off your teeth and not sleep for 3 days, try the Turkish coffee... Lorelei Gilmore would be proud. read more

We went here for dinner on a Wednesday night, as a group of 16. It seems that, even if you are a much smaller group, it's necessary to have a reservation on any night of the week. Since we were such a big group, they suggested a prix fixe option for the table. It cost $36 ($46 once tax and tip were added), and included all of the appetizers for the table, salad, a mixture of mains, and two desserts. It was served family style, except that for some courses, the vegetarians in our party were served individual plates while the non-vegetarians served themselves family-style. The appetizers were great as always. Everyone loved the pumpkin, but I think the vegetarian version of the "ravioli" is my new favourite dish. Next came a very balsamic-y salad, which included roasted vegetables, plus chicken in its non-veg incarnation. The vegetarian main was the platter of vegetable dishes. There were mushrooms, okra, spicy pumpkin, rice and a yogurt sauce. For dessert, baklava in a cream and raspberry sauce, as well as fruit with a pudding, were served. They were happy to provide us with individual cheques. read more

One of my favorite places in all of Baltimore. The food and ambiance are amazing. I don't eat lamb, but this is the one place I make an exception as the Kabuli (pallow) is to die for (pallow sweet rice, tender lamb, raisins, carrots). Like everyone else, I like the kaddo borwani (pumpkin appetizer), but actually prefer the bowlani (dumpling filled with leeks and potatoes). The mantwo is also excellent. They also serve great naan and the mint chutney is delicious. I also love the Buzkashi (headless goat polo game) fabric hanging in the main entrance. read more

My first taste of Afghan food, and I didn't know what to expect. I should have looked at a map though, because it reminded me of a cross between Indian and Middle Eastern food, with a lot less flavor. The dominant flavors were garlic, mint, and cumin, but it was all just a little bland. I'll stick with four stars, because I don't know enough about the cuisine to say if it was bad, or simply not to my taste. Service was OK, and the decor/ambience was fine. We started with the highly recommended pumpkin appetizer ($5), and were very disappointed. Tooth-achingly sweet! Actually, I think I will try to make it at home with no sugar. The pumkpin-yogurt-mint combo seemed like it would be delicious without sugar. Hubby loved the bread (four pieces for $2.50) I ordered aushak ($12), three leek-filled ravioli served on a bed of lightly seasoned meat sauce, topped with yogurt. It was OK. The meat sauce reminded me of Cincinnati-style chili. There was a ton of meat and yogurt sauce and only three ravioli, so I ended up with a pile of meat sauce that I couldn't eat with a fork. I tried sopping it up with bread, but it wasn't very good that way. Hubby ordered a daily special, a lamb-and-mushroom curry ($16). Three or four pieces of lamb and a dozen whole white mushrooms in a lightly spiced tomato-based sauce, served with a large plate of cumin-studded rice. Next time, I think I would order several appetizers (they have several crossovers on the menu where they serve smaller portions of entrees as appetizers) to try a lot of dishes and see if I could find a dish to love. I love Indian food, I love Middle Eastern food, so what was the problem? I guess everything was just a little bland, and it seemed like the proportions were all off. I had too much sauce and nothing to eat it with, and hubby had a huge pile of rice for a tiny amount of curry with too little sauce. I ended up still hungry, so I put some of my meat sauce on his rice. Meh. read more

The best restaurant in Baltimore. Get the kadoo, you'll wish you had ordered two. Fantastic.

This was a lovely restaurant in a beautiful part of town with excellent and unique food. The pumpkin appetizer was divine and surprising, and the bread was unusual and tasty. The sabzy challow was the highlight of the evening. All in all, this is a restaurant Baltimore should be proud of! (The prices were a very good deal as well.) read more

One of our best restaurants in the city. Consistent. Well priced. Nice wine selection.

I've been here once and was VERY happy with my experience. Of course, I had to order the kaddo borawni (pumpkin appetizer) and it lived up to its reputation on this site. The night I visited, there was a special trio of fish entree (salmon, grouper (?), and halibut (?)- I can't remember exactly) and it was delicious! read more

You just can't go wrong here. Everything on the menu is good. Only caution: don't sit at the table by the door...it will get very annoying.

The Helmand is delicious. Ive been here many times and have always enjoyed myself. Each time I have gone, the place has been crowded but I havent had to wait to be seated. read more

I really liked my meal at the Helmand! I made a reservation for 4 for a Saturday night. They messed it up and had us down for 6pm not 6:30pm which is when we arrived. No worries, we waited at the bar for about 10 min. Notably, there appears to be no system for seating people so when a server asked how long we had been waiting we basically said a long time and that we had a reservation. He seated us at the next open table. Other people were milling around and I have no clue if they also had reservations or not but I didn't feel like it was my problem to sort out the order since we had a reservation that got mixed up :). Anyway, service was ok, they were swamped and super busy but everything arrive quickly and accurately. We ordered two apps for 4 people, and yes they are small. One person could easily eat an entire appetizer. The Kaddo Borwani pumpkin app is really unique and tasty. The Mantwo was yummy but different than expected since pastry usually implies crispy and this was more like a ravoli. We also had a large basket of bread which (after being warned here on Yelp) was $4.50 but very tasty. Our entrees came fast and were really tasty. The meats weren't overcooked and the spices were really nice. I had the Dwopiasa which was really really tasty.. loved the lamb and rice, and the side of potatoes and onions (not sure what exactly it was) was a little sweet but really good. I would highly recommend the Dwopiasa. Despite the seemingly small portions I was actually very full after my meal. We finished with Turkish coffees and the cardamom ice cream which was so yummy, though also a small portion - think one scoop. I think the meal was $80 incl. tip per couple and including either 2 or 3 alcoholic drinks/couple. I thought that was pretty good. The ambiance was warm and festive, lots of people chatting and a few larger groups. The only bad thing was the table right next to the door! I felt so bad for the guy sitting there since it was freezing that night and he must have been so annoyed with all the comings and goings and that door being open. So make sure you don't get that table! read more

Both my friend and I thought that the lamb chop weekend special (don't remember the name except that it starts with "ch") might have been the single best-seasoned, perfectly cooked cut of meat that we've had anywhere. This restaurant is almost worth coming to Baltimore for. read more

Everything was great except for our waitress Lauren charged us for 2 Ice Creams that we didn't even order. So make sure to watch your receipt before u pay!!! read more

I've been here a few times and it's always a good experience. The interior is classy but not too fancy. The staff are so nice. The food is really good. I recommend the Mantwo entree for those who might like ground beef cabbage dumplings. If you really want to taste the variety, the family meal (for 4 or more) offers a sampling of salads, appetizers, entrees, and desserts (with an option to add bottomless wine). read more

Have eaten here three times now and have not been disappointed. The kaddo borawni (baby pumpkin and yogurt), aushak (Afghan ravioli), and pumpkin cheesecake are to die for. There are other items on the menu that are not quite as good, but definitely still worth trying. Service is efficient and professional, if not particularly warm. read more

This place seems to always be packed...for good reason!!! I'm not one to be too adventurous on food, but I would try anything at this place. I've had steak, chicken, soup, apps and dessert and everything is seriously AMAZING! Even the coffee is delicious!!! Mushrooms, pumpkin, rice, the list goes on and on. Everyone has to try it at least once! read more

We were visiting Baltimore from out of town and were so glad we found this place through Yelp. Made a reservation easily through Opentable. When we showed up there was a delay getting seated, but the experience we had thereafter made up for it greatly. Our waitress was nice and easy to talk to about recommendations for our tastes. We had the kaddo borwani with an order of naan to start - I was wary about the flavor combination of pumpkin with yogurt/garlic, but it was divine - a perfect mixture of savory/sweet. As soon as we tried our entrees (I ordered the special salad with marinated steak, and my fiance had the lamb seekh kabob), we were both blown away by the quality, flavor, and tenderness of the meat. We both felt hands down this was the best Middle Eastern food we have ever had. We had no choice but to try dessert, and got a scoop of the special ice cream, which was vanilla with cardamom, dates and figs. We loved it except for the big chunks of date/fig which we just ate around. Amazing food for a seriously good price. Would recommend this place to anyone in the area without question. read more

Friends of ours invited us out to dinner at The Helmand, I was excited as I'd never tried Afghan food before but also nervous as being a vegetarian with food allergies some times dining out can be difficult. Not only was the a completely separate vegetarian menu but our server was very knowledgeable about which dishes had even trace amounts of mushroom in them so that I could enjoy my dinner without worrying. They also have some amazing house cocktails! read more

Excellent, got off a plane and headed to Helmands. Did not expect to enjoy this Afghan meal so much!

We had a party of nearly 30 people (8th grade class trip). They lived up to every expectation we had in terms of service and food.

Decided to take a chance on my birthday and go somewhere I've never been. I am so glad I did. This was one of the best foreign cuisine dishes I have ever had. I never imagined I would love Afghan cuisine. The restaurant was busy (always a good sign). I ordered the dwopiaza (tenderloin of lamb in onions) and substituted my pallow (seasoned rice) for challow (rice seasoned with cumin): delish! My husband ordered a vegetarian dish vegetarian dolma (eggplant filled with spinach). He was blown away. Will definitely visit again. read more

This was a lovely find in the nook of Baltimore. We looked for a vegan approved restaurant in the area and this place got great reviews. We checked it out and it did not disappoint. It was our first time eating Afghani food. It was simply exquisite all the way around. The only issue we had was the lighting. It was a bit dark for my eyes and I don't wear glasses. The immediately sat us at a table for 2 all the way in the back corner where there wasn't even a light over us. Just a candle. I didn't understand why they did that when there were tables up front that were more lit. I had to make the request to move. Besides that, it was a great place. I wish it was closer so that I can go more often. The food definitely lives up to the hype! :) read more

First off, the food is fantastic. The vegetarian menu has reasonable choices and is usually season appropriate. Our dining experience was, interesting. This must have been our waiters first day on the busgirl is definitely out now. What we ordered was not what arrived its all good. Just like when traveling, as long its vegetarian and tasty, doesn't matter. So be forgiving and flexible with the Helmand and you won't be disappointed. read more

The Helmand certainly merits all the great reviews it's received! My husband and I went for our wedding anniversary this past Saturday night. We had reservations for 6pm. Good thing we did, as the place was already packed, and people who came in without reservations were told that there would not be any available tables until 9pm! The atmosphere and decor was fantastic. It was warm and inviting and the smells wafting through the air were delicious! We ordered the Bowlawni as an appetizer. One word "wow". The leek filled one simply burst with flavour. Utterly divine. My husband ordered the Kabuli for dinner, and I had the Lamb Lawand. Both dishes were fantastic. The Kabuli was alive with a soft cinnamon bite that complemented the rasins and carrots beautifully. My lamb dish was rich and lucious. The sauce was warm with some spicy overtones. Absolutely yum! I think though that the highlight was the ice cream. We had never had ice cream with figs, let alone cardamon. The flavours were beyond sensational and the perfect ending to a perfect meal. Our waitress was fantastic too, and so helpful in guiding us through our choices. Everyone was attentive without being overbearing. The atmosphere was wonderful too. All in all, a fantastic experience. We'll be back. :) read more

An excellent experience. The food was fresh and well prepared. A friend and I split an appetizer and 2 entrees. We had the roasted pumpkin things (Kaddo Borwani) which were good. Then we split a lamb dish and the vegetarian samosa type-dish. Both came with rice, aka " "Challow" or "Pallow." Neither choice is viewable on the online menu, but both dishes were excellent choices. This was my first experience with Afghan food. The flavors are not overly strong or spicy but more subtle and complex. As a reference point , I thought that Afghan food is less overtly spicy than Indian food, and similar in some ways to Moroccan food flavors. read more

Unique food, good service and relaxing ambience.

Very solid menu. The food is pretty great, the spices subtle but present, and the waitstaff is very attentive.

A must if you're in the Baltimore area - I usually skip lunch so I can order an appetizer, the Kaddo Borwani, the soup (Mashawa), and an entree. I'm miserably full when I'm done eating, but it's well worth the misery. read more

The food is incredible. I'd never tried Afghan food before and the cuisine was a wonderful introduction. The decor is sparse but beautiful and the waitstaff is efficient and friendly. The restaurant was very busy and a tad crowded; my dinner mate suggests with a table or two less the diners would more comfortable.The extremely friendly waiter did bring the check before we were finished eating, but he did not rush us at all to pay or leave. I left my takeout container on the table and the manager did save it for me; very much appreciated. I will absolutely go back. read more

One of the best meals I've ever had. All of the spice blends were so interesting - delicate and complex without being overwhelming.