May 2, 2023

Khorasan Kabob House has reopened its restaurant on the west side of Sioux Falls.

Owners Arian Wisaal and his wife, Tamana, closed the dining room of their Afghan restaurant a year ago after getting a big catering contract. An organization hired them to provide lunch four days a week for almost 250 people.

“It was too much work for us, so we decided to close the restaurant for a while,” Tamana Wisaal said. “We were catering but not anymore. We are done with that, so now we are ready for our customers.”

The restaurant at 923 S. Marion Road reopened Tuesday. Hours are 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday. It has the same lunch hours on Friday and Saturday but is open for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m.

With the reopening, the couple has added a special platter to the menu: the Khorasan Extravaganza. It’s a dinner for four that includes lamb, beef and chicken kabobs; kofta, which are meatballs; baked chicken; Afghan rice; Afghan-style lentils; salad; and gulab jamun, which are fried balls of dough soaked in an aromatic syrup with rose water and spices.

“If you’re so confused (what to get), come here and just get this one, and you’re going to have everything,” Wisaal said.

“Our food is very healthy. We don’t use a lot of oil. We don’t use a lot of cream-based things. It’s just pure vegetable – onion, tomato and spices.”

In addition to Afghan, the menu features Middle Eastern and West Asian dishes.

The kabobs and butter chicken are among the most popular items, and lamb dishes are another draw for customers, she said.

“A lot of places in Sioux Falls, they don’t have much of the options for lamb, so that makes us unique a little bit.”

Instead of Afghan dishes, the catering contract featured American-style food, said Arian Wisaal, who opened his first restaurant in Sioux Falls in 2005. “Now, we know how to make tacos. We know how to make sloppy joes,” he said. “We make good mashed potatoes.”

Because of the experience, now they can offer an expanded catering menu for weddings and other events.

Back from Afghanistan, restaurant owner tries to help home country from afar