Chef at Lower Greenville’s Ariana Cuisine has been serving Afghan family recipes for a decade

The traditional Afghan restaurant Ariana Cuisine has been serving neighbors for years. But the story of this family-owned business began decades earlier.

Now, the owners are looking toward a future in a larger space.

Gul Rahman and Sadia Pathan, husband and wife, opened Ariana Cuisine in December 2022. Pathan, who serves as the chef at Ariana, first learned how to cook from her mother in Afghanistan at age 12.

Soon after starting their family, Pathan and Rahman left their home to provide a safer upbringing for their children in Pakistan. There, Pathan said she gained more professional culinary experience with a mentor.

The couple later decided to immigrate to the U.S. to give their children an even greater opportunity. They landed in Richardson, where Pathan began selling her home-cooked meals to neighbors 10 years ago. She then cooked at 8Cloves, an Indian restaurant located in the Dallas Farmers Market, building the confidence to open her own business.

Sohail Pathan, the couple’s middle child, says the development of Ariana and its early days are among his core memories of growing up in America.

“Back in Afghanistan, we would buy Chapli kabab (a round and flat fried meat patty) at the store and, obviously, couldn’t have an endless amount,” he says.

After his mother began refining her dishes to sell to customers in America, Sohail says he remembers the endless plates of Chapli kabab his siblings and cousins devoured at their home.

“She kept sending plates over and over again, and that was my favorite food, and I just never had it to where I could eat as much as I wanted,” he says.

Sohail has worked at Ariana since its opening, tending to front-of-house duties alongside his father. His sentimental connection to the restaurant has inspired him to pursue opening his own place.

“I’ve learned that it really isn’t about the money when it comes to stuff like this,” he says. “If it wasn’t for my mother’s passion for Afghan food and our family’s passion to keep customers happy, we would not have lasted these four years.”

Sohail, entering his junior year at Vanderbilt University, studies computer science and electrical engineering in hopes of a lucrative post-graduate career to help him save toward that goal.

He credits Ariana for large parts of his personality and  life skills, built through the community made and lessons learned in the opening of the restaurant.

For Sadia, the ability to send her children to higher education has been the greatest gift of opening Ariana. She looks forward to her son’s next steps and says that growing the business is a natural next step.

Sohail says that Ariana being a stepping-off point is even referenced in the name.

“In Afghanistan, when someone opens a new store or anything, they name it ‘Ariana’ because it’s an ancient name in their history,” he says.

The small store fits four tables, and customers are immediately welcomed in as family by Sohail or Rahman at the counter. Sohail says they enjoy introducing their culture to a place that has met their family with open arms. Lower Greenville hosts a wide variety of cuisines, but Ariana was the first to bring traditional Afghan dishes to the table, Sadia says.

Introducing her culture was the goal for Ariana, she says, and the restaurant has been embraced by the Dallas community.

It certainly helps that the menu features a range of dishes, served hot and fast by Sadia herself. For an appetizer, Mantu (dumplings full of ground beef, $7.99) remains popular with customers. To follow, the entrees Koobideh Kabab and Chapli Kabab ($14.99 for each) both balance delicious flavor with spice. Don’t forget to add a side of Kabuli Pulao ($12.99-$17.99), Afghanistan’s national dish, to your meal to taste the tender bites of lamb mixed into rice with raisins and carrots.

Though Sadia has worked to master her menu, she hopes to broaden her skills to begin serving breakfast. She and her family want to do that at a new location as their lease on Greenville Avenue comes to an end. Sohail said the family would love to stay in the area but are open to new locations.

“We’d like to move into a bigger space where we can be more than just a restaurant,” Sohail says. “People could come to watch soccer games or have tea and have it be more like a community center than a restaurant.”

As the family approaches an inevitable move, they plan to put more effort into marketing strategies, inviting more people into the familial love they share at Ariana.

“It’s in my culture,” Sadia says. “It’s what we do.”

Ariana Cuisine, 3607 Greenville Ave., Suite A, 469.317.7112