OUR FAMILY STORY
From Afghanistan to America.
From one small restaurant
to a family tradition.
Afghanistan · Germany · America
Our story began long before we opened our first restaurant.
Omar and Sofia Masroor were forced to leave Afghanistan amid the Soviet invasion and the war that followed. They sought refuge in Germany before eventually making their way to the United States, where they began building a new life and raising their four children.
Omar worked as a car salesman while Sofia devoted herself to raising their family. Together, they worked, saved, and held onto the traditions, recipes, and hospitality they had brought with them from Afghanistan.
Eventually, they saved enough to take a chance on something of their own.
They opened Afghan Bistro in Springfield, Virginia — a small family restaurant built around the food they grew up with and recipes passed down through generations.
What started as a modest family venture grew as more guests discovered the warmth of Afghan hospitality and the depth of its cuisine.
Afghan Bistro was followed by Bistro Aracosia in the Palisades, and later Aracosia in McLean. As the restaurants grew, the next generation of the Masroor family grew with them.
THE NEXT GENERATION
More than a
business decision.
In 2021, as the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, Omar made a deeply personal decision.
At a time when the freedoms of Afghan women were once again being threatened, he stepped back from the day-to-day operations of the restaurants and placed his three daughters in positions of leadership within the family business.
For Omar, it was more than a business decision. Having watched his own family flee Afghanistan decades earlier, he wanted his daughters to have the opportunities and independence that so many women in Afghanistan were being denied.
His daughters Taliha, Iman, and Zainab became part of the next generation carrying the restaurants forward alongside their mother, Sofia.
GEORGETOWN · 2024
A new chapter.
The same roots.
Then, in 2024, the family opened its fourth restaurant, Afghania in Georgetown — a new chapter focused on the bold flavors and traditions of Afghanistan's frontier regions.
With Georgetown came another step in the family's story.
Omar and Sofia's son, Zak Masroor, took on the role of managing Afghania, joining his sisters in carrying forward what their parents had begun years earlier.
Today, what began with two refugees rebuilding their lives thousands of miles from home has become a family of restaurants across the Washington area, carried forward by all four of their children.
Through every restaurant and every generation, the purpose remains the same: to preserve the food, hospitality, and traditions of Afghanistan while building something that can be passed from one generation to the next.
Four children. Four restaurants.
One family story — rooted in Afghanistan and built in America.