Aslam’s Rasoi is closing its location on Valencia Street after almost two decades serving up Indian and Pakistani fare in the Mission. Its owners say a combination of a rent increase, slower sales and the high cost of ingredients is making them say goodbye to their “beloved” home of 19 years. It will close in May.
Sonia Aslam — whose father-in-law, Mohammed Aslam, opened the restaurant in 2006 — said the eatery has been struggling for more than a year. In the last couple of months, family members have used their own money to keep it afloat.
“It’s just sad seeing the business struggling to this extent,” said Aslam. “We’ve tried to keep the restaurant going for all these years. We sacrificed all our time. We put our love into the business.”
Since the pandemic, the restaurant has been operating with a skeleton crew composed of Mohammed Aslam, son Asif Aslam, Sonia Aslam and her younger brother, plus a “tandoori guy” who works part-time.
Despite having to run the front of the house on her own, Sonia Aslam calls her eight years at the restaurant a labor of love.
“We’ve all been very heartbroken. I personally cried for, like, three nights in bed,” she said, recalling the connections she’s made with customers over almost a decade.
The next two months will be critical. If sales go well, its owners will look for a new, albeit smaller, home elsewhere. If not, they will close for good.
“If we can get busy in the next month or two, then we’ll be more hopeful in going to another location. But if we feel like it’s going to be how the last year was, then we can’t be as confident going in [another location],” said Sonia Aslam.
Aslam’s Rasoi serves tandoori cooked in a clay oven, dal, chutney, samosas and biryani, among others. In 2015, Mission Local’s food reviewer, Maria C. Ascarrunz, called the restaurant’s food “stellar.”
“I always forget how much I love Indian food,” she wrote. “In the nine years Aslam’s Rasoi has been open, I’ve been only one other time, probably eight years ago. Shame, as we’ve been missing out on some stellar Northern Indian/Pakistani food right in the neighborhood.”
Sonia Aslam listed a 52-percent rent increase starting in May — the restaurant’s lease has been up for a couple of years — the Valencia bike lane, and inflation as the main reasons for the restaurant’s closing.
A Mission Local analysis of city data and the San Francisco Controller’s Office both found that Valencia businesses’ sales taxes were unaffected by the bike lane’s construction, at least during 2023. Sonia Aslam said the slowdown occurred later, in 2024, as customers learned that the road would be difficult to navigate.
As for what neighborhoods they’d like to move the restaurant to if they can survive, Sonia Aslam said they still haven’t decided, and did not rule out staying in the Mission District.
“We’d love to stay in the Mission. We were established here,”
Hmmm…sales falling has nothing to do with the 5 other new Indian restaurants on Valencia.
I really like Aslam’s Rasoi, Best food ever!!! I feel guilty for not going there more often because of all the following reasons:
Sales falling everywhere, work of inflation everywhere, effect on higher rates, higher mortgages, hence higher rents.
New Indian restaurants do not make any sense to me, except for maybe money laundering.
A 52% increase in rent! Every commercial corridor in the city is half empty, yet every new closure mentions rent increases from unnamed landlords. But sure, it’s because the bike lane moved twelve feet to the left.
Commercial leases are long, typically 10 to 20 years. In that context a 52% rent increase at the end of such a lease is not a lot. For a 13 year lease, that is just 4% a year, as an example.
The bike lane is a much more immediate hit.
Nope. Rarely do leases exceed 5 year terms in retail/restaurant because of volatility. Office leases are really the only ones that hit the 10 year term regularly.
I bike by it all the time, but I’ve never had it recommended to me. Based on all the reviews here, we’ll try it out next week! And we’ll go by bike, of course. 🙂
This is heartbreaking news! Aslam’s is the best Indian food, in my opinion, on Valencia. And Sonia and Asif are just the nicest people. I’m surprised Mission Local’s reviewer never returned in eight years! C’mon, neighbors, let’s show Sonia how much her restaurant means to the Mission and patronize them so they stay Mission local.
This is hands down the best Indian restaurant in the neighborhood. I bring people visiting here and they always say the same thing: “It’s the best Indian food they’ve ever eaten”. My friend tonight said that it was the best food she’d had all year. I am very very sad to see these neighbors and long-time friends close their doors. Please, people, support them as much as you can in the coming month so that they may open elsewhere. I want to thank Mohammed, Asif, Sonia & Family for 19 years of kindness and wonderful memories.
This very sad news. This is one if the best restaurants in the Mission. Sonia has always been very gracious & always made us feel welcome.
I hope that after this article the neighbors will show up & sales will pickup, so they can stay in business.
We love this restaurant, and wish we were able to get there more often.
The delicious food, AND the delightful service, are both truly special.
We’ll be there tonight (as already planned) — and we know how fortunate we are.
Best to all the Aslam’s Rasoi team.
“found sales tax was unaffected by the bike lane’s construction” – A general mean, an average, is a statistic that does not apply to individual businesses per se and is untethered from the larger macroeconomics of the region/moment. It’s like saying “March 2020 was bad for business” without elaborating.
This neighborhood is really failing, and I don’t know who else to blame other than progressive leadership and nonprofits.