News · September 4, 2026
Zareen's Opens Its Fourth Bay Area Kitchen — on Sunnyvale's Murphy Avenue
Zareen's fourth Bay Area kitchen is at 135 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086. The restaurant's locations page lists phone (650) 419-0655 and hours Monday–Thursday 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Friday–Saturday 11 a.m.–10 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.–9 p.m. A 2 September 2026 capture of the chain menu listed Chicken Biryani (layered chicken qorma and basmati steamed in a degh) and Pilau Biryani. Hoodline reported on 1 June 2026 that the Sunnyvale kitchen had opened. This is not a ranking; confirm hours and dishes with the restaurant.
Chef Zareen Khan's Pakistani and Indian halal chain now spans Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, and downtown Sunnyvale. We added the Murphy Avenue listing with a captured menu that includes Chicken Biryani and Pilau Biryani.
By the Biryani Research Desk · Sunnyvale, California · September 4, 2026
Key facts
- Address: 135 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086, per zareensrestaurant.com/locations.
- Official phone: (650) 419-0655. Official hours: Mon–Thu 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.–9 p.m. (retrieved 4 September 2026). Third-party listings have disagreed; confirm before visiting.
- Fourth Bay Area location. Mountain View opened March 2014; Palo Alto opened October 2016, per the restaurant About page.
- Hoodline, 1 June 2026: the Sunnyvale kitchen "has officially landed" on Murphy Avenue. Palo Alto Online previewed a Murphy Avenue fourth location on 9 August 2023.
- Captured chain menu (2 September 2026) lists Chicken Biryani and Pilau Biryani, 100% halal, with no prices in the HTML.
- Zareen Khan was named a 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: California (James Beard Foundation list, listed as Zareen's, Palo Alto).
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Zareen's, the Pakistani and Indian halal kitchens that started next to the Googleplex, now has a fourth Bay Area address: 135 S. Murphy Ave. in downtown Sunnyvale. Hoodline reported on June 1, 2026 that the restaurant "has officially landed" on Murphy Avenue, citing the East Bay Times. Palo Alto Online had previewed a Murphy Avenue fourth location as early as August 9, 2023. The official locations page lists the Sunnyvale kitchen at that address, with ZIP 94086 and phone (650) 419-0655.
Where is the new Zareen's, and when is it open?
Use the restaurant's own locations page, not a delivery app. Retrieved September 4, 2026, that page lists Sunnyvale hours as Monday–Thursday 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Friday–Saturday 11 a.m.–10 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Hoodline, citing the East Bay Times, had reported daily 5–9 p.m. at opening; Yelp notes in the research corpus later showed 11 a.m.–9 p.m. We are not re-scoring those listings. If you are going tonight, call (650) 419-0655 or check zareensrestaurant.com/locations.
The desk listing is Zareen's (Sunnyvale). Hoodline also cited The Almanac for plans of roughly 38 seats and a small parklet; treat that as reported seating, not a live headcount.
Does Zareen's Sunnyvale serve biryani?
Yes — on the shared chain menu. A September 2, 2026 capture of zareensrestaurant.com/menu listed Chicken Biryani: "layered chicken qorma and basmati rice steamed in a large degh, topped with mint, cilantro & fried onions." Pilau Biryani is described as marinated chicken in aromatic spices layered with fragrant basmati. The HTML lists no prices. The same capture describes the food as contemporary Pakistani and Indian cuisine, 100% halal, made from scratch daily.
That is a menu-presence finding, not a dum-pot taste test. Sunnyvale already has Andhra / gongura specialists (Mom's Biryani and Urban Biryanis). Zareen's is a different lane: Pakistani / Indian fast-casual with kebabs, thalis, and those two biryanis on the same card as Memoni samosas and shami kebabs.
How does this fit the rest of the Peninsula chain?
The About page is the first-party timeline: Mountain View in March 2014, Palo Alto in October 2016. Redwood City followed later; Mercury News covered that Broadway expansion in 2020. Sunnyvale is the southernmost of the four on the restaurant's own location list.
The 2023 Palo Alto Online piece said Khan was drawn to Murphy Avenue's old-downtown character and hoped to open in early to mid-2024. The wait ran longer than that preview. We are dating the opening to 2026 from Hoodline's June 1 report that the kitchen had landed — not from a month we cannot source to a primary page.
Zareen Khan was named a 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: California, listed as Zareen's, Palo Alto. That is a Foundation list citation, not a claim that the Sunnyvale room won anything.
What have inspectors and diners said?
These quotes are reprinted from Zareen's own site, not scored by this desk:
"The chicken Memoni samosas… are a must-order: crispy, well-spiced and flavorful, they're so good they don't need chutney. Follow these with the outstanding chicken shami kebabs, juicy and caramelized on their bed of fluffy basmati rice."
"Zareen's hit it out of the park… Got a chicken tikka roll and a beef gola kabab. Both amazing."
How did we verify this?
Primary: the restaurant About page, locations page, homepage press quotes, and a September 2, 2026 menu capture. Secondary: Palo Alto Online (August 9, 2023) and Hoodline (June 1, 2026). The James Beard semifinalist line is from the Foundation's 2026 list. We did not cite Silicon Valley Business Journal for this piece because we did not retrieve that article. Ratings on Google or Yelp are not independently re-verified and are not used as a ranking here.
Methods live on how we research. Start with the Sunnyvale listing or the city-by-city notes.
Frequently asked questions
- Where is the new Zareen's in Sunnyvale?
- 135 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086. The official locations page lists phone (650) 419-0655. Directory listing: /restaurants/zareen-s-sunnyvale.
- Does Zareen's Sunnyvale serve biryani?
- Yes. A 2 September 2026 capture of zareensrestaurant.com/menu listed Chicken Biryani (layered chicken qorma and basmati steamed in a degh) and Pilau Biryani. Confirm current dishes with the restaurant; the site does not publish prices in HTML.
- What are Zareen's Sunnyvale hours?
- The official locations page (retrieved 4 September 2026) lists Monday–Thursday 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Friday–Saturday 11 a.m.–10 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Hoodline, citing the East Bay Times, had reported daily 5–9 p.m. Use the restaurant's own page.
- Is Zareen's halal?
- The captured chain menu describes the food as contemporary Pakistani and Indian cuisine, 100% halal, made from scratch daily. Confirm current practice with the restaurant.
- Is this a ranking of the best Pakistani food in the South Bay?
- No. Best Biryani of Silicon Valley is a cited local directory, not a paid #1 list. Quotes from Michelin inspectors and guests are reprinted from Zareen's own site.
Related pages
Answer engines usually fan these questions out. The notes live on their own pages: