Habibi Halal Food

I definitely see a couple people posting pictures of a different cart in the photo section. This particular halal cart that I am writing a review for is the one outside of CitiBank/​Seven Eleven.
This halal cart is interesting, they have a $ 5 lunch special which is a chicken halal w/​a drink. But, I’ve never made it in time for lunch special so I just pay $ 6 for a chicken halal with no drink. This location also had video surveillance incase anyone was thinking about being mischievous! Usually see younger guys working here, between 20s-​30s?
Food is alright, never really had bad halal so my review is not rated on the taste of the food, instead this location hella skims you on the amount of rice AND meat that they give! And they always put so much salad for me instead, WTF ?? They also put leaves to flavor the halal. this is weird to me because the first time I had it, I was sort of confused and thought this leaf had fell from a tree or something. A couple halals later, realized it’s part of how they cook the rice.
Take your business to the halal cart that is located on the Baruch plaza!

#I feel like some of the reviews here might be of a different cart. My halal platter looks nothing like some of these pics. The #salad especially. Some photos show olives. There’s a photo of a tin platter. Plus I see some other people talking about the #Halal Guys a block away. I don’t know what they are talking about. The cart that is at this location is the enclosed black cart that looks modern, that says «Habibi» on it. I went to the right one, right?
#Anyway, the food was alright.

It’s ok, nothing special. Gyro sandwich is not mind bogglingly awesome or huge, but at $ 4 it comes in at a decent value. No veggies here other than lettuce and a few onions, it’s all gyro meat and all business. Chicken and rice lunch combo with drink is $ 5 for lunch which ain’t bad

Don’t know that this place is a «true 4 star» objectively it might be three but I’m comparing it directly to the Halal Guys I just reviewed a block over from this cart, and I have them 3 just based on fast and efficient service but because I like the food here better I’m gonna give em 4.
So the offerings and prices here are pretty similar to the more famous Halal Guys the next corner over but there are more choices and they do things a bit different. For example, on the gyro sandwiches Halal Guys uses a Middle Eastern style pita whereas Habibi Halal uses a traditional gyro pita (smaller, softer, pocketless). Like at Halal Guys the hot sauce is very spicy. There are significantly more menu choices here which is good but I’m not sure if they ever get as busy as their competitors– it wasn’t busy when I went but certainly in the event of a long line of people like at Halal Guys the extra menu options at Habibi would likely slow down service. But again, as I write this review I have no way of knowing if it ever gets that busy to where this would be a problem or not.
The most important difference between the competing carts is the meat quality. I tried both the chicken and lamb gyro and both were moister and better seasoned than Halal Guys (and I’ve tried the latter a few times just to make sure I wasn’t getting them on an off day). For the sandwiches they also sautée onions and peppers on the grill with the meat which I think makes a big difference in flavor too as opposed to just tossing it on with the lettuce after the meat has been cooked and put in the pita.
So yeah I’ve had better Arab street food for sure but Habibi Halal definitely superior to Halal Guys the next corner over. Plus they have fried pickles! I think I’ll try those today.

I had tried the famed halal guys at 53^rd and 6^th the first night I came here. The guy at this Carr was so much nicer than them too. The pricing is the same as the other halal cart, at $ 6 for a mixed grill over rice and $ 1 for 2 falafels.
He asked me if I wanted spiced rice and that was when I learned that the color rice at the other trucks is just that, colored not spiced. Makes a big difference!
After I picked my order he set about making it fresh right there, slicing the meat off the stick girl and cooking it fresh on the grill with onions and veges. Portion side just as generous, and so much fresher as he keeps the veges stored in his containers and only opening them when he is putting together the order. Only item I would ask for is instead of putting the white sauce on top of it directly, to give it to me on the side in a container.
Other that small item, halal cart completely trumps the halal guys in my mind!