Halal Cart

The Halal cart on 86 and Broadway is on par with most carts in the city. While it’s not going to blow your socks off, it will definitely satisfy your late night craving for a gyro or chicken over rice. I tend to lean towards the chicken and rice.
The staff has always been friendly and obliged my request for LOTS of red and white sauce.
If you have some time on your hands or want a sit down meal, try Halal Guys on 95^th and Amsterdam. A solid step up in terms of food and well worth the walk or short train ride.

To be a true New Yorker you have to have a Gyro or Falafel sandwich from a street cart. This is one of the best you can get them from. If they aren’t there, the guy on 87^th and Broadway is great too.
For some reason they have both been closing up earlier (before 6 PM), making take home for dinner not an option anymore :(

I never know how I feel about Halal Carts because the food always smells so good but I’m unsure if my stomach can handle all of that. So I went out on a limb and decided try to eat at the Halal Cart because fuck it.
To my surprise, my stomach could handle all of the food. It was delicious and it has a weird sensation of giving you a craving to get more. Maybe that’s the secret to the success of Halal Carts. But anyway, when you mix the white sauce with the rice and meats, each spoonful tastes like a flavor bomb. If you’re looking for a quick bite, I would definitely recommend trying the Halal Carts nearby sometime.
I only give this three stars because I think this cart man charges more for his food than some others. Also, I haven’t been able to compare this cart’s food to the famous Halal Guys yet.
But soon.

Make sure you really can eat spicy things before you ask them to add spicy sauce…
it was like really hot.

I’m definitely coming back to NY just for the Halal Cart.
It was soooooo good that I don’t even know how to describe it. I’ve never had anything like it. And the price was cheap.

The trademark chicken on rice was pretty good. It was like some sort of a Mediterranean par-​boiled pilaf rice. But it wasn’t «Biryani» as some led me to believe.

Absolutely delicious! There was a time when I was eating here too often — you can’t beat the price, and the food is just delicious. I can’t figure out what they put in the white sauce, but it’s addicting.

I dream of flying back to New York just to eat at the Halal Carts. For a measly five dollars, you get a generous portion of rice, lamb, chicken, or beef, lettuce, and spices. My mouth is watering as I write this review and I’m on the verge of depression because I live in California and do not have the luxury to walk down the street and have access to these carts. I have yet to find anything comparable in CA.
I tried the lamb and chicken plate. The chicken was a little dry but nothing extra hot sauce can’t fix. The lamb on the other hand, was magnificent to say the least. This is the equivalent to steak and lobster when having drunken munchies. It might mot be everyone’s cup of tea, but it definitely butters my biscuts! This could easily feed two people, but i dont reccommend it, INDULGE in the amazingness! I ate this two consecutive nights and tried to get it the last night I was in New York, but didn’t for convenience reasons and I have never forgiven myself since. I envy New Yorkers so much because of these carts, BRING THIS TO CALI ASAP!

«Can I get a falafel with hot sauce, side order of babaganoush and a seltzer please?”*
Whenever I visit a falafel cart in the city, I’m reminded of that exchange between Parker Posey’s character, Mary, and Mustafa, the falafel guy, in one of the greaest indie films of all time, «Party Girl.» The best thing about this particular falafel cart on the uws is the friendliness and efficiency of its short order cook. Unfortunately, the food itself is just average. Unlike Mary, I ordered my falafel sandwich without a side, a seltzer, or any hot sauce but with the rest of the works (lettuce, tomato, tahini, and another white sauce, which was explained to me by the friendly cook to be cucumber-​based like the Greek tzatziki suace). The pita was pretty fresh and was piled with a generous amount of large and piping hot but unfortunately not crispy or tasty enough (and hence not great) balls of falafel. The best falafel sandwiches in this city, whether from a cart, truck, or bricks and mortars restaurant, can stand on their own taste-​wise without the addition of hot sauce, but such was not the case here. Nonetheless, in an area with limited options, you could do a lot worse than this sandwich @ a mere $ 4.
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This has to be one of the best halal carts in NYC! 5 dollars for a lamb and rice plate, which is very reasonable. I’ve had bigger platters before, but it wasn’t small at all. And the meat was perfectly cooked and in big, juicy chunks.

I had a serious craving for Falafel and all I wanted was a large pita, filled with condiments, sauces, pickles, with tahina, yogurt sauce, falafel and topped with a few french fries– delish! My falafel «sandwich» got sort of close to what I was REALLY craving… it definitely filled my craving. The falafel was actually pretty good. The spicy sauce and condiments were good as well. It just doesn’t compare to my Israeli falafel sandwich– oh well. I will be back though :)

This particular cart was a block over from our hotel (Belnord) so you can imagine how often we ordered food here … well, (based on my rating) it was pretty often. But any Halal cart will do.
First of all, the gyro’s were good and super chunky. They were really generous on the fillings but our ultimate favorite has to be the Chicken and Rice platter. WOW! I never knew something so simple of just chunks of grilled seasoned chicken over yellow rice & veggies topped with their yogurt and hot sauce could taste soooo good! Mmmm…
I only wish they had a cart here in the bay, I’ve tried random places with similar recipes and… NADA… doesn’t fulfill that crave. At times, I think about planning a trip back to NYC just for Halal’s Chicken & Rice… for real!!!

Came here to grab some lunch a couple of times. They don’t put the salad on the plate till your order, which is something that I hate that the other carts do … nothing’s worse then a cold salad, well for me at least.
There’s a man and a women that’s always in the cart, and both of them are very nice. Not to mention that the food is pretty good and decently priced as well. I’ll probably be making quite a few more visits here while I’m living in NYC.
P. S. If you love spicy foods, make sure you ask them for extra hot sauce … just ask for extra white sauce while you’re at it, it’s just as delicious.

Not that good, really I have had better. 4am is no excuse for crappy halal.
This truck needs to get in the game, I am going to try 77^th and B’way.
Thanks Andrew L.

This is my go to Falafel joint — $ 5 gets you something like 9 falafel balls over rice with lettuce, tomato, eggplant, onion and olives. Best $ 5 you can spend eating out — seriously. The quality is comparable to brick and mortar falafel joints around, but it is cheap (sandwich is $ 4 instead of 5 – 6 elsewhere) and pretty fast. I passed by this cart for a year, and am now utterly hooked.
Update: One case of either food poisoning or unfortunately timed flu and I can’t eat falafel anymore because of the association. Giving the second star because I got a lot of decent meals out of this cart, but it gets negative points for having a sketchy generator outage the night I got sick

I dream about going back to NYC because of this place.
I’m serious.
It’s sad, but I don’t think I will ever be able to eat at another halal eatery without comparing it to the delightful experience I had within his styrofoam box. I could cry of joy with every delectable, mouthwatering, nummy (yes I said nummy) bite.
I’m talking about the Chicken and Rice plate–
Hot, juicy seasoned chicken over a bed of yellow rice. The secret white sauce and secret red sauce to top it off (extra of both please). Side of lettuce and tomatoes to help cool off the spicy. MmmmmM… words cannot describe the taste, nor feeling I get from eating this… it just can’t.
Everybody needs to try a halal cart at least once in their life… make it a good one.
In fact, make it this one.

Really can’t go here anymore. The big fat guy who smokes that runs the joint is such a gruff asshole that I really can’t give him anymore of my money.
If you are in the 70’s, there’s actually a BETTER halal truck on 77^th and B’way. Hands down fresher ingredients. Perhaps not quite as tasty, but it’s definitely healthier, fresher, and the guy who works there with the long hair is super nice.

Fairly clean!!! Only once had a bad meal… when I went without my Indian boyfriend (who is obsessed with their falafel). A guy threw a bunch of weird things in my falafel over rice– like leftovers from the fryer. I stopped going for a while but always look to see who was there. The perpetrator is gone so i gave it another try. I had fresh grilled beef kabab over rice this week — since my boyfriend «needs space» and stopped coming over…
Nice to have some fast street food in this god forsaken neighborhood.

I prefer spots like this rather than the infamous 53^rd and 6^th carts. The lamb/​chicken portions are similar but they’re cut in bigger pieces so you get more flavor out of each bite. The rice isn’t as grainy as the overcooked rice you get at 53^rd and 6^th. The white sauce is on par and the hot sauce has some kick but is bigger on flavor. The key here is that the hot sauce does not overpower the overall flavor of the meal. The salad also includes some broccoli and carrots. deLicious.

This is the place where i go when i’m in NY and need halal.
It has yet to disappoint. Perhaps because it’s my first experience and i loved it… but i have tried other places (namely 53^rd and 6^th) and found this to be my favorite!
Combo is $ 5.50. The chicken and lamb are seasoned and cooked perfectly… the pieces of meat are a good size and retain flavor. The rice is plump and delicious… it comes with lettuce and the sauce (white and/​or red). I’ve had it 4 times in my two visits to nyc and it stands as my favorite late night snack.
i’m back in michigan… and drooling… and will probably drool all over my pillow thinking about how i can sneak back to NY for more halal.