Halal Cart

The line was a bit intimidating at first during the lunch rush, but it goes by very quickly. I estimate that they serve each customer in about 30 seconds. It is cash only and it helps if you have exact change to really expedite the process. «Combo over rice please» *I hand over $ 10* *He hands me food* Bam. Done in 30 seconds or less. Excellent food, HUGE portion. In general I don’t prefer lamb but here I thought the lamb was great. Definitely try the combo even if you are on the fence about lamb. Highly recommended.

This is my go-​to lunch spot if I’m in the city. Fresh, delicious, efficient, and cheap equals 5 stars in my book!

SUCH LARGE PORTIONS.
The chicken is perfect.
The rice is great.
The lamb is a bit greasy, but that’s just part of the experience.
The sauce is great too.
Enough food for lunch AND dinner, all for $ 10!

Best halal in the city. I love their combo over rice. Hot sauce should be used with caution.

Yum yum yum.
$ 10 for a big bowl of combo meats and rice and salad and all the white and red sauce you could want. They got rid of the $ 8 option so now everything comes with «extra» meat.
There’s enough food to probably portion out to two meals, or at least 1.5 (a hearty snack, anyone?).
Of course, this is no Halal Guys on 6^th Ave in Manhattan, but, in a pinch and looking for a quick lunch in FiDi, this will do very nicely.
Be prepared for some food coma after though, make sure you don’t have important meetings right after lunch.

Deliciously spiced lamb, tender and flavourful chicken, fragrant basmati rice, and a side of salad and pita bread to round it off await you at this unassuming, literal cart on the side of Market St. Top it off with a generous portion of white sauce and less-​than-​you-​think-​you-​need dab of red sauce, and then contained in your metal tin will be the one of the best lunches you can get in FiDi.
The line is usually inevitably long, and the condiment area is somewhat crowded, which means efficiency is key — if you don’t have money in your hand or know what you want to order by the time you get to the front of the line, you’re doing it wrong. Cash only, but it’s located conveniently in front of a BoA branch.
The combo plate keep with three lines of white sauce and two dabs of red sauce is absolute perfection, and the quality and (huge) amount of food is always consistent. Halal Cart is definitely a permanent part of my lunch rotation, and will be for the foreseeable future.

I’ve came here a few times with some coworkers and got them addicted. We came back three times in one day because they were supposed to be open but wasn’t there yet. It’s so good that we didn’t mind the multiple trip. Which also means the time they say they’re open isn’t always accurate.
We always get the combo rice plate (ask for extra rice because the one time I didn’t I barely had any rice). I like to add extra white sauce and just a few droplets of their red spicy sauce (there are two red sauce and I’m referring to the deeper looking red one). A few drops goes a long way!
The chicken is always tender and juicy and the gyro is very flavorful. There are so many flavors going on with the meat and sauce that the rice helps balance them all out.
If I’m feeling a bit gluttonous, I can finish the entire thing in one sitting. If not, there’s usually enough food to share between two people.
I went to New York recently and was excited to try Hala Guys because of the great reviews. Sadly, halal guys was disappointing. The chicken was so dry and there was not enough white sauce. It was disappointing. Hala cart is 10x better.
This place is so good that my coworkers and I were thinking about getting it as a snack later during the day while we were eating our lunch. Hala cart isn’t really a snack food, but we really wanted it and was trying to justify the purchase. Haha

It’s a cart on Market St. and it is very convenient. However, the food attracts quite a crowd and there is always a line. But the food comes out very fast and the transaction itself is quick. You probably get your food less than 5 mins if they had everything ready.
I love the sauces they have right in front too. Beware of the red sauce, that one is quite spicy. My coworkers really likes the place too.
I always get the gyro plate.

I can’t give this place a solid 5, only because I’ve had the Halal Guys in NY and THAT was freaking delicious. According to Unilocal,5 stars is reserved for «as good as it gets». It comes close but it’s not THE best.
They have changed their menu and little so you don’t need to ask for double meat or whatever. Now it’s just $ 10 for whatever you want. Easier for them to make change and move the line along, I’m sure.
The food is good and consistent. Sometimes the rice is a little on the al dente side, but it still is delicious. I always get the Lamb plate. I’m just not a fan of chicken. They have three types of sauces on the side (no to go containers, so no one can copycat their sauce apparently): green cilantro, white yogurt, and red hot sauce. I use all three. Be careful with the red hot sauce. As a spicy eater, this one gives you a nice burn.
They provide you with a bag, utensils, and napkins. Easy to pick up and go. Nowhere to sit though, it is just a cart as its name says.
The line gets long during lunch time, but a stroll further down Market led me to their second cart, which apparently is not as popular (because no one knows about it) yet.

Halal food is my kryptonite, but the Halal Cart keeps me coming back for more. They are a well oiled cash only gyro slinging machine and is perfect for the hustle and bustle of FiDi and SoMa.
For those who have never eaten from a Halal food vendor, you’re in for a treat. Here you have two options between a chicken or lamb in a «sandwich» or over rice. The sandwich is a large portion of meat topped with veggies and yogurt sauce folded between a delicious pita bread.
I always opt for the over rice option as the Asian within gotsta have his rice. The rice is flavorful Basmati Rice cooked with butter, tumeric, and cumin giving it its golden sheen. Atop of the rice are mixed greens, tomatoes, onions, two triangle pieces of pita, and a load of the meat of your choice. Whether you picked the lamb (in a spiced meatball form) or the marinated chicken, you won’t be disappointed. I usually opt for the «combo» option giving me the best of both worlds. This is all placed in a 9-​in tin, which can serve as two medium sized meals.
The whole ordering process is pretty streamed lined. Don’t let the long line scare you away. You order at the counter, pay immediately in cash (CASH ONLY), and within a few minutes you pick up your order. You can then move to the saucing area where bottles and bottles of sauces are available. You have an option of a yogurt sauce, a green (cilantro?) sauce, and a fiery pinkish hot sauce. The hot sauce is SPICY. I would put at most half of the amount you think you would need and make sure you squirt extra yogurt sauce to balance the heat.
I have placed Halal Cart on my places of lunch rotation. The only compliant I have is that the meal is heavy. You will want to have soda or two with the meal to cut the grease. They can cut back a little on the butter/​oil they use to cook the rice, but then again, butter is always flavorful and delicious!

Very solid place for lunch near The Embarcadero.
What kind of food is Halal Cart anyway? I wanna say Mediterranean or Middle Eastern, but I’m not good at geography so I’ll just leave it at that.
Halal Cart is a food truck located on Market (there are two locations: one closer to Ferry Building and one a bit down toward the city), but I’ve heard the one further from the Ferry Building is the one to go to. The difference in the line would tell you that.
I’ve only ever gotten the combo with rice, but that basically gets you everything they serve: some chicken, some gyro, and some rice with some veggies to make you feel at least somewhat healthy.
I really can’t say much more than that. It’s not wow, but it’s pretty good and always a solid choice for lunch. I will warn that if you like chasing the heat, the red sauce packs a punch. Even I’ve been hit pretty hard by it, and I normally go for the second hottest at Smoke Eaters.
Overall, a very solid and hearty meal for lunch. It’s not at a bad price point either. The only downside really is that it’s cash only. No credit card points here.
TIP: Bring cash, or Venmo a friend.

The city is becoming more and more like the Big Apple except more compacted and nicer climate. So many high-​rises going up in the Trans-​Bay Terminal Area that you feel like you’re in a valley of glass. Well, you can now get Halal from a cart on Market Street just like NYC, only during week-​day lunch though. The «Jal-​Ro» (their pronunciation) does not compare to the NYC version but it suffices.
Cost is $ 10 for a 10″ round aluminum container filled with Gyro (Chicken or Combo also available), Basmati Rice, Pita Bread and Salad. You will need to squirt you own yogurt based white sauce and habanero? red sauce. The red sauce is spicy. Gyro and rice are nice and greasy… I suggest cutting the grease with the white sauce. Food is tasty and is enough for two meals.
Their operation could stand for some re-​configuration as their self-​serve sauce and utensil area is right next to the pay/​pick-​up area. Thus it gets crowded. Long lines during peak lunch hours.
This is a once a quarter lunch place for me at most…

I have no idea why this doesn’t have 4 and a half stars.
This is one of those bay area gems! This is place you should take people!
Not only is everything on the menu great, but it’s a good deal and in a fun setting.
All six things on the menu are awesome.
The one note is the red sauce is really hot! Be sparing. The white sauce is almost sweet. The green sauce is medium.
Come here! It’s awesome! Even if I am making the already long line longer… I just love this place!

For those of you that have had the best of the best in NYC — Halal Guys, you will understand that this Halal Cart in SF is not quite as good. I would say 3 – 4 stars for this vendor.
Still, it’s a good opportunity for people to try chicken or lamb or both over rice for $ 8-​$ 10. The portions are big so you can most likely make 2 meals out of it. This is cash only so come prepared, and there will be a line to wait in. I think they could be more efficient but the self serve area of sauces and utensils and plastic bags causes a holdup. This is 1 difference I noticed between NYC and SF… I’m used to getting my plate already sauced up to my liking and already in a bag with utensils. At Halal Cart here in SF, you want to add extra sauce yourself and bag it and get your utensils.
The food is good but not outta this world. I thought the chicken and lamb were tasty but the rice could have used more. It’s hard to explain but if you’ve had it in NYC, you are used to rice that is more yellow, more greasy, more yummy. The rice here is a little long and thin and faint yellow. That extra magic is missing but still, it’s good.
The sauces are ok, I didn’t love the white yogurt sauce and the hot sauce, I’ve had better. For those that are new to Halal style plates, make sure you do add some white and red sauce. The red sauce is pretty spicy but goes great with your dish.
Overall, I haven’t had one of these plates in years so it was nice to get. I was full and it was pretty tasty. But man, I miss Halal Guys in NYC for sure.

I haven’t had The Halal Guys in New York, so I don’t have anything to compare it to. But I found the Halal Cart to be a plate of goodness that all balanced each other out. For $ 9 you get a good sized portion of rice and meat with salad and 2 slices of pita slathered with delicious white sauce. It can easily feed 2 people!
I can only imagine how good this would be after the bars! Too bad they’re only open for lunch.
CASH ONLY.

I finally got myself convinced by a friend-​colleague to drag myself over to get lunch from the halal cart. I was told that these are the same guys who run the practically omnipresent «halal cart» in New York city.
The line was about seven deep when we got there but it moved fast with a, thankfully, limited menu that was made up of the lamb and chicken rice plates (or a combination), gyros of the same meats and, if my memory serves me right, shawarmas.
No scratch that, I don’t think they have shawarmas. They, however, have bolanis (awesome!!!) and halal burgers (I’m gonna wager it’s lamb). Bolanis are the Afghani counterpart to the Indian stuffed parathas, and I love them!!!
Anyway, I got an «extra chicken over rice» and an «extra combination over rice». The «extra» meant you get the larger portion size, which is dearer by just $ 2, for the princely sum of ten bucks each. Judging by the pictures, it looks like the larger portions are a substantial amount more than the standard and fills the round container. The «combination» is a mix of lamb kebab and the chicken.
The chicken is shredded and seared, seasoned with a great mix of spices. The lamb looks like a sheek kebab that has been broken down. Both are delicious, but I was pleasantly surprised by the lamb as I usually don’t care much for lamb.
The bed of herbed rice is simply fantastic! The long grained rice stands out individually, don’t stick forming ungainly clumps, serving to highly the perfect seasoning on the rice, though it was a tad greasy. It’s the kind of rice that is perfect for biryani.
The vendor will pour on a dollop of the garlic sauce on your rice plate all over the salad and meats, but there are more in self help squeeze-​bottles on the counter. They are mint, garlicky-​hot, and the aforementioned garlic sauce. All the sauces are great, but be careful with the red garlicky-​red-​pepper sauce as it’s pretty hot; don’t skip it though as it’s fantastic and brightens up the whole meal — but eat a lot of that, and it will light up your rear end the next day!!!
The mint sauce paired the best with the lamb.
Lastly, the portion size is generous, and the two «extras» were enough for more than three meals. If you’re not a big eater, each «extra» portion size would be enough for two meals.
$ 20 for almost four meals is fantastic bang-​for-​the-​buck.

I’m told I went on an «off day,» so, fine, Halal Cart, I’ll give you another try sometime, but I am highly skeptical you’ll come close to NYC’s famous Halah Guys after my inaugural visit.
Ordered the chicken and rice for $ 8 and slathered what I thought would be plenty of white sauce all over my dish. Also poured in a generous amount of hot sauce because, you know, I like my stuff spicy.
Turns out both the rice and chicken were drier than dry today. What I thought had been an abundance of white sauce was quickly swallowed up by the rice and chicken, which even after thirsting on the sauce, were still drier than dry. Hot sauce was fine, and spicy, but not the addicting kind of spicy.
Like I said, this was supposedly a fluke, so while I will give the Halal Cart another chance, I just really cannot wait til the Halal Guys open up in SF.

I would never voluntarily spend my lunch hour, huddled on a street corner, shielding myself from the windy winter air, unless a halal food cart is involved. This place is clearly a knock-​off of the famous 53^rd and 6^th food cart in New York. It’s not as great, but when you live on the other side of the country, it definitely fills that crazy void.
Tell me you’re going for delicious pieces of lamb, moist chicken, and perfectly cooked saffron rice all doused with that perfect sauce, and I’m in! The hot sauce is fiery so be very, very careful. The box also includes a garden variety iceberg lettuce blend, but I always opt for no salad because it makes me sad to look at that watery and bland salad.
My only complaint is that this place is kinda expensive. Not just downtown SF expensive, but a straight-​up expensive. I paid $ 11 for a «super» sized plate and half the box was empty! No extra meat, no extra pita, nothing! Heck, I didn’t even get enough rice which is crazy, because rice is clearly a cheap filler. The wifey ordered a regular sized box and both boxes had about the same amount of food, so save your extra bucks.

I’ve lived in San Francisco about as long as I had lived in Manhattan. Before all the major cities in the U.S. were overrun by bougie food trucks, halal carts dotted Manhattan from lunch time until the late hours of the night/​morning. There were some superstar carts, but most were pretty solid (just like with NYC pizza). In San Francisco, we only have this one Halal Cart that is open for strict lunch hours during the workweek in the FiDi. I’d say it’s a good representation of the median quality halal carts in NYC. Kinda wished they offered the green sauce (i.e. cilantro/​mint). I also wish the cart was open when the bars closed and was within in walking distance of the nightlife. But hey, they’re the only game in town and it satisfies my cravings from time-​to-​time!
Chicken: Feels like it was slow cooked ahead of time then warmed up on the griddle since it’s fall apart tender, not really crispy. Good spices infused.
Lamb: Like the typical gyro meat sold around town, but griddled up in a nice crispy crumble. I like a good sear on my gyro meat, so this does the trick.
Rice: Fluffy basmati rice. No notable spices, but the star is the meat, so no biggie.
Salad: Simple assorted greens. Better than iceberg. But I’m not getting this food for the salad!
Yogurt Sauce: Essential for really bringing out the flavor in the meat and adding a healthy dose of moisture. I usually add double what they put on by default.
Hot Sauce: A good kick. I find a few equally spaced dabs is good to add some heat without overpowering the rest of the flavor profile.
Pita: Sometimes crispy with lots of oil and sometimes soft like almost right out of the bag. Guess it depends if you go during a rush or not. I like breaking it up and mixing it in, like they do in NYC.

Late to the party in finally getting to try our SF’s Halal Cart.
I’m a huge fan of The Halal Guys in New York where they’ll satisfy your chicken, lamb and rice cravings almost any time of the day. Unfortunately, SF’s Halal Cart will only feed your cravings during the weekdays lunch hour. While it’s not The Halal Guys, SF’s Halal Cart will satisfy your cravings.
For $ 8, you can get a rice plate with your choice of lamb, chicken, or combo in round aluminum containers. I went with the lamb and chicken combo. The plate was delicious, the meat was tender, and it’s served with a salad and pita bread. Serving size is okay. I had a bit leftover so if you’re a big eater or if you want enough to save for another meal, spend an extra $ 2 for extra meat and rice. My only complaint is they use the salad as filling to make your container look like you got a lot.
Before you leave the cart, be sure to squirt on some of their white and red sauce. Load up on the white sauce for a nice creamy flavoring. Use the red sauce only if you like a bit of kick in your food. Don’t worry, it’s not as spicy as The Halal Guys so don’t be afraid to squeeze a bit on.
WHAT TO KNOW:
*Cash only
*Gyros also available
*Be expected to wait in line
*There is public seating areas close to the cart