New York Express Food Cart

For a quick, delicious lunch, this is the place. The chicken over rice is the best. The location is very convenient for those working in the Courthouse area, they accept cards, and they are incredibly reasonable price-​wise!!!

Great food, actually heated up while you wait, not just scooped from a bowl that’s been sitting in a burner for hours. Owners are extremely friendly — can’t recommend highly enough! And, they actually do take credit cards.

Probably my favorite food truck in Arlington. It is a little out of the way of the food truck cluster on Wilson, but worth the diversion. Lamb over rice is a must-​have — delicious every time. You’ll be surprised how much food you’ll get for $ 8, making for an excellent deal. Staff is friendly and hospitable.

This is a great food truck — a regular favorite! Our whole office frequents this place weekly. The chicken over rice and the chicken pita are both DELICIOUS. The smell alone will draw you in. The service is very professional and always friendly! Highly recommend.

Got the spicy combo plate and was definitely surprised at the amount of food you get for $ 9. Quick, tasty, filling lunch.

Tasty food, great prices and super nice staff. As I work in the Courthouse area, I have been a regular customer. I immensely enjoy their food and service. Try the steak over rice, delicious!

I often «forget» to pack my lunch because I can get the lamb over rice from this cart, just a few steps from work.
I never get tired of it. So good. I get the hot sauce on the side so I can dole out as needed, and it’s perfect. The guys are really nice, too.

Went to the Arlington County building and saw a halal cart outside, figured I could eat some cart food!
Tried the food and liked it. I hope they expand to other locations like Alexandria.

On days when I forgot to pack my lunch, I used to curse the overpriced, underwhelming brick-​and-​mortar food establishments and see if I could improvise a «meal» from month-​old granola bars and free fruit from my office’s kitchen. But ever since this wonderful little foot cart showed up, Nature Valley’s CFO is cursing me for having found a better option. Indeed, I have.
Apparently (this was news to me), «lamb and/​over rice» is a *thing*. Somehow this amalgam of nondescript words has become an iconic culinary entity worthy of worship, evangelism, and (it seems) deprivation-​induced Bolt Bus trips to NYC. But, you see, this is not why I ventured to the food cart. No, it wasn’t out of some homage to the Big Apple Gods, nor was it to acquire some exotic cuisine street cred. Nope. I just f’in forgot my casserole on the kitchen counter. Turns out, lucky me!
Samir & co. make the best food. Quality lamb meat that really hits the spot. Their lamb gyro ($ 6) has got cooked onions, with fresh salad and a warm, savory wrap. The lamb over rice ($ 7) is (predictably) worthy of worship, evangelism (see this post), and lunch-​deprivation-​induced trips across Wilson Blvd. If I had to go without their food longer than 1 month at a time, it might very well merit trips from several hundred miles away. Much like the nondescript menu titles, the blandly termed «white sauce» and «spicy sauce» are anything but bland. Ask for both. On top of all of that, their meat is 100% halal. I’m not really sure what that entails, but it probably involves Mark Zuckerberg killing sheep with his bare hands. So, hey, one degree of separation!
Bottom line: If you work in Court House, forget your lunch at home and come see these guys. You might have to wait for a bit if you’re at the lunchtime peak (worst I’ve had was 20 mins), but you won’t regret it. Unequivocally a 5-​star place.

I was so happy to discover halal carts in NoVa after heading to NYC to get my lamb & rice fix. The guys in the cart are great and very personable. The food is good but not as great as the carts in NYC. My lamb was in cubes and seemed reheated and not fresh off the grill. The sauces were tasty but the entire meal just didnt do it for me. I’ll just have to keep heading north to the green carts on 42^nd street in Manhattan.

Very Impressed! Dinner in a dash and I couldn’t ask for more. I had the hot wings with fries. I chose not to have any condiments (I wanted to taste the food itself and not be camouflaged)…
I think they will be my quick go to place… and its a great price and the guys are nice and friendly… WTG!

Yeah, this place is pretty amazing. When it first opened, I’ll admit I judged it harshly because it wasn’t a flamboyantly designed, hand-​painted obnoxious neon food truck like so many others around. I figured it would be over priced, mediocre food served by crabby jerks. But after eating here a few times, I am ashamed of myself for having had that attitude. The guys in the truck couldn’t be any nicer or more accommodating, and their food is tasty and unique for the neighborhood. Lots of folks have mentioned the rice meals and the gyros. Those raves are all true — although sometimes I find the gyro to be a bit over-​sauced for my taste. That would be my one and only complaint, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue for any one else, so… sauce on! One other item of note: they have surprisingly pleasant chicken tenders.

I stopped at NY Express one day after dealing with my car registration, so I wasn’t really in a great mood. It was cold and windy, and I was headed to work to finish off the rest of my already not so great day. I was starving and walking past the NY Express cart and decided to grab something to eat; that was the best decision I made all day! I placed my order and was standing there waiting for it when one of the owners told me that I shouldn’t wait in the cold, but instead should go inside the building next door and they would wave me over when it was done. That was the first move he made that won major points. Second, when I came out to get my food, he asked if I lived/​worked in the area, and if I did, I should stop by again. He then gave me a business card and said that they deliver. Major points again. Finally, the food itself. Absolute heaven. I know it’s bad to admit that I was eating while driving, but I couldn’t help it. First off, I was starving. And then once I bit into the food, I couldn’t bring myself to stop. Totally worth it! If you are ever in this area, or even if you’re not, go in and get something from NY Express.

So happy this is here. The sense of NYC in NOVA! Had a great gyro, freshly cooked, at a great price. Nice people too! Bring a friend, that’s how I got here

This place is really awesome! We come here for lunch at least once a week as do many of our coworkers. The lamb gyro is the best around. And I also highly recommend the chicken on rice which includes delicious rice and wonderfully seasoned chicken.
As other reviewers mentioned, the price is tough to beat too!

I think we can all agree that we leave feedback here so that the owner or service provider takes the information and makes their service better. I have not found that to be the case until TODAY! New York Express Food Cart took my feedback of adding just a bit more meat to their dishes and WOW! It is now the perfect combination of meat to rice and I think these two guys are amazing for taking the feedback and putting it into action. GO to their cart today and try the chicken over rice or lamb over rice. They are great dishes and a fantastic value. I will post pics of my meal before I wolf it down next time.

The first time i tried chicken over rice as a street food was in new york city. Some friends had gone up to NYC for a wedding and couldn’t stop raving about chicken over rice with the yogurt and really really hot hot sauce that goes on top… i tried it in midtown manhattan and wished that DC had something like that…
lo and behold! some new yorkers whose family had moved down to northern virginia, feeling left behind, decided to follow suit and open up a new york style halal cart right outside courthouse square! i passed by it one day and noticed that, among the gyro sandwiches and other platters, chicken over rice was on the menu — for $ 6.99. i was excited to try so the next day i made a stop.
i don’t know how many true new york style halal carts there are in washington, d.c. but i consider this card a gem. the dudes who run it are courteous, pretty chill, quick, and the cart is clean. when these two potential customers wandered over and left because they didn’t have hot dogs, i told the owner, «they don’t know what they’re missing!» and the guy shrugged and said, «eh, next time!» or something to that extent that made me think they’re pretty cool positive guys. i asked for spicy hot sauce on my rice and they accidentally forgot to put it on there because the customer before me also requested chicken over rice but without the hot sauce. so the guy knocked on my car door right after i stepped in with my fragrant lunch and handed me a to go container of hot sauce! it’s like new york style food without the new york style attitude! (a — hem brooklyn bagel bakery people who make an awesome nova lox sandwich but are really scary)
as for the food — DELISH. tender basmati rice with juicy tangy grilled chicken on top, with a side of salad with a dill yogurt dressing and sliced tomatoes, and a side of chickpea stew. i like to mix it all together with yogurt dressing and hot sauce.
cheers and good luck to your business!
btw, they are there from Mon-​Fri 10 – 5 — i noted that since it’s unlike other dc area food carts that come on seemingly random days at random hours and i can’t keep track of them.