The Halal Guys

Pass.
This place got hyped big time and I guess I understand the nostalgia factor. When I’ve described the taste of In-​N-​Out to people who’ve never had it before and they finally bite into it, they probably have the same reaction I did when I took my first bite of their combo platter.
It’s not terrible but at the same time it’s really not that flavorful to begin with. The chicken had decent flavor but the gyro/​beef was bland. As many people say, the sauce really makes this whole place. What does it say to you when there’s a waitress walking around saying, «white sauce?»
I will say their hot sauce is on point. Just a little squirt and you can get the whole dish on fire.
Other than that, pretty bland, pricey food altogether. ($ 23 for two)

So overhyped. The food was just ok — the chicken was way too dry, but the gyro was pretty good. I’ve had much better gyro, but this was pretty decent. The red rice was good — I mean, it’s rice, how can you go wrong, but didn’t really have any unique flavor to it. The rest of the plate was just iceberg lettuce with tomato and a few slices of pita bread. It is very simple food, which in my opinion, is the best kind of food when executed properly. Had the chicken been less dry, I’d give this place 3.5 stars. I feel like the white sauce is used to compensate for the dryness. But really the white sauce just tasted like ranch to me — nothing special. If I were to come back, I’d definitely ask for the sauce on the side because I felt as if my plate was drowned in it.
The Halal Guys make a pretty good rice and protein plate for a pretty good price, but it’s just nothing special. I’ve never had The Halal Guys in NY, so I’m not sure how it compares, but I was not impressed with the quality of food. The service is very fast (I was in, placed my order, got my food and paid within 2 – 3 minutes). The workers are very friendly. Would I come back? I’m in no hurry to do so, but if I am in the area and am craving a simple rice and protein meal, I will. But, no chicken next time!

The falafel sandwich is pretty good compared to most places in Long Beach, and I confirm their white sauce is really good.
I give only 3 ½ stars because:
— As a vegetarian, though I understand you want to keep the pitta bread warm, I’d hope they’d find a better place to keep it warm than on top of the meat itself… not very vegetarian friendly.
— I got absolutely no napkins on my to-​go order, and that’s really necessary when eating a falafel sandwich as it can get really sloppy and runny!
All in all, I enjoyed the falafel sandwich, will have less red sauce if I decide to go again (good but SUPER spicy!) and might try the falafel platter instead to avoid the meat-​steamed pitta bread.

Am I missing what the hype is about?
Came on a Monday afternoon about 2:00pm, with a short line, figured why not try it. The people in front of me doused their platters with the infamous white sauce, I asked for light sauce, because I figure the flavor of the proteins should be good without the sauce. The white sauce reminded me of ranch, which I’m not a fan. The chicken and gyro meat were average and rice was bland. I was expecting layers of flavor, my combo platter left my taste buds disappointed.
Maybe it was an off day for the Halal Guys’ kitchen, bummer for me.

3.5 stars! The Halal Guys opened in Long Beach, and the times I’ve been here, I haven’t had to wait long. Their food is good but a bit overhyped in my opinion — I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. What I like is that it’s a quick and easy meal — I usually order the combination plate, which comes with chicken, gyro, rice, lettuce, and tomatoes. They also have a delicious white sauce and a super spicy red sauce. You’ll want to pour that white sauce all over because not only is it tasty but the meats can be dry and a bit bland without it!
Overall, it’s a nice addition to the neighborhood, and I like that they stay open late! Give it a try, but don’t have super high expectations!

this place has been open for about a month and I haven’t been able to try it until this past week. I stopped by during the CSULB promotion. They were offering a free meal or free t-​shirt if you presented a CSULB student ID.
I came right when they opened and was able to get a FREE meal and t-​shirt. GOTTA LOVE FREE stuff! I thought the shop would be bigger, but it’s pretty small. I ordered the regular combination platter (9.95 for reg. and 8.95 for small), which came with both chicken and gyro, lettuce, tomato, rice, and pita bread. I topped off my platter with white sauce and got EXTRA white sauce on the side. The normally would charge for the extra white sauce, but they gave it to me for free. THE WHITE SAUCE IS AMAZING. it ties everything together! **if you dine in, one of the employees will walk around and offer you extra white/​hot sauce**
Service here was GREAT! it took me about a minute to order (only because there were about 5 people ahead of me). The employees here are very enthusiastic and nice! The manager was happy and friendly. Definitely wanna go back for a round 2 when I get the chance again.
OPENS UNTIL 2AM for any late night munchies!

Halal Guys’ one redeeming quality is the falafel, which is quite crispy, green, and delicious.
One.
The rest of it, while not bad by any means, is just sort of confusing when you consider the hype.
The rice is bright orange, which makes you think it’s going to taste like something, but then it just tastes like rice. Dry rice, incidentally.
Then the salad is just some mushy lettuce and tomatoes with white sauce — which I’ll get to in a minute — on top.
Okay. It’s been a minute. That white sauce? The one that’s getting so many raves and that they sell in extra packets so you can drizzle even more of it all over everything even after they’ve drizzled enough everywhere to drown everything in your bowl? It just tastes like vaguely ranch-​y mayo. I thought it’d at least sort of be tahini?
For $ 8.95 for a small I think I’ll just get three Trader Joe’s falafel wraps, thanks.

The food was okay. Definitely not worth all the hype.
The place is located between chipotle and Buffalo Wild Wings. They’re open until 2AM which is a bonus because for an area overpopulated with college students everything closes by midnight with the exception of In N Out.
The place is small with a few tables, but the service was quick. It’s like walking through a chipotle line.
You have a choice between the gyro or platter and as you move down the line you choose between chicken, beef, or falafel (can do half and half too). I ordered two platters for my parents and I to try. First platter was half chicken and half beef
Second was half chicken and falafel
All the meats were a bit dry, the rice was also a bit dry and the lettuce and tomatoes were kind of just there. Felt like I was eating a taco. The chicken and beef didn’t really have any flavor. The falafel was good.
To be honest, the whole platter is pretty bland. What makes it good is the white and red sauce. That’s where all the flavors come from.
The red sauce was extremely spicy, I love spicy food so that was a definite plus!
Small platter is around $ 9 and large platter is around $ 10
If you’re not sure whether or not you can handle the red sauce then ask for it on the side. I saw that they added a lot of sauce to the platters and since it was my first time I asked for packets of the sauce rather than having it mixed in.
I’d probably come back, but it’s not something I would crave.

Still not a fan… Tried the Costa Mesa location and was so disappointed because it is NOTHING like the original. This location is a bit better but still falls short. They definitely give you a bigger portions than the Costa Mesa location, but the quality and flavor of both the rice and meat lacks big time. Meat is dry and on the blander side. Rice is also bland and kind of hard like it wasn’t thoroughly cooked all the way. Even the white sauce and the red sauce tastes different. Idk maybe it’s just me, maybe the meal tainted the taste of the sauce lol. Either way, I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat this nor would I crave it like I crave the carts. Lucky for me my sister lives in NYC so I get my fix pretty often.
Another thing that bugs me about this place is the prices. NYC has a higher cost of living and yet this location as well as Costa Mesa are still more expensive than the original what the!!? I think owners are just worried about making a quick buck and not thinking of long term investments cause they are definitely cutting corners here… Eh probably won’t be back.

If you’ve never had the Halal Guys cart in NYC, you won’t really understand what the hype is all about. I *craved* this stuff after coming back to LA, and Unilocaled the city (as well as LA-​adjacent cities) trying to find a suitable substitute. I tried a couple of chicken plates at different halal restaurants as well as the Chicken and Rice food truck (the knock off of this place). Nope. Nothing tasted the same. I was super excited to find that Halal Guys was finally expanding to SoCal. I’ve been meaning to go to the Costa Mesa location forever, but heard terrible things about the lines when it first opened. The nice thing about this second location was that there was virtually no wait on a Saturday afternoon.
Yes, this place tastes essentially the same as the cart in NYC. They have the saffron rice, the white sauce that’s not quite ranch and not quite tzatziki, and the hot sauce that heats up the whole dish. However, the gyro was dry and not that hot when the dish was served to us. This plate needed to be heated up a little more.
If you’re not familiar with the original cart, it’s kind of a whatever take out dish. There’s not much variety at this place. You can either get a gyro or a rice dish with your choice of chicken, gyro meat, or falafel. This outpost seems to be good for satisfying your craving until your next NYC trip, but not that special if you don’t have any nostalgia attached to this dish.

I wanna say, that’s in between a 2.5 and a 3.
If I never had the original truck in NYC, my rating would probably be a little higher, but since I have,
FUCK THIS PLACE!
okay, it’s not that bad… but… don’t take someone you’ve been hyping it up for. It won’t live up to it.
For one, the meat and rice are both a tad bit drier, and my absolute worst food related peeve, is when it is not super hot. Get it together, Long Beach!
Would I come back? Maybe when the craving strikes.

My friend and I went here during their opening week cause we’re just curious and want to try something new. We like it cause it’s like a chipotle style service with a Mediterranean twist. Just like ordering at chipotle, you tell the server what you want to put into your platter or gyro.
They have chicken, beef, and falafel for your meat then put with Java rice and lettuce/​tomato for their platter. You can put half and half meat, too so you can try two meats at the same time. You can request extra meat, too for $ 3 when you’re that hungry. The only difference is the gyro obviously doesn’t have rice in it. They then put that tasty white sauce that gives that Mediterranean flavor and its a must! Now you have a choice to put on a hot sauce or not; I must warn you that their hot sauce is really spicy so put it with caution. They serve baklava (middle eastern pastry) as well for dessert so try it if you didn’t yet. It was sweet and chewy and I like it!
Their meat is flavorful, but don’t expect a juicy kind cause it is halal, means it is practically kosher, means no blood. So be open minded and enjoy! Overall, I like this place and a great addition from our local fast food in Long Beach :)

Fast Service. Simple Menu.
My expectations were low so when I ate it, it was better than I thought it would be.
No intense or special flavors that stuck out to me.
I wouldn’t rave about it. I wouldn’t drive over 20min for it either.
Flavor of rice, meat, and sauce was bland… But it worked well and was pleasant.
It reminded me of a simple bowl of rice topped with plain ground meat. Something u can easily make at home.
If around the area, give it a try if your curious… I did.
But, I will use my calories and bringing my taste buds to eat more interesting foods instead.

Really wasn’t that impressed. I like the Chipotle style/​theme, but the quality of food was super average. I actually had a stomach ache for a couple of hours post meal.
Setting:
Shopping center. Inside there was very limited seating. I think I counted 16 – 18 chairs total. The layout of the restaurant causes problems; you enter from one direction but the space between the line and exit made it uncomfortable to move around.
Quality of food:
Super average. The gyro meat did not taste fresh. And I would hold off on their famous, «white sauce.» Which, to me and my friends tasted like glorified mayonaisse. But, I did enjoy the hot sauce… However, they refused to give me more than a pin-​drop when I asked them for a little more.
Service:
Typical fast food service. In and out the door as quickly as possible. They were very speedy though, I will give them that!
Would I bring my mom here?
No. Pass.
Overall:
For the amount of food you are given (refer to photos), the price is very reasonable. But, the food reflects that. I was not impressed with the quality of food and couldn’t even finish the entire bowl. I would much rather go to chipotle.

Once hailed on the East Coast as a tourist food fixture, The Halal Guys is slowly taking over the West Coast one brick-​and-​mortar store at a time. They’re renowned for their simple, unadorned chicken and beef rice platters, which are generously drizzled with their famous white sauce and infamous red sauce. I attended the grand opening of their Long Beach restaurant and of course, like all Halal Guys locations, was met with a long, winding line.
The menu is minimalistic where you can choose between a sandwich wrap or a rice platter, with your choice of meats (chicken, beef, combo or falafel). I got a small size while the boyfriend got the regular size. It came with a few pieces of pita bread, tomatoes, lettuce and your choice of white or red sauce. Their standard pour of sauce isn’t very much but they’re nice enough to add more if you ask for extra.
As for the food, I found it decent enough to warrant another visit in the future, but only at non-​peak hours. The chicken was surprisingly not dry, despite it being chopped up into oblivion. However, with all the hype surrounding this place, there wasn’t really anything mind-​blowing about it. While the rice looked flavorful, it was a bit bland. And while dousing the dish in white sauce helps, that too didn’t exactly have much flavor.

TL;DR: price: portion ratio is not favorable. Coming in with the expectation that you’ll duplicate NYC halal at 53^rd and 6^th will lead to disappointment.
–Small platters come out to about $ 9 and change, regular platters are about $ 10 and change.
–For the price, you don’t get much, especially compared to NY carts where you can get more for about $ 6
–They definitely know that their market in NY loved their sauce. Here, they’ll give you one packet each of white and red sauce, but additional sauce costs 60 cents. No longer can I douse my halal in red and white sauce :(
–Quality, probably 3 stars, A-​OK. Rice was a little hard and could’ve been improved. Chicken was fine. Beef gyro was a little dry as some reviews have already alluded to.
–Red sauce is as spicy (yes, it actually is spicy) as what I remembered in NY.

In a nutshell: West Coast (and indoor) expansion of the original stand on 6^th and 53^rd in NYC.
I’m always skeptical of expansions, especially when it comes to food spots that are REALLY popular and one-​of-​a-​kind, like Halal Guys. Best example I can think of is Yoshinoya. In Japan, their quality is top notch. In America, very inconsistent from franchise to franchise (I like it, but don’t love it). Also, Grimaldi’s Pizza. In Brooklyn, pretty good brick oven pizza. In Vegas, meh.
Parking ⁵⁄₅
Halal Guys is in the Circle Center, so there’s plenty of parking.
Ambience ⁴⁄₅
Basically looks like an indoor Halal stand. Same kinds of flat tops and vertical broilers so you can see what you’re getting. Very limited seating, and the line was pretty long so the place felt crowded. But crowded means good, right?
Wait time ⁵⁄₅
For as long as the line was, it moved very quickly. Started at the door, and we were eating 5 minutes later. Kudos to the quickness.
Service ⁴⁄₅
Staff were nice and efficient. I heard one of the workers pronounce gyro wrong, but I’ll let it slide. For the record, it’s pronounced «year-​row».
Food ⁴⁄₅
Here’s what I got:
Regular combo platter — A
Rice, tomatoes (I got it without lettuce), gyro, chicken, white and hot sauce. Simple. Also, on two occasions, a staff member would walk around around offer more white and hot sauce. I said yes. Very tasty, and the chicken and gyro were the right balance of moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. White sauce wasn’t too heavy and the hot sauce was fire! Careful, don’t get too much hot sauce if you are weak. Otherwise, challenge yourself!
Overall ⁴⁄₅
Definitely met expectations and the food was great. Now I don’t have to wait for my next trip to NYC for some chicken and white sauce. Good work!

I came here today, the day after the grand opening, because the boyfriend had mentioned that they were open yesterday when he was getting his coffee.
First off, when the girl at the door told us that we would have to wait to get our order to go, I was like, dang this place must be popular. The wait outside only took us like five minutes, so that gave us a couple of minutes to look over the menu that the girl handed us. As soon as we got inside, it was like ahhhhh!
First off the service was good. The first thing the girl did was smile at us and asked us what we wanted. Of course the boyfriend and I had already looked at the menu outside so it was an easy choice for us. I got the regular sized plate, and the boyfriend got the falafel.
The white sauce is excellent! And plus the meat was all tender, and cut in tiny pieces, which is something I like. I didn’t know that you could ask for extra white sauce on the side, but next time that we come back, I’m defintely going to ask for some. I got a little bit of their hot sauce on top, It’s been awhile since I’ve had halal food, and since it’s been awhile I wasn’t sure if I wanted the hot sauce everywhere.
The boyfriend said that the hot sauce here was really hot. We’ve never sat down here and eaten here, because for some reason when we go to places like this he likes to refer to them as «the subway of _​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​». And with all the noise and the craziness why would you want to sit down and eat food here? We basically like to get our food to go, and we usually just head back to his place which is only 2 blocks away.
P. S. Their hot sauce is an extra 65 cents if you want a pack.

Came here for their soft opening and the service here was great and quick. I love it! Plus it’s nearby my home and school, even more perfect!
I ordered the regular plate with half and half. The meat was a little dry but it’s okay. I guess the sauce made up for it. Make sure to ask for extra white sauce! It’s so freaking delicious. At first, I thought I didn’t need all that extra sauce but it was just so good. Also, beware of the red sauce. It’s pretty spicy, coming from a person who really likes spicy food.
I thought the food was worth it. It cost about $ 10 for a plate. I couldn’t finish it so I saved it for the next day.
Anyways, I just hope it doesn’t get too crowded once they have their grand opening. I’m going to be so sad! But I definitely will be coming back here soon!

Finally! a Halal Guys in Long Beach. I have been a fan since my trip to NYC. Something about that chicken/​gyro and rice combo with the white sauce is just wow.
For those who are not familiar with Halal Guys, just know that it is a great plate filled with gyro meat, chicken, orange rice, lettuce, tomato and pita bread. Mix it up with some white sauce and if you dare, some of that red sauce. It’s super spicy. I like spicy. but this red sauce is on a whole ‘notha level.
For those who have been to the cart in NY, I would say it’s the almost the same, but I guess the quality is better in NY. I don’t know why? But I will say that prices are higher (of course, NY has a cart but here they have to pay rent for the space, haha), and also, isn’t getting Halal Guys at 3 AM, drunk and in the middle of the NY lights some sort of magical? Here you are just in the Traffic Circle near a Ralphs, just saying haha. Still, it’s good and you’ll see me coming here often.
Also I must note: If you are reading my review prior to their announced opening date on Jan 2, 2016, you are probably wondering why me and others were able to try it. It’s because the location has been soft opened for some time, I guess for employee training? This was great because we don’t need to deal with the crazy lines like what happened to the first Socal location in Costa Mesa. I guess come Jan 2, this LB location will experience crazy lines. So yes, if you are reading this, go now and get your fix!