Last time we were in NYC for Christmas season, we did the evening holiday lights bus tour with Gray Line. Highly recommend if that sort of thing appeals to you.
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If youāre needing quick good food Tacos No 1 is right off of time square. Itās stand up only but the tacos are good and youāre in and out.
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Halal Guys near Rockefeller Center is also amazing.
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Is the NY one just way better than the other locations? Iāve never been to the NYC one, but I gone to two non-NYC ones and they were just OK.
Never had outside NYC but I donāt think the one in LA lived up from what Iāve heard.
Most recent for me was SF and while it was OK in absolute terms, it was the worst version of that type of food that I have had in recent memory. There are tons of places that do a good shawarma, falafel, etc.
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The thing to get at Halal guys is the chicken and rice.
Iām sure thatās actually delicious, but that is definitely not a good picture to use to sell someone on getting that food. Might as well post a Rochester NY garbage plate.
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Itās not a professional picture. You just have to trust me that itās good. I canāt believe Iām the only one around here thatās tried it. Everyone I know in NYC loves it.
The line is usually pretty long. But there are more than one of them all centered around 53rd and 6th, and theyāre all just as good from one I could tell.
Hmm sounds like they might have gone downhill some. The last time I had them was about 10 years ago. Iāll still try the original again the next time Iām in NYC.
https://www.reddit.com/r/newyorkcity/comments/st9vdj/halal_guys_in_midtown_is_overrated_not_bad_or/
My Halal Guys experience in NY was always good. My last companyās office was on 6th at 45th and I used to walk up there all the time for their food when I was workiing in NY. Havenāt been since before the pandemic though.
I will also say, though, that all around that area there are food trucks that set up on the cross streets at lunch time and about half of them were just as good a Halal Guys.
I find Halal Guys incredibly overrated. It seems like the chicken is fairly dry and doesnāt have much flavor itself and they rely on you having to douse your food in the packaged sauces for flavor. The poor picture above of copious amounts of chicken slathered in too much sauce is what it has felt like to eat it, in my experience. Both at the truck and their storefront locations. Iāve always found the chicken and rice I get at ānon-famousā neighborhood trucks in various places to be far more enjoyable.
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yeah halal guys chains are crap. i cant speak to the original.
when they gave me the packages sauces it was a huge wtf moment.
Their red sauce is genuinely spicy. I think they give packets because people would inevitably complain about the spice if they put it on directly.
Anyway I agree that HG is overrated. But its still pretty enjoyable.
The thing about that always blew me away 10 years ago was how they kept the chicken so moist. So I wonder if theyāve slipped some.
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They used to have a big red bottle that was stored up and away from the other three bottles. My coworker still dumped a bunch of it on and then looked like he was going to die.
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I think the NYC locations (especially the main cart) benefitted from consistent foot traffic. I used to eat there pretty regularly, and there were always lines, so the food was almost always coming straight off the grill. The storefront locations Iāve been to in other cities arenāt quite as busy, so the meat seems like it might sit in steamer trays for a bit. Also, not sure if the recipe is the same, but the white sauce straight from the bottle hits differently than the packets.
(I also usually eat the NYC version later at night and in a more intoxicated state, so that could be the real difference maker)
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Yeah this makes a ton of sense. The LA location never thrived and I wasnāt really tempted to check it out. The whole appeal was how the rich white sauce, and moist chicken and rice exploded with flavor in your mouth.
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When they first opened in Atlanta 2019ish, the chicken was moist like you were describing and the sauce wasnāt packaged. When Iāve gone in the last 1-2 years the chicken was dry and the sauce packaged. And they watered down the red sauce too.
Which one?