Kanoon Restaurant — Restaurant in Clifton

I had a very unpleasant experience that I HAD TO share with Google; let me start with the basics pros and cons: PROS: -The atmosphere and decor is super cool and homie, I felt great here. Almost felt like a true Texas joint. -You get a complimentary bowl of salad to your table -The menu has varieties for everyone

CONS: -The service was mediocre; my gf and I got "greeted" as a the host/server spoke on the phone, no words exchanged (there was only one table of 4 seated in the entire restaurant) -The brisket was DRY AS HECK!! We ordered 1lb of smoked brisket (since they are known for their 16hr smoked meats. Also the minimum is 1lb per order), we chose the smoked rice as our side, and that rice barely had any smoke flavor in it. Besides that, it was served like 10min before the brisket arrived. -The complimentary salad needed more acidity and salt -After we ordered the 1lb of smoked brisket, the server came back to tell us that "it won't be enough for the two of us to share, one more thing and it will be good", we insisted that it WILL be enough for us and just wanted to share a plate. After our incredibly dry brisket platter arrived at the table, our server left the restaurant/premises. -No napkins were provided or even asked if we needed; but who to ask anyways if no one was around? -My gf ordered the lemonade and when the server asked me what I wanted to drink I said "I'm okay, I'll try her lemonade and see if I like it". A few minutes later 2 lemonades arrived at our table. -After we hunted someone down to get our check, (may I add that no one came to check on us, the food, if we needed anything, nothing at all), our check for the brisket was 25% more in price ($8 more). They tried to explain that they weigh their meats to the nearest* pound and round up; and that sometimes could be less or could be more than 1lb. But at no moment did they say this will also reflect int the price. (We did tell our server it was our first time in this restaurant when we first sat down). -Lastly, for a party of 2, gratuity was included. Our total bill for 2 lemonades and 1lb of "smoked brisket" came out to $72. We let the gentleman know who gave us the bill and he explained he's just the worker. He then called our server over the phone, which is maybe also the manager, and explained what we expressed and he fixed the bill for us. -Charging someone $42 for 1lb of brisket that's advertised as "34.99 per pound" is absolutely outrageous. -I do feel we were serviced and judged on "how we looked" which is super disheartening.

IN SHORT: -The service was wack, lacking and the server was pushy for us to buy more food and run up our bill (no suggestions were made either besides the lemonade). -The food was NOT GOOD. It was dry, it lacked flavor, SMOKE, and tenderness. I CANNOT get over HOW DRY that brisket was, and the service made it impossible to ask for any modifications. -DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY TO EAT HERE, OTHER HALAL JOINTS AND TRUCKS ARE BETTER THAN HERE. Unless you want a frosty-like-over-sweetened mint lemonade, then do stop for that alone and...

I tried the Kanoon Restaurant today, at 2pm I was sat and given the dinner menu, I had to ask for the lunch menu (12-4pm) this was a bit of a turn off to begin with. I ordered the brisket sandwich and a bottle of water. shortly after I was brought out a trio of dips, sweet relish, coleslaw, and a tomato pepper hot relish and cut up pita bread. then a few minutes later I was served a fine chopped tomato and cucumber salad that lacked vinegar and salt. I asked for some vinegar and the waitress asked another employee and they just stood there and a few minutes later they took a gallon of white vinegar out of the refrigerator and she walked to the rear of the restaurant and it took forever for her to come back with a little plastic cup of vinegar. Why would a restaurant that serves multiple salad options not have Oil & Vinegar in dispensers for the table? Shortly after she came out with a little black bowl with a few mini potatoes and a few slices of sweet potatoes. They were good but a bit too spicy. Shortly after she came out with a round wooden cutting board with the restaurant logo on the handle. There sat a wrap filled with large chunks of brisket and a delicious BBQ type sauce. the odd thing is I ordered a sandwich not a wrap. A smoked brisket sandwich should be on a bun, unless you have it listed as a wrap. The chunks were much too large. On a wrap it should be shredded up. Along side the wrap were sliced tomato, onions and a mixed green salad with no dressing. Shortly after the waitress came back with a cute little fry basket filled with delicious crunch French fries.

The service was very disconnected there were 5-6 employees standing around talking and not paying attention to the customers. At the time there were only 3 tables with guests including me. And in my opinion a gratuity/tip should not be included. So the tip was included 1.80 and that was it... I would have left a $5.00 tip. If the party was over 6 guest then yes it is customary to add gratuity, not a party of 1.

To wrap it up (no pun intended) the wrap was very tasty. It was odd to get potatoes, French fries, and pita bread and then the wrap... too much carbs in my opinion. and to get a salad and then salad with the wrap is odd.

I spoke to the gentleman that came to my table to ask how everything was. He listened and just said he would speak to his manager. I got the impression he really did not care, but I could be wrong.

I will try Kanoon Restaurant again in the future during the (lunch menu specials 12-4pm) the dinner menu is quite a bit more expensive. I will give it a month and adjust my review based on my...

Long review but worth it inshaAllah

Bismillah, we arrived during our long road trip from Toronto (which has many halal smokehouses) longing to try the NJ smokehouse we heard about. Parking was a little tight but we managed to get a spot alhamdullilah.

As we entered the restaurant around 6pm, the ambience was good, a little noisy but to each their own preference, we would have loved Quranic verses being played, but they have to serve the mainstream population mainly Arab patrons.

The HALAL dishes we ordered were flavorful! The service was pretty quick given the number of customers they had at that time. They started serving a bowl of salad, and pita bread. It was then followed pretty quickly with our sides of fries, coleslaw, mac and cheese and some salsa-like sauce. Most of the sides are hit and miss but the fries were fried perfectly, with the right amount of crunch. My kids gobbled them up.

First up, half chicken with rice. The rice was very well flavored I believed by the smoke as well. The chicken was good when it was hot and the dark meat was lovely but as we proceeded towards the breast, it was a tad drier than our liking.

Next, the ribeye steak came piping hot on a hotplate. It was great! Juicy as we liked it, the sides again were hit and miss but the greens were soft and good.

Lastly the beef ribs, I believe this is the highlight. Perfectly cooked, it was not dry at all well flavored by the layer of fats surrounding the meat. I couldn't ask for anything better for how they smoked the ribs! The rub was to die for, I wished they had it at the side for us to dip more, honestly ask for the dry rub if you prefer a punch of flavor! Dare to say one of the best ribs I've put in my mouth.

Overall, the meats are the highlight of Kanoon, if I were to go there again I would only order the ribs and probably a few lbs of it. Highly recommend this halal joint, Allahumma Bareek.

Small recommendations as I always try to do for our Muslim business owners:

1. small menu focus on your strengths - definitely the meats
2. service was excellent, keep up the great work, can't remember her name but a lady served us and she constantly checked to see how things were going. Agree on one of the reviews that there were too many servers or Kanoon staff hanging around and not really doing much or adding value, I would rather they hang out at the...