The Halal Guys — Restaurant in Los Angeles

We discovered there was a new halal eatery nearby, so we excitedly left for a plate of culinary nirvana. (The reviews and advertising had us amped. Thumbs up for marketing.)

Parking was just "eh", but we luckily found a spot after circling the block twice. The line was long, but it moved quickly. The place was clean and many employees were hard at work and moving at warp speed. Servers wandered the dining area with huge bottles of white sauce, dousing plates as requested. This looked promising! It helps to stake your claim at a table (if you can find one) while someone stands in line, or you'll wander aimlessly with a plate of food and no place to sit.

We decided to share a combo plate. They're good-sized and perfect for the requisite taste test. It looked appetizing--beef, chicken, yellow rice, chopped iceberg lettuce, and pita bread. We also had a side of falafel and tahini sauce. Ready? Set. Go!

The first bite was the beef. It was very oily and fatty. This is great energy for a long backpacking trip, but we weren't on the trail. The taste reminded me of a Mountain House Chili Mac meal. I took another bite thinking it would taste better than the first. Nope. It was exactly as I thought the first time. I scooped up some rice to scrub the oil and fat from the palate before trying the chicken.

Ah. The Chicken! Now, the chicken was not bad. The magic white sauce complimented the chicken, rice, and lettuce very well. The chicken was chopped into juicy pieces that held the sauce in each bite. It was tender and free from any "weird" parts that are sometimes found in some establishments' chopped chicken i.e. cartilage and tendon. Gah! So the chicken is what gave my review two whole stars. It wasn't amazing, but it did save the entire meal.

Lost a star for the falafel, however. If you've ever had great falafel, then you definitely don't want to attempt this stunt. However, if you've never had falafel, you may never try it again. Sorry, Halal Guys, but this was pretty disappointing. The outside was tough like a brittle tire. It tasted like what I would imagine to be the same--no flavor! That's a shame. The inside was the most interesting shade of chartreuse, so it seemed like fun. The tahini sauce? Absolutely no flavor. It's as if half the recipe was missing and it was basically just a spoon of tahini mixed with water. The consistency was a little thinner than Half & Half. Hmm. Now that I remember that, it loses another star. Well, maybe not.

In all, the parking, beef, and falafel with tahini sauce really detracted from what could have been a good experience. The excellent service and okay chicken with white sauce raised our opinions to two stars. Will we come again? Unsure. It's hard to find halal places that are open late for a quick nosh, but this didn't seem worth the...

I work in the same building as this place. It is one of my favorite go to spots. But it has gone downhill since they changed the entire staff crew. The attention to customers is no longer there. I asked for a small bowl bc I wanted to control my food intake. Otherwise, I eat the whole bowl 😅. They gave me the large bowl, I pointed it out to the guy mid fill, he said he could give me a small bowl, I was like it's cool it's already in there m. When I got to the register I asked the girl Joselyn for a bottle of coke as well. She also did not hear me. She was busy asking me if the food is a regular. I was confused what she meant, as often I get extra protein on my plates, so I tried to clarify it three times with her. Naturally my face has confused face on it. And instead of clarifying that she meant regular as in the size, she just kept repeating herself and then asked me why am I being rude. I was like wth? I explained to her that the first guy wasn't paying attention, she was not paying attention & she is calling me rude for trying to clarify what she is asking me. Her response was to tell me that I don't have to eat there if I don't want to. (I mean, I'm obviously trying to) At this point I'm just appalled bc before I worked in an office I did all customer service & we could never talk to guests like that. So I asked her if she was the manager & she said no & if I want her to get the manager & I'm like yea I think you should. So the manager comes out and I explain the situation to him and he says he will talk to her about it and that's cool, but he keeps trying to give me a discount or comp the food and I'm like no I'm not complaining to get my meal comped I came to pay for the meal. When I left I realized he charged me for the small instead of the large I got. That's not what I wanted. What I wanted was for good customer service and my lunch not to be ruined and for me to almost cry on my work break bc some little girl has an attitude problem. It took me about 2 weeks to write this bc I wasn't even gona bother, but this is the 3rd time since then that I wanted to go there but didn't bc of this interaction. Which is a shame bc I love the food. Now I have to resort to going other places in the area. Apparently the first guy told the cashier to only charge me for a small to fix his error, which is why she was like is this a regular? All he did was cause more error. If everyone could just pay attention to their jobs these kinds of things could be avoided. So ya I'm writing this post bc that interaction has me feeling unwelcome as a customer & uncomfortable as a person...

My experience with this place was not very pleasant. My daughter in law was ordering the food while waiting unfortunately, I needed to use their restroom. I went to open the bathroom door I couldn’t open it. I went to the counter and asked if I needed a key to get in, and the lady told me there was someone in there so I waited patiently while my daughter in-law was buying some food. After a while still nobody was coming out from the bathroom. Luckily, one of the older lady comes out from the kitchen and was going to use the bathroom. I watched her got the key from the counter and opened the bathroom door. I followed her and told her what they told me at the counter. She just smiled at me then she speak Spanish to me and point me to go inside. That was very nice of her! My daughter in-law went after me so she handed me the food we bought. I looked inside the bag and did not see any napkins. I looked around if there is any napkins somewhere and noticed the napkins holder on the side little table so I went there and tried to get a few napkins but the napkin holder was almost empty. For me to get it I will have to open it. And I can’t open it. I went to the counter and politely asked if I can have some napkins. They point me to a napkin holder I told them that I can’t get it because and don’t know how to open it. They looked at me like I’m crazy and the 3 of them looked each other and laugh. Then the young lady who told that there was someone in the bathroom handed me a couple napkins with attitude. I will never go back on that Place again. If I have a choice I would not even give...