Naz's Halal Food - Burtonsville — Restaurant in Maryland

Update Dec 2024: 2/5. This location has gone very downhill since new management. The gentleman at the cash register has an extreme attitude and will literally throw things at your bag when you ask for them.. It's almost like ordering is an inconvenience and they don't want your business. Sad to say but this location isn't what it was before.

Original review: Went to Naz's Halal today for their grand opening. Free lunch from 12-2 and the line was ridiculously long! The staff got off to a rough start, especially with enforcing social distancing but they pulled it off-- hot fresh food that beats Halal Guys!

Update 8/28: Naz's halal has been open for over a week now and they've got really steady business.Walk in, place your order, and you'll have a fresh hot platter of meat, rice, and salad in less than 5 minutes. I've tried the chicken and lamb -- both are decent. The chicken is super flavorful, especially compared to the likes of Halal Guys. However, I almost always have a couple pieces of cartilage in my chicken, enough to ruin the meal for me. The rice is good, but wish it had more aromatic flavors as any good rice base should. The lettuce is usually crisp and fresh. The sauces that go with the platters are great too. The green sauce packs in the flavor, the red sauce is hot but not overbearing, and the white sauce is surprisingly light (unlike Halal Guys' heavy, calorie-packed version).

COVID-19: The restaurant does an abysmal job with COVID precautions. On opening day MoCo investigators were writing up warnings due to the lack of social distancing enforcement and the fact that the restaurant owner's family was walking in and out of the restaurant without masks. A week later and the restaurant has 6ft distancing stickers on the ground but they don't enforce it and tables are not 6ft apart. Some employees in the kitchen can be seen not properly wearing masks or gloves.

The value proposition is there, with platters running around 8 bucks. Naz's Halal is a great alternative to Halal Guys but the restaurant has some work to do before...

Second update: Showed up in person attempting to get the usual. Make sure to ask the dude if he could make the combo over rice without onions. He assured me he could so I even decided to leave a tip... Get home with my order and this s- -t had onions all up in it, not cool at all. Once again I had to bust out the headlamp and spend 10~15 minutes combing through it picking out all the onions. I think it's about time I find a new regular place that's able to accommodate my needs. 😮‍💨

Update: downgrading my review due to the inconsistency of onions being added to the food even though they are not in the product description. I have continuously asked for no onions and it's hit or miss as to whether or not it'll have them. See pics

I have ordered from here about a dozen times in the past month, excessive I know, lol, and it has consistently been amazing (except for the onion problem). I normally order a platter with some fries, sweet corn nuggets or mozzarella sticks. Everything is ALWAYS amazing and even though the wife is vegetarian she's always able to get something she enjoys too which is primarily the falafel gyro

Initially I had an issue with onions being included in the platters by default but after mentioning it and ordering from here several times I finally don't have to install my headlamp and spend 10 minutes picking out all the onions... Yes it's good enough to endure that pain.

I will definitely be back because I think I'm addicted.... Well, not so much anymore, I've...

2024 Update: My two star review is now one star, again for customer service. I ordered two salad platters via UBER to pickup myself. The chicken was ice cold on both, and the usually hefty portions were paltry. I called Naz's to express my concern and dissatisfaction, and the store clerk told me to put my SALAD in the microwave to heat the meat. Who wants hot salad greens? I said meat should never be served to the customer cold, and he told me that it was 'unfortunate'. I reached out to Naz's via Instagram and they too ignored my complaint. Steer clear folks!!! Never again. I'll be hitting Moby Dick across the street from now on!

2021: Food is great, admittedly. However customer service and logistics are poor. I placed an order by phone, and was told that it would be ready in 10 minutes. I arrived 15 minutes later, paid for the food, and had to wait an additional 25 minutes, ONLY TO NOT GET THE FOOD. About 10 minutes in, the girl handling the order told me that it would be 10 more minutes. 15 minutes later she asks what I ordered. I gave her my receipt, which she presented to the chef. HE HAD NEVER PREPARED IT! The chef actually said he had never gotten the order. They offered to make it, but at this point, I was frustrated not to mention starving, so I got my money back and went...