Zara Halal Grill — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Covid is synonymous with the downfall of many businesses that straddled the fence between “past prowess” and “future relevance”. As you enter #PhiladelphiaMills AKA #FranklinMills through the Food Court it is pretty obvious that this mall is trailing far behind in its race against time. That being said…eating food from a mall where 80% of its food court options have “opted out” was not on the forefront of my mental menu. Until Zara Halal Grill came into view … Hmmm…It seemed to have taken over what used to be an old diner type place. And I’m an old diner type o’ guy…

Aesthetics of the place were fair but not confidence inspiring. The menu shined bright above the counter on TV screens with a wide array of semi sexy offerings. I went with the Falafel and Hummus Platter with a side of hot sauce just in case I needed to take it to the moon. However the chicken, the shrimp and the fish all sounded like the right thing to do as well.

I sat feeling like I was on a blind date waiting for her (the food) to show up. What will she look like? Will she smell good? Will she be “a lot” to take down? Well…she arrived soon thereafter and slid across my table….looked me in the face….and opened up quickly. The Falafel was crispy and crunchy with a soft center. The hummus tasted pleasant and the pita bread had a nice grilled flavor and texture to it. Salad ingredients were fresh and masterfully moist:). I’d give it a 3.5/5 until I made use of the hot sauce which took it nearly to the moon (4/5). Not bad at all for a mediocre mall eh? Zara is probably the only place I’d recommend visiting in that food court if you wanna leave satisfied and feeling like you can walk the rest of the mall without multiple visits to a bathroom stall.

As always thanks for reading along and I hope this review makes someone’s decision a lil easier. Follow along as I continue my journey across the states reviewing damn near everything. There’s no review like a Real...

Rather impressed with this establishment (considering it's location). Since the kitchen is in full view and everything almost looking like a diner was very clean and well kept. They had seating inside their own area which was nice. I did see the bathroom wasn't working so that kinda sucked. The food however was fresh for sure. Red onions gave a bite back in it's freshness. The shredded lettuce was very bite size. The tzatziki sauce on my gyro was delicious. The pieces of lamb were very chopped. So it wasn't a traditional gyro like in a Greek restaurant but it was tasty enough for a good lunch meal. My friend got a veggie gyro and it included beans and he was okay with that. He enjoyed his meal as well. I do however think the cost of a single gyro is expensive at $10 plus tax. We both passed on fries and a drink because of how expensive it was. If I eat at the mall again I'll still come back but I might try something else. My wise business friend always said, if you can view the kitchen of an establishment you should always support them. It means they have nothing to hide and they cannot cut corners without you seeing it. Like certain Asian and Indian places where they reuse food etc because in their culture they don't want to waste food but never think of the healthy...

DO NOT EAT HERE! This is my second time ordering from here and I will never again. It took my food close to 2 hours to be delivered because their driver did not want to drive in the rain and when it got here 1 of the platters had a long brown strand of hair cooked with the chicken and covered in sauce. I gave them the opportunity to fix it and send me another and take this one back since it was my first bite of food that found the hair but I was told “You have to buy another one and we will try to refund the money from the first one”. This is completely unexceptionable. I still feel really weird that I had to slide someone else’s hair out of my mouth. Like the feeling is what made this experience 10 times worse. Now I have to order from somewhere else after waiting for almost 2 hours for hair infested food.

Update: At least I received a refund for the platter...