New York Grill — Restaurant in Washington

Took another trip from VA to DC last weekend and this is my place to get delicious fast and fresh halal food. It's definitely the closest, if not better than when I lived in nyNYC. This was my third time here. I have been a loyal customer after my first 2 experiences and talking to the amazing owner. I believe he's from Afghanistan so you know the rice dishes are on point. Unfortunately, my recent visit was not a good one. I usually order a lot of food since we live in VA now and we like to have leftovers from the fresh food New York Grill makes, and I ordered like $70 worth of food. I ordered Double Cheeseburger meal, large chicken tenders meal, large hot wings, chicken and rice platter, Lamb and rice platter, and shrimp and rice platter. I always get skeptical when I see different people working and not seeing the owner, but it shouldn't be any different right? Wrong... All the food I ordered was somehow magically ready in less than 7 minutes, which didn't make sense after my first visits took more than 25 minutes, which is understandable because they're preparing it fresh and it's a lot of different orders (and the owner wanted to have a conversation with your boy lol and I never turn down an interesting conversation). After a very short wait this time, the lady said my order was ready, so I thanked the lady for the fast service. Luckily my son was starving, so I decided to pop open his large order of chicken tenders and fries and sat down at the tables to have a quick bite. Horrible... I paid $12 for 4 pieces of chicken tenders that were small sized and mostly breading and not even hot. The fries were under cooked and not fried enough so they still had that weird translucent look and wiggly soft feeling. The first time I ordered these for my toddler son, I brought the food back to the car and the tenders were big, juicy, Crunchy, and the fries were perfect and everything was streaming hot. I knew something was wrong because the first time I ordered this, my son couldn't even finish 2 tenders. This time he was already on his fourth and I had to rip off a lot of breading and he wasn't even touching his fries. Even my rice platters were below quality level. The salad had brown lettuce and older soft tomatoes that ruined the dishes. Much less meat and rice than usual as well. This first 2 times were amazing because we drove all the way back to VA and didn't even eat the rice platters until the next day and saw that the portions were huge, good was delicious, and salads were flawless. My double cheeseburger was soggy and the burger patties were so small compared to the buns. I can tell these female employees were careless with their work. InshAllah the Owner/Brother will train his staff to have his work ethics and love into making his wonderful food that I love. I'll be back most definitely, but will not order if the owner isn't there. I'll change my rating if things change or if I hear back from the owner. Salaam BhaiJaan JazakAllah Khair Updated just went there yesterday, and was lucky enough to get service from the main man himself. He informed me that he had a talk with his staff and apologized for the service and quality of food. I dined in for lunch yesterday, and my order of 2 hot wings combos and a chix tenders combo were back on the high level and expectation I was hoping for. Didn't get any incentive (wish the dude offered something) for the previous incident, but it's all good I guess as long as the food is back to its original stature. Thanks New York Grill for a worthwhile visit. Rating...

My boyfriends birthday was yesterday and I drove over 3 hours to NY Grill in hopes of bringing him home dinner that tasted like one of his favorite foods (NYC Halal Street Cart Lamb Gyro). Even after the 3 hour drive back home, NY Grill did NOT disappoint! I took home 2 with the sauce/salad on the side and 2 with the sauce/salad on as is when you order. He said both were so good, but truthfully liked the one that traveled with all the salad and sauce already on so much better! Nothing was soggy or yucky! My only regret was not having cash to leave the kind staff a tip. Thank you so much for helping me give him such a wonderful birthday gift - it was like I was able to bring NYC right to him! I am so excited to plan a day trip and to come to your store again, but this time I’ll bring him! He is really looking...

My girlfriend stumbled upon this place a few days ago and decided to go in for a lamb gyro and she tells me it was the best gyro she’s ever had. After that story, today, I suggested to take her there for lunch, so I could try the gyro myself. It was not even close. She was very disappointed. The pita was soggy, unlike the crispy quality one she got the first time, the lamb was cooked from frozen, unlike the fresh strips she got the first time. The employee host today was not the same one that served her the first time. He didn’t even have the courtesy the properly wipe the table where we wanted to sit after we asked him to do so, and he did a subpar job with the food. I have to take 2 stars away for lack of consistency, hoping the restaurant owner keeps high standards...