The Halal Guys (Costa Mesa, CA) – Grand Opening!

The Halal Guys (Costa Mesa, CA) on The Episodic Eater

Starting today, Southern Californians won’t have to hop on a plane, brave the snow, or stand in line on the street to try some awesomely amazing New York street food. Last week, I had the pleasure of previewing The Halal Guys and their new restaurant location in Costa Mesa!

I was super, super excited to try it out because I had missed out during my last trip to New York. It has been a frequent foodie stop since 1990 when the first hot dog cart started dishing out delicious food. Coincidentally, the night of the preview, I was talking to one of my friends from New York who told me that she is a regular customer… and now I can be too!

The restaurant is located in a strip mall just down the street from South Coast Plaza, along with other interesting shops. It was busy and bustling during the media day, but the staff was efficient and making sure no one went hungry!

The menu below is short and sweet: you can choose between a sandwich or a platter with chicken, gyro, falafel, or halal classic (half chicken and half gyro). There are a few extras and spreads, but everyone is here for the main event!

I just couldn’t leave without trying a chicken platter, which came with their famous rice, plus the amazing white and red sauces. Seriously, these are the kinds of sauces that you could put on cardboard and I would consider eating it.

The white sauce is their regular sauce, but calling it that definitely doesn’t convey how heavenly it really is. The red sauce has more of a kick, but I like it spicy!

The platter also comes with pita bread, lettuce and tomatoes. Typically rice bowls are too liberal with the rice and a little stingy with the veggies, so I enjoyed that it was about half and half. A bit of tomato is perfect for cooling down the red sauce if you get a bit overheated, so you might want to ask for extra!

I also asked for a few falafel to put on my chicken bowl. Oh. Em. Gee. It was amazing! It’s hard to make falafel look appetizing, but believe me, this is no ordinary falafel! I usually find them dry, crumbly, tasteless, or oversalted. This was absolutely none of those things! The outside was fried and crunchy, but the inside held together nicely. Also, I was extremely impressed with the flavor, which I was not expecting. The Halal Guys know how to spice up their falafels just right!

Lastly, I tried the gyro sandwich. It’s definitely a handful, but not too messy to eat on the go. I can see why it would be perfect NYC street food!

The meat was tender and flavorful, with all those spices once again! By the way, The Halal Guys are very proud that all of the meats basically go straight from the being cooked, right on to your plate. Can’t get any fresher than that!

Everything I ate was super crave-worthy and I’m already planning on bringing back friends and family to try out the whole menu. Seriously, I’m dreaming about those sauces right now. :O

So the only hard question you’ll have to ask is…