Crave Shack (Queens NY) – CLOSED

PLEASE NOTE THIS PLACE HAS CLOSED DOWN FOR UNKNOWN REASONS.

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price, & Staff

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Positive: One of the best halal burger joints I have eaten at.  Try the Crave burger, Inferno burger, or Swiss burger with Crave fries!

Negative: Long wait times are possible.  Inferno burger is not as spicy as advertised. Milkshake was not that good.

Overall: Recommended for the burgers and the environment.

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update: Went back to this restaurant two more times and the food quality seems to be declining.  Disappointing indeed.  I think theSwiss-room burger is probably their best although I haven’t had the inferno in a while.

Still takes some time to make the food but its fresh so I don’t mind.  The guy at the register is a bit weird and tries to hit on girls, hijabi or not.  The crave sauce is amazing though as are their fries.

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Another halal burger place? Should I really try it?

Are they just selling burgers with the Al-Safa halal beef patties like many other halal restaurants? Thats the assumption I had of Crave Shack (no affiliation with Shake Shack) until my family recommended it to me. I left everything I was doing to check out their menu online, and wow did my mouth start watering!  This place had a pretty good variety of burgers and snacks, with a unique “crave sauce”.

I decided to go eat there as soon as possible. When I entered the restaurant, I absolutely loved it. It had the touch of Johnny Rockets and Five Guys. I actually felt like I was at a burger joint rather than some crappy looking halal restaurant. The restaurant has booths and bar stools with tables.

I ordered the crave burger with the crave fries. It was delicious. The crave sauce made it even more amazing. The sauce is a bit like Thousand Island Dressing and really adds to the burger. The fries were excellent and had some sort of seasoning. My family of critics ordered the Swiss Burger and recommended that as well. They also tried a Vanilla Milkshake but did not like it much.

I loved this place so much that I went the following day as well and tried another one of their “famous” burgers. I had the Inferno burger which was advertised as being very spicy as it had an “inferno” sauce and jalapenos. Surprisingly… and disappointingly it was not spicy at all. Although it wasn’t spicy, it still tasted yummy.

This place has become one of my go to restaurants as I am always craving burgers and fries, and it is one of the first places I have discovered that actually makes their own beef patties.

Another thing I like about this restaurant is that they make everything in front of you, just like Five Guys, so you know everything is fresh. A downside to this is that when the restaurant is packed, it takes an extremely long time for your order to be ready … but it’s worth the wait. Try this place as soon as you can!

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Crave Shack Website

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Rooq’s Steakhouse (Central NJ) – CLOSED

PLEASE NOTE THIS PLACE HAS CLOSED DOWN FOR UNKNOWN REASONS.

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price, & Staff

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Positive: One of the best Steaks I have ever eaten at a good price. Staff and owner were very nice.

Negative: The ambiance was suboptimal and there was a lack of steakhouse feel.  The Appetizer and other, non-steak items are mediocre.

Overall: Recommended for the Steaks.

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update:  went back to the restaurant and realized that the Filet Mignon is probably the best steak they have.  Especially if you get it medium rare. I heard that this place was a prior italian restaurant and still has the original chef  working there who makes excellent italian food…I guess ill try it next time.

update: steakhouse is CLOSED for unknown reasons.  Kind of disappointing but hopefully Farooq will come back with something even better!

Halal steak in NJ? Could it really be true?

I was amazed when I heard that a halal steakhouse opened in New Jersey because the closest thing you can find to steak in the Tri-state area is Philly Cheese-steak. I was very excited to have the opportunity to go to this restaurant, especially after I checked the menu online to see that it offered a good variety of steaks.

I decided to go there on a Sunday night with my husband and had envisioned a real steakhouse.  When I entered the restaurant, I was a bit disappointed because I felt as if I was in a more formal sit-down Italian restaurant/pizzeria (because it was an italian restaurant in the past). This place did not have the ambiance of a steakhouse and there was a counter top area from the front of the restaurant half way down the restaurant to one of the side walls.  This made absolutely no sense to me. The restaurant should really get rid of that to accommodate more seating space and improve its steakhouse feel.  Because, c’mon, looks are as important as taste.  I actually felt as if I was at a halal meat store because of this counter. Based on the appearance, I was not expecting the food to be any good.  (much to my surprise it was…read on…)

(Picture of Delmonico Steak which I did not have)

We ordered the fried calamari for appetizers and it was average. They served it with marinara sauce which I didn’t enjoy much. It would be nicer if they serve it with another type of sauce and had some seasoning on the calamari. I ordered the Filet mignon steak (medium rare) with caesar salad and onion rings for my entrée. The mouth-watering steak was absolutely delicious. It is one of the best steaks I have ever had. It was very juicy, succulent, and truly melted in my mouth.  I highly recommend it to everyone. The onion rings were very disappointing because they had no taste or flavor. I told the owner, Farooq, about them and he said they had gotten complaints from a few other customers as well and would be changing the way they make them. My significant other ordered the Delmonico hamburger which was overall similar to the average hamburger you would find at a typical halal Italian restaurant in NJ.

All in all, I would still suggest this restaurant to everyone, especially steak lovers.  But when you go there just overlook the atmosphere and enjoy your steak with good company and excellent staff.  I wouldn’t mess with non-steak items on the menu the first time around though.  When this restaurant booms, they should really change the look of it to attract non-Muslim customers as well and make it into a real steakhouse without having the feel of a typical halal restaurant. Oh and they should really invest in some sizzling plates to serve their steaks in – they would really add a lot to the presentation.

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Rooq’s Steakhouse Website

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