Positive: Clean location in University City with large screen TVs to watch sports.
Negative: Below average quality and taste.
Overall: Good place to visit for halal food if you are a college student in the area. Otherwise look elsewhere.
Revisit: Nope
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are you a student looking for a quick bite while in university city?
Ed’s is located by University City and is in a great location for students at Drexel and Penn who are looking for a quick halal bite. I have been to this restaurant two times and since my visit earlier in 2011, they have renovated. The restaurant is very clean and has two wide screen tv’s, making it an ideal location to watch sports with friends.
But besides this, the food lacks quality and taste. We ordered curly fries, boneless chicken fingers, philly cheesesteak, and buffalo chicken cheesesteak. Out of these, only the curly fries were good. I do not recommend the other items. The chicken fingers were dry and hard with way too much buffalo sauce. The meat for the philly cheesesteak had a very strong meat taste and no flavor; there was more cheese on one half of the sandwich too. It just was not made well. As for the buffalo chicken cheesesteak, the chicken was dry and tasted too much like buffalo sauce. It didn’t have much cheese in it either. So all in all, I would not go back again and the only reason I went a 2nd time was because I had forgotten how bad their food was. Oh and make sure to ask them for the halal menu because not all their items are halal.
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Positive: Located in Franklin Mills mall which gives an alternative to the usual vegetarian options seen at most food courts.
Negative: Slow service and quality/taste is below average.
Overall: If you are shopping at the mall and craving some meat try this place, and while waiting for the food talk with the nice husband and wife who own the place.
Revisit: Only if I am at the mall and want some meat.
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Looking for a halal place to eat while at the mall?
I had a chance to visit Philly Bistro located in Franklin Mills Mall in Northeast Philadelphia. It consists of two restaurants. One restaurant serves exclusively halal meat, and their dishes mostly comprise of various permutations of chicken, lamb, and rice as seen at the Halal Guys of 53rd and 6th. They also sell Seekh Kabab and various salads, sides, and sauces to put on your food. This restaurant is operated by a very nice and polite husband and wife who seemed to be working pretty hard, and at times looked very new to the restaurant business. The food quality, however, was not that great and their service was a bit on the slower side. Regardless of this, I am still very impressed with their idea to open a halal place in a food court where the surrounding community has a good Muslim population, and I like that they are working together to make it work. I think they would need to improve the quality of their food to get me back as a customer but if I am in the mall I would prefer their halal restaurant over others. With that said I think those that don’t mind the meat they eat will like it because it is an addition to the many cuisines already available in the food court.
Next to this restaurant is another restaurant, which is attached and has the same name. By their menu and pictures it seems like they sell a lot of burgers, wings, and steaks. However, only their Philly cheesesteaks seem to be halal. Therefore , you have to make sure to tell them about your meat restrictions. The quality of their food was also mediocre, easily surpassed by Douglass Pizza and Al Salaam. If they expand the halal menu to include their other items and their quality improves, I am sure they will do well too.
Overall, I think both of these combined restaurants will do fairly well if they advertise to the Muslim community, increase the quality of their food, and make everything purely Halal. However, because of their location in a fairly busy outlet mall, they may not change much in order to continue to get customers. This restaurant has much potential, but I have a feeling it won’t tap into it.
Positive: Delicious, American style food that will satisfy your hunger for meat!
Negative: Location is less than ideal and may not be suitable for everyone during late hours.
Overall: Solid, excellent quality American food with variety of delicious dishes, and a non-typical halal meat store located right next door.
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Looking for solid, good quality american food in philly?
AlSalam is located in Germantown in a small strip mall adjacent to a halal meat store. The halal meat store has a good selection of unique products that you may not find at other halal meat stores including pre-seasoned ground beef, chicken wings, steaks, and rotisserie chicken. They also have tasty hot dogs and sausages from the Philly Halal Company that come in mild and hot flavors and are great for BBQ!
AlSalam has multiple booths you may find at typical pizza restaurants for you to eat at, but the booths along the far side of the restaurant are very unique. They have curtains around the booth that allow you to sit and eat without being disturbed or having others look at you while you eat. Also this is a great idea for those women who cover themselves and do not want the opposite gender to see or interact with them.
Their menu is pretty vast and extraordinarily delicious, definitely more than Douglass Pizza located in New Brunswick. The menu includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner entrees. Their breakfast menu contains belgian waffles and various platters, including eggs and sausages. Their lunch and dinner menu includes various Arabic platters, pizza, sandwiches, seafood, and of course Philly Cheesesteaks. I have eaten there many times and all the dishes are tasty. Their meat pizza is definitely worth having and includes pepperoni, sausage, and minced meat. The sandwich selection includes Philly Cheesesteaks, corned beef, roast beaf, salami, hoagies, calzones, stromboli, etc. Their Al Salam Hoagie made hot and toasted is definitely worth trying; just make sure to tell them not to warm up the lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles in the process. The workers are very nice and they accommodate you in any way possible. Their Philly Cheesesteak is definitely one of the better ones I have tasted. The chicken cheesesteak is also delicious.
Overall its a great place to go to for consistent, high quality and delicious foods. Only problem may be the setting and location. If you are near the Philly area I would definitely try it out, especially if you are in the mood for meat! While you’re there check out the halal meat store next door because they may have some meats and seasoned products that you may not find at other places.
Positive: Good quality cheese steaks and fat sandwiches in a great location unbeaten by surrounding “halal” restaurants in downtown New Brunswick and Somerset.
Negative: There is nothing exceptional for which I would drive here over and over again unless if I went to school/work in the area.
Overall: Good quality food that you can’t beat when going to Rutgers University or visiting New Brunswick.
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Update (5/14/2011):All in all I am disappointed in Douglass Pizzas decrease in food quality and increase in prices. But, what I can say, their locations are excellent, they still have pretty decent food compared with other similar halal food places, and their menu is pretty expansive.
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Those were the days. Where art thou?
Wow…I miss the days of going to eat at Douglass Pizza on Commercial Avenue. Their cheesesteaks were amazing (especially the chicken cheesesteak which I enhaled almost daily after I worked out)! After they closed down during Rutgers University’s takeover and reopened at two great places in New Brunswick & Somerset they were never the same again. (By they way, I think that these two places have now split but have similar menus).
Maybe it was because they didnt use the same grills they had or maybe its just because they have hired help that doesn’t put as much passion into food as they did. Those were definitely the days..but now they are gone and I dont think they will be coming back soon. There is another place called New Brunswick Pizza & Grill (opened by one of the original Douglass workers) in the area which has a similar menu but probably not as good.
Douglass, however, does have alot more additions to their menus and some are actually very good. Their fat sandwiches (especially the fat zaza if you are into the gyro meat or fat boy if you like cheesesteak) are good and unique to New Brunswick and the Grease Trucks. The cheesesteaks are not as good as they used to be – however they still are pretty good compared to their other dishes. Their buffalo wings were never that good and still aren’t. The meat pizza is decent, but Paulies Pizza (another similar place on Easton Avenue) has better pizza by a long shot. And their hamburgers are either good or average depending on the day. I never tried their random sweet dishes at the counter so I dont really know how good they would be.
All in all I am disappointed in Douglass Pizzas decrease in food quality and increase in prices. But, what can I say, their locations are excellent, they still have pretty decent food compared with other similar halal food places, and their menu is pretty expansive.
I used to go to Douglass Pizza almost every week or two, but now I barely go every few months. Its good for those that live in the area I guess and pretty unique for those who like fat sandwiches from other states – but I think they really need to increase the quality of their food back to the original.
Also, the difference between the George street, New Brunswick Douglass and Somerset Douglass is the crowd. In New Brunswick you’ll see mostly students and the location is fairly new looking. Best place to park is in the deck behind the store. The Somerset location is next to a Halal Meat store and you mostly see families and people from surrounding areas.
