Burger.Org (Philadelphia)

Rating:

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

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Positive: Good tasting kosher organic burgers.  There is also a large variety of other kosher meat entrees which include turkey, chicken, fish, and lamb.

Negative: Ordering time not optimal but food comes out quick.  

Overall: Great place to try great burgers if you are in the area or craving kosher meat!

Revisit:  I will definitely go again as there is no other place that offers good quality, tasty kosher burgers in Philadelphia.

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Looking for some good burgers in philly?

Burger.org is a Glatt Kosher restaurant located on South Street in Philadelphia. The setup you would expect at a burger joint is immediately apparent upon entering the restaurant.  There are multiple tables with bar stools and some with chairs. There are also chairs at  counter in the center of the store where you can order food and watch TV while eating.  You can tell that this is an authentically kosher restaurant as there are many pictures and relics reminiscent of the Jewish religion and culture, as well as the cook in his traditional garments. I also saw that one of the workers was praying on the side, making this a prayer friendly place although I did not ask to pray myself.

The menu is full of a variety of free range/grass fed organic meat (chicken, turkey, lamb, beef) for sandwiches and burgers as well as wild catch Fish dishes.  They also have a variety of vegetarian dishes ranging from Hummus to Salads and even veggie burgers.  Service is quick and the workers are very nice and friendly.

I had the chance to experience their popular El Mariachi Burger and Fried Chicken Sandwich.  The El Mariachi was delicious and included pico de gallo, guacamole, raw onion, tomato, lettuce, and chipotle sauce on a medium cooked patty.  The Fried Chicken sandwich consisted of a chicken cutlet and tasted fresh and was equally delicious.   The meat quality is good and you can tell that its organic as advertised.  I think the taste is great but it is not as good as Burger 7 located in Virgina.  Their sweet potato fries, however, were not good and may have been better if they were crispy.  I did not have a chance to try their regular fries.  I will visit again and try their other items, and will update this post accordingly.

I recommend coming here if you are in the mood for some good burgers and cannot find anything Halal in the area. Glatt kosher implies a stricter standard of cutting kosher meat as per about.com:  it must come from a kosher animal and be slaughtered in a kosher way. For meat to be glatt kosher, in addition to the two above conditions, the meat must also come from an animal with adhesion-free or smooth lungs. Overall I think this is a great place to go if you’re craving burgers and want to try something new.

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 Burger.org Website

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Ed’s Buffalo Wings & Pizza (Philadelphia)

Rating:

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

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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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Ed’s Buffalo Wings & Pizza Website

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Bakhtar Halal Kababs (Queens)

Rating:

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

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Positive: Best Chicken and Beef Kofta Kababs I’ve ever had at a reasonable price.  

Negative: Casual seating and environ. Can become very busy on weekend nights.

Overall: If you want to try the most excellent Afghani food, hands down, you have to eat here.  

Revisit:  YES!  I already visit this place every time I am in the area.

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Want high quality afghani food and don’t care about location or ambiance?

Go to Bakhtar Kabab in Fresh Meadows, NY. They have the best Chicken and Beef Kofta Kababs I have ever had, hands down. Even their rice and their white yogurt sauce are delicious. I don’t go to any other Afghan restaurant anymore because every time I have tried another place, they can never compare to Bakhtar. In addition, the price is a super deal - for $8.00 you get two skewers of kababs, rice, and salad. No place beats that!

In addiiton to these kababs, their lamb chops and burgers are decent as well. This is a great place to go to with family and friends if you want good food that is very reasonably priced in a casual environment. There is a lot of seating available and they have a few televisions that are hooked to Pakistani channels. The restaurant is located across from an Indian movie theater, so it is very busy on weekend nights but you can always find a seat as they have a lot of seating available. This restaurant is one of my favorite restaurants so definitely try it when you’re in the area.

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Related articles

• Kabab Paradise (Central & Northern NJ) (halalfoodcritic.wordpress.com)
• Philly Bistro (Philadelphia, PA) (halalfoodcritic.wordpress.com)
• Al Basha (Northern NJ) (halalfoodcritic.wordpress.com)

Philly Bistro (Philadelphia)

Rating:

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

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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.

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