Shahnawaz Palace (Central NJ)

Rating:

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

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Positive: Large Pakistani buffet with a large variety of items and good drinks.

Negative: Food quality and taste has declined over the years and the food on the buffet tables is poorly maintained. 

Overall: The buffet gives a large variety of low quality Pakistani food and is only worth going to if you are really craving a desi brunch buffet as other Pakistani buffet restaurants in NJ do not compare.

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Updated 2/5/2012:

Upon trying Shalimar’s $15 Buffet in North Brunswick, NJ I quickly realized why Shahnawaz is doing so well.  They have a large variety of foods which no other buffet place can compare to, their service is top notch compared with other Pakistani restaurant buffets, and everything is included in the price (I am talking about drinks).

Although I still think Shahnawaz does not have high quality food, I can see why they are always packed. They have a great selection of foods, from appetizers to desi dishes to Chinese dishes, and a large array of desserts. If only they improve their quality it would be worth going to again.  In contrast, Shalimar was very disappointing as you will see in my review.  Overall, I would say to go to Shahnawaz if you REALLY want a Pakistani brunch buffet in NJ because other restaurants doing a similar buffet in NJ do not compare. 

10/29/2011:

Looking for a nice pakistani buffet in nj?  

For a weekend family outing, we decided to go to Shahnawaz Banquet Hall in Edison, NJ for their weekend brunch buffet priced at $18/adult and $8/child.   For this price you would expect a great meal. I was shocked that they charge for children because  usually kids under a certain age eat free at buffets. The plus side is that drinks are included within the price.

I will start by reviewing the setup of the restaurant. It looks like you are eating at a small Indian style wedding hall beause of the printed carpeting, the huge chandelier, and the colored dim lighting that reflects onto the walls and the ceiling. The table that we were seated at was quite tight for 5 people because it was hard for us to get up and leave the table without pulling the chair out. They also did not have napkins on the table which I think is very important to have when eating desi food. They did, however, bring us a pitcher of water with plastic glasses. (When you are at a proper sit down restaurant, you do not want plastic cups.)

Moving onto the set up of the buffet…this too needs to be more organized. The chutneys and sauces that go with the chaats were placed away from the chaat and samosas. They had appetizers all over the place and those should all be placed together as well. Everything was labeled except the desserts and that should be labeled too.

The service was excellent as servers continously kept coming to our table to take our used plates away and to ask us if we wanted drinks. The drinks were excellent and consisted of sweet lassi, salty lassi, and mango lassi. The food, on the other hand, was just mediocre. It was not being refilled quickly and some dishes were warm while others were cold. The only food items I recommend are the chicken nuggets, the fried fish, and the pani puri. We were very disappointed with the halwa puri. Even though it was nice and hot, it did not have any flavor. Other things we tried were the chinese dishes, paya, roasted lamb and these were all savorless. I thought maybe I’d have better luck with the desserts but they too were disappointing, especially the red velvet cake and brownies. How do you go wrong with brownies?

So all in all, Shahnawaz is way too overrated and the only reason they are doing well is because they are the only Halal buffet with a lot of variety in the foods they offer.

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Shahnawaz Website

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Outback Steakhouse (Chain Restaurant)

Rating:

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

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Positive:  Succulent, halal lamb rack cooked on a wood fire grill from New Zealand at your local Outback Steakhouse chain restaurant.

Negative:  Taste is slightly above average and quantity is small for this expensive dish.  The onion rings are way too greasy.

Overall: If you love lamb chops and eat halal you should try Outback at least once.

Revisit:  No, too expensive for the taste and quantity.

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Looking for juicy, succulent lamb made on a wood grill oven?

Try out the chain restaurant you see almost everywhere around the USA,  Outback Steakhouse, Australian style steaks.

On my visit to the steakhouse, in Edison, NJ I first noted the ambiance seemed to be a little lower quality than I would expect at a steakhouse, for example comparing to Ruth’s Chris‘s excellent ambiance in Toronto, Canada.  It seemed to have a mixture of Pizza Hut and a Steakhouse feel.  However, the dimmed lighting did significantly add to the ambiance.

This restaurant does not have any Halal items on their menu.  However, their lamb is imported from New Zealand where they only distribute Zabihah halal meat. We told the waiter that we were fasting and wanted our food to come at the appropriate time along with appetizers and drinks. The server was very nice to accommodate us. He also spoke to the chef in the back who agreed to clean the grill for the lamb and to make it separately from other meat products. He was very kind and thoughtful, and the service was excellent.

We bought their well-known onion rings as the appetizer. The arrangement of the onion rings was very presentable.  The onion ring seasoning was good and the dip was also equally good but they were too oily for our tastes.   We also had a chance to order the lamb rack, cooked medium rare was recommended by the server. It was very succulent and moist with a distinct taste of lamb and light oak flavored seasoning from the wood burning grill.  The food tasted pretty good but needed barbecue sauce to make it taste better. We refused the usual Port wine sauce that they bring with the lamb.  One of the side dishes was sweet potatoes which was glazed with light brown sugar and tasted very unique and good.  They had multiple non-alcoholic iced teas but they were mediocre for my taste. For dessert we tried their chocolate thunder cake which had a warm brownie with pecans and ice cream topped with whip cream and fudge. It was delicious but very filling.

Overall I would recommend those who love lamb to try this place.  The ambiance is pretty good and the service is excellent.  However, beside the excellent service the food was slightly above-average and may not be worth the extra price.
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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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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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