The Yummiest Halal in Houston

Avesta Persian Grill

★★★★★ 4.6 (667) • $$

"I finally got the chance to check out Avesta after many years of having it on my to try list. It is located in a shopping strip with plenty of parking. Met up a group of friends for dinner on a weeknight and the place was somewhat busy. Customer service was excellent from start to finish. I started off with Persian tea to sip on. Even though it was hot outside, this hot tea was absolutely delicious. I just needed one sugar cube to make it just right for my taste buds. The fresh baked bread and sabzi was a good way to start the meal, but we also decided to add Persian hummus and baba ghanoush. That hummus was to me the best hummus I've tasted. I was tempted to take some home with me. The baba ghanoush was good too. Just to compare to the only other Persian place I've been to, I ordered the koobideh combo which came with both beef and chicken koobideh. Avesta definitely kicked my previous fave down a notch. This was much more flavorful and tender. It paired so well with the saffron rice which was also cooked perfectly. The whole dish was alot of food, but I couldn't stop eating it. Overall, a good time was had here with excellent food. I will definitely be back!"

The Afghan Village

★★★★☆ 4.4 (536) • $$

Gyro Hut

★★★★☆ 4.4 (420) • $$

"I can appreciate Gyro Hut for what it is: a Halal friendly establishment, a fast casual meal(s) with good portions, a bonafide late night option with affordable prices in the heart of the Med Center. What it is not though, is a replacement for the New York style Halal street food.Their motto of being "Straight Outta New York" is as hilarious as it is inaccurate. It wouldn't surprise me if the owners / management have spent time in New York, but the food and atmosphere are a bit of a departure from what should be the quintessential Halal street experience. The interior is bright and clean, which even includes their bathroom. I love that their AC is on blast and is almost freezing after a few minutes spent inside. The menu is placed right above their counter where they make all the food in front of folks. Pro Tip: Check-in on Yelp for a free can of soda.Their platters are around $11-13, which include a solid pile of protein with rice and salad. They include other things on the platter that you wouldn't see in NYC, such as chickpeas, cucumber salad, and corn. I think the gyro fries are a sleeper and the party trays might come in handy for the next potluck party. Their freshly made juices are somewhat of a head scratcher, but seem fresh even if they are served room temperature.One thing they did seem to incorporate from the current street meat NY scene is charging extra for sauce. I don't have a problem with this per se, especially if they were in sauce packet form. However, these ones are in tiny containers that are not exactly easy to scrape or pour sauce out of. I wouldn't be surprised if they were skimpy on the initial sauce dump in hopes that folks would buy more.While I think it's not a dead-on experience with what is "straight outta New York," I still think it's a worthy late meal option and one that is super ideal for the neighborhood."

Twisted Turban

★★★★★ 4.5 (365) • $

"I love the concept of Mexican south Asian fusion. Pretty genius if you ask me so I was super excited to get down with the food fusion.A few things to note, the actual space is not very big but has some cool graffiti art on one of the walls. The bathroom can definitely use some upgrading and general cleaning. Nothing I hate more than using a dirt bathroom and then having no soap to wash your hands... pretty gross They have canned and bottled drinks for purchase and no alcohol is sold in the establishment.I was very unimpressed with the street corn, I actually threw it away. Tasted like canned corn with some Mayo and some weak sriracha sauce . I also did not care for the samosa chaat, the mix of chutney with the potato gravy and chick peas with the samosa didn't work for me.Positive notes: I did like the tacos, loved the paratha. It was a nice change from the normal tortilla. The turban taco had great flavor with the braised beef and cabbage. The wrapchic is made with chicken tikka masala which had some great flavor."

Ephesus Mediterranian Grill

★★★★☆ 4.3 (384) • $$

"I came here recently after being unimpressed years ago, and it was a pretty good experience this time. I'd heard good things, so it was worth another visit. I will say, the cigarette smell wafting from the bar next door makes dining in less enjoyable, but not sure anything can be done about that.I ordered the ground chicken kebab and it came with two kebabs, rice, and veggies. The meat was flavorful and juicy, and I liked the side of cabbage. My favorite part of the meal was the pita bread with the babagannus and ezme. I've never had ezme before--basically a nutty tomato spread--and it was so delicious! It almost had a slight smokiness to it. Our server was nice and the food didn't take long to come out. Overall I'd recommend Ephesus for Turkish food."

Jones Fried Chicken

★★★★☆ 3.5 (572) • $$

"Jones Fried Chicken used to be where it was at back in the day, especially if you were ballin' on a budget or a struggling college student like my friends and I used to to be. I was in the area and decided to reminisce about the good ole days and saw this place in a whole other light. I don't know if it's just that I'm older and wiser now or what, but I couldn't even get to the ordering process all these years later. The place was dirty and customer service was not good. I can get past the bad customer service for some good food, but when I saw insects in the food area, I immediately asked for a refund and they happily obliged without question. This place has been around for awhile and I'm guessing I caught them on a bad day. The wings, and chicken and rice are really good and I would love to enjoy it again one day. For now, I will wait and see if things get cleaned up first."

Urban Bird Hot Chicken - Katy

★★★★☆ 3.9 (359) • $$

Mai Colachi - Sugar Land

★★★★☆ 4.1 (313) • $$

Burganic Hub

★★★★★ 4.5 (254) • $$

"Small nonsuspecting burger shop in a strip mall on Chimney Rock. Has a pretty vast menu of veggies, black bean, grass fed beef, non GMO-pasture raised chicken burgers. Burgers are made to order with many different options to upgrade your burger with grilled onions, mushrooms, jalapeños and ever CBD!Vegan SwishMushroom: (5/5) I added jalepeno. This was just so well made and fresh! Oh my stars! Even the bun was airy and crispy. the jalepenos added a perfect touch of heat. The impossible burger was made well and could fool me (but I have not eaten a real burger in over 5 years so take that with a grain of salt). Just good! Good good! Reminded me of an old school burger, what burgers are supposed to taste like, fresh.The atmosphere: gives strip mall burger joint. This is NOT, I repeat, this is NOT a luxury sit down restaurant. If you want anything more, please order take out. Service 5/5: they were very very nice. My food came quickly within 10 mins. The patron smiled a lot and asked me several times if I was enjoying my meal. They weren't busy at all so I'm glad they focused their attention on their one dine-in client.CBD option: you have to ADD CBD to your food. They have the option of adding Delta-8. They can add it to burgers as well as the deserts and smoothie. I was a little scared but I got some CBD Baklava... if I have a bad experience I will update my review... if not - know it went well.Will I be back? If I'm in the area SURE!"

Gyro King

★★★★☆ 4.1 (298) • $

"My mom LOVES this place! We stop here on our way back from an errand we run this way all the time. She orders the Lamb Platter and I order the Lamb Salad. The salad is interesting cause it has jalapeños and pickles in it. I've never eaten a salad like that til I ate here! My mouth is on fire! lol but I've gotten used to it. The service is excellent! We usually take it to go and they fulfill our order pretty quickly. I think we've only eaten here once. They have a good dining area but it's hardly ever too packed. I recommend this place!"

Biryani Express

★★★★☆ 4.2 (274) • $$

"Chicken tikka masala was very flavorful. Asked for 4/5 spice and it was so spicy!!! Like 5/5. Be warned. I'll definitely order from here again. This may be the go to for my Indian cravings,"

Larosh Grill

★★★★☆ 4.3 (255) • $$

"I was looking for a new pakistani restaurant in the Houston area and found this one on my way back home. Although the area and the interior of this restaurant is no frills, dont let that fool you. The food is pretty good and was not nearly as spicy as I was originally thinking it may be.I tried the beef nihari, which is the first entree on the back side of the menu, also the goat curry, and butter chicken. I also added garlic naan. Soft drinks are in a can or bottle, as they do not have a soda fountain here.Beef nihari - this was like a stewed pot roast. It is cooked with fat and sits in a lot of oil. I am thinking you receive about 1/4 lb of meat, if that in the dish. I likes the slivers of ginger in this.Goat curry - this also has slivers of ginger and to me it seemed a bit spicier than the nihari. In contrast, you receive much more goat meat which comes in tender chunks. I am thinking I would order this dish again for sure.Butter chicken - this was my least favorite dish. The white meat chicken was too dry and most noticeably the curry was just too salty. I've had many better in the Houston area, so wouldn't order this dish again.Service is ok, but don't expect to be waited on after ordering."

Busy Boy Sandwiches

★★★★☆ 4.4 (237) • $

Shawarma King

★★★★☆ 3.8 (294) • $

"So disappointed to see our staple for Shamarwas has been sold or changed. My son noticed after he tasted the Shamarwa. We asked me where I bought it.. The Tabouli was dry, Baba Ghangoush was good. No longer the hot Entrées, as before. The counter staff was very cordial, but when I saw the Chicken for the Shamarwa already precut and in a warming tray that was it for me. Sadly."

Curry Masala - Louetta

★★★★☆ 4.4 (216) • $$

"1. Service - according to the wife, the cashier was very nice and friendly. This is a A-La-Carte restaurant. You wait to be seated, order, and pay at your table. 2. Price - for a main entree, they range about $10-$15 a plate. 3. Ambiance- I personally have not eaten inside yet, but my wife said it was a pretty decorated place when she went in to pick up our take out. Dress code here is casual. 4. Food - we've ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Vindaloo Masala. Both were really good and authentic. 5. Cleanliness - I haven't had a chance to dine in, so cannot rate on the dining area. However the to-go presentation is packaged well and the food was fresh and clean. I recommend this place and would definitely come back for a dine-in experience. I will add to this review once we dine-in here."

The Halal Guys

★★★★☆ 3.9 (268) • $$

"Got a small chicken platter ($9 something) and regular combo platter ($10 something). Preferred the beef (more flavor) over chicken. Decent amount of protein for the price, and the small was filling for me. White sauce is very good but high in calories for those health conscious folks. The red sauce is quite spicy. I still like Gyro Hut better (their chicken has more flavor), but Halal Guys is also good."

Bismillah Restaurant & Cafe

★★★★☆ 4.2 (226) • $$

Nazif's

★★★★☆ 3.9 (262)

Howzatt

★★★★☆ 4.4 (203) • $$

Fanoosh - Burgers & Biryani

★★★★☆ 4 (230) • $$

Savoy Restaurant

★★★★☆ 3.9 (219) • $$

"Nice place with great service. The food items at Savoy are super flavorful and the quality is great. Everything we tried was worth ordering and reordering. I especially enjoyed their goat biryani and mixed vegetable dish. I look forward to trying their special weekend breakfast menu and other items."

Kabob Korner

★★★★☆ 4.1 (190) • $$

"Ordered beef shawarma through a grubhub delivery and man it hit the spot! The garlic naan was bigger than I anticipated and was the perfect side to my meal. Will definitely be back!"

Urban Bird Hot Chicken

★★★★☆ 3.8 (213) • $$

"I ordered the Sando Combo, Nashville hot, with extra Bird sauce. The meail arrived quickly, and was still hot and fresh!If you like Nashville hot chicken, this is some of the best I've had!"

Maza Pakistani Grill

★★★★☆ 4.4 (157) • $$

"Fish Masala over Rice is the dish I get almost every time.... It was even my Christmas dinner once!! (I'm a pilot, often stuck at IAH) It is always cooked exactly as I like it, which is of course the best way; crispy and loaded with masala spices... yum yum yummy!!"

Gyro Hut

★★★★☆ 4.2 (172)

"Love this place! I normally order the combo platter with white sauce on top and fire sauce on the side. The fire sauce is super spicy! The meat is sooo flavorful and tender. Employees are friendly and services is fast. Restaurant is always clean."

Taco Fuego

★★★★☆ 3.9 (197)

"Returned last night and was not disappointed! The quesaBirria at $3.25 a piece is flavor bomb. I'm not sure with the tub of sauce adds much more to the flavor."

Gyro Republic

★★★★☆ 3.9 (190)

"Not to mention "Working Class Gyro" by John Lemon-potatoes and the even more poignant, meaningful protest song "Gyros In A Half-Pita" by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.What to get: A Gyro, DUH.Well I'm jumping on the bandwagon I wrote a Gyro song, which I wrote with Bonnie Tyler in mind. Here it is.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f_HsjpSVaI"Holding Out For A Gyro"Original Lyrics:azlyrics.com/lyrics/bonn...Where have all the Greek men goneAnd where are all the Gods?Where's the meat-wise HerculesTo knead the rising dough?Isn't there some white sauce upon some fiery meat?Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I needI need a Gyro!I'm holding out for a Gyro 'til the end of the nightIt's gotta be hotAnd he's gotta be bigAnd he's gotta be fresh and done right!I need a GyroI'm holding out for a Gyro 'til the morning lightIt's gotta be goodAnd it's gotta be soonAnd it's gotta be larger than lifeHouston has a lot of good Gyros and this is one of them. I love the place, the prices aren't bad, taste is good, service is okay or good sometimes. Even if I was going to lower them to 4 stars - which I wasn't - I'd raise them because of the annoying "unsanitary" reviews. People are so squeamish. You live on planet earth. You're buying essentially fast food essentially made from the innards and sh** of cows that are injected with growth hormones and chemicals from day one. But hey. Got to be afraid of germs all the time."

Howdy Hot Chicken

★★★★☆ 3.8 (198) • $$

"Howdy you make everything better when you feel like crap? You come here!I wanted pretty badly to like Howdy Hot Chicken, and in some ways I do like it, and I think it's one of the better hot chicken places I've been to outside Tennessee, but their hot is a little too hot in an uncomfortable way but not a tasty way. That's weird for me to say, I have everything far more spicy than 99% of people can handle, trust me (it's Barbi's influence mainly).Also the sauces are a little too sweet for me. And don't get me started on the prices, although the large portions of chicken are pretty nice. But making the sandwiches sugary is something that the massive expansion of hot chicken places by hipsters has done, and I don't appreciate it.I want this stuff, but I need to have this stuff in Tennessee, and so do you, to see what it's supposed to taste like. Hattie Be's for example. It was never sweet and it shouldn't be sweet. I don't know why everyone has to corrupt and pollute the recipe of traditional stuff around the country with massive doses of high fructose corn syrup.Other than that it's very tasty sandwich, good quality chicken, piping hot, and large and filling, although service at this location was not very nice to me at all, and the prices are pretty high.A four star chain with some one star employees constantly messing up very expensive sandwiches, hence the 3 stars. The Shepherd location is much more reliable."

Hotline Burger

★★★★★ 4.8 (122) • $$

"I used Waze to try and find this place, and it took me to Bellaire, so I would copy and paste the address if you use that platform for GPS. I found out after I got to their current location, that Bellaire is actually their future location, but it's not open yet. I heard about this place from Jazy, and after reading Zain's review, I was ready to try it!Food - I ordered the Hotline burger. And the Smack fries $5.99 - which were yummy, just as I had read in the reviews. They also had two special burgers, Rodeo and Croissant. I went with the Croissant burger $12.99, since I was curious. I belive, it includes a fried egg, pickles, smack sauce, cheese, and the 2 smash patties. I ordered my food to go. Once I received it all, I became scared and nervous it would be soggy by the time I got home. So I just ended up dinning in, and ate the croissant burger in house. I'm glad I did because I don't think it would have held up well on my long drive home. It's uber buttery and rich. The fries and other burger I took home, they held up. Service- was smooth. Good flow of service, which is crucial. Food is made to order. I got to chat it up, with one of the two owners, Thomas. He was front of house and answering questions. He had chill vibes. Wishing him the very best and much success for his restaurant. Would come again if on this side of town."

Wings 87

★★★★☆ 4.4 (139)

"WINGSTOP WHO?!After being a wingstop fan of many many years and being a huge wing person.. this place is amazing! The prices are super reasonable especially during happy hour. The wings are huge and they sauce it up real nice. The amount of flavors they have is unlimited. This place is very small and could be hard to miss. There isn't a lot of seating inside so i recommend you just do take out. I'm not going to say much bc you just need to come try it out for yourself :)"

The Halal Guys

★★★★☆ 4.3 (142)

"You can always count on the Halal Guys. Service is efficient and food is great. I recommend the Combo Platter, you get to try their amazing beef and chicken meat at the same time, meat is always fresh and well-seasoned, tender and flavorful. Portion size is much appreciated, it comes with rice, lettuce, tomatoes and 4 pieces of pita bread. I also ordered another side of hummus, it comes with another piece of big pita bread, hummus was on point!"

Howdy Hot Chicken

★★★★☆ 3.9 (151) • $$

"If you're in a mood and feeling ROWDYOr if your clothes are crap and you're looking DOWDYOr if you're months behind on your P.O.S. AUDIOr if you're in Tulum but it's grey and CLOUDYOr if your Prem team just got bought by SAUDIOr if you're in Barca and you don't like GAUDII have a solution and I say it PROUDLYCome and get Hot Chicken here at HOWDYWHAT!Absolutely delicious hot chicken and I like it a little bit more than Barbie does and it's a little expensive but extremely spicy and extremely tasty and while it's not my favorite Hot Chicken in town it's still very much well worth a visit.I wanted pretty badly to like Howdy Hot Chicken, and in some ways I do like it, and I think it's one of the better hot chicken places I've been to outside Tennessee, but their hot is a little too hot in an uncomfortable way but not a tasty way. That's weird for me to say, I have everything far more spicy than 99% of people can handle, trust me (it's Barbi's influence mainly).I guess the sauces are a little - or a lot - too sweet for me. And don't get me started on the prices, although the large portions of chicken are pretty nice. But making the sandwiches sugary is something that the massive array of bastardized hipsterized hot chicken places by has done, and I don't appreciate it. I remember the old days of Nashville hot chicken - not a sprinkle of sugar in sight.I want this stuff, but I need to have this stuff in Tennessee, and so do you, to see what it's supposed to taste like. Hattie B's for example, local Nashville locations more than out of state locations. It was never sweet and it shouldn't be sweet. I don't know why everyone has to corrupt and pollute the recipe of traditional stuff around the country with massive doses of high fructose corn syrup.Other than that it's very tasty sandwich, good quality chicken, piping hot, and large and filling, although service at Sugar Land was not very nice to me at all, and the prices are pretty high. Service here at Shepherd was much better, so it rubbed me the right way. There can be a long-ish wait time, especially if a lot of uber and phone orders are before you. They do seem to prioritize online orders over dine-in customers. Very frustrating.For Sugar Land, I said it was a four star chain with some one star employees constantly messing up very expensive sandwiches, hence the 3 stars. The Shepherd location is much more reliable, hence I give the full 4, but they need to improve on the wait time and have even better service if they want that 5th star."

Anothai Cuisine

★★★★☆ 3.5 (182) • $$

"I have to update my review. I've been coming here often on for about 10 years. When they are on and doing a great job let me tell you they are doing a great job. Every now and then they'll have some mishaps but here lately they've been on a real win streak so I got to give them props. I haven't had any issues at all.Food: do you have some really good specialty dishes here that you can't find anywhere else. One is there Eno Thai fried rice. That is very good. Their Thai cashew nut chicken is also really really good. The curries are great. Their soups are really good. Their fried spring rolls are really good. Their desserts are amazing. The food here is quite good. I'm a huge fan of the pad Thai as well but I only like to either pad Thai there at the restaurant because if you get it to go it's not the same experience.I will continue to come here as long as I live in Northwest Houston. They have locations all over Houston and they are very consistent. The people to work here or a lot friendlier now. I'm happy to one older toe lady left. She had some kind of rude problem with a lot of clients. So I'm glad she's gone. Sayonara"

Curry Masala - Spring

★★★★★ 4.5 (107)

"I had a decent experience at curry masala. I went for lunch, and it was kinda busy. The food was ok, and a little expensive but the drinks were really good!I got the mango lassi and vindaloo masala (with chicken). The lassi was really delicious! The vindaloo was ok, the chicken was a bit tough. The portions were good though, and it left me very full. I'd probably try something different next time. We also got the milk and chai for dessert and it was pretty good! The chai has a unique and strong flavor and I liked it.The service here was pretty good, they were attentive but it did take a little bit for our food to arrive (although i might have just been starving haha). The interior of the restaurant was nice and decorated well. It felt homey and comfortable. Overall, I might go here again if I'm in the area"

Deen's Cheesesteak & Pizza

★★★★☆ 3.7 (156) • $$

"I was so excited to try the pizzas and calzones from here, but unfortunately when I was ordering over the phone, they said that they were not able to make them that evening. No worries, I got the cheesesteaks instead and they were delicious! I like the cheese steak that was the original better because I did not like they yellow cheese as much as the white one...the yellow cheese was quite salty. But I am not taking any stars off because that is just a personal preference. They still deserve 5 stars because they had our food ready by the time we went there to pick up, which was about a 20 minute drive. Im glad that the cheesesteaks were so delicious, the fries were also crispy and I asked white garlic sauce to dip my fries in, and that was a good idea I'm proud to have had. I'm really glad I did that because it was a great dipping sauce for the fries! If I am in my area again, I would love to try the pizza and the calzones, but even the cheese steaks are worth the drive back to come here again!"