Rafiqi’s
“But if not, then try Halal Guys (the famous one), Chicken Tikka at Biryani Cart (my fave by far in Frankfurt-Am-Mainhattan), and any of the Rafiqi's too.”
“I always get the lamb gyro with rice ($5.25) with all the vegetables (lettuce, tomatoes, olives, red onions, garbanzo beans, corn and some chopped green peppers), white sauce and extra hot sauce.”
“I had lamb/chicken combo platter with rice and bunch of toppings that you get to choose.”
Rafiqi’s
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
7 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
OK, folks – let me just say that I am NOT usually into cart-food. I am scared and skeeved by it – but Rafiqi's is good and thus far seems safe. I got a HUGE chicken 'n rice platter with tasty tzatziki sauce. And fresh grilled pita.
So good and so cheap!
There's several Rafiqi's spread throughout New York City, and all of them get a good number of people ordering from these food carts. I've been to this Rafiqi's several times, hoping that their food would be better and maybe they just had an off day, but I just can't convince myself that this place is actually good and I truly want to come back.
Chicken or gyro platters are $5. If you decide to get the Combo Platter (chicken and gyro), expect to pay $5.50. If you want pita bread on top, that will cost you an extra $.50. With so many other better tasting halal food carts, this food cart is really trying to penny pinch and make every dime off of you. The food is far from great, it is subpar. The chicken and gyro meat always seem to be dry. The white sauce is your standard white sauce, nothing to rave about, but also nothing to frown upon. Their hot sauce is slightly hot for those looking to add a little kick to their meal. In all, this place is subpar (the short lines speak for it) and can easily be overlooked with the abundance of Halal food carts only a couple blocks in the vicinity.
Portion size is small. You would expect them to at least fill up the styrofoam container.. Right? My container was only half full, most were bits of lettuce.
The flavor is pretty good though, not as good as halal guys of course.
Amazing food truck in midtown area. And it is even better than Uncle Gussy which is about a block away. Their meat is sliced thinly to allow sauce to marinate inside. The sauce itself was flavorful enough yet not too savory. They gave you enough lettuce, corns and tomatoes to accompany the platter as well. I have been eating at this place many times recently myself and am still not tired of it at all. My favorite food truck year to date!
this is so much better than Halal Guys… meat are actual chunks rather than shredded, hot sauce is delicious (i always ask for extra), and the veggies make the meal seem somewhat healthy… ha… and it is really reasonably priced, my chicken over rice is about $6. Also there is always a crowd here but the line moves sooo fast so I don't even mind ordering in the cold. thumbs up!
I came here looking for some Fiq Newtons, but by the time the guy had served the woman in front of me, I had changed my mind. I'm very Fiqle in that regard. I fiqet what I ordered next, but it was delicious. In fact it was fiqing delicious, one of the most delicious fiqing things I've had. I'm glad that I braved rush hour traffiq to come here.
What to get: Combo with all the sauces – don't get any salad
What else: The Brian Setzer Orchestra are the Devil's Minions
I was feeling kind of Raf and wanted some food that didn't taste iqi. So I came to Rafiqi.
This was the Rafiqi's that I tried most recently, on my last trip to NYC. It's one of the better ones I've tried, but not the best, which is Union Square location. It's typical NYC Halal Cart Street Meat and it's delicious. Highly recommended to everyone.
There hasn't been food this good since the days of Queen Fiqtoria.
I was last here about 3 months ago, and I'm not sure if I'll try it again soon because I still have other locations to try and while I liked this one, it was only my 2nd fave. The guy running this cart was nice, and it took less than 5 mins from getting in line behind 2 others, to having my food which I thought was excellent. It never seems crazy busy here except maybe during lunch hour.
As an aside, I have to admit, I do like the products sold at Fiqtoria's Secret.
As I said, Halal Guys and Biryani Cart get more business (and rightly so, in the case of Biryani), but if you want to sample all the best of NYC street meat, you have to give one of the Rafiqi's a try.
I've been with Rafiqi's through Fiq and Thin. So I'm not going to abandon them now.
From this particular location I ordered my usual combo (which is gyro meat and chicken, with rice, covered in sauces). I learned my lesson at several previous Rafiqi's, and finally asked for no salad, and extra of all the sauces. The salad tends to go bad if you save some of the food for later, and besides, it's next to all the piping hot stuff so it kind of gets weird quickly, and doesn't microwave well at all. Not that I like to microwave stuff, but how else are you going to re-heat a combo?
If the owner was a singer, he'd be Fiqaro.
And again I will say, I think it's pretty awesome that the guy has a huge Rafiqi's empire and so many trucks all over Manhattan. I wonder when (if?) he's going to expand into the other boroughs. I'm looking through my notes here and I have now reviewed all the 5 Rafiqi's I've tried in NYC and still have roughly 5 more to try (I like to try different locations so that I can decide which ones are better, if any). So you can look forward to those in the future.
However a warning: eating Rafiqi's will mean it is harder to stay Fiq. You'll have to go to the gym more or maybe Cross-Fiq. Join LA Fiqness or something.
By the way if you're willing to venture out of Manhattan, then you must go to Sammy's Halal in Queens. But if not, then try Halal Guys (the famous one), Chicken Tikka at Biryani Cart (my fave by far in Frankfurt-Am-Mainhattan), and any of the Rafiqi's too.
And if a girl has nice curves and plenty of booty, then some people will describe her as "Fiq." And she might end up in a video with Robin Fiqke. Oh wait, she'd have to be anorexic for that. And to the reviewed that said this food tastes like Fiqal Matter: you're wrong.
You can't beat a $5 lunch in midtown – I've been here about four times, and the first three times it used to be a big red truck on 52nd. I came here last Friday and it was a little food cart – same guys working there, just without the big red truck. I always get the lamb gyro with rice ($5.25) with all the vegetables (lettuce, tomatoes, olives, red onions, garbanzo beans, corn and some chopped green peppers), white sauce and extra hot sauce. I usually come here for lunch after a night of weeknight drinking – for some reason I always crave Rafiqi's and take my lunch break early 😛