B & D Halal Restaurant

“Its a laid back atmosphere – self-serve buffet, no fancy pancy bling.”

“As mentioned in other reviews, the dishes have no labels, which makes it harder for me to note down which ones I like and look them up.”

“It's also a great place for white dudes like me to feel cool and exotic.”

B & D Halal Restaurant

Take-out: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes

Price range.

$ Price range Under $10

8 reviews

  1. This place is great. First of all, the staff is so friendly. When I called to ask if they accepted credit cards (which they do) and if they are Halal (which they are) they were helpful and courteous. When I got there the staff also answered all my questions and was very friendly. All the food is buffet style. So you pick what you want and pay by the pound. The meal is $6.99 a pound. The food is delicious. The meat is so tender. And the spices are so wonderful. Definitely the best barbecue chicken I have had at a Halal restaurant. The food is very tasty. The restaurant is clean. The noise level is about average and they have TV (news) playing in the restaurant. My meal was $13. She didn't charge me for my soda.

  2. I've been here twice now. I'm usually the only white person in here. People here like to smirk at the sight of me, and it leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

    I can't identify the food. It's all very colorful, very meaty, very saucy, and very halal. There's lots of choice. And it's all $8/pound. Some times I find myself unexpectedly pulling fish bones out of my mouth. Watch out for that.

    I sat down and chatted up some random guy. He came from some West African country, which I now forget. He looked at my plate and said "you are now eating the food of my tribe." I asked him what his tribe was called, and what he said sounded like "full-on-y.". Then he told me "I am happy that you like the food of my tribe." We then talked about everything, like his life here in America, and what it was like to immigrate here, and what we thought of Obama and war. It was lovely.

  3. Pay per pound buffet with a lot of seating area, and good food with many flavors, I'm in!

    As mentioned in other reviews, the dishes have no labels, which makes it harder for me to note down which ones I like and look them up. We had chicken curry, barbecue chicken, pilau rice, jollof rice, meatballs with white beans, and many other dishes which I can't identify. And I like all of them!

    They also have a salad bar with avocado salad, cole slaw and fresh fruits and veggies.

  4. I'd loved to have given this place a good review. A variety of interesting dishes, even though none are labeled (I came in knowing this). In fact, I even recommend the fried dough balls at the back left of the buffet.

    But I had 18 hours of digestive issues. They cut short family events and made me miss Mother's Day. Fortunately my gf did not get sick, as she tried fewer items. I don't know which item did it, but poison me once and I'm not returning, and I'm going to tell other people to stay away. The food may be interesting and even tasty, but it comes with a price.

  5. I love it here — although I have to admit that, because I am a buffoon, I laughed inward whenever I walked by here the first dozen times or so… B&D, bondage & domination, sadomasochism, get it?

    It's definitely steamy from all the buffet tables, so I wish they would cut a hole in the wall to make a window because the only other relief from the heat is a regular sized-door, while in addition to the gigantic buffet tables there are also always at least a couple dozen people in here merrily eating and relaxing (and adding to the ambient warmth).  

    Even if the food weren't so good, I would still love it because it's so fresh: there are always lots of people eating so the staff are continually refilling, and, also, it has been my experience that they round down in pricing. Like me, they like even numbers. If your plate is 1.10 pounds, they ask for $6 for vegetables or $7 for meats. This is something that makes all the difference in the world to me. Little gestures of generosity are giant.

    I don't bother looking at the food labels, which really don't give you more information than your own powers of observation, "tomato," "peas," "okra," etc., but apparently I really love their vegetable heavy soups and stews, because after a few visits now, I am just realizing that I really haven't had any chunks of meat. Not that I have been avoiding the meat, just that there are always long lines of guys waiting to get at them, and I'm perfectly fine exploring all the other stuff. And all the other stuff is really really good.

    The atmosphere here is the opposite of intimidating and also the opposite of welcoming, it's almost anonymous, which I honestly like most of all, nobody bothers you and you don't bother anybody, how this behemoth city of ours should be, lots of people packed into a small space all taking care of themselves and having fun.

  6. Definitely not a family style restaurant. The place smelled heavily of fried fish which wasn't very nice. The only patrons were single men- mostly of African origin. I am expecting the food to be really good as the locals come here, but we couldn't stand the strong smells in the restaurant and we didn't want to take the food to the hotel room, so we ended up not eating here.

  7. Walk into this Francophone African break-room and pile heaping mounds of African mystery meats and full-flavored vegetable mush unto your plate or take-out container. The endless buffet dishes are poorly labeled or not at all, but it hardly matters: just tell yourself you're eating a [insert color of dish] stew and that's what you're eating. For $10 or less you'll get a big mess of hearty gut-busters.

    It's also a great place for white dudes like me to feel cool and exotic. You will almost certainly be the only white guy, or pretty much only anything unless you're a French-speaking guy from West Africa. There are plenty of tables to linger, watch French-language news and soccer, and catch up on the latest gossip.

  8. Being so close to the office, I've always wanted to try this place. You walk in and it is very spacious with two steam buffet tables in the front and another long steam table in the back. Beverages are right up front. Communal seating to your right.

    Like many have mentioned, nothing is labeled but I was aiming to try a little of almost everything so that didn't bother me much not knowing what anything was.

    Got the Joloff Rice as my starch and loaded a small piece of everything on top. Here's what I can identify:

    – Fatty goat in a thick nutty stew was very tender. Interesting contrasting flavors in this stew.
    – Large beef brisket chunks in a light sauce had some interesting spices but a little dry. Pieces were a bit too large cut.
    – Stewed chicken chunks in a very vegetal tasting spice/herb stew was not to my liking and overcooked. Maybe better on a different type of meat.
    – Stewed fish chunks in a red liquid were a bit fishy but still tender. It's a bit scaly so be careful with the skin.
    – There was a peppery lamb/mutton that was really good. I wished I grabbed more.
    – The jerk chicken had a nice kick to it and very flavorful. Very spicy and a good wake-up from the very similar tasting stewed meats. Love this!
    – Stewed peas were nice and tender. I like to mix it in the rice.
    – Stewed black-eye peas were delicious.
    – Forgot from which stewed meat the onions were from but they were really good and had a hint of sourness to it.
    – Zucchini mixed veggies were a nice lighter side as I wanted some greens and didn't see much else that day other than colder salad options.

    The people working there are very nice. Also, after weighing, the guy at the register will undercharge you. Priced at $6.99 a pound and mine came out to be $8.99. He told me to give him $8. A good place to be adventurous and taste something different.

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West 29th Street 163B
New York 10001 NY US
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Monday, 11:00 am - 3:00 am
Tuesday, 11:00 am - 3:00 am
Wednesday, 11:00 am - 3:00 am
Thursday, 11:00 am - 3:00 am
Friday, 11:00 am - 3:00 am
Saturday, 11:00 am - 3:00 am
Sunday, 11:00 am - 3:00 am