Ultimate Halal Food Guide for the San Francisco Bay Area
6 min readJun 5, 2019
Last updated January 2023
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New to the Bay Area? Don’t know your way around the halal food scene?
This guide will help you navigate that!
| SAN FRANCISCO |
🏠 Biet Rima
- Arabic comfort food, named after the owner’s mom
- Ingredients are sourced locally, food is made fresh and their service is always top-notch
- 2 locations in San Francisco
- What’s good: Chicken Shish Tawook + Samir’s Bread + Batata Harra
🇵🇰 Pakwan on 16th St.
- One of the first Pakistani restaurants to open in San Francisco!
- Pro tip: After dinner, grab some ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery and chill at Dolores Park
- What’s good: ALL of their BBQ meats + Chicken Biryani
🍕 Kinara
- Indian Fusion with a twist
- Shahil(owner) is friendly and always experimenting with new food ideas
- What’s good: Tikka masala pizza + Dum Biryani + Pani Puri Shots
🐔 Halal Wings Plus
- Halal wings, burgers & more
- Open till 11 PM
- Great for large parties and watching the NBA Finals
- What’s good: Mango Habanero Wings + Parmesan Wings + Philly Cheesesteak
🍳 Cracked and Battered
- A legit halal brunch spot with the best halal fried chicken EVER
- Make sure to put your name down for the Yelp Waitlist, the wait is LONG (1.5+ hours on weekends)
- Note: Turkey sausage is not halal
- What’s good: Chicken and Waffles + Lemon Ricotta Pancake
🥘 Halal Dastarkhan
- The first halal uzbek cuisine in San Francisco!
- Frequented by well-known uzbek athletes like Khabib
- What’s good: Manti + Sofi Osh (Plov) + Super Dastarkhan Plate
| SOUTH BAY |
♨️ Mangal Turkish Grill
- The first halal Turkish BBQ (ocak basi) in the bay!
- 100% hand-slaughtered halal meats
- Here’s a video I made about Mangal!
- What’s good: Filet Mignon + Lamb Chops + Sujuk + Chicken Thigh
🍛 Teriyaki Madness
- Japanese Teriyaki franchise with Muslim owners!
- Note: A couple of items are not halal and are cooked separately
- What’s good: Spicy chicken bowl, Yakisoba style
🔥 Zareen’s
- Incredible Pakistani joint in Palo Alto, Mountain View and Redwood city
- The owner, Zareen, was a Product Manager for 6 years until she quit and started her own ventures in food!
- What’s good: Halwa Poori Brunch + Sabri Beef Nihari + Gola Kabab Sizzler + Chai
🥙 Jubba Restaurant
- Authentic Somali/Ethiopian eatery
- Hands down of the most unique food choices you’ll have in the Bay and it’s great for big groups!
- What’s good: Sports Plate + Jumbo Steak
🍔 Lados
- Originally a food truck, Lados grew so much in popularity that the owners opened a storefront!
- Uses hand-slaughtered chicken
- Muslim women-owned and operated
- What’s good: The Zinger + Crazy Curry Fries + Bomb kebob
🍜 Champa Kitchen
- The only halal Vietnamese spot in the Bay Area!
- Muslim women-owned and operated
- What’s good: Spicy Pho Beef “Bo” + Roti Paratha + Shaking Beef “Bo Luc Lac”
| EAST BAY |
☕️ Delah Cofee
- Incredibly delicious and vibey Yemeni coffee shop open late till 10PM
- What’s good: Adeni Chai, Bee Bites, Yemeni Latte, Biscoff Cheesecake
- Great place to hang out with friends/family around Muslims
- Oakland location is opening soon so check out the SF location for now!
🐔 World Famous Hotboys
- Brand new Oakland storefront whipping up halal hot chicken
- The founders went through 17 different types of chicken and found that halal chicken from Wayne Farms was the highest quality!
- What’s good: Medium Spiced Sando
🌮 El Halal Amigos
- America’s first 100% zabihah halal Mexican food truck (and now brick and mortar in San Jose)!
- Pro tip: Come on Wednesday’s to try their famous birria tacos!
- The owner, Chef Hisham, is super friendly and posts great food content on his YouTube and IG.
- What’s good: These guys have 0 misses. Everything is fire. Get a super narcho suadero burrito and thank me later.
🇹🇭 Sala Thai 2
- Halal Thai
- Known for their high-quality ingredients and nice atmosphere
- What’s good: Drunken Noodle + Noodle Yellow Curry
🍔 Grandeur
- Black-owned burger eatery known for their halal and vegan options + chill staff
- Open till 10PM on most days — great for those late nights munchies.
- What’s good: Lamb Burger (ask for recommended style) + Adobo Chicken Wings + Twisted Fries
🍗 Port of Peri Peri
- Halal Portuguese Chicken similar to Nando’s
- They use all-natural, vegetarian-fed chicken, never frozen, and marinated for a minimum of 24 hours
- What’s good: Family Platter + Perimayo Corn + Peri Cassava Fries
Honorable mentions
- Reem’s | Palestinian | San Francisco
- Chef Sha | Halal Chinese Hotpot | San Mateo
- Shawarmaji | Authentic tasting shawarma in the Bay Area | Oakland
- Habibi’s Birria | Birria Tacos | Hayward
Partially Halal spots
- Alexander’s Steakhouse | Steakhouse | Ask for Halal Steak
- Teni East Kitchen | Burmese | Halal Chicken, Beef, Lamb
- Burma Super Star | Burmese | Halal Chicken, Beef
| OTHER COOL SPOTS IN SAN FRANCISCO |
Coffee ☕
Sweets 🍰
Palestinian-owned spots 🇵🇸
*Has multiple locations
Yelp collection of 200+ halal spots:
Halal food in Southern California:
Halal Restaurants in Sacramento:
Bay Area Muslim Onboarding Guide to find housing, groups, and other resources:
Disclaimer: Everything on this list has been verified to be halal unless otherwise stated. Owners and suppliers can change every so often. I advice you to always check in with the employees/owner at the restaurant in person or on the phone to confirm halal status.
