Quick Take:
Location: 3304 Florida Ave S, Lakeland
What Mike Ordered: Chicken Gyro Over Rice Bowl
What Katie Ordered: Chicken Gyro Pita Wrap
Extra Order: Baklava, Street Corn In A Cup, Chicken Shawarma Wrap
Vegetarian Options: Yes
Final Score: 4.75/5
Price: ~$10–20 per person
For our nineteenth stop on our Polk Food Quest, we visited The NYC Cart Halal in Lakeland.
This is the first food truck, with the exception of Savage Tacos (which started as and still runs their truck, but opened a brick-and-mortar location) to make it into our Mike & Katie's Polk Food Quest reviews.
I haven't had halal since I moved from Long Island (NY) nearly 10 years ago, and I remember looking for it when I first moved down and being so upset that you couldn't find any in Polk.
Thankfully, we now we have The NYC Cart Halal right in Lakeland.
And I just want to start with a bit of a spoiler before we get into it:
We found it a week or two ago and have been there three times...
But it gets better.
We are getting new floors in four rooms of our house and picked up The NYC Cart Halal for our two friends who are doing the work for us, Katie's parents, and ourselves (Ryan, my brother, included) and ALL of them ranked it a 5/5.
The guys who are doing our floors live in Tampa and said: "Mike you HAVE to give us the name and address of this place for anytime we're near Lakeland."
By the way: if you're new here, the concept of my Polk Food Quest is simple: every week I try a local spot, order the most common thing people get, try a few extras, and rank it on taste, value, vibes, and overall.
This week: Chicken Gyro Over Rice Bowl!
Which means I ordered a Chicken Gyro Over Rice Bowl, Katie ordered a Chicken Gyro Pita Wrap, and we also had Baklava, Street Corn in a Cup, and a Chicken Shawarma Wrap.
How Does This Work?
I order the standard item for that category (for halal that's a gyro bowl over rice and shawarma), plus a few extras so I can get a full feel for the menu.
Then I rank the experience on four things:
Taste | Value | Vibes | 
Overall
Taste focuses on the standard item.
The rest reflects the entire experience.
Taste: 5/5
This is an EASY 5/5 for taste.
I have been missing this since I lived in NY and I'm so glad we get to have it again.
At first I thought "There's no way it'll be as good as NYC ..."
But The NYC Cart Halal lives up to it's name and is SOOOO good.
Jaden, one of the guys we brought some said "This is the best greek I've ever had in my life" and I had to break it to him it's actually shawarma, not Greek.
Similar look, different world.
Here's a quick breakdown for my quick scanners, though:
- Chicken Gyro Over Rice Bowl: Exactly what I've been hoping for, for years. Incredible. Blew everyone away.
- Chicken Gyro Pita Wrap: Katie's go-to. She loves it and is excited we'll be back so often.
- Chicken Shawarma Wrap: This is Katie's backup choice and definitely another go-to for her. She highly recommends it.
- Baklava: Holy cow this can be dangerous. SO good.
- Street Corn In A Cup: Delicious! Would probably choose the Baklava over it if I was choosing only one, but still great.
You really can't go wrong with anything on the menu.
We've been back three times since we discovered it and have tried a bit of everything with absolutely no complaints.
My biggest complaint is that we didn't find them the day they opened!
Vibes: 4/5
This is the only section that is getting even a sliver of a point deducted, but it's a bit outside their control.
Our Vibes section covers the space, location and hospitality overall.
The hospitality is a 5/5, but as a food truck limited to pick up (no seating, so unless you're planning on eating in your car it's limited to pick up); as much as we want to give it 5 stars across the board, we have to deduct a point.
The location itself in the parking lot of a Marathon gas station, so in terms of pickup in south Lakeland, it doesn't get much better than right on Florida Ave.
Vibes get a 4/5.
The Lean Squeeze
The lowest-calorie, highest-protein, most satiating picks on the menu — chosen by Mike, who spent a decade in the fitness industry before The Polk Squeeze.
Mike's Pick: Chicken Gyro Pita Wrap
Chicken is your leanest protein on this menu. Wrap format skips the rice you'd get in a platter, so you're not paying calories for carbs you don't need. Ask for the white sauce on the side.
Alternative Picks: Chicken Gyro Over Rice
If you want more protein in your meal, this is the move.
Bigger portion of chicken, but it leans heavier on carbs since you're getting rice instead of pita.
Mike's Note: Personally, I'd get the over rice with extra meat. Yes, it's more carbs from the rice, but you're getting a lot more protein for it, and that's a good trade for me (AND it's my favorite and delicious).
Value: 5/5
Another 5/5 for The NYC Cart Halal.
I rank value based on taste, vibes and how much you are actually getting for the dollars you're spending.
If you're leaving hungry, or there really isn't anything special about the meal, value gets a deduction.
So in this case, even though you can't go sit down and eat, they're still getting a 5/5 for the pure fact that they hit all these marks:
- Everything is absolutely delicious.
- The hospitality is amazing.
- You will DEFINITELY not be hungry after (possibly multiple meals in the chicken over rice meal, especially if you get extra meat).
I have leftovers in the fridge (and I can EAT) after Katie and I went and spent $25 for the two of us earlier today.
Overall: 4.75/5
The only thing that keeps The NYC Cart Halal from being a perfect 5/5 is a sliver off the score for the vibes of the location.
Everything else is an absolute perfect 5/5.
Taste, hospitality, value; all incredible.
So now our plan is to continue supporting them until they can get their own brick-and-mortar location (or maybe a seating area or something) one day and bump this 4.75 to a perfect 5/5!
Would I bring my visiting family there?
Definitely.
We already brought Katie's parents there and they loved it, and it will be on the top of our list for when my family visits as well.
I can't wait for them to find out we have a halal cart within 15 minutes of the house meanwhile they're on Long Island and ours is as good as NYC!
Here’s how I’d sum up The NYC Cart Halal:
The food carries this place. Taste is a perfect 5/5, and after nearly 10 years of missing halal since leaving Long Island, that's not a small thing to say.
Everything we ordered was excellent. Nothing on the menu is a miss.
The only small ding is on vibes, and it's not really their fault. It's a food truck in a Marathon gas station lot, so there's no seating. Great for pickup, not built for eating on site.
I personally think that's a small price to pay for food this good.
You will not leave hungry, and the value is there dollar for dollar.
If you're anywhere near Lakeland and haven't tried it, go check it out.
And if you're new to Polk and missing real halal like we were, this is the spot.
Before You Go....
Hey!
I want to know what you think of The NYC Cart Halal.
Leave a comment below.
The more you share, the better, but anything is appreciated.
Each comment helps The Best Of Polk articles and eventually, the yearly awards!
Have a place you want me to try?
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I like reading your article. I just have one request. I have no idea what this food is you’re talking about. I was born and raised in Florida never heard of this food. Maybe you could suggest to us what it actually is. You say it’s Chicken but how is the chicken cooked and what is Shawarma? It would be interesting to see your tank on it so if I went to try this restaurant, I would know what I was going to get but not know exactly what it taste like until I try it thank you.
Hey there! I know what I’m good at. I am good at finding local gems and ranking things like Taste, Value and Vibes — and I spent over a dozen years helping people transform their bodies/fitness so I can also help make the best dietary choices, while eating good.
What I’m NOT good at is telling you hyper-specifics about different cuisines. So while I would LOVE to include a section like this whenever I think it’s a new food people may not know about — I think I’d be doing you a disservice if Google could likely say it better with a 10 second search.
Halal from what I have researched has to do with Sharia law. Am I missing something?
Here’s what came up for me with Google AI summary:
“Halal street food—most notably popularized by New York City-style halal carts—is a fusion of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and American flavors. Its signature dish is a hearty, flavorful platter of seasoned chicken or lamb (gyro) served over yellow basmati rice, accompanied by lettuce, tomato, and pita bread.
The most defining element of halal street food is its signature condiments. It is almost always drenched in a generous helping of a creamy, mayonnaise-based “white sauce” (similar to tzatziki or kebab sauce) and a fiery, chili-based “red sauce”.
Other popular menu items you will typically find at these carts include:
Chicken or Lamb Gyros/Wraps: The same seasoned meats wrapped in a warm pita.
Falafel: Deep-fried, crispy balls of ground chickpeas and herbs (inherently halal and vegan).
Combination Platters: A mix of both chicken and gyro meat over rice.”