I had been missing good Halal food for a while when a friend discovered Oasis Grill & Pizza in Providence, Rhode Island. After a little insistence, we made the  half-hour trip and I was pleasantly surprised to find an Oasis in Rhode Island (pun intended). After arriving, we were met with a very nice waitress who let us sit where we wanted. It is important to note that Oasis serves Hookah. There is a separate family dining area if you’re trying to escape a smoking atmosphere.

One of the times we went we got boneless buffalo wings as an appetizer; another time we had the hummus. I really liked the hummus and enjoyed the presentation of the dish and was appreciative for an appropriate amount of bread for the amount of hummus given. I hate going to restaurants that give a bunch of hummus and not enough bread, but that’s not a problem at Oasis. The buffalo wings were pretty good but I would recommend the hummus over it.

As for entrées, I’ve tried a bunch of the things on the menu, from the buffalo chicken sandwich to the 1/2 pound burgers, but above all my favorite was definitely the steak & cheese on a sub. They cook the steak to perfection and then oozy cheese (my mouth is watering just typing about it). The buffalo chicken sandwich is a little too buffaloey (hard to describe but as a person who LOVES buffalo chicken, something just seemed off). The buffalo chicken pizza is good and a great item to share amongst friends as you wait for more items.

They have various deserts and teas as well. I prefer going to the store in the back and getting some baklava. The store in the back is great, especially for a poor student like me. They have chicken and beef steaks and a wide variety of essentials needed to cook. The store also sells hookahs and other affiliated items.

Oasis is right across the street from the Islamic Center of Rhode Island.

Pictures

Recommendations

Hummus as an appetizer

Steak & Cheese on a sub – add the fries for only 99 cents more

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Rating

Food: 3.0 – Buffalo Chicken was a little off (too much buffalo sauce)

Value: 4.0 – very reasonably priced

Service: 4.5 – Great service from all the staff, very friendly

Decor: 4.0 – well decorated

Overall - 3.5/5

Halal Rating

Full Halal Menu – Halal Meat store in back of Restaurant

Location

220 Broad St, Providence RI 02903

Contact

Phone: (401)228-6333

Website: http://www.oasisri.com – Website doesn’t work

As for food, based on where Ming III is located (Central MA), it’s a great option for those looking for Halal Chinese. The place is reasonably priced, but could get pricey for students. The average entrée was priced at roughly $15, and was enough for two people to eat from. If you split the cost, it’s a great price for students or anyone else for that matter. The Crispy Chicken with Honey appetizer was by far my favorite appetizer of the night, with the Cauliflower Manchurian coming in second. All the non-noodle entrées came with white jasmine rice but my favorite entrée was definitely the Hakka Noodle Chicken. We had gotten it spicy and boy did it taste good! I initially ordered Chicken in Garlic Sauce for myself (Mild), but found it to be slightly undercooked and not spicy enough; which is probably my fault for getting it Mild instead of Hot.

Desert was beautifully presented; it’s not on the menu and thus they walk around with the deserts and allow you to see what you want before you get it. The presentation of how the deserts were presented definitely helped and they all tasted good. My personal favorite was the mango sorbet in the white chocolate ball.

The service was great with all the waitresses and waiters helping us; we had 20 people come to the dinner. They charged 18% gratuity, something that is automatically included in the bill if you have 5 or more people.

They don’t have formal menus, instead they have laminated papers which act as the menu. It’s only been open for three months, but they seemed to have a steady client base and reservations are recommended.

Pictures

Recommendations

Crispy Chicken w/ Honey sauce

Hakka Noodle Chicken

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Rating

Food: 3.5 – Chicken in Garlic Sauce was slightly undercooked,

Value: 3.0 – average $15 entrées

Service: 4.5 – Great service from all the staff, very friendly

Decor: 4.5 – very well decorated

Overall - 3.5/5

Halal Rating

Full Halal Menu – viewed receipts and received verbal assurances from owner

Location

291 Turnpike Rd., Westborough MA 01581

Contact

Phone: (508)366-0090

Website: http://www.ming3mass.com – Website doesn’t work

I wanted to take this time to address the upcoming plans on behave of everyone at hungrymuslim.com. First of all, we will be posting up a few new reviews with in the coming days and weeks. Second, we will be also expanding into new areas of the nation, primary in the west coast, Texas, & Washington D.C.  with the expansion, we will be having a new web interface and location based search for the website, iA in the first half of 2010.  Third, since its the end of the year, we will be giving out our best of places as voted on by the online community.

In closing, we finally addressed the hookah issue that’s been a debate for quite some time. After consulting with the fans & community we will be reviewing places that serve hookah/shisha. We all felt that its only what we should be doing regardless of how some people may feel about it. One of our fans Belaal said it best: “simply put, Websters dictionary defines the word hungry as having a desire, craving, or need for food … that being said, HUNGRY muslim should review food, food that is served anywhere and everywhere that is halal (including cafe/resturants that serve hooka) mentioning that they serve hookah isnt a bad idea …”

Thanks again for all the support and feedback.  Salaams,

ShanMasala

Behalf of everyone here at Hungry Muslim, we wish our muslim brothers & sisters a blessed joyous Eid!

We are very grateful for your time, so thank you!

On a quick side note, we have a few good experiences we  hope to share very soon.

Until than thank you very much for supporting & checking out hungrymuslim.com

Please give us some feedback & suggestions.

The website has a lot of different things happening, so definitely check out the video on the homepage if anything is unclear to you.

This website started because of the need for Muslim brothers and sisters to find good places to eat, and it only made sense to have a Muslim food blog. We are so thankful for the support of a lot of the MSA presidents and people who have heard about this website and the great feedback they gave.

If you have any questions, please contact us!

Lastly, the question that is on the mind of a few people is always about ads and generating money from this site. I would personally like to make this very clear, we are doing this for NO PROFIT, we really want to benefit the online Muslim community. We will have ads if our servers can’t take the load and we feel it is something benefiting our readers.

So that kind of wraps up my sound off!

Thanks again for visiting and come back again for another serving!

On behalf of everyone here at Hungry Muslim, we wish our muslim brothers & sisters a blessed joyous Eid!

Just for info: Eid is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Eid is an Arabic word meaning “festivity” and so the holiday symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period. It is celebrated after the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan, on the first day of Shawwal.

The main question, is when will the site get out of beta and finally go live?

First to answer the question, I must say, I played around with the idea of keeping the site in beta for months on end, even considered to keep it in beta indefinitely (since we arnce  ie always improving & adding), but that made no sense; so I broke it down and once I’m honestly satisfied with the site it will go live. The realistic live date is around late October to November. The main reason behind it that being all the different things I’m currently working/dealing with. Between the 9-5 job (actually 10-6:30), my artwork (I get inspired every now and then), currently remixing tracks, finishing up design and most of all helping out family & close friends with specific issues; I really just dont have all the time this site would need for a sooner launch.

Once the following features are implemented we will be ready for a launch:

• Google Maps API & integration
• Better style & design
• Resolving all the css, jquery, & function issues (i always hate this part)
• Twitter integration and usage
• Flickr account & picture resourcing
• Facebook Connect Integration
• Feedback Form
• Rating system for everyone else
• Featured Content setup
• Fav. icon
• iPhone compatible function

So I got a lot to do and since its Ramadan, I hate to continue delaying the launch but what needs to be done, needs to be done!

-ShanMasala

Latest logo

From all your friends at Hungry Muslim, we wish you a wonderful & successful Ramadan!

During the blessed month of Ramadan, Muslims all over the world abstain from food, drink, and other physical needs during the daylight hours. As a time to purify the soul, refocus attention on God, and practice self-sacrifice, Ramadan is much more than just not eating and drinking. Muslims are called upon to use this month to re-evaluate their lives in light of Islamic guidance. We are to make peace with those who have wronged us, strengthen ties with family and friends, do away with bad habits — essentially to clean up our lives, our thoughts, and our feelings. The Arabic word for “fasting” (sawm) literally means “to refrain” – and it means not only refraining from food and drink, but from evil actions, thoughts, and words. As you can imagine, we aren’t going to be updating the site as much and will be delaying the launch until mid October!

After a few months of carefully understanding and analyzing the best way to execute a plan on giving Muslims a way to find great places to eat, I have decided to finally launch this website. Over the coming weeks and months, this site should go through many different changes and when time is ready, a full launch should take place. As of right now, the main issue is establishing integrity for this site because many sites seem phony and since this is something that is needed in the Muslim community, I believe it is only necessary. God willing, something amazing will come to fruition, and I’m just excited to get this project off the ground.

The goal is simple: Set up a fully functional review site of the eateries I check out, and make note worthy efforts in doing so!

-ShanMasala