Al-Watan Halal Tandoori

The tandoori mix grill here was outstanding! Very friendly and attentive service, and even had World Cup cricket highlights going to keep me occupied while I waited for my food. Portions were huge, and the flavor was terrific. I can see why this place has stood the test of time.

1st think new teen age kid was too rude with desi ppl. He just give respect American ppl and very rude with their community ppl. We are here to give you business but YOU!. Their elder should tech him to respect all customers. 2nd their Biryani taste is changing day by day. Sometime too delicious and sometime just okay mean no consistent taste.

We were told by couple of people that it is a decent place to go. However, we were utterly disappointed. People around here must not have good standard for food. I feel extremely generous for give this place two star. Their specialty nihari was above average but extremely hot. Chicken kirahi was not fresh. The chicken was at least two days old by taste. We ended up retuning it and got Haleem instead, which we ate a spoon off because it tasted like that it was burnt. We ordered beef seekh kabob and ate only few pieces because the meat didn't taste fresh as well. Aside of the bad food my biggest problem was the staff and the curry smell from the clothes that stayed for couple of days. We are planning to wash clothes to get rid of it. The staff ran around and gotten the order on a whim. I was told that their chef was recently changed, maybe that explains it. In short, we did not feel good about eating their at all and left with curry smell and bad taste in mouth, which I had to wash it down with MD Freppe.

Al-Watan used to be the only game in town but the place is in reverse gear while the others have moved on. They are kind of living on borrowed time. Biryani here is really poor and some of the BBQ items are devoid of any flavor. However they still have decent Nihari and every now and then one of their dishes will pleasantly surprise you. I am still giving them a 3 star rating owing to the momentum that this place has built with me over past several years, but I am not sure if they are going in the right direction.

Unlike many ethnic restaurants, their service is immaculate. Their food quality and serving size of also formidable. Staff is really friendly and cleaner rest rooms which is one of the direct measure of cleanliness in ethnic restaurants.

One of the best places to eat. Reasonably priced quality food.

I used to think this was an amazing restaurant with great food and service. Since I came to the LA area 4 years ago, I\'ve been coming here regularly. However, the service has only been going down since my first visit, along with the food quality which has been getting increasing adulterated with oil and fats to compensate for lack of attention to quality and freshness. Nevertheless, I thought Al Watan was still a good place to eat at because of the times I\'ve been there. Recently, when I went to eat at Al Watan on a Friday night, the place was packed, and my friend and I ordered a lot of food to celebrate an accomplishment. But towards the end of our meal, the party sitting behind us started yelling and shouting at us for no apparent reason. They were troubled by our presence apparently, and wanted us to go away. When we tried to understand what the issue was, a man started threatening us to go away or he will make us regret it. Immediately after he made the threat, another man from the table got up and picked up a chair and tried his best to hit me with it by swinging it! This man almost killed me! Fearing for our lives, my friend and I quickly ran to the front of the crowded restaurant and payed our bill, while asking the owner to take care of the situation. After we were assured he will do so, we walked out towards our car. However, because we wanted to make sure everything was alright, we went back to the restaurant to check. To our amazement, the owner had done absolutely nothing, and upon our questioning him, he simply stated the the issue was a problem between us and the other people, and that he as the owner assumed absolutely no responsibility for whatever happens at his restaurant. While we were having this conversation, the two men walked up from the table towards us and started threatening us again, this time insisting that we go outside the restaurant to fight. All of this was directly in front of the owner, who could care less about the situation. While this went on, my friend and I were desperately fearful for our lives, and carefully ran out of the restaurant and towards our car. Our main fear was that if these guys had a gun, they would instantly shoot us, and no one would try to stop them or assume responsibility. My advise to anyone considering going to this restaurant is that if you value you life, please go elsewhere. There are plenty of options to eat similar food in the LA basin, where your wellbeing wont be at stake. Because of the kind of people who apparently visit this establishment, and the attitude of the management regarding their customers, it is a horrible accident waiting to happen. I would not be surprised if this place is the scene of a shootout or some other type of homicide, and I only feel its my responsibility to steer other people clear of such a dangerous place. If such mentally unstable and antisocial individuals patronize this restaurant, it is probably in the best interest of the majority of people to avoid it for personal safety from any shooting or bomb threat.

This place has been in business for almost 30 years, so it must be good! Was very impressed with the Nihari as well as the chicken tikka (I had the mixed kebab plate which has a little bit of everything). The naans were great, as was the mango lassi. Chai was good too. Friendly service. They also have a musalla next door in case you need to do prayers. I recommend this place if you are in the area. I hope to be back again soon!

I would give 10 stars if i could. This was the best Pakistani food I've had in the U.S

Great food, great staff, really good service and good prices. Authentic cuisine.

Excellent service Good food Good price

I ate chicken curry here this evening. The food was good and the portion humongous. Service was not unfriendly, but it was very impersonal. Pricing is also on the high side considering that you are charged extra for naan and salads (items which are complimentary at other restaurants in the same area). I must admit that this is one of the cleaner restaurants in the area.

Really liked the tandoori chicken and fresh naan! Chicken tikka masala was not all that and seekh kababs were too dry! Amazing daal overall I would recommend this Resturant!

Excellent food as service! The young brother serving gave us everything we asked for. Highly recommended. Mashallah!

Whenever we visit LA, we make it a point to eat at Al-Watan. This restaurant has never disappointed us in terms of quality of food or service. More recently, we were there with kids, we were accommodated right away and given a place of our liking. Service was prompt in an easy going atmosphere. Food is absolutely a treat. There curry items are really good

Food: Roghani Naan is the best you can find in both LA and Orange county. Remainder of food tastes good (Sometimes the BBQ platter doesn't seem as fresh as should be) Ambiance: Definitely needs improvement.

If you're looking for the world's worst biryani ever, look no further. The food has no taste whatsoever. We made a huge mistake coming here.

Nice halal restaurant with good service and priced reasonably

In comparison to Bilal restaurant, this joint has a clean dining area from a desi standard and food was good as well. Seems like they own the whole block including the grocery store next door. Will return.

Had the pleasure of sampling their delicacies after 5 years or so. Still good quality food. Naan is really delicious, biryani however was so so. Service was prompt and staff courteous. P.S: Revisited again on Nov. 2013. Still good quality, delicious food. Do try their Kabob Karahi, it's really delicious.

Food : very good Service : very good Clean : very clean Place and decoration : not very good decoration but overall good place . Restroom : they have two restrooms with HOSE ! I really feel comfortable with that because I didn't see any restaurant with a hose in the restroom !

My husband and I really enjoy the food at al watan. Love the Mango Lassi as well. Lamb curry is our favorite. We will be back...

We were in CA in the first week of April. We went to Al watan twice and both times we had their chicken malai. It was simply awesome. Their nan and kulchas are very delicious. Service was good too.

Very delucious food, i loved lamb biryani. That was awesome. The service was good although it was crowded at that time. And very clean masjid was a plus as well!

Second time I have been to this place and no way can you call this authentic. I am from the uk and lived in a predominantly Muslim. Community where when you open a menu and it says mixed grill, You get a fresh cooked mixed grill. The mixed grill was awful, 2 of the meats I could not tell where that was from? If I carry on finding places like these I will end up a vegetarian.

OK Food. OK service. Not Bad........ But for sure better than rude service @ Bilal....

Tried their chicken biryani, they simply mix chicken curry with plain colored rice & name it biryani. Didn't get authentic biryani at this place but their beef seekh kabab was good & they also serve good chai.

Again, another halal establishment which provides average expected service and food (smelly, dirty, with a topping of rude service). The food is poor quality, with an added cup of oil. @ The Pakistani Muslim Community....What are you thinking? Why do you uphold these establishments? Why do you continue to intake such unhealthy risks?

Good food, nice place, but the service is a little lacking. Had to ask the server to bring things one at a time (utensils, napkins etc...).

A very good restaurant for Indian/Pakistani cuisine. Their goat biryani especially is amazing! The food is a little on the spicier side so if you can't handle that, be sure to let them know!

Biryani was ok ok . The chicken tikka masala was fantastic. I personally liked it although my sister didnt. This place will be good for you if you crave gd Pakistani food.

After many bad experiences with Indian/Pakistani restaurants, this was a pleasant surprise. The customer service is great, the food is nice, and it's a good clean place. It's very good really, much better than the others around. A thumbs up from me and my family!

We like their Charga. Friday Pillow is also really good. Nihari and goat karachi gosht is hit or miss, depends who cooked it that day. Other BBQ dishes are average, not bad, not too good. They have small seating area. Overall its close to authentic pakistani cusine.

Got the lunch special which I thought was very good. A mixture of everything-something similar to a Thali. Food was served quickly

we visited LA from Sacramento and drove almost one and half hours drive but etremly disappointed. poorly arranged and below average . very poor customer service and owner is very argumentative and rude act like gangster. he shoulnt be in this business. we ordered chicken biryani mutton karahi and chicken chargha.the chicken biryani was just plain cold rice with the chicken korma on the side and mutton karahi has bad taste. we got there around 9pm but they refused couple of customers while we were dining in even customers mentioned their add in pakistani newspaper the hours of their business are till 10pm but was flat big NO. we were shocked . as soon as they served our food exactly within five minutes they brought our bill and told us finsh eating quickly so we can close .that was so unpleasent. we mentioned to the owner his response was thats what we always cook . its not worth to visit this place.

amazing food i been eating hear for years! nver gets old always good food love it. nihari :) seekh kabob :) all good

Aromatic and flavorful lamb palao! But the chicken Biryani is not recommended.. I stopped at this place to pickup the food after Jumma prayers at Islamic center of Hawthorne. The lamb palao and chicken biryani were ready within 5 minutes. It was delight to to eat the palao after the prayers.

I've known this place for almost 20 years. A good place to eat. Staff know all of my family since we have been going for a long time. They always give us good service. Food is always good but the tandoori is a little dry. I think they prepare the tandoori meats before and then reheat them. That said there is something about Pakistani restaurants and there bathrooms. Most of the time they seem to be flooded and/or dirty and here is no different most of the time.

good food , chicken tikka masala was good and also the palao i love it , def my fav place to get my meal once in awhile, only disappointment is the parking, you cannot find parking on Friday :(

Good food and good service, a little too spicy but that how paki and indian food is. Palao was delicious :), needs to be alittle more clean. specially restroom.

Good restaurant, and good food, chicken tikka masala is good and Friday Palao. the only disappointment is , its too tinny, the length is there but width wise small. not that comfortable.

the bread is very good, but if you can't stomach spicy food, LOOKOUT!

food is amazing

getting better

Still the best indian restaurant in Southbay. Food are very authentic and excellent. price is reasonable for the portion. A must visit if you happen to be in Hawthorne, California! Location is abit packed and busy but you'll not regret the food. Go Alwatan!

This place is good and reasonable priced. I would recommend people to come down here and eat here. My friends enjoy eating here and there are a lot people that do come during dinner time so come early. The only downside about this place is the place its self. This is a 2star** setting. Besides that the food is great.

I had heard many mixed reviews about this restaurant so I wanted to try it for myself. I am a traveler and eat in restaurants about 4 days a week. This had to be one of the poor restaurants I have been to. We ordered 4 dishes; Chicken Tikka, Chicken Tikka Masala, Rice, Nehari, Maghaz, Naan. No one, in my friends and family liked the food. Next day some of us were sick. Prices are average, seating is average. But food was poor quality, in my opinion.

Not impressed with this place at........We called this place at 9:15 pm to pre-order our food as we were on our way.....The guy on the phone said you can pre-order but can not eat here because we close at 9:45. I indicated to him that we on our way and would be there at 9:30. He said we still could not dine it because they wanted to leave at 9:45 pm ...... My friend and I were really shocked with the rudeness and horrible customer service.

Food here was Decent but the servers and manager were rude. When asked to put a table together for our family(10 ppl) to sit together, were flatly refused. We went here bout half an hour before closing time and were looked at like as if we had commited a crime. Very congested place. Will never be going back.

Excellent food. I love it. Their tandoori platter is really good. The Nihari is also very good but the quantity is a little low as compared to other places. The Biryani is ok (not too good). Ras malai and Gajar ka halwa (Sweet dishes ) are really good. This place is a little conjusted but the owners are extending it. Its always good to call them 10 minutes before reaching there in order to save time and space. In Ramadan its really a good place for Iftar. The staff is very friendly and the average price of food especially the lunch menus are very affordable and normal as compared other places. The only thing I miss over here is a buffet but based on the number of customers and good food with very good price I believe they don't really need it.

There was a recent wedding in Fresno, and the food was ordered especially from this restaurant in LA. It was the first time we heard about it, and can I say, mashallah, the food was excellent! Everything was very perfect and the naan was just rite, reminding me of the naans from Pakistan...again, just wanna say the food was fantastic! The chicken, kabab, everything! Plan on taking a trip whenever we travel down LA.

Food was good but the service was slow as heck.

Patronised the restaurant on 6th April, 2007. We ordered 1 lamb briyani, 1 meat briyani and 2 shish kebab. Unfortunetely, only 3 meals were served to us minus 1 set of shish kebab. It also took quite sometimes for the food to be served. We were quite disppointed with the service and the place really need a new face lift. I am not sure whether the food was good or we were extremely hungry but personally I think it was fairly good.

Great food, very spicy and delicious.

naan is the best ever, all their food is actually..small place, but awesome food!

Their chicken tikka masala is soo good. the place needs a face lift, but the atmosphere in the restraunt is awsome.. I give them 2 thumbs up

We've eaten here twice, and both times had decent experience w/ food and overall ambiance (for a desi rest.). We also found the staff very well-mannered. Keep up the good work guys!

The food was very unhygenic except for the dal fry but all other foods were not the true representation of the Pakistani taste. They should improve the quality of taste.

we all liked the food. It was preety busy and homely. The tandoori chicken was good. we will go again if visiting that area.

The rule of thumb when ordering at this restaurant is to order from the "Chef's Specialty" category in the menu. The other stuff on the menu is just okay...nothing exceptional.

Bought take out dinner on 5/25/06 and found dead spider in Chicken Tikka Masala.

After Losing Al-noor to some new managment ( indian) I decide to take my Colleagues to this place. I used to go to this place 4-5 years ago and decided to check it out again after hearing some good reviews from friends. Food was awesome , Tandoori mix and Nehari were great and man those nans were the best. My friends gave it a 2 thumbs up and looks like this will be our new "once a month" eat out paki food place from now on. Service was quick enough for a lunch of 7 people.

My family always caters from here and we live 30+ miles away. Their naan Kabobs are so delicious! Tandoori is good too. As for the restaurant, it could use a facelift.

We had our daughter's wedding catered from al-wattan, the food was excellent esp. the chicken Chargas were a hit. their service was superb. they arrive on time. everything was excellent. i will definately have another party catered by them again. Their nihari and their tal-naan are excellent too.

The neehari is exellent and the tandoori as well

Service is slow but it worth waiting to get quality NEHARI. I cross-by atleast 10 halal resturant to reach there. Hope they will improve their service.

Their food is priced reasonably and taste is good. The sitting arrangement is better than a lot of Indian/Pakistani halal restaurants. The food is prepared in relatively cleaner environment and serving is nice too.

Their nihari is pretty good.

I think their food is still very good. Service has gotten better. However, I am not sure what happened to their Naans. Why are they so dark or brown. They should go back to the old way of making naans otherwise I will have to bring my own Naans to their resturant :)

The food was okay, but service was below average. We had to wait for some time before we received our food. Also, the atmosphere felt as if we had to eat and leave as fast as we could. The waiter had the nerve to wear his jacket and get ready to leave while we were eating. He even flicked off and on the lights and ran outside, just to get the message through. I'm not sure about lunch, but dinner is the worst time to go to this restaurant. Poor service.

90% of the time the food is great. 50% of the time service is great. I think thats the best ratio you will get in any Pakistani or Indian Resturant which is Halal. Only Indo/Pak Halal Resturants to compete with it are Shalimar in San Francisco and Chutny in Virginia. Or at least thats what I think.

I have had lunch here numerous times, their lunch special is very good and also the various dishes that i ordered including magaz masala and tandoori platter was good.

The restaurant needs improvement. The food is good, takes a while to get it, enjoyed eating there.

The restaurant has improved a lot. Lately i have been there and teh quality of food and service is pretty good. Specially i have got food catered from them and it is always upto the expectations.

I went here to eat a couple days ago. The service was ok, the food was ok, we dont know why people brag about it so much, when we ordered Chicken Karahi, we couldnt tell wether it was a Karahi or a Curry, or wether is was a Curry Karahi. I went with a friend, and it was very embarrassing, we had to reorder the food because it was so poor, and had to get it packed to go. I would not recommend going to this restaurant again. To those who do go, EATER BEWARE.

Excellent food. You feel at home, and Mumtaz Bahi, the chief Chef, takes good care of his guests.

"Al-Watan is Indo-Pakistani restaurant. It's delicious specialties include kebobs, Tandoori chicken, lamb and beef korma, chicken saag, naan, paratha, Haleem and gager ka halwa."

"Food tastes fairly good; however, this restaurant has had problems with cleanliness and food poisoning as recently as July 1999; was shut down for a time by the city but reopened after meeting the city's requirements."