Halal Guys landed in Toronto after nearly thirty years of business in New York City. A humble hot dog cart began selling halal platters of gyro and chicken in the nineties and they still inspire round-the-block lineups at their cart.

This Toronto location isn’t a cart but a full dine-in spot, though many choose to take away, and you might even have to since this high-traffic spot near many offices around Wellesley subway station is often packed.

The place is decked out in their signature red and yellow colours. The flow through here is pretty easy, but there’s a bottleneck at the single door sometimes.

They don’t serve their gyro meat directly from the cone here, rather grilling it a little before serving to give it a little extra warmth and life.

The options are simple: platter or sandwich. You line up, choose your proteins (gyro, chicken, a combo or falafel) and select toppings.

The sheer amount of meat that needs to be on the grill at one time to satisfy so many hungry customers is worth a quick peek into this touristy joint.

They’re known for their signature white and red sauces.

Though the franchisees claim not to know the secret, ingredients are printed on the back of the package if you get it on the side, and in all honesty it tastes a fair bit like ranch.

Nevertheless a combo platter ($12.49, $9.99 for a small) is a thing of wonder, the generous portions of savoury meats the real star of the show. Rice and salad make this halal meal balanced.

If you get it on the side, be gratuitous with sweeter white sauce but skimp on lethal red sauce. It’s no joke.

We opt to top our combo sandwich ($6.99) with jalapeno and olive. Both sauces also accompany this huge and messy sandwich nicely, and the pita is cooked in such a way so that it’s partially steamed to be nice and soft.

There are also sides here: hummus, baba ghanouj, fries (all $3.49) or a side order of falafel ($2.99). Hummus is nothing to really write home about necessarily, but it’s nice and creamy with the added touch of an oily spiced topping.

For dessert there’s the classic baklava ($2.99) made with walnuts, which sort of tends to break apart into pasty chunks, but it’s a pro move to grab one of these if you plan on using tons of red sauce because the honey counteracts the spice.

Aside from that it’s just metal chairs, the smell of mountains of gyro meat being lightly grilled, and big windows looking out onto the hustle of Yonge.