Yes, and in Manassas that answer matters more than most places. Prince William County has one of the larger and faster growing Muslim populations in the country, and the halal scene here has grown with it. What has not grown with it is halal variety. There is excellent Afghan, Pakistani and Middle Eastern food up and down Liberia Avenue and Sudley Road, and until recently there was almost no halal Japanese anywhere in the county. We are at 9522 Liberia Ave. Here is what makes hibachi halal, and how ours works.
The three questions that decide it
The word hibachi refers to a style of cooking, so it carries no halal status of its own. Whether the plate in front of you is halal depends on three decisions the restaurant made long before you sat down.
The meat supplier.Halal chicken, beef and lamb come from suppliers who slaughter to halal standard. This is a purchasing decision and it costs more, which is why most hibachi restaurants skip it.
What else is cooked on the grill.Hibachi runs on a single large flat top. A restaurant with pork on the menu has cooked pork on the same steel as your dinner, and no amount of scraping changes that for a diner who takes halal seriously.
What goes into the sauces.Mirin and cooking sake are standard ingredients in teriyaki and eel sauce. A halal chicken breast finished with a mirin-based glaze is not a halal plate, and this is the step most people never think to check.
Flame answers all three the same way at every location. The entire menu is halal. Pork is not served, stored or cooked anywhere on the property. Our sauces are made in house, not sourced from a distributor.
Those are the three questions worth asking any hibachi restaurant before you order: the supplier, the grill and the sauce. Most cannot answer all three.
At our Manassas location
We are at 9522 Liberia Ave, Manassas, VA 20110, on the main Liberia Avenue run. Old Town Manassas is minutes away. Signal Hill, Yorkshire and Manassas Park are close. Sudley Road, Route 28 and Prince William Parkway all feed into us, and the Battlefield is a short drive north.
Hours are Monday through Saturday 11AM to 10PM and Sunday 11AM to 9PM. Holiday hours can shift around Eid and the major public holidays. We also serve Centreville, Woodbridge, Dale City and Gainesville. If you are further west out Linton Hall Road, our Bristow location is probably closer.
Ramadan is the busiest stretch of the year at this store. If you are planning iftar for a group, book catering early. The same is true of Eid, when the two or three days either side fill up faster than any other point in the calendar.
Getting here, and the towns we serve
Liberia Avenue connects most of the city, so this store is a straightforward drive from almost anywhere in Manassas. Old Town, Signal Hill, Yorkshire and Manassas Park are minutes away. Sudley Road and Route 28 bring in the north end, and Prince William Parkway pulls in Woodbridge and Dale City in about twenty minutes. Centreville is a similar run up 28.
Gainesville, Haymarket and the Linton Hall corridor are closer to our Bristow store, so use whichever is the shorter drive.
Friday evenings and the whole of Ramadan are the busiest windows here by a distance. Every plate is cooked when the order comes in, so pre-ordering online is the difference between collecting and queuing. For iftar in particular, order well ahead of Maghrib rather than at it, because everyone else has the same idea at the same minute.
What to order in Manassas
Chicken and Beef Combo, $11.85. Two proteins under twelve dollars. The most ordered combo on the menu and it is on our promotions list.
Green Dragon Roll, $9.85. Halal sushi that does not feel like a compromise, which is rare.
Loaded Teriyaki Fries, $10.85. Hibachi protein over fries. This is the one teenagers order and then talk about.
Buffalo Wings, 20 pieces, $27.99. Fourteen flavors. Built for a table, not a person.
How the plates are built: every hibachi comes with your choice of any two sides — fried rice, white rice, lo mein noodles or vegetables. Bento boxes arrive loaded already, with hibachi, vegetables, rice or noodles, a 4-piece California Roll, two dumplings and two spring rolls. Extra chicken is $2.95 and extra salmon, beef or shrimp is $3.95, which is usually the cheapest way to stretch one plate across two people. Individual sides run $2.95 to $4.95, and Yum Yum sauce is $0.50.
For a family table in Manassas, order across proteins rather than doubling up. Two combos, a bento and a roll gives five people something different each, and it works out cheaper than five separate plates.
Visit us
Halal hibachi on Liberia Avenue, cooked fresh when you order. Flame Japanese Hibachi Manassas, 9522 Liberia Ave, Manassas, VA 20110. 703-789-8289. Mon to Sat 11AM to 10PM, Sun 11AM to 9PM.
