Lancaster Shawarma — Restaurant in Kitchener

Lancaster Shawarma A Review by Hassan Hawash

‘Been ‘ere over 100 times easy’

A step inside this neighbourhood neighbourhood joint is reminiscent of a greasy spoon, in my view, in the very best sense of the term – a place where locals have come to trust for the quality of their lunch time fix which the modest line of those waiting to place an order bears witness to.

And locals there were, repeat customers who I engaged in a friendly exchange or two. The first fella I spoke to at the back of the routine lunch queue replied, “oh yeah, it’s good.” “Now that’s a knowing nod of approval,” I remarked back to him. “Yeah, been coming here for years,” in his understated but definitive statement in support of his eatery of choice.

Another fella I engaged with echoed the first customers input, “been coming here for years, better than that place up the road.” Curious to know why the preference I pried, ”what sets this place apart from the one up the road?” The fella says, “well, I guess the meat here is less oily and I prefer the taste of the pickles.”

Yet another regular informed me that he had just recently moved back to the area and has been to this local take away easily 150 times and especially likes the quality of the hummus. Having heard him say that I felt a little regret realizing I had not included hummus amongst the spread of fixings such as the garlic spread, lettuce, cabbage, onions, pickled turnip, tomato, cucumber, cheese and, of course, the heaping quantity of chicken shawarma, my middle-aged host, originally from Afghanistan, generously shoved into the mouth of the pita. “Oh well”, I optimistically mentioned to the regular, “next time”.

True to form, this rival shawarma restaurant is the real deal – very tasty. The chicken reminded me of the taste of the chicken from the day before’ s roast. The fixings were fresh and the hot sauce had just the right...

For $15 for a Shawarma platter(used to be 10.99) there sure is a lot of rice and not that much of chicken. this is the first time I’ve been to this place in a year and this is why. you spend An arm and a leg thinking you’re going to Get a decent amount of chicken only to be filled up with rice I will be going to zazaman from now on….they put double the chicken for 5 dollars less as for the flavour here is very lacking the rice taste like it has a little bit of chicken stock it and the chicken is pretty plain… the sauces probably the best part of the whole meal …which she gave a lot of to cover up the lack of chicken I thought I’d give this place another try but it was obviously a mistake. If you like plain Shawarma this is your spot …if you know what real Shawarma taste like wouldn’t recommend. Better save a couple bucks and go across the street. Guess I’ll give all this leftover...

I was excited to try this shawarma spot, but unfortunately, my experience didn’t quite live up to expectations. I ordered the Chicken Shawarma Plate, and while the portion looked decent at first glance, the quality just wasn’t there.

The rice was dry and lacked flavour, making it hard to enjoy. The salad was a very small portion, and while they were out of salad dressing, the staff member still poured the last few drops onto my salad instead of topping it up. The woman who took my order seemed quite dazed and unsure — perhaps she was new — but it made the ordering process feel very awkward.

On a more positive note, the woman at the register was friendly and helpful. She let me know about their Wednesday deal, which included a can of pop with the plate — a nice little bonus.

Overall, the flavours were just “meh,” and the experience left me underwhelmed. I...