Osmow's Shawarma — Restaurant in Markham

I was not familiar with this food franchise brand because I just stumbled upon this location at random. I'm from Woodstock, Ontario coming backing from Hilton Hotel nearby with my daughter. We're hungry and drive to this mini Plaza because of food businesses we saw.

We end up ordering Chicken Poutine, Large size with level of hotness at "Hot". My daughter was craving for Poutine and since we didn't see any ordinary Poutine on the Menu, we opted for Chicken Poutine. It was a very hot day and I forgot to take pictures of the food or the place because my intention was not on doing any review on this business. Here is what I saw on this day.

Service: There was just one Staff inside making all the orders, it was a busy afternoon for him and he was very nice guy with good manner and customer service was good 👍. If I were to rate him base on his own efforts of trying to troubleshoot the problems, I would give him 4/5 because he could use some helping hands at that busy hours. There were people picking up their orders and some food delivery people also doing the same. There was a group of 3 people in the restaurant when I arrived, empty table sets for dine-in but not wiped and dirty with foods drops. So, helping hand or another Staff could have help cleaning the tables and arranging the Take-Out Foods but there was only one Cook to do all.

The environment: As described above, this place is not setup for "Eat-in or Dine-In" because the empty tables sets are not cleaned, only expect self-clean by the customers themselves. I have to clean our Table and wall-Seats because they are dirty with foods from last customers. The tables are not secured to the ground and are not stable but wiggled all around like a spin table. This was a tell-tale that these must be tables for the outside dine-out as seen on their business pictures but still not aligned with the ground.

Food: Large Chicken Poutine was order with hot sauce. First all, there are 2 sizes Options-- Small or Large, which I found to be odd when I saw their package representation. My daughter is 13 year old, my intention is to order her Poutine but the small size looks to tiny just for fries alone, so the Small size option is unreasonable for the food type and price! The Large size is the only reasonable option for any Teenager to 1-2 Adults just snacking. The finished presentation of the Chicken Poutine was unrecognizable as its title because all I could see was pool of too much sauce with too hot 🔥 😜 😳 of the hot sauce!! I couldn't see the Chicken or the Cheese and the Fries are already drowning in the pool of Sauce! We dig in anyway to eat our food and the hot sauce was just too extreme hot for the level picked. The guy read my facial expression and offer to add extra garlic sauce to kill-off the chili hotness but I said "no, thank you" because there are no space to add any more sauce! We were literally eating garlic hot sauce and the essence of what a Poutine is, was not found in this food. I stumbled on Chicken pieces and cheese curds while stirring my "Soup of Drowned Fries 🍟" ... yeah, it was not pretty, is an understatement!! But the Cook Guy was nice and he pity me, which I accepted his demeanor.

Conclusions: I cannot judge this Restaurant food based on this my very first time encountered because I saw the stressful condition the solo staff had to work in. The guy was trying his best to fulfill all orders and must have put too much sauce on my food and the only way he can fix it was either add more sauce or prepared a new dish again. And he saw only one solution that won't solve the root problem in that scenario. I wish the Restaurant Owner well and I hope he/she continued to improve this restaurant by reading their customers' free review to implement better satisfying conditions for...

it is with great disappointment that I recount my recent dining experience at Osmow's. From the moment I walked through the doors, it was abundantly clear that customer service was not a priority for the staff. The waitstaff were inattentive, disinterested, and seemed to lack any basic knowledge of the menu or the concept of hospitality.

To add insult to injury, the portions at Osmow's were shockingly inadequate. I couldn't help but feel cheated as I peered into my plate, desperately searching for the substantial meal I had anticipated. It was as if they were serving appetizers instead of main courses. The portion sizes were a complete letdown, leaving me feeling unsatisfied and hungry even after devouring what little food I had received.

But the disappointment didn't end there. The chicken dish I ordered was downright inedible. Not only was it overcooked and dried out, but it was also burnt to a crisp. The charred exterior imparted a bitter taste that permeated every bite, completely ruining what could have been a flavorful dish. It's baffling how a restaurant could serve such poorly executed and unpalatable food without any sense of shame or apology.

Additionally, the overall ambiance of the restaurant was lackluster. The seating arrangements were cramped and uncomfortable, leaving little room for customers to enjoy their meals in peace. The interior was poorly lit, giving off a gloomy atmosphere that was far from inviting. It's evident that Osmow's falls short in creating a pleasant and enjoyable dining environment.

To top it all off, the prices at Osmow's were completely unjustifiable. The exorbitant costs charged for such subpar food and service were nothing short of a blatant rip-off. It's disappointing to witness a restaurant take advantage of its customers by offering inferior quality at inflated prices.

In conclusion, my experience at Osmow's was nothing short of a disaster. The abysmal customer service, meager portions, burnt chicken, and dismal ambiance all contributed to an utterly disappointing dining experience. I cannot in good conscience recommend this establishment to anyone seeking a satisfying meal. Osmow's needs to seriously reevaluate its approach to food and service if it wishes to retain any semblance of credibility in the...

Depending on what time you go, if you’re there really close to the lunch rush, the food is fine. Used to frequent here a lot, but the last two times were confirmation that this location cuts corners wherever they can…the food being the biggest.

Went closer to 10:30 am both times and noticed the food came out really fast, but the grills looked untouched from the night before. Maybe they prepared fresh on a grill in the back…but as soon as I tasted it it was clear…this was unsold food from the NIGHT BEFORE! Dry, stale tasting…I thought there’s no way they did that…and then went back the following week and it happened AGAIN! When I asked the employee working there, he mumbled something and brushed it off…

No shame for $15+ per meal…and you get last night’s food…very disappointing Owner’s response was instead of taking accountability, standing by their food is prepared fresh daily, so I’ll break it down even further for him to make it more clear…

During lunch you see: The employees cut the meat from the vertical spit and you hear AND see the grill in action, it’s a transparent process…it doesn’t take a food expert to see that it was not happening the last two visits…I know this because I have eyes that function…

The last couple times I’ve visited I’ve noticed:

The grill looks unused and there IS NO MEAT vertically spinning at all…there’s no cutting, grilling, preparing, yet it comes out prepared in less than 3 minutes, and you expect me to believe the meal that I got was fresh and just cut from the non existent spit? LOL 😂

There’s a NOTICEABLE difference between the times it’s been good and bad…go in the morning it’s clear it’s not fresh, lunch time has been ok…

Just take accountability for your location instead of denying and trying to gaslight…look into it…be there when you open in the mornings…do something! You’re sitting at LESS than a 4/5 for a franchise where standards and processes could not be any clearer. Read your reviews (not just the very few 5 star ones) and actually listen to your...