African BBQ House — Restaurant in Ottawa

Ottawa’s obsession with shawarma is starting to pay off as we see more and more diversity in it, Mawlood serves up Iraqi shawarmas, and it’s quite a different experience.

How is it different? Well, it’s served in an Iraqi bread (though you can also opt for a regular pita), and it has none of the garlic sauce or pickled veggies or fries in it. I tried the beef shawarma, and the meat took center stage to the experience. What made the meat stand out though, was how full of flavour and fat it was. If you like rendered fat dropping off your meat, you will absolutely love this. I do, and I really enjoyed it. It’s topped with some red onions, tomatoes and bbq sauce.

So, is it an instant hit? I guess it’ll depend. I think this style works for people who really enjoy meat and want the flavour of meat to dominate the experience. Personally, I enjoyed it. It was too big for me to finish, but yeah, I’d definitely go again.

PS: Also, it’s not on the menu, but ask for their Iraqi black tea. It’s simple, but brewed to perfection. Just the way I like.

Oh yeah, I also tried the wings with honey garlic sauce. It’s not the best wings I’ve had, but it’s actually pretty good. And for the price? Superb.

Lastly, they’ve got limited seating, but the two tables by the large window are a very pleasant...

Only Iraqi shawarma place I know and the guy that I met was very nice and cool. the beef Iraqi shawarma ('guss') is depressing. It's small, and even worse, it barely has any meat in it. It tastes really good it's just so small, not very authentic to proper Iraqi shawarma restaurants that treat you (your sandwich) well, making it huge and filled with meat.

If I come again I'm definitely telling the guy how I feel, and hoping for a properly sized sandwich, as he was very cool, otherwise if he cheaps out again, I'm lowering my rating.

I would give it a 3 out of star, but I genuinely left the restaurant starving after paying 13 for a whole shawarma

If you plan to eat a shawarma from here, make sure they don't cheap out and properly fill it up; a lot of middle Eastern restaurants cheap out on food and survive by priding themselves on being the only type of that...

I ordered the chicken leg plate, and the menu clearly said I could choose either fried or plantain.

The price was supposed to be $22.68 plus tax, but the server asked me to pay over $27, saying, “I chose the plantain and the system changed the price!”

I responded, “But your menu says the plantain is included in the plate.”

The server admitted, “I know, but the system changed the price, and it’s not my fault!”

This makes it sound like the restaurant is run by the POS system with no human oversight from the owner. The attitude of “I know the system price is wrong compared to the menu, but what can I do? It’s better that the customer pays more than for me to fix it” is simply not acceptable.

It’s no surprise there were zero customers at 6 p.m. with this kind of service. The owner should hire better servers, because this one is driving customers away and hurting...