Crispy Bites Restaurant (Shawarma Abu Al Abed) شاورما ابو العبد — Restaurant in Ottawa

"Laheeb Shawarma" a famous place in Ottawa for serving middle eastern dishes. In fact it was my favourite until yesterday (Jul 28) . Yesterday an incident happened and everything changed after that. Last night around 9 PM, I went to that place and ordered my favourite dish which was a mixed shawarma plate along with a Saj chicken sandwich. It was a take out order so, I just took food from counter and went back to home. After coming home, I started eating the sandwich first and then I opened the mixed shawarma plate. Just after opening the box I noticed that the garlic dip is missing. So, I just thought that it was just a mistake. People make mistake all the time. So, I ignored it and started eating it. Once I put the rice the rice on my mouth I got shocked. The rice was all rotten and as a result I could not eat the dish. I immediately called the restaurant and explained the situation to the cashier. The cashier then gave me the manager number and asked me to talk to him. So, I called the manager and his name was Usama. Usama told me that he was very sorry for that and he will compensate me with a free meal in the next visit. I was convinced with his commitment.

So, today, I went to the place again and wanted to try the meal again as l could not eat it yesterday. I explained the situation to the cashier and then the cashier talked to the manager. After a few minutes, the cashier came back to me with a bag containing only rice and a garlic dip. I was totally shocked and I asked the cashier what kind of food it is. I could not eat whole meal on the other day and today they are offering only the portion of the food which went missing and was rotten. What kind of compensation is this?

To the manager "Mr Usama": Next time, when you will try any kind of shawarma plate in your dinner or lunch, just put aside the rice and dip, eat the remaining part of the dish and in the next day just eat only rice and the dip. Also keep doing it for the rest of your life.

To the owner of the restaurant: I do not know if you visit the restaurant regularly or not. The restaurant offers a great service to the customer. And yes, it is true as long as you can speak their language which is Arabic. For people like me who can not speak or understand Arabic language, experienced worst service from the restaurant. For your information, I visited your restaurant several times and every time I saw that there were always some people got the food before me even though they ordered after me and it was the same food I ordered. I noticed that the customers were talking to the chef in their own language and the chef gave advantage to them by preparing their food first. For a renowned restaurant like this, it is not acceptable.

However, I have made my mind I am not going to that restaurant again and neither I will recommend it to any of my friend.

To the new non Arabic speaking customers: The food is good but you will have the worst customer experience in your life. And if they can not understand you, do not get upset. It is not your fault that you can not make them understand. It is simply they do not have proper skills in English. So, It is your choice whether you...

Worst Experience Ever with Crispy Bites and a Horrible Customer Service!

I honestly can’t believe how unprofessional this restaurant is. I ordered food directly from Crispy Bites website for three people, and the delivery took almost TWO hours to arrive , no message, no update, nothing. When the order finally showed up, one of the sandwiches I paid for was missing. They had my phone number and email, but no one even bothered to contact me to let me know the item wasn’t available. They just decided to send the order half-complete, and one person in my group literally had nothing to eat.

When I called to ask about it, instead of apologizing or offering a refund, they told me I had to come to the restaurant and make another order for pick up or dine and then they'll give me a discount if I wanted compensation. Like seriously? I already paid for food I never got, and they wanted me to spend even more money?

For over 10 days, I kept calling, texting, chasing them just to get back the money for that one missing sandwich. No one cared. No one followed up. Only when I told them to forget about it — that I wasn’t even asking for the money anymore , they're afraid from bad reviews, they decided to send me the money, but i have already had the intention to write my experience, since I gave them all the time to resolve this issue. This whole experience was beyond frustrating. No apology, no accountability, and zero respect for customers.

If you’re thinking of ordering from Crispy Bites in Ottawa ,don’t do it. Save yourself the stress. There are plenty of restaurants out there that actually care about their customers and deliver what...

I came in to order and take out.

One part of the order was ready quickly (beef sharma sandwich) but I then waited 25 minutes for my other sandwich. It was empty at 7:00 pm and two men came in after me and had lovely conversations with the staff and got their sandwiches immediately and the two staff members enjoyed animated personal conversations with them. I wish I had that same interaction.

I am aware that I ordered a Shish taouk sandwich which takes longer (would have been nice to know that), but the indifference of the staff and absolute lack of attempt to apologize for the wait and implication (palpable) that the wait was due to the nature of my choice of food was disappointing … we chose to visit their place thinking we would spend our Friday night, having a delicious sharma at home.

The pita was soggy. The sandwiches were edible , but not worth 30.00, definitely not worth the lengthy wait in an empty place, and certainly not worth standing for the indifferent , almost condescending service I received as I asked for an update on my food. I am willing to forgo sub quality food (it’s a risk everyone takes for the pleasure of takeaways), and the unreasonable wait, but I resent not being acknowledged respectfully as I ask about the status of my food. Don’t make two sandwiches 25 minutes apart and expect both be warm and fresh.

They are indifferent , almost mocking, and certainly do not care about enticing one to come back. Unfortunate, during a time when so many businesses are doing everything to...