Shawarma Express Restaurant — Restaurant in Ottawa

I love shawerma. These guys give it a bad name. I went there on May 20 at about 2 pm during the Tulip festival.

Observations:

1. Extremely unhygienic servers. Used the tongs to turn switches on and off
2. Shawarma plate barely has any extra chicken compared to the wrap. They throw in odles of potatoes and veggies to show volume. Not like the osmows or lazeez shawerma plates in Toronto
3. They first wrap the shawerma wrap with paper and then barely heat it.Guys shawerma is not a subway sandwich. It has to be hot.
4. Their garlic sauce or any sauce is watered down to the limit. Pathetic.
5. The shawerma chicken heater was never kept on . They turn it in to high to heat up the chicken quick when a customer orders it. Which makes the chicken really dry. Plus they give huge chunks of chicken rather than small ones. This is not how you make Shawerma.
6. The stocky guy who made the shawerma plate for me didn't even ask what I wanted in the shawerma plate. Just made it on his own . Rude.
7. The washroom was smelly and unhygienic to say the least. It is also close the seating are. You can smell the bad smell if you unfortunately sit on one of the inside tables.
8. The falafel was equally bad

Conclusion: Don't go...

One star is too much, but there is no lower rating. It was Saturday and the Fattouch lady restaurant is closed. So why don't we try this Shawarma express on Slate street? In one sentence: we should have walked out as soon as we set foot in, the place is run down and cleanliness is much to be desired. No other customer was in sight. We asked for two chicken plates and two falafel plates. The chicken plates were prepared first and were taken near the cash. While preparing the falafel plates another server came, almost pushed the other server and started filling up a plate with rice, then he proceeded near the cash and started removing pieces of chicken from our intended plates and put them on the plate he was preparing. I was puzzled, and again I should have walked out. When we got our plates there were barely any chicken meat and what was there was too dry. All the servers proceeded to another table and started sharing the plate that was prepared by that pirate server. Now for the taste of the food: the falafel was ok, the chicken was way sub-par, the potatoes cold. I can't believe this place is still open and...

First off. I rarely offer up 5 stars. To get four is something in my opinion. I am a Chicken Shawarma Salad type of guy. First off, their Fatoush salad could use a little bit of work; it's just the salad is not pre-made. It is missing a few of the typical ingredients in a Fatoush salad. Did this affect their score - no it didn't, but if may have made the difference between 4.0 and 4.25. The salad was fresh, the toppings were pretty good too. I forgot to try the hot peppers; I like mine hot and vinegary. The turnip was really good... the salad dressing equally good. Chicken was warm, tender and tasty. The 'piece de resistance' was the garlic sauce. My god that is good. Top two in Ottawa that I have experienced. And I have experienced Shawarma all over Canada. To see some more of my and my buddies reviews of Shawarma in Canada - check out 's h a w a r m a c l u b . c a' - our hobby site dedicated to Canadian Shawarma.

PS: To get five stars - offer hummus and garlic at the counter - not at the cash. Don't make a dollop of hummus or garlic sauce a cash grab. And of course - offer up a 'real'...