Helmand Kabob Palace Pickering — Restaurant in Pickering

We love Kabobs and I have been meaning to eat at Helmand Kabob for the longest time because of so many good reviews. First time we went they closed early so didn't get to do it. Finally today we craved kabobs again so I ordered a platter for 4 through UberEats which came with rice, Naan, salad, 6 kabobs and samosas. The price was reasonable at $65 but I must say the quality was really lacking. The chicken kabobs were good but all the beef ones were mushy, dry and terrible. My favourite is the Chaplee and this is the worst Chaplee I have ever had anywhere and I've eaten at pretty much all the Afghan kabob places from Sauga to Oshawa. I had to check my order again to make sure I didn't order imitation meat by mistake. The seasoning was non-existent and Chaplee is supposed to be the most spiced and fragrant of all the kabobs. If you love rice though, they gave a lot of rice with the platter and it was pretty good but not as good as Bamiyan Kabob's rice. Probably enough for 8 people. To top it off, they gave me spring rolls instead of the samosas I ordered. Overall very disappointing and I won't be eating here again.

P.S. To respond to the owner, yes I did order through UberEats but why should that have any impact on the quality of the food? UE isn't responsible for making the food, they are only bringing it to my home. I understand that every Afghan restaurant, just like restaurants of all types, have their own recipes and the review is to point out the differences in the recipes and taste palettes of the customers. I have read a lot of reviews for Helmand and the owner responses and you seem to always be very defensive and deflective of the criticisms you receive. What I paid for the food should be unrelated to the quality of the food I receive, are you saying you're putting in 35% less quality because I received a 35% off coupon? I have not had Chaplee from any Afghan restaurants where I dislike except from yours and yours was extremely inedible, tasted more like bland wood chips than meat. Maybe other people like it that way and they're more than welcomed to continue eating it, but I will not be...

I will start with the positives. The prices were good, with two shawarma sandwiches at $12. The Shawarma Plate was 10.99. For the quantity/price ratio, it was decent. The wait wasn't too long however I suspect I know the reason why.

First I will start with the fact that when I walked in, there was no shawarma spit nor were the grills on. That should have been an indication of something is wrong. I chalked it up to slow due to the holidays and it was kind of late, around 730ish.

The full menu was only available via QR code, which isn't an issue for myself luckily, however anyone who doesn't know how to use it, is stuck with looking at only a fraction of the menu on the TV displays overhead.

FYI we got two items for take out

1st Item: The chicken shawarma wrap. It was bad. The Wrap was a tortilla wrap filled with chicken which was clearly boiled in turmeric. Only taste came from what seems like ranch dressing, couldn't really tell. Not even a hint of spice. I didn't even get a chance to look at what they were putting in the wrap as they prepped behind their kitchen walls. As mentioned before, the grill wasn't even on, so it was just soggy. Unfortunately I ate it all without taking any pics, however you can see in the photos of the second item, the chicken is just boiled.

2nd Item: Chicken dinner plate. I don't know where to start. First thing is they put some fries in, nice touch IF they were actually fried properly. Clearly fried in oil way below temp, so they were soggy and oily. I can't even give the excuse that it was because of take out, we live about 2 minutes away. The chicken, which was supposed to be the star of the show fell flat. As you can see in the image, not grilled on the spit or on the flat top or anything. The sauce which was supposed to be hot, definitely was not. The salad, almost non existent.

I cannot recommend this place to anyone, and if you are able to read any of the 1 star reviews, believe them as the owner is flagging any negative reviews as...

We got a wrap and the chicken shawarma plate, and I've never had chicken shawarma taste like this before. The way they seasoned their chicken made it taste almost sour or spoiled, I can't even explain it and the chicken was full of turmeric. I've been to over a dozen of Afghan restaurants within the GTA and this was unlike any other I've had. I think a few visits to real shawarma or Afghan restaurants from Scarborough or Oshawa will give them a better idea of what their menu should taste like.. Or with the basics, just visit a Naan & Kebob place. This did not taste authentic and I'm genuinely confused for the high rating. If you are an avid foodie like me, please don't go here. We tried our best to eat as much as we could, but the photo is just how much we ate. My apologies to the owner if you see this, but I think what makes a good business is to truly review the lower ratings and perhaps make a few changes as you deem necessary.

UPDATE: As of October 20th the restaurant is now claiming this is a fake review haha! I even included a photo of the menu item I got. Goes to show that they cannot accept the negative review and move on with it. I frequent this plaza so often hence why I was able to quote that it's next to Silver Spoon. My previous review was not deleted. It was edited, just this like this recent one. Added another photo for legitimacy. ALSO to the owner, obviously you don't see the salad and fries because I ate some already. These are the type of businesses you shouldn't support because they cannot accept negative reviews and just continue to deny. To anyone else reading this, just go ahead and try their food and find out for yourselves how bad the food...