Big Bite Pita — Restaurant in St. John's

The owner is very rude - other employees are pleasant. Nothing here is easy to order and customizing your pita is essentially prohibited. The owner shows clear signs of annoyance anytime a request is made aside from his set ingredients ('Can I have pickles added to my Shwarama?', for instance, and if we requested hot sauce to my shwarama, are usually no nonsense, but if allowed, you are assured that this is not okay and must never happen again...the owner comes across as a dictator and and individual to be far removed from customer service). Online orders are a whole other story, they are near impossible to make and customize, they always get delivered completely wrong even when followed up with a phone call to ensure that they will make the order correctly. we have never received a single online order from this place made right, and have placed about a dozen. as we immediately began supporting this place since they opened, we had a frequent buyer card (buy 9 pitas get one free) that they used to distribute to customers for quite a while, I was a little sad when these ceased to exist ... It took quite a while to fill this up, especially because we couldn't get stamps on online orders. We went back to redeem our free pita the other day that we had earned through loyalty to this poorly managed business. The owner denied honoring this and we were told 'we don't use these any more', so we walked out. I do not believe that this is how to treat any customer, let alone loyal ones. Big Bite Pita can do much better for its valued customers. We continued to frequent regularly even though the service standard from the owner was the worst we have ever seen hoping that it would improve with time and giving the benefit of of doubt to an international sole proprietor. It never did, and like cheap wine, he got worse woth time. Quality wise orders were made incorrect regularly and the pitas were usually ripped and could not be eaten as a wrap. Little to no recourse was ever shown from the company at these times, instead only annoyance with the customer was shown.Thankfully, we still have Muhamad Ali's, which like Big BIte Pita is...

READ IT, YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT CHICKEN STRIPS ARE NOT HALAL but it is hidden from customers. All tips are stolen from the employees by the owner so only pay cash because card tips are stolen. They do not wash any of the vegetables. This is the worst possible place to work in the entire city. The owner is so so stingy. He forces you to work 10 days "training" and pays "half" minimum wage which is a scam to get you working for 10 days and half the wage. You will work 30 hours and the pay cheque will show 20, he will then try to convince you that you worked 20. He also steals all the tips that you receive from the customers. Every pay cheque will be a war with him trying to get back your hard earned money and he will try brainwashing you and tricking you. He will even scream at employees for an extra drop of sauce that you put on a wrap. The owner does not comply with the laws and legislations of the province, and oppresses minimum wage workers.

Another time, we had a very old nice Canadian lady who came to the store for the first time. We had given her some extra salad as an appreciation, the owner barged in the store and started touching the food with bare hands and started yelling for the extra food that we had given. He embarrassed the old lady and started checking through her entire bag to see if we gave her anything extra.

The feeding homeless thing is a complete scam. They collect funds from US & Canada and then they steal most of it and give the homeless people some fries and gravy oil. Are you seriously going to offer a homeless person some gravy oil and call it a good day? A homeless person asked for a little pack of vinegar, and the owner literally started screaming.

Lastly, the worst is here, brace yourselves... One time we had a lady who had ordered a sandwich at the store. She felt that the proportion of the sandwich was not right and asked for a refund, the employee refunded her and then she asked for the tips back too. The employee threw the coins at her face directly disrespecting her and she was about to start crying. If this is the way they treat customers, avoid eating here to save your...

I've been three times, and have noticed a drop in quality each time.

The first time I visited, not long after they made the news for their generosity towards people in need, the food was great and the service was excellent.

The second time I visited, the service was a bit rushed as though they wanted me to be out the door, and they made a mistake on my order.

The most recent time I visited (2021/08/25), there was another mistake on my order, and the young woman who served myself and my father seemed to resent our presence.

When we arrived, we waited a couple of minutes for someone to appear. When nobody showed up, we rang a bell which was placed on the counter. The person working there told us in an irritated voice that she knew we were there and would come in a moment. We apologized for the misunderstanding as we thought she had not known we were there. She then resumed scrubbing a pot for another couple of minutes before coming to the front.

When she served us, throughout our interaction, I received the consistent and repeated impression that she would rather we were not there, and that we were wasting her time. We had a little confusion when ordering, and she did not seem interested in helping us understand. Our questions and orders were met with only brusque responses.

When she prepared our pitas, they were thrown together without much care, and the falafel had totally disintegrated, to the point that it lost all texture.

Overall I was very disappointed. It's clear they use good quality, fresh ingredients, and they have a very nice menu, but after this most recent experience I think I will wait a long time before I go back again. It's a very unpleasant experience to feel completely unwelcome in a place you go to...