Euro Shawarma — Restaurant in Toronto

I used to be a regular at Euro Shawarma when I lived closer to it a couple of years ago and it was the absolute best shawarma around. Today, I happened to be in the neighborhood and was excited to have it again for the first time in quite a while. Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment and probably the last time I'll ever have it.

I don't know if the ownership has changed in the last couple of years, but it's not nearly the same as it used to be. First, let's talk about price and portions. Prices of the chicken shawarma dinners have gone up and the takeout containers are smaller now. Before, at least half of the then larger takeout container used to be stuffed with rice, chicken and potatoes; not only is the container smaller now, but they don't seem to be putting as much chicken and rice in it. They've also changed to using Basmati rice, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I preferred the long grain rice they were using previously.

Moving on to taste, it's a shadow of its former self. The chicken, which once used to be well seasoned and really tasty on its own, is now largely bland. Their tzatziki / shawarma sauce tastes excessively greasy now, like they've seriously cut back on the amount of yogurt in it and replaced it with mayonnaise. It was also devoid of any garlic and just doesn't pack the same flavor punch it used to. For salads and veggies, I got a bit of everything as I usually did in the past and the chickpeas, pickles and turnips in particular tasted rancid and like they were past their expiry date, they didn't have any freshness to them at all.

I'm really disappointed, because Euro Shawarma was truly the best game in town before IMO and I can't even say it ranks anywhere near the top anymore. It's just changed way too much from what I remember and it wasn't enjoyable for me. I used to love the food so much before that no matter how stuffed the plate used to be, I'd eat every last morsel because it was just that good. This plate I got tonight, I could barely bring myself to eat more than half of it, and I even only ate as much as I did out of sheer hunger.

If the ownership hasn't changed, and the owner reads this post, I implore you - please change things back to the way they used to be. The way it is now, I can't ever go back. And that pains me, because I used to be a devoted regular. I'll need to get my shawarma fix...

I want to give Euro Shawarma four stars, but I can't. Read on to find out why... When it first opened, I'd of given it a five-star rating for what it was; an unpretentious and casual middle eastern eatery. The meats were cooked to perfection, the portions were generous, the plates beautiful arranged (great presentation for such a modest place), and the food bursting with flavour. Good things seldom last and I just had a gut feeling that'd be the case with this place. I was not wrong. Granted, the decline has been much more gradual than other new operations I grow to love. Euro Shawarma is far from bad... there are many much worse shawarma places in this city... but it's a far cry from what it was when it first opened. If I'm passing by and I'm hungry, I'll still stop by, but it's not the stop-by-every-time-you-pass-by place it once was. I actually used to go out of my way to get their food, driving down from Thornhill for no other reason than to stuff my face with their glorious meet. I've found the meat is more dry and less seasoned than before, but where I mainly noticed the change was in the quality of the toppings... they just don't seem to be as fresh anymore... and they've gotten lazy when it comes to garnishing/arranging a plate as nicely as they used to. I know that's more a novel thing than anything and should probably be saved for higher end establishments, but it was a nice touch when they did it. I will keep going back until I find a better place, but I hope they read this and go back to...

My boyfriend and I came here today for my boyfriend to try it for the first time .I asked for chicken fries w a salad (knowing it’s an extra charge) my boyfriend ordered the shawarma and then changed his mind to a chicken plate. In the process we were telling the employee what we wanted on his plate and we kept stating we don’t care for rice ,salad for the plate and more potatoes and for the salad chicken fries the employee told me she can add salad to my chicken fries if we wanted more salad for the plate , okay so now when they are dressing my fries I asked where my salad I was told they don’t do that , okay fine but on two occasions throughout this interaction I asked for salad and was offered salad for my chicken fries.So now that my fries are finished making what happened to what was discussed ? I then was told they would charge me for a small salad if I wanted salad on my fries even though it was offered to me …. Also the customer service was horrible , I was very clear in what I wanted for my order , the employees were rude and dismissive , I came here to introduce my boyfriend to what I thought was a family friendly establishment, but I just got a bunch rude employees who were unapologetic, and in the end I DID NOT get my food , I WILL NEVER COME BACK and not only because of this incident there has been many times I come here and the employees...