My-O-My — Restaurant in Berkeley

NOW FEATURING GARLIC SAUCE. Bringing an absolutely ferocious shawarma game to the north half of the East Bay, brother Farhad and his crew, are serving up tender and delicious chicken, beef, slovaki, donar, and falafel shawarma, and wraps, with the crispiest fries I've had in a while. All the ingredients are very fresh, and I learned that the maple leaf in the logo is to honor the business founder, who is a cousin of Farhad, and their small family chain of shawarma restaurants, which have their origins in Canada.

All good shawarma restaurants have to have a good sauce, and the garlic sauce here is killer. Not exactly like "Toum", the safflower oil based sauce with garlic and lemon that I'm addicted to, and not exactly like "Tzatziki", The strained yogurt sauce with herbs commonly found in a lot of Middle Eastern meat dishes, but a really nice combination of the both.

Another thing to note, is that several different cuisines claim to have a particular meat which is supposed to be cooked on a spit. If it's not cooking on a spit, it's not really shawarma, and if it's not cooked on a spit it's not really Al Pastor, so I was happy to come in and talk with Farhad about his spit knowledge, and his desire to get an even bigger one. All in all, I'm in and out with the medium spicy, (mild to me) large chicken shawarma wrap, french fries, and a drink for just under $20, and thoroughly Happy about the experience. Highly recommended!

NOTE, their spice chart tends to be a little on the mild side, so you can try with some of the upper levels. Their "medium hot" would be "mild hot" to someone used to eating Thai food. Also, you might want to tell them to go a little light on the salt or seasoning on the fries, while delicious, was just a tiny bit too much for me. I'll know next time, and there will definitely be in next time. Shukran...

I like the concept, there’s never enough Mediterranean food places, but I think this place is a little confused of its identity— It’s Mediterranean and poutine. I came here because it was Mediterranean food, but after looking at the menu and trying a wrap, I was left desiring more thinking that this place probably specialized more in poutine. I tried the beef shawarma wrap and it wasn’t bad by any means, but it didn’t knock my socks off. The flatbread itself was 10/10, not many places have a thin flatbread like this. The toppings were customizable, but I felt like all the options were doing a little too much, and I just went with the basics. The beef shawarma was not bad, but it left me a little confused. I was expecting a nice sliced beef shawarma, but it was diced into little bits that would be most suitable for taco meat. Speaking of tacos, I felt it was a little over-seasoned, or perhaps incorrectly seasoned- it was very cinnamon forward… I’m familiar with Mediterranean cooking style, and I know they use warm spiced, but all I could taste was cinnamon flavor and there was no real depth of flavor to the seasoning. I felt that it could have been done this way purposefully to pair with the poutine gravy (which I haven’t tried) leading me to assume it’s more of a poutine restaurant than a Mediterranean spot. I think they went with both because poutine might have a harder time succeeding as a restaurant. Nonetheless, I saw good ratings so I tried it, but it didn’t really meet my culinary expectations. It’s a run of the mill “chipotle’fied” restaurant catered toward college kids. If was to go back I would try the regular poutine, or the chicken shawarma because the beef really didn’t...

Went today, 3 July 2023. Was one of the only restaurants open in the area - makes sense considering Canada doesn't have a holiday on July 4. Ordered a small poutine through snackpass. Line was out the door 10 mins later. Took 20 minutes to get my poutine, which was understandable given the line, but someone who ordered after me got their regular-sized poutine in 5. Staff was very apologetic afterwards. The poutine was not poutine. I was elated when I first heard that there was a poutine joint in my neighbourhood, so I came to satisfy that craving. This poutine isn't even comparable to Costco or McDonald's poutine in Canada. They use shredded cheese, not cheese curds, the fries were overcooked and almost burnt, and the gravy was not very flavourful. I'm almost offended that they call this poutine since this is not representative of my home country. I'd spend my $9 elsewhere, maybe even fly back to Vancouver to get my poutine fill since Flair tickets from SFO are dirt cheap nowadays. This being said, I have not tried their shawarma - it looks good. I just hope the owners of this restaurant can either start making authentic poutine or change the name to "cheesy fries" or something.

EDIT: I find it funny that the store is trying to defend themselves since their menu literally says "cheddar cheese curds" if you look at the menu they posted (current as of 3 July 2023). Additionally, you can find actual cheese curds at the Sprouts 15 minutes away - so if management is reading, try going...