We found this place while wandering the area in Ottawa, and had a great dinner! I had the…read morecombination dinner which included stuffed grape leaves, kibbeh, spinach pies, hummus and salad. Everything was fresh, flavorful, and delicious. The kibbeh was seasoned beautifully as were the spinach pies. Even the salad was really good. The pita was fresh and perfect as well. I had the rose water iced tea to drink which was quite good and the rose water was not overpowering. One person was serving and cooking. I am assuming this was Omar the owner. I have no idea how he was managing all of that! He also did the art around the restaurant which was beautiful. Definitely a great option in this part of Ottawa!

Food and service are wonderful in a beautiful restaurant! You won't be disappointed if you love…read moreLebanese Cuisine. If you're visiting Ottawa, this is a must dine! Thank you Mr. Omar!

Doesn't look like much when you walk past it from the outside but upon entering! It's a whole other…read moreworld, the decor, the atmosphere. It's like I entered a portal and was teleported to another part of the world. This is a family-owned Syrian restaurant and delivers very authentic Syrian food ; I came here with my middle eastern friends, and they loved it. There is gorgeous buffet too! The buffet is timed so make sure to come appropriately.

A real hidden and unexpected gem -- this Palestinian-owned eatery serves up delicious home-style…read moremeals, with warm service and very reasonable prices. The rich and hearty lentil soup was a great way to start the meal. All of the dishes we had were terrific -- each of the three rice dishes featured tasty, well seasoned meat (kebab was our favourite) on a bed of fragrant rice, spices, raisins, and nuts. The dishes weren't heavy or saucy, but instead fresh and homey. Dessert was Dubai chocolate ice cream, a ball of vanilla chocolate rolled in knafeh, chocolate, and pistachio sauce, tasting like a giant ball of frozen Ferraro Rocher! It's a small casual eatery with about 6-7 tables, and appeared to be quite busy, even on a Sunday evening. You order at the counter and they bring the meals to your table in short order.

The food is spectacular. There is no written menu, so you have to have a conversation with the…read moreperson at the counter. The music in the restaurant was loud, too loud to talk to other friends in the line. The line is the most disappointing thing. There were 7 people ahead of me in line and 25 people behind me. There must be a more efficient way to deal with the lunch rush. I think it would be better to eliminate the seating and set up two parallel serving lines.

(FL) Best shawarma I've ever had. Very tasty sandwiches, the salad combo is large and excellent…read more Clean and excellent service from the guys behind the counter. Location itself is simple and almost hidden. Been there eight years a block away from my office and I didn't know about it until recently. It can get busy with a line out the door.

This review is exclusively for their meat pies (Pide) that they sell on UberEats under the name…read more"Manqousheh." It's the exact same store though. They sell Pide under the name Ottawa Kabab too, but bigger and more expensive, the ones I got are smaller. I got the meat one ($4.99 BOGO ) and the cheese and sausage one (also $4.99 BOGO). Both were delicious. The meat Pide was filled with ground meat. It was flavourful and smelled so good. The cheese and sausage Pide had lots of cheese and little cubes of sausage. It was tasty, but I preferred the meat one. Although my husband liked the cheese and sausage better, so I guess it depends on your tastes. At any rate, we both agreed that they were delicious. I ordered on UberEats for pickup. Staff were friendly and efficient. They even wrote "Thank you" with a smiley face on my takeout box, lol. The restaurant itself has some seating inside as well as a patio. The parking situation is the only downfall. There is free parking in front of the restaurant, but there are not too many spaces and it's very tight. Difficult to maneuver around. Street parking is available but not the easiest to find nor convenient. Glad this place popped up on my UberEats deals :)

This is a decent find especially at this price point. I…read moretried the 3 kebab mix and added the hummus and toum option. They don't hold back the spice so a pleasant thing IMO as one gets to enjoy the food it is supposed to be. Priced very well so impressed was I that I ended up making a delivery order the following day. With a dearth of decent food for this cuisine in this city I would even give it a half star bump. Give them a try if you like this type of food.

Boustan is a chain from Montreal that sells Lebanese food. It has over 40 locations. I am certain…read morethat I had shawarma sandwiches at a Boustan in my university days in Montreal. It was before I was on Yelp and before I was "into" food as much as I am now, lol. This location on Rideau St is the first and currently only location in Ottawa. It's where Gabriel Pizza used to be and it opened in March 2022. I was browsing deals on UberEats and saw that Boustan was having a BOGO deal: $9.99 for a small beef or chicken shawarma sandwich. Man, I remember when $9.99 for 2 shawarma sandwiches was just the regular price, but now it's actually considered a deal. Anyway, I figured why not pick up a couple of shawarma sandwiches for my husband and I after work for dinner and we don't have to cook. So that's exactly what I did. I opted for the beef, and asked them to hold the onions. The sandwich was actually quite good. It had a decent amount of beef in it and the beef was tender and tasty and not gristly nor fatty, which I appreciated. It came with shredded cabbage, pickled turnips and tomatoes. I actually prefer the shredded cabbage here over the shredded lettuce at most other places. It keeps its crunch better and gets less soggy. There was also garlic sauce which wasn't overpowering. The pita was nicely toasted too. And the size was good, not too puny. I was impressed. Pickup was quick. It was ready when the app said it was, which was about 10-15 minutes from the time I ordered. Staff were friendly. I would return to try other items. They have Saj bread, which I love. Street parking only. There are paid parking lots nearby too.

Boustan from Montreal finally opened up on Rideau St at the old Gabriel's Pizza location. They…read morefully renovated the old location and it's pretty nice inside. I decided to try a mixed plate platter as that's been my standard when trying shawarma places to rate restaurants in the multi city shawarma show down. They made some potatoes nice and fresh and at first I thought the platter look at little small BUT they pack it in the food! The platter comes to roughly $18 but comes with a drink and did I mention they pack the food in? The platter comes with rice, potatoes, hummus, toum, salad (was a little bitter but I really liked it) and piled up meat. I really liked the potatoes and salad. Chicken and beef were marinated different from anything I've tried in downtown Ottawa. I liked it. Garlic sauce is not as garlicky as what we have at the Palace. Hummus was decent as well. 3.5 stars. The sauce was decent, way better than that sweet sauce from Osmow's. With Shawarma Palace a few blocks away, if you're really hard up for shawarma it's a decent option with decent portions. If you have some time head down to the Palace though!

Le Casablanca is a hidden gem of the byward market! The food was beyond delicious, the service was…read morekind and helpful and the restaurant offers a fun and cozy ambiance.

The Short Version: Casual Moroccan restaurant in the Byward…read moreMarket Square building. Food is pre-made and on warming trays so service is quite quick. The Long Version: I believe I have eaten at La Casablanca before but it was many years ago before I was on Yelp. Most recently I got food from here through the Too Good to Go app. (It's an app to reduce food wastage. Restaurants sell leftover/day-old food at a discounted price on the app. The catch is it's a surprise bag so you don't know what you're going to get.) I was on my way home and was walking by the restaurant and noticed they had a surprise bag for sale on the Too Good to Go app for $9.99 and I decided to buy it. The man prepared my meal by scooping various items in the warming trays into a takeout box. I got some chicken skewers, rice, roasted potatoes, cabbage, and a vegetable stew (which consisted of carrots, potatoes, bell peppers, and broccoli). I seemed to get a few rogue chickpeas too, lol. The food was flavorful and I liked the seasonings on it. I also liked the variety and that I got to try a little bit of different items. I felt it was a satisfactory deal for $9.99. However on the app it did list that the value of the surprise bag was $29.99, which I don't feel is true, lol. For the $10 I paid, I'll rate it as 4 stars. I'd give it half that rating though had I paid $30 for a takeout box of food (mostly vegetables and rice) from warming trays, lol. The restaurant is inside the Byward Market Square building so it's kind of food court-like but each restaurant has its own seating. The vibe is very casual. The man serving me was courteous. A good place for quick casual Moroccan food. Review #233 (2025)

I noticed a sign for another new restaurant when I checked out Fragrant Noodles but it wasn't open…read moreat the time. After a run early last week, I noticed people were inside so I decided to check it out later in the night. It's really bright in here from the outside. When I popped in, I thought it'd be a bit bigger. There's 3 or 4 tables max so there's not a lot of seating. I had a look at the menu and placed an order for a chicken sandwich. The person working the cash asked if I wanted anything else and I decided to ask about combos. I don't think it was obvious to me but after getting some help, I ended up getting fries,coleslaw and a drink as my side. They also asked if I wanted to try their hot sauce and I was in! A few minutes later, they showed me how they cut their sandwiches into multiple pieces and put it in the container and it gets topped off with more chicken, similar to how Five Guys tops up their take out bags with more fries if you get fries. They topped it off with some of their house sauce and packed up my order. It looked awesome and the staff were really friendly and helpful. I got my order and headed home as the tables were all full. I popped open my meal and tried the chicken. It was pretty nice. Wasn't overcooked and had some nice flavours. I few more forkfuls and I grabbed one of small sandwiches they cut from my sandwich. That was also good. I got into the coleslaw, they let me try a few. I enjoyed it. It was pretty creamy. I then tried a few fries which were nicely seasoned and didn't get soggy from my transit home. All in all a solid meal. It's a bit more expensive than the other places and I came back a few days later for a fattoush salad which was really good. I think that's become one of my favourite salad options in the last year. I'll definitely come back, as there are a bunch of different bread options. They have this wild potato meal as well and I may try that at some point. Come check it out and get some better pictures than I did to share!

Came to Shawarma Palace after shawarma came highly recommended by a friend and generally this meal…read moredid not disappoint! The portion sizes are RIDICULOUS. For us modest appetites, this is easily 3 meals - easily! We ordered 2 plates and a sandwich for 4 people and still had enough leftovers for a small breakfast the morning after. My personal favorite was the mixed shawarma plate. I love how it comes with pita made specifically for Shawarma Palace, rice, potatoes, salad, pickled veg, and the meat. We also got the mixed kabob plate which featured tender beef but the chicken kabob was just a hair bit dry. The falafel sandwich was actually very dry and I would not recommend this. We also picked up some baklava for dessert after and I liked how it was just sweet enough! You can taste the pistachios and I thought the kiss of rose water was just enough to make the bite memorable!

Happened upon this restaurant one evening. I saw a shawarma place on the north side of the street,…read moreso I prepared to turn off and go back, but here was another shawarma place. Quickly looked at Yelp and saw a fantastic number of reviews. So this place looked to be the real thing. I stepped up to the counter and ordered the beef shawarma platter to eat in. The guys just kept piling more and more on the platter. It was absolutely ridiculously huge by the time they were done. It was stacked with beef on top. As I paid, I asked for a take-out container. There was no hesitation. So obviously, this is the way they do it. I sat in the super clean dining area and started in on this massive dish. Then I saw a young family carry their plates to a table adjacent to me. And they all had these massive plates too. So after stuffing myself and hardly putting a dent in this pile of food I had to load up the take out clamshell. It would hardly close and weighed 2-3lbs (after filling myself). So if you want to buy one dish and eat a tasty healthy meal for a week. This is your place. It seemed very clean in the restaurant (signs say leave your dishes on the table - so they are obviously bussing the tables regularly). The washroom was also exceptionally clean. The staff that built my meat mountain were super friendly. I would certainly recommend this place!