Just got some takeout from here and it was phenomenal! The chicken shawarma plate (with everything)…read morewas some of the best I've ever had. Tender chicken, powerful garlic sauce, delicious pickles and plenty of pita. It's a lot of food but it was so good I ate it all. Staff was very friendly and accommodating. Can't recommend this place more, a must stop for shawarma fans.

We had a wonderful late night dinner here. The meat, the vegetables, the bread, and the dips were…read moreall phenomenal. The portion sizes are extremely generous. Highly recommended if you're looking for some fast Lebanese food.

This is a little dive just down from my hotel. They have indoor seating but a lot of take out…read more Chef had a special and loaded the takeout with extra meat and a large salad. Service was fast and the food was excellent.

Near the Canadian War Museum (6 minutes away) I found Sham House (Syrian food). Living in Toronto…read moreI'm used to excellent Mediterranean food and this is one of the best I've had. We enjoyed it so much we came back during our trip. The owner cooks with fresh ingredients, and he is very friendly. The restaurant is diner style and clean. We had two Sham specials: shawarma chicken and the beef, salad and garlic potatoes..every morsel delicious.

Loved it. The…read morespace is simple, bright and comfortable. Turquoise, pastels and earthy tones all oddly meld to make a comfortable space. Service was polite and helpful. I asked for a spoonful of the cucumber/tomato/mint side for hubs to try, before he decided on his order, and they graciously complied. He ended picking the slightly more adventurous dish (for him) as a result. I had the falafal bowl, also delicious. Both arrived nicely plated, er, bowled, and looking beautiful. I love when we manage to find delicious, overall healthy food options for a reasonable price.

Where do I start? This restaurant is amazing. I love middle eastern food, and Bibi's nailed it. The…read moreguys who started up Fairouz, also started up this place. This is a cashless store, and there are self serve kiosks when you walk in. Tap on the screen and order up some yummy food. I got the falafel bowl, with a lettuce base ($11.00), the hubby got beef and tahen bowl with a rice base ($14.00). Both bowls were devoured. I really enjoyed the falafel. They were spiced well, and a bit different than all the other falafel joints in Ottawa. I can't put my finger on it, but it was really good. I also really enjoyed how the lettuce in my bowl was chopped up finely. The texture was great. The hubby also wanted to try all the sides, because why not? Here's the breakdown: Labneh: Strained yogurt mixed with mint, za'atar, and cucumber, wrapped in saj bread and grilled ($6.00) This was the only app that we thought was OK. I mean, it was good, but it was basically pita wrapped in a yogurt sauce similar to taziki. It might be better to eat this one in the restaurant. Za'atar fries: ($4.00) These were amazing. It comes with your choice of hummus or garlic sauce. Fried cauliflower: ($6.00) Fried and dressed with a tahini sauce on top. Very good, but recommend eating it at the restaurant to maintain its crispiness. Also grabbed a bag of sumac pita chips. ($4.00) melt in your mouth, crispy, goodness. Highly recommend picking up a bag. They also have a sweet version. Garlic sauce: They nailed this sauce. It's perfect, and not too in your face, garlicky. Prices: Okay, so some of the prices are on the higher side, but you can taste the quality of the ingredients, so I don't mind shelling out some coin for some good food. If you've made it this far in my review (thank you) and if you have not checked out Bibi's yet, you are missing out. Seriously, go there and get yourself a bowl, or a wrap...or even just the fries. Everything tasted phenomenal.

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!

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!

Finally ... a tasty, fresh, well-seasoned meal. The hummus is better than mine ... and mine is…read morealmost the best. The kibbeh was gorgeous ... and the salad fresh. The tabouli was slightly sad but still good! The fried zukes were amazing as was the cauliflower. My cooking ... my kind of food. Hardworking nice guys who do a great job. Shukran-merci! This is a solid place.

The Short Version: Quick and inexpensive eats in the Byward…read moreMarket. Tasty donairs. The Long Version: Ottawa is flush with shawarma restaurants so at first a new shawarma restaurant in the Byward Market did not excite me. However, I love deals so when I saw they had a special for 2 small beef donairs for $10 I had to check it out, lol. To my delight, the donairs were delicious. And $10 for 2 wraps is a great deal, especially for these days and in the touristy Byward Market nonetheless! They were not stingy with the filling. I got lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and pickled turnips. The donair meat was well-seasoned and there was a generous amount of it. I got the spicy garlic sauce and these guys do not joke around with the spiciness. It was legit spicy, which I loved. The spicy garlic sauce at many places is only mildly spicy, so I was pleasantly surprised. Food handlers wore gloves and they replaced their gloves after doing other things. Bonus points for good hand hygiene. Staff were courteous and efficient. There's only one tiny table with 2 high stools for dining in, but they do have lots of seats outside on their patio. They just opened up in 2025. What a great addition to the Byward Market! Paid street parking or paid parkade parking only, as with practically all businesses in the area. Review #188 (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!