Service was pretty good, but when I brought my food home, it didn't taste very fresh and portions of it were cold. That happened to me more than once. Won't go back, as for the price I can get fresh product elsewhere. read more

Tip:- Definitely one of the best chicken shawarma I have had lately. Super authentic-doesn't fall apart like most do. I wish they had a location in the GTA. read more

Tahini's - 10/10 chicken shawarma it's so authentic just like you get it in the Middle East. - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

It was Easter and there weren't many choices. Tahini's was not only a life saver but added a lot more to the Easter celebrations. Good quality and variety. read more

Love the Jamaican Jerk Chicken rice bowl! I like how it is made with their home made sauce and not just a pre made store bought sauce. Word of warning: it's spicy so if you prefer something mild definitely do not get this one. Their mango juice helped mellow out the spice and kept me going! The messy fries are one of my absolute favourites from this place. Highly recommended coming here!! read more

See all

Excellent location. Excellent service, food, flavour and price! If you're looking for Middle Eastern, I highly recommend this place. Came here with a couple friends and there were plenty of options on the menu for each of us to choose. Food- I ordered beef shawarma on rice and the shawarma poutine. Amazing. There's a bunch of other selections on the menu like salads, manakeesh pie (almost like a flat bread pizza), Barakat plates (different meat combinations and rice and sides), appetizers (soups, tahini hummus), and desserts like baklava. If you're a vegetarian, say no more! There's options like falafel plates and mixed salad plates. Overall. I highly recommend this place. Just give it a try. :) read more

Simple, cheap, tasty. That's 3 words that I would describe Barakat with. It's kind of like your Chipotle meets Mediterranean food. There are a few options for pita sandwiches, some bowls, and you can't forget your shwarma. Their portions are really generous and the food is really cooked well. Honestly, for a place that we just stopped by for a quick bite before moving on to other bigger, and better things. I think this was a great choice! I had the beef bowl, and the portion was so huge that I had to split it with my friends. It came with on top of a bed of rice and you can choose 3 sides to go with, and I chose the tabbouleh, cabbage and hummus. All these, mixed with the sauces made for a really yummy meal. However, I wished they had a more potent hot sauce rather than Sriracha, much like The Halal Guys (that hot sauce will give you a run for your money). All in all, pretty good service, good food, good value, free parking in the back! Come here and not be disappointed. read more

Tahini's - Beef bowl with tabbouleh - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

I love this place for their chicken shawarma poutine but today was greatly disappointed to see that they've decreased their serving size and quality. Way less fries, chicken and cheese but tons more gravy than I've ever seen on my order. Very disappointing; hopefully this is just a one off and they're being inconsistent rather than the new norm. read more

Tahini's - Disappointed that this is all that was in my box compared to normal. - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

Soooo good!!!!! Got the shawn bowl with chicken. Forgot to take a pic because I was so excited. but food was amazing quality and service was excellent. read more

Was awful ... salad was not fresh and neither was any of what we ordered ... could not eat it. ... terrible... so many better options that have integrity... will not order again read more

2 slow, waiting 20 minutes for a quick bite in a fast food restaurant. Literally got my food faster ordering online, nuts. Not bad for drunken food. Wouldn't be my regular choice sober. read more

I have had takeout from this place several times, but the last time we sat in for a meal. We had the vegetarian plate and I am now obsessed with their garlic paste! It was the most delicious ever. Of course their falafels are perfectly done! To top it off, all their dips and sauces are made to perfection. Best part of this place is that their service is great and they are open late! read more

I stopped in for some late night dinner. I ended up ordering the mixed grill. It hit the spot after a very long work day. There was so much food I had to bring the left overs home. I'll definitely return again. read more

Tahini's - Mixed Grill with pita bread. - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

Very delicious food. Fresh and crunchy french fries. The Malafel was excellent. Best tasting falafel I've ever had. Crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Large portions. Polite customer service. Place little messy. read more

See all

Delicious freshly homemade sharwma. You can taste it in their grilled meat and tahini sauce but be sure to add extra ingredients for more texture in your pita. We didn't know it wasn't included until we got our order. Delicious nonetheless. read more

See all

I was served a large piece of metal in my food that was the size of a nickel. I returned to the store and asked for a refund. The person working quickly prepared me another order and handed it to me without offering a refund. This is the second time it's happened in a few months. I now buy food from Osmows, and have told this story to 12 of my friends who have also stopped buying food from Tahinis and now buy food from Osmows. Be careful when you are eating food from Tahinis as there is a good chance there will be a piece of metal/foreign object in your dish. I almost cracked a molar. read more

Usually like this place, but DO NOT order close to closing or they'll send you an inedible, oily mess. We ordered at 9pm (they close at 11:30pm on Tues night). Can't believe they even allowed this order to be sent out...super disappointed. Btw the attached photo was supposed to be baba ganoush. Super gross. read more

Tahini's - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

I like this place! I've had their chicken shawarma wrap, and their chicken shawarma with rice. I like the flavours and the portions are huge! My coworkers enjoy the Mala salad and the Malafel salad too. The interior is nice...a touch more elevated than other shawarma places I've been to. It's still casual, but it was clean and service was prompt. Although I gave this place 5 stars, it's not the BEST. It's top tier. You can check out my other reviews if you'd like more options for "best shawarma". read more

This location only !!!!!! has the best service and food. They put the love into it. I eat this food every day. It's getting me fat ... oh well ... I need it read more

Tahini's - I eat this everyday ... I'm not from out here but it's the closest thing to home cook meal ... - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

See all

In the heart of downtown, this small but busy middle eastern restaurant has fast and polite service. The food was delicious! It's a great place to go with a friend, catch up and eat great food. read more

Tahini's - Tony chicken plate - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

See all

I love this place, been coming for the last 5 years, always consistent quality and the most authentic middle eastern place in London, and would even give alot of Toronto spots a run for their money. Get Tony's special or Plate 2, the hummus and garlic are house made, with real tahini in the hummus, not thickened with mayo like other places do. Don't hesitate in giving this place a try, it is worth every penny. Large portions too! read more

Tahini's - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

Pretty unimpressed.. I called and ordered my food at 1130am. It is now 12:57 and it just got here. The driver called me from his personal phone asking for directions, excuse me? I've been waiting for over an hour for my food and NOW you're gonna call and ask for damn directions??? Wow.. The food was cold... My fries are soggy. I'm just not impressed... The guy was nice on the phone when I called, and the food DOES taste really good! But it took so long to get here and I paid for cooked food therefore it should be warm.. read more

Tahini's - Cold ass food that took over an hour to get here!! - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

FIRST AND FOREMOST: Call to confirm hours and availability before you go to eat here! They are supposed to be open until 11pm on weeknights, but this is apparently not always the case. We ordered our food at around 9:50pm. At 10:15, they started telling people they had a "limited menu" and before 10:30, they were giving a customer trouble about asking for her pita to be warmed! We walked out at 10:30 and they literally shut the lights off and locked the door behind us, despite being "open" for another half hour. Anyway, the pros- some of the food was really good. The falafel were super fresh and tasty! I really really like them. They were less appealing once they cooled off a little, though. The garlic sauce is also crazy delicious and addictive. The cons- HOLY CRAP the girls behind the counter are so incredibly rude!!! I should have known something was up when we called to double-check their hours before driving over and got screamed at over the phone because we apparently had a bad connection. We then made the grave mistake of asking for garlic sauce. We had never eaten at Barakat before, so we did not know that the much-hyped garlic sauce was included in my husband's shawarma plate. I wanted some to go with my falafel, so he went up to the counter to ask for some for me and got his head bitten off. Finally she snapped, "I can give you ONE" and handed some of it over. They also started stacking and slamming chairs on the tables all around us as soon as we got our food (around 10:10; they close at 11). The pita was also very lackluster (it literally came in its plastic packaging; I guess I am spoiled by my favorite falafel place, Naf Naf, where the pita is always fresh-baked!) and the hummus was bland. The garlic sauce was awesome, though. I still don't get why they had to hoard it like gold, but it was, admittedly, delicious. read more

Good food, generous quantities at a very good price. About the same taste as the Paramount restaurants in Toronto. They have some great specials for large groups, awesome value. read more

Tahini's - Menu! - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

Dry chicken sliced hours earlier. Chicken was really poor. The rice was good. The size of rice bowls are huge, but I would take less for better chicken. The girls on the front staff are super rude taking your order. The girls chatting non stop or pissed off. They don't seem to do shit. But will eventually take your order. 3 visits girl taking orders chatting with a blonde chick about some BS. The place has reno on the go and no fountain pop. Location is good. But nothing special and you will pay for parking in the area for sure. Much better places in London. This was Gold way back. Seems like quality is Dead now! read more

Would like to give 4.5 if it's available. Live it's food. Great taste and full of flavours with vegetables and meats. Highly recommended!

I've been coming here for years and it is consistently good. Freindly service and lots of options for vegetarians and vegans. I typically get falafel in some way, the biggest downside to that is the extra wait time. It's made to order every time, so don't order falafel if you're in a hurry. read more

Tahini's - Veggie plate - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

Barakat serves up world-class shawarma to a steady clientele of UWO students and London locals. Having tried 100+ shawarmas across North America, Europe, and the Middle East, I can tell you that Barakat stands head-to-head with the best. Their shawarma meat is roasted to a crispy, juicy perfection. Add hummus, tahini, and fresh veggies for a killer sandwich combo. Tip: Getting takeout? Go for the Tony Special or Veggie Plate. They come with an abundance of meat/falafel, veggies, and dips/sauces, allowing you to make your own sandwiches at home. read more

I'm not going to start this with a typical "I live in Toronto, and...." because I think it is stupid to discuss Toronto unless I am willing to drive to TO for a shawarma, which I am not. Yes, Henry F. that is aimed at you. The food is great, the service sucks. There are few times I will tolerate borderline-abusive service in favor of good food, but this is one. Last time I ordered here, the unibrow behind the counter beckoned a group of blonde bimbos behind me to come forth and place their order. This, despite the fact that I arrived before, and was standing in front of them. However, justice was soon served as I stood back and watched with amusement as five twenty-somethings attempted to order food without meat, nuts or oil. I emerged victorious thirty minutes later with a shawarma, and a new appreciation for my intellectual, good-looking and non-narcissistic wifey. The world is mine again. read more

If you're wandering the Richmond Row in London, you might here murmurs in passing about something called Bearcat. As the night progresses more and more people will mention this "Bearcat... bearcat.... BEARCAT." If you're hearing this, NO, the people of London are not obsessed with some sort of mythical furry creature that is the hybrid of both Bear and feline, it is in fact a mispronunciation of the extremely popular Middle Eastern restaurant which has taken London by storm, not Bearcat.... Barakat! These folks have got it down to an after bar science. As the droves of drunkin students and bar stars gather like that of hungry zombie hordes they seldom need to wait as the staff here have dozens of beef and chicken shawarma on the grill and ready to go. At $5.31 each ($6 even taxes in) it's the quickest, cheapest and most delicious cure for after bar munchies. This was far and away one of the best cooked shawarma sandwiches I've had since my days in the middle eastern Canadian town of Windsor, ON. read more

As I get older, I like to pride myself on diversity and having a variety of experiences under my belt. A "where in the world is Carmen San diego" of the middle class dad realm. This ambition of "try everything once" has led me down some dark and stormy paths from time to time, but has also led me to the promised land on more than one occasion. Barakat Richmond was one of those accidental ate too many burritos and farted while swinging and did a Tasmanian devil 360 and hit it out of the stadium in a friendly game of slow pitch home runs. I spent 25 years of my life having no idea what a shwarma was. Chicken was fried, baked, or on a wing and that was it. One day I stumbled into Barakat because it was 2 am and I was waiting for a cab and had to pee. Once I walked in, the clouds opened and the stars aligned and Mariah Carey hit the extra extra high notes. DID YOU KNOW CHICKEN CAN COME ON A GIANT SPIT AND SPIN IN CIRCLES AND YOU CAN SHAVE OFF AS MUCH AS YOU WANT? because I didn't. A shwarma spit and an in house monkey Butler in an orange ruffled tux trained to use it are all I need for my dream home. It can be a cardboard box in the middle of the South Pacific for all I care. I'll make friends with a volleyball too. Just give me some of that meaty spicy goodness. With some crunchy baked pita chips on top. I spent: $14.70 I got: Mala salad, a huge tub of hummus, and a bag of pitas The good: The entire dish. I have ordered this at least once a week since I first tried it. Healthy. Fresh. Beautiful. It's like the lunch version of that sunset beach channel on your cable box. The bad: Barakat doesn't have an all you can eat buffet. Sup with that, player haters? The ugly: It's getting cold out. I can't roll out to lunch with the sunroof open, rapping along to Montell Jordan like it's 1997 and my name is Corey Matthews. This isn't how we will be doing it another week from now. Keep up the great work Barakat! read more

Barakat is an OK place to grab a quick bite. Convenient. Just get there at a good time for the meat to be fresh

I grew up in London and attended university there. Somehow, I missed this gem of a place until some friends from Western introduced me to Barakat's Chicken Shawarma back in 2003. It was at that moment that my taste buds achieved ENLIGHTENMENT. It's the best shawarma I've had. Nothing in Toronto, which boasts a myriad of multicultural options, comes close, and all my Western friends from Toronto agree! I've also had Shawarma's here in several cities in the United States, in Europe, and even in the Middle East, yet Barakat still comes out on top. I've probably had 50 shawarma's from Barakat easily*. I make it a point to visit Barakat each and every time I visit London. I can't put my finger on why it's so good. It's some combination of a) the way they heat their slow rotating slab of chicken meat to the perfectly near-but-not-so-quite-burned level, b) the proprietary purple paste/sauce that they spread (turnips?), c) the savoury garlic sauce, or d) the re-heat post-rolling in the toaster/grille thingy I also respect that they use Sriracha hot sauce as their exclusive provider of hot sauce back before Sriracha was popular. Such a decision speaks volumes about the culinary acumen behind Barakat. One disappointing element has been the price increases. I swear I remember paying ~$3.00 for a shawarma back in the day. Per their website, it now costs $5.31 now, I believe. This represents a 5-6% annual increase, which is much higher than CPI over the same period. I suppose this is how they, in part, financed their expansion into the much larger second location on Western Road. Despite the price increases, I'll happily pay up each and every time I visit London. _________________________________________________________________ * Including the "Tony's Special" dish (essentially, a deconstructed shawarma) in my count at 1.5x a regular chicken shawarma read more

Since moving to London from Windsor 2 years ago, I still hadn't tried the local shawarma. A friend took me to this place one day. I have to say this is tops! I ordered the chicken shawarma without hot sauce. It tasted fresh, the veggies were fresh and the staff were really nice. I had also ordered the baba ganouj, which is another favourite of mine. I recommend this place to everyone. read more

A complete 180 has occurred in this place. The food was always good, don't get me wrong. They are generous with the chicken in their shawarma and the falafel is light, but also deliciously deep fried (hard to achieve!). Their fries leave a lot to be desired, but then of course there's always the poutine shop around the corner. But the wonderful thing is the service has improved by a bazillion times! The last few times I've been (at varying times and degrees of sobriety), I've been made a fresh wrap and asked when I would like in the said wrap, which was my main complaint before. The guys behind the counter also seem more jovial and caring, often conversing with the customers (again, something that didn't happen before). I am pleasantly delighted by this change, and will continue keeping Barakat as my main shawarma craving fix. read more

I was 100% wrong on my previous review. I had clearly been in a bad mood, or sick, or it had been an off day because I have come to really love this place. I started coming here more frequently after I realized that the Tahini truck that was in Victoria Park was actually Barakat, so I wouldn't have to worry about them not being there. I almost always get the chicken and rice, which all the toppings. The rice has this beautiful curry flavor in it and the chicken is just phenomenal. The swirl in the garlic sauce, hummus and red cabbage into a beautiful mess and eat the whole thing in 3 separate meals. The serving sizes are so large that it has become my "I'm poor" meals as well as "I'm lazy" meals read more

The BEST shawarma I've had in Canada. EVER! I was first introduced to this place by my roommates in college, back when they were located next door. It became a regular stop for me after church on Sundays and whenever I'm in downtown. You walk in and you are always greeted by "big guy billy" or Jamil (the owner) himself. Both chicken and beef shawarmas are delicious and never too greasy, which is usually the problem i get with other restaurants. I always order their Hommos to-go and snack on it at night. It is amazing.... very garlicky, smooth and not a single clump! Big guy billy always tell the story how he sends buckets and buckets of this hommos to his family in Calgary. I definitely understand why. I wouldn't want my hommos made any other way. The falafels are also great! They usually take awhile to prepare your food because they will entertain you with stories to no end. I honestly don't mind because I know my shawarma is being prepared fresh from the spit! I've since moved from London but whenever I make a trip, I make sure to stop by and order my favorite chicken or beef shawarma and a small tub of hommos to go! read more

Tahini's - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

See all

I study at UWO, live in Toronto and travel the world and believe it or not, Barakat's food ranks right up there with what you would find in Egypt. Every ingredient is fresh, every flavor delicately paired with another, and the price is reasonable. I recommend all of my friends traveling to London with a penchant for Middle Eastern Food to try Barakat, and they are never disappointed. read more

Tahini's - combo plate 2 - Mediterranean Near Me - London, Ontario

Theres not shawarma like Toronto shawarma. But in the case of the London its the best there is. I've never had a problem with the service or food. Both good. read more

Like everyone else I find the food really good but avoid going there because the service is so lousy. If you know the system (i.e., you realize there is no system and are OK with that) then you'll love the place. But you can't go in there expecting to order, pay, receive your food and leave. More like: order. Wait. Remind them. Wait. Get the food. Wait. Pay. Leave. I disagree that the folks there are rude. They're not rude, just a bit aloof. They do in fact want to make you happy, but don't really know how to keep things organized when it gets crazy busy. The old guy is also very nice to kids and will maybe even remember you if you come back often enough. OK so you understand that, and have arrived either when there's no crowd, or when you're not so hungry you're ready to eat your arm off. In that case you'll enjoy their offerings of Lebanese take-out food. I find their falafel to be really excellent, featuring not just the usual chickpea interior but also some sort of nutty goodness in there too. Salads/sides are nice too. The platters are good value - two of them will easily feed a family of four. Baklava for dessert is also very good (and can be had for free if you're nice, or if you're under 5 years old). read more

I ordered the Mala Salad and it was TERRIBLE. This is at the downtown location btw. They put wayyy too much toppings (hummus, garlic) and there was hardly any lettuce. The lettuce that was in the bowl was soggy. The whole bowl was Mush. Also, the seasoning used on the chicken tasted like curry. CURRY. Why? It cost me $12. A complete waste. I had two bites and had to throw it out. Will never go there again. Despite this though, the service was good. The guys making the disgusting salad were super nice. read more