Sandrella

So I went back today to get a meat pie. They are actually pretty good. Comparable to Farhat’s and the ones at the Mid-​East Food Centre. Not as good as Aladdin’s, in my opinion, as it lacks the smokey taste that Aladdin’s meat pies have. Nonetheless, the meat was flavourful and I loved how they made the dough really crispy (crispier than other places). They put on a little too much lemon juice, in my opinion, so it was a bit too tart. I think next time I will ask for spice, but no lemon juice. Meat pies are $ 1.75 each. They didn’t have any cheese today but meat and cheese pies are $ 2.75 each. Might try one of those next time too. The guys working there (same guys as at my last visit) were nice again today. Different person handling food than handling money. Food handler did not wear gloves though :(I noticed today that they have free WiFi, yay! See my original review for their shawarma!

I visit many shwarma joints in and around Ottawa for my garlic fix. Not even remotely sure why this place gets ok reviews. It must be another Sandrella not this one! The only positive thing about these guys would be the bakery where the cheese, meat «pies» are worth the trouble. Overall, this place went downhill a long time ago (around when they expanded). I still believe they got greedy on success and went for quantity over quality. I decided to give them another chance. This was one of the best shwarma joints in Ottawa well not anymore. Soggy ingredients, mushy meat combined with poor service and the disorganized cheap interior deco make for quite the experience. Normally I don’t care too much about how a place looks but the food usually makes up for that. This place doesn’t. For your next shwarma fix, avoid this joint at all costs and walk a few meters over to Alissar. A little pricier, less rude but at least he uses fresh ingredients and has much better service!

— been coming to sandrella for years. at least 15.
— the only thing i ever get are the manouche (sp?)…
— get the cheese and zataar (thyme) and the meat ones. best in the city.

I remember the first time I had Lebanese food — my family and I had just moved to Kuwait and the company we worked for took us out for an orientation dinner to a place called Canary, a Lebanese restaurant near our housing. Apparently I had been living under a rock until that moment because I LOVED it. When I came back to Canada, I was so excited to be living in a city with so many Lebanese options. The latest Lebanese place I have discovered is Sandrella on St. Laurent. It is a HUGE restaurant/​Arabic bakery. It sells all the basics — shwarma, falafel, hummous, etc. And, the bakery has that delicious cheese pizza thing and zaatar! The downside is the atmosphere. Would it kill you to put on some music? It really is a huge dining area and it feels really empty in there. Otherwise, it is a delight!!!