Osmow’s

If you fiend for Osmow’s, have those cravings randomly in the day for that mouth watering garlic sauce drenched shawarma chicken, and are in the downtown core — DO NOT GO TO THIS LOCATION.
This place does not use the same ingredients as the original Mississauga location! Their garlic sauce is horrendous, its like a fusion of Hellman’s Mayonnaise, saliva, and garlic paste.
Their «hot sauce» — no lies — is like from those Wing’s Food ltd. hot sauce packets you get from token Asian fast food places, that dark mahogany-​red colored one — What the hell! Where did they even get that from?!
Such a disappointment, I actually grabbed it for 5 of my co-​workers for lunch who have probably, permanently, lost faith in my judgement of «amazing food,» after I pumped it up so much on SnapChat — but that was the SAUGA LOCATION’S FOOD… Ughhh
And to top it off the assortment of inexperienced migrant workers serving food there, what can I say… From having to play Jeapordy with the cashier to guess what the he was saying, to the lady handing me my 2 feet of stacked containers expecting me to walk out the door just like that without needing bags — this All-​Star ensemble is something else.

Best bang for the buck. They don’t skimp on meat. Good ol’ cheap tasty grub.
If you’re ultra-​sanitary person, you might be turned off.
Avoid the fries; most likely freezer burned.

My experience here was great. It was a Friday night and we opted for Osmow’s as opposed to standing in line to get into the Warehouse bar.
My friend ordered the chicken on the rocks (spicy) and I ordered chicken on stix (spicy). Maybe we were just hungry but honestly, I really enjoyed my meal!
It’s probably not the healthiest thing in the world but then again, you know that going in. The cashier was super friendly and informative. He walked us through the menu and entertained our questions about the Osmow’s chain (my friend frequents the Scarborough location — this was my first time in general).
I would definitely go again. The reason why I’m giving them a ⁴⁄₅ and not a 5 is because of the lack of seating inside. It’s a small space so I get that. They do however have seating outside. Not that practical during the colder, winter months.

I was pleasantly surprised by Osmow’s. I had the beef kofta wrap and it was pretty good! Everything looked happening and fresh at the counter and they were doing a brisk business with many takeout orders leaving as we came in. The staff was helpful and explained the menu to us. After sitting down at the bar along the wall opposite the grill, the guy even went so far as to bring our orders right to us, plopping our matching paper bags down in front of us with synchronized grilled fast food panache — now that’s REALLY good service! I’ll be back.

Ordered delivery. After an hour and forty minutes of waiting (45 minutes late) I called. The man on the phone says, «This is a restaurant, we deal with food, not delivery. You’ll have to call them. Bye Bye» and he hung up on me.
The food is soggy, salty and all crammed into a tiny container.
Will never order from here again this business should close.

I tried their chicken salad. I loved it!!! Their dressing/​sauce is good and with mayo… Ummm yummy. The pricing is very reasonable considering the size of their food. This place isn’t a restaurant so don’t expect the fine services, they don’t charge you as much either. But the workers are friendly and communicative. Overall, I think they are doing pretty good job. Don’t judge from outside, try it first. You may have a nice surprise.

I was taken aback by the appearance of the establishment however, I had no choice because all of my first options were closed. First of all the employees were sitting outside chillin then came in to make food without washing their hands. I would’ve left but business was super slow so I felt caught. The food itself was subpar but was super affordable. I probably would not return.

Beh. Meh. Feh.
It gives me no joy to write it since I think the people here seem really nice, but the food here is so substandard. One thing that always rings huge alarm bells for me is when the food is not delivered as promised on the menu. I was here the other day and specifically asked for tabouleh on my sandwich. The cashier assured me it would come with. I got my sandwich home and dug in. Not only was there no tabouleh, there was no hint of several other items that were apparently supposed to be on there. There was a ton of lettuce, two pieces of anaemic tomato, some nasty big chunks of raw onion (why do take away joints always do this? how hard is it slice an onion finely so it’s a delicious crunchy addition rather than a meal-​spoiler??), lots of banana peppers and some olives. Kind of like a shoddily made Subway sandwich, Middle eastern style.
No tabouleh; no delicious creamy hummus or yogurt-​garlic sauce, that would have mellowed out the chill sauce they slathered all over. Just a very, very unbalanced sandwich.
I understand that sometimes a kitchen runs out of things it needs, but in that case, don’t tell me that it’s going to be on my sandwich. Just tell the cashier to say «We don’t have that today, is that ok?» No big deal. I hate paying for something and then not receiving it as described. It’s the easiest way to alienate a customer.
Finally, the pita they used was the very thin Lebanese style and just didn’t hold up to all the juices — the whole thing was a soggy mess five minutes after I left the store. The chicken was juicy and tasty, but that’s about the only redeeming feature.
I’ve been back three times because I so badly want this place to be good, but the food is just so underwhelming, and they need to get serious about customer service, instead of hoping that customers won’t notice that they didn’t deliver on what they promised!

Cheap, delicious, and filling.
For students: $ 6 combo gets you a large chicken shawarma, soft drink, and fries.
I always have one thing when I’m at Osmow’s, their ‘Chicken on the Rocks’. There are always left overs, and you can easily share it with two people. Also, if you don’t feel like eating the over priced frozen food at Scotiabank theatre, you can always sneak in some Osmow’s :P

One large takeout container has enough food for 2 people. Consider asking for the tahini, hummus, and hot sauce on the side.
Protein serving is generous if you need that fix. Flavours aren’t deep but the portion size compensates for it. Definitely a take out joint.

Have a look at the photos. There’s a reason they drench their meals in sauce.
I ordered a chicken shawarma plate, which is made up of uncle ben’s rice, what used to be chicken, and a salad that was so heavily seasoned with dry spices that it felt like I was eating sand.
Shawarma is defined as: roasted meat, especially when cooked on a revolving spit and shaved. This is NOT what I was presented with. Instead, my meat was cooked/​fried on a flattop until it no longer tasted like meat. Had it not been for the gallon of thick and overpowering sauces that it was drenched in, I don’t think it ever would have made it down my throat.
Extremely disappointed. Will not be returning.

Place is small but food is good. Recommend take out and eat it at your office.

I walked by outside once with Superwoman, and she was attracted by the sight of the meat roasting near the window. Upon walking in though, there was no delicious aroma of roasting meat in there (and it’s a teeny, tiny space!), so I pulled her out of there. I mean, how good could it taste if all it smelled like when we walked in was frying oil?
Then a few weeks later, I was badly craving Halal Guys chicken & rice from Manhattan. But I wasn’t in Manhattan, so what was I to do? I took to Unilocal to find something similar. That was when I learned about their chicken on the rocks. Since it was close by, I decided to go there and give it a try.
It was just alright. The rice kind of tasted like Uncle Ben’s — it was really hard and had that instant rice flavour. I was hoping for basmati.
The chicken was alright but the spices didn’t taste like anything — they weren’t very distinct, and they were only so-​so in terms of tastiness. The sauces were okay — but could be more flavourful. Perhaps they toned down the flavours to suit local palates.
This was just as unremarkable as the place on Yonge, except the owner at the Yonge & Gerrard joint is more fun.

i am a shawarma fanatic. i am middle eastern, grew up on the best shawarma in the world and i know a good shawarma when i try one. more so, i know BAD shawarma when i see one. BIG mistake to have one at this slick joint. they have the setup done right and they lure you in with their «biggest yet cheapest shawarma in town»… i didn’t realize that by cheapest they were not just talking about the price. This has to be the worst shawarma i have had in my 13 years in Toronto. I could tell from looking at the skewer that the chicken is not even toasted or cooked. it’s not marinated eiher, the 2 main elements that makes a shawarma a shawarma.
i am feeling sick.

After hearing about this place, I finally went. I have gone back about three times since.
It’s a small, think perhaps 3 seats inside. It really is a grab and go place. The place is clean and very friendly .
All those are consistent including the food. So why only 2 stars? It’s the flavour. The portions are huge but just not so great for their main proteins — chicken, lamb or beef. They all fall flat of flavour from my typical experience. Like I said, I tried 3 times.
However, if you are vegetarian, I will say their salads are lovely especially the fattouch. Made with crispy pita. Yummy! I would go back just for that.
But I know, all you meat lovers out there like me, can’t just live on salad.

Osmows makes a Shawarma the way God would. Okay, maybe that goes a bit too far… but I don’t know what all these other people are saying… Osmows is amazing. Last time I went it wasn’t super amazing… it was just good, but that’s what happens when you’ve got a line up of 20 people. Places with line ups = amazing.
Very reasonably priced too. Just remember one thing when you look at the reviews below… people are more inclined to write when they want to complain… not when they’re happy. Heck, I’m only writing good stuff because I signed up for Unilocal a few minutes ago.

I second the Chicken on the rocks, chicken on top of rice and doused with sauce… you can’t go wrong.

I stopped by Osmow’s this past weekend for a quick bite. I ordered their falafel sandwich with the standard toppings. Service was quick but unfortunately my sandwich was meh. It was sub-​par to other falafel sandwiches I have had in Toronto.
Osmow’s is a great location in the Queen West/​John Street area. But maybe their meat sandwiches might be above the usual shawarma standard.

Chicken. On. The. Rocks.
Wouldn’t dine in, atmosphere is horrible, and there is always oil smell in the air as the cooking area is in the open, but get the food, go to a park, and DIG in!!!

So mad at this place. We drop in here often before a movie often. Except the first couple of times when we had great food (which is why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1), it’s just been a struggle to get anything decent to eat here, or eat anything at all.
One time I went, and I asked for a hot shawarma (that’s what I usually get). The new cook behind the counter kept puring hot sauce for many seconds till I asked him to stop and looked amazed at how much hot sauce he was putting. A couple of difficult bites later it went down the dustbin. I eat hot food, but have never had anything so hot that it was just bitter. Mouth on fire, I ran to get something cooling and sweet. That day I felt sick with just those few bites.
Setting that one experience aside thinking it was a one off, I went again. Asked for a veggie option for my mom, and they said they have nothing veggie. I saw some veggie stuff on the menu and asked them. The cook said he is new and doesn’t know how to make most of the stuff on the menu!!! After that I was like whatever, let me just get 2 chicken shawarmas. And then, the lady behind the counter doesn’t know how to operate the billing system so she’s insisting I give her some random amount of cash! When I refused (since I had no cash), she kept beating the computer hard for a few minutes as though that would get it to work miraculously. After 5 minutes of her banging the computer, I had to leave with no food.
So all in all, untrained cooks, untrained staff, no quality control. What started out as a promising option for tasty fast food has soon become a nightmare. Not to mention that open garbage bags with unpleasant smells were lying in the small take out restaurant during two of my visits.