Best Falafel

In the sea of donair places on the Drive and in Vancouver generally, few places really stand out. Best Falafel IS one of those places that really is significantly above the rest in terms of quality, flavor, and friendliness. They have special sandwiches most days of the week so depending on when you go you may get a discounted chicken shawarma wrap or a beef donair or a falafel wrap. Their tahini is to die for, not the often weirdly sweet tzatziki that appears in other places. Their chicken is meticulously cleaned, you’re not going to end up with anything in your mouth that you have to spit out. They have plates and meat, cheese and spinach pies, baklava, and just about anything you could want. Also, they offer a CHECK IN deal so make sure to check in on Unilocal!Make sure to order your sandwich with garlic sauce and hummus for extra special goodness. I literally always get the chicken and it never disappoints.

I love the chicken shawarma plate! So much good food in one meal. I also love the garlic paste — you’ll definitely need a mint after. The mango or guava juice from the deli fridge is really good too. Sometimes I come just for the juice. The place is clean and service is always quick and polite. My only complaints are 1. that it’s so hot inside in the summer and 2. When they don’t cut my pita into quarters.

Only place I go to eat a shawarma wrap in Vancouver. Best falafel never disappoints. So delicious and friendly staff as well.

My favourite place for shawarma in the lower mainland. The staff is friendly, the food is delicious, the prices are reasonable (though they have increased over the years).
I have been to many falafel/​shawarma restaurants in the lower mainland and they have the best tabouleh, and their chicken is always moist and delicious.
My only (very minor) gripe is the restaurant is very small and sometimes difficult to get a table when it’s lunch time.
Always ask for the garlic sauce!

I went by to get some take out for a quick meal. Cold, who knows made when Falafel… I would expect «Best Falafel» to make fresh falafel! It was a lump of cold mushy bean. Beef samosas where chucked in a bag then microwaved. Hot and cold and soggy… Waste of food. I won’t be going back.

Wow! I’ve been here many times in the past, but today my ingredients are very fresh and FULL of flavour. All I got was a falafel wrap. Best $ 6 I’ve spent in months!

I dropped in yesterday for a veggie falafel wrap. I got it to go because I wanted to struggle through my meal in private. I recently had surgery on my dominant hand so eating is messy and challenging (as is everything else). I get home, take one bite, and end up with a mouthful of some mystery meat. Great. My body hurts and I’m not actually a vegetarian so whatever, it tastes ok, so I continue shoving it in my face. Inside I am raging a little at this mistake on behalf of all my vegetarian friends. Oh well. Being home and comfortable was a bigger priority. I wasn’t about to walk another 10 minutes there and back.
Fast forward about 5 – 6 hours. My stomach is cramping up and before long there is a fiery poop storm in my bathroom. So much for being home and comfortable.
All of today has been a fiery barf storm. As if my body wasn’t suffering enough. Best Falafel my ass. Literally.

Best Falafel is your average falafel/​shawarma joint. There’s nothing that truly makes it stand out in my mind as a world-​shattering experience, yet it has a soft place in my heart. I think what truly makes BF special is their delicious assortment of condiments. My favourites are the garlic sauce and the sweet sauce. In fact, that’s exactly what I go there for. The falafels are very decent, the meat is in no way dry and/​or terrible, but the sauce… oh lordy! The sauce! I always, ALWAYS get extra garlic sauce and extra sweet sauce. This is beneficial for two reasons:
1. It’s delicious
2. You’ll stink so strongly of garlic afterwards that all of your enemies and ill-​wishers will stay as far away from you as possible.
It’s like self-​defense you can eat.

More bread than it is worth. They do accept cash and it is very cheap, however, you barely get any filling with such a thick bread. Makes sense that is how the they keep their profit margins at par. But I have seen others give more value for the price. My suggestion is the to get their plate which has a healthy balance of ingredients. Customer service is friendly. It is small, therefore, it is a grab and go situation.

I love the food. Truly best I have tried so far when it comes to Falafels. What I did not like is the unfriendly staff! They have an on going check-​in promo on Unilocal and after we ordered our meals I showed it to what seems like the owner or the son of the owner. He has no idea what it was and he had a rude vibe. The lady who prepares your meal is like a robot. BOTH of them never gave a smile to anyone who ordered from them.
Giving them two stars for the unfriendly service. Overall, I love the food.

Ordered the shawarma plate. Chicken was bland, beef was dry. Lacking any flavour as a whole. Definitely better options available in Vancouver… and that’s not saying much.

Tried their chicken shawarma. Not bad at all! Generous portions of chicken and rice. Great hummus and salad.
Bumping the review to 4 stars.

Nice people working here, but food is meh.
Chicken shawarma was bland, dry and just not good. Nothing special
Just really bad, do these people even taste before writing reviews?

I eat a falafel almost every day here. And have for two months in a row now. I’m totally in awe how fresh their ingredients are. The service is great and friendly. Best crunchy tasty falafels in their wraps. Also. the best Humus in town and u can take it in to-​go containers too. YUM!

My Order:
–Lamb Donair
–Falafel Donair
Lamb Donair — Lamb was moist but under-​seasoned. Tabbouleh was flavorless, lack of fillings even though I asked for all of the toppings. The donair was also slightly small. There wasn’t alot of meat either.
Falafel Donair — Arguably the worst Falafel Donair I’ve ever had. They re-​heated the Falafels in the microwave (unacceptable — Babylon Café makes them fresh each order). Falafel is dry and under-​seasoned. The texture was reminiscent of biting into a cold and stale lump of shredded fried potatoes. Tabbouleh was flavorless, lacking toppings. Donair is small.
All in all, if you’re on the drive, and you’re craving Shawarma/​Donair. Check out Babylon Café instead. They deep-​fry their Falafels fresh each order on-​the-​go, the meat is freshly carved to strips from the bbq pit (not dumped in a warmer where the meat gets dry over time), the lamb donair is fantastic there, very well-​seasoned. Tabbouleh is out of this world.

Best place to grab a quick meal.
Can’t beat their 4.99 chicken shawarma on Wednesday. Healthy and inexpensive.

I work downtown and was told about this place by the owner and because of that alone I made my way here after finishing work.
(I live just off Renfrew/​1^st and work downtown so it’s not really in my hood)
Unfortunately they were waiting on the chicken (15 min) so it was suggested to try Lamb. Soooooooo gooooooooood! Even though hot sauce was added it wasn’t too hot. And not microwaved as it seems other users were saying. I tried four yummy dolmas, Greek salad, tropic splash lemonade and checked in with Unilocal for a free baklava dessert.
I was really impressed with the Greek salad. Unlike most other places out there-​they didn’t over onion the salad. And the pile of feta and two pitted olives…
I will definitely be back. Yummmm

Best Falafel is unfortunately not the best but it’s good. Best Falafel offers Falafel, Donairs, and Samosas all for around 5 – 8 bucks. I got a veggie samosas for $ 2.50 each and there were okay but nothing outstanding. Also has other reviewers have mentioned there isn’t really much spice in their dishes. It’s true.
However, the servers are really nice, and that makes up for the okay food I had.

As a general rule in life, fried food should be made to order. Best Falafel, however, premade all their falafel and let them wilt in a metal bin. In addition, the inside was a pale yellow (aka no fresh herbs) and lacked flavor. So no, not the best falafel.
The serivce was nice though!

This place epitomizes Commercial Drive for me. It provides cheap, great ethnic food but you could easily miss this place due to their obnoxious sign and simple façade.
The portions are usually generous here. My husband and I regularly buy one chicken shawarma plate to share for dinner.
Due to it’s quick turnover, the chicken is almost always juicy and moist. Most of the time, it’s carved straight from the spit. I hate shawarma places that keep all of their meat in moisture-​sucking warmers.
They have a variety of sauces too. I love their garlic sauce — thick and spicy. My husband for some reason prefers their Vancouver sauce. I think it’s sickly sweet but he always gets it on his half of the plate. I prefer to eat meat with a salty flavorful punch but if you like it sweet, give it a try.
We almost always take our fare home. It’s a nice, clean place with granite tables to sit at inside though.
While we haven’t tried their falafel and the loud sign outside proclaims them the «Best Falafel», this place truly is one of the best in the city for chicken shawarma.