Shawarma Republique

Was alright. Too pricey for what it was though, which is so-​so quality meat drenched in so-​so sauce.

***Update — place seems to have disappeared. Oh well.***
Ok, this place gets 5 stars for me. In part, to counterbalance the fact that the only other review to date is a one-​star one that I’m not sure is quite fair. Let me explain…
When I read the aforementioned other review, I imagined bugs quite a bit larger than the tiny ones in the picture posted by the reviewer. When I visited this establishment, there was every indication that the food was prepared freshly — this is also a food truck, outdoors, right in front of several trees. I think it’s quite possible that insects that small could make their way into a freshly prepared salad in a very clean establishment just through the openness of the food-​truck and the awesomeness of Austin’s weather this time of year. That’s not to say the reviewer doesn’t have the right to be upset — he or she has every right, of course. But I think this is not something that warrants the place having an average 1-​star rating, at least based on the very good experience I had.
If this place had more reviews, I’d probably let the bug thing slide as one person’s acceptably reasonable opinion, but this is as far as I can tell a brand new establishment, and the random chance of an event like two tiny and easily avoidable bugs in a salad shouldn’t warrant the place having a poor reputation before people even get a chance to check it out (if this was my salad, I would have taken two flicks with my fork and gotten right to eating). Again, this is taking nothing away from the reviewer — if I was a college student (I’m almost a decade out of college now, fwiw), I guess this might have bothered me if I hadn’t experienced it before. But given the average amount of insects a human being consumes per year by accident (see:
), and the percentage of insect parts the FDA explicitly clears the safety of in all sorts of food products (see:
) I can’t see this as being something worth getting too worked up over. It’s time Americans get over the supposed ickiness of eating bugs — like most of the rest of the world already has long since done. They’re by and large pretty nutritional anyway:
#endrant
As for my experience — I was convinced to check this place out with the $ 2 off coupon they’ve occasionally been running on the Hooked app. That, plus reading the other review piqued my curiosity. And I wasn’t disappointed. The chicken plate was a LOT of food, freshly prepared, perfectly seasoned, with lots of veggies and an ample serving of rice. Not knowing how much food I was going to get, I also ordered a side of fries, which were also made fresh and cooked just right. The owner was super nice and attentive. This isn’t a place to have insta-​ready food handed to you, but if you’re willing to wait a few minutes for the food to be freshly made, it’s well worth it based on my first experience. I’ll be back soon to try another plate!
(My only request — a more eco-​friendly option than styrofoam for «eat-​in.» Otherwise, a great experience).

Got the shwarma plate along with a wrap. Was ok. Standard fare, not the best and not the worst. Decent in a pinch.
However a caveat, WE FOUND 2 BUGS IN OUR SALAD (we were about half way through before we noticed, we might have ate some) Full disclosure: we came back to the food truck, and the owner /​cook let us have a refund. But he was also very adamant that his truck was clean, and that if bugs were in our food, they got in after he gave it to us. I guess it’s possible, but we didn’t actually open our food until we got back to our apartment, and the bugs were clearly dead sitting on our lettuce… Probably not new additions…
Definitely not going again.
Also they smoke inside their food truck, lol.