5. Village Shawarma

Inattentive service + sloppy wrap structure = disappointing shawarma. Obviously service is irrelevant to the wrap, but it made me less eager to taste the passable pita and incredibly average meat wetted with watered-down sauce. Harsh? Maybe. Underwhelming? Yes.

– Jordan

The weakest shawarma we tried. Barely any chicken with vegetables that, again, were good but indistinguishable from the rest. When eaten on its own, the chicken had a very faint, mildly fatty quality to it but it fails to stand out against the overpowering vegetables. The sauce was bland and made the dish feel more like a chicken salad wrap than a full-fledged shawarma.

– Christopher

4. Phat Hat

The shawarma served at Phat-Hat was on the brink of being a chicken salad sandwich, which doesn’t come as a surprise given that none of the components were specific to that of a traditional shawarma. Any potential in the chicken was concealed by the thick and non-traditional pita used to create the shawarma. Further, the tzatziki sauce was very underwhelming and augmented the chicken salad savour.

– Jordan

While not objectively the best shawarma on here, per se, this mellow dish surprised me by being pretty good across the board with decent, distinguishable enough chicken and nice vegetables in a fine tzatziki sauce. It lacks the shawarma seasoning and aroma, but for around five dollars it is rather inexpensive and worth it if you want a nice, unthreatening chicken pita wrap.

– Christopher

3. Mozy’s Shawarma

Located right at the corner of King and University, Mozy’s seemed to have the most traffic with three spits running at once. Mozy’s delivered excellent chicken and decent sauce — which sort of felt as though it was included merely to dampen the wrap. Coming in as the most expensive wrap, the size ran analogous, as it was noticeably the largest wrap.

– Jordan

While the vegetables were crisp and fresh, Mozy’s shawarma has an issue with sauce seeping to the bottom — but I didn’t experience this as much as Jordan. The chicken was perfectly acceptable, but unremarkable on its own and it lacked the power to contest with the tomato and especially the pickle. These vegetables, though quite nice, did a disservice to the overall effect of the shawarma. Certainly not unpleasant to eat, but get a vegetables-only wrap if possible.

– Christopher

2. Shawerma Plus

Waterloo’s top-ranked shawarma joint has high praise for a reason. The shawarma was very generous with its meat-to-sauce ratio of 2:3 which I enjoyed, despite the mess it made. With a perfect blend of spice and zest, the sauce made major contributions to the quality of the shawarma. Vegetables were a null factor given all the wraps included the same combination of tomato, lettuce and pickles. In terms of balance, Shawerma Plus was conscious in the effort to mix the meat amongst the veggies so that no bite ever tasted like a veggie wrap.

– Jordan

This one is a little tricky for me. Though the chicken has a distinctly robust, shawarma-esque spice, I cannot necessarily say it was a spice I liked all that much. The vegetables were about on par with Mozy’s and Village – meaning they were quite good and fresh – but the chicken was something I ever-so-slightly dreaded putting in my mouth. However it is one of the most authentic shawarmas in this analysis and you could like it very much. It just wasn’t to my taste.

– Christopher

1. iShawarma

Immaculate sauce. Mouth-watering sauce. Fresh sauce. Vegetables were a null factor until they met iShawarma’s sauce. I want to keep speaking platitudes, but I should give you some substance, just like this shawarma gave me. The meat resembled that of pulled chicken mixed with delectable sauce which created the perfect couple. Granted, this wrap was by far the dampest, but I’m not complaining since the pita somehow managed to withstand the entrancing dressing. If Chris and I were using weighted averages, the largest burden would be on the sauce — the ingredient that conducts the rest of the flavours.

– Jordan

Easily the best shawarma of the bunch, with succulent sauce and a hearty amount of perfectly soft-yet-crispy chicken ingrained with the right amount of pleasing spice. Though the flavour of the vegetables held up for about 40 minutes after purchase, the sauce took its toll and made them soggy, as it is a messy dish that made the wrapping somewhat greasy. That being said, it has the best flavour of them all and should definitely be your first choice provided Bridgeport Plaza is not too out of the way for you.

– Christopher