We were staying at Ontario Hall for a convention for my work. This place is very conveniently located to Ontario Hall. The owner welcomed us in and was very friendly. We ordered the Combination Plate 1 which comes with shish tawook (chicken) and shish kabob (beef) with hummus, baba ghanouj, garlic, cabbage, vegetables and pita. And rice. We also ordered the fattoush salad which includes tomatoes and cucumbers. The food was excellent. The meat is of high quality and well seasoned. The basmati rice was especially flavorful. One thing that is a bit odd, though: You pay at the counter and sit and wait. And wait. And wonder what is going on. They have a very mysterious system where you think your order has been placed, but it seems you have to turn over your receipt to the cooks before they really make your meal. No one tells you about this when you pay. It makes me a bit nervous to hand over the receipt. And there was no explanation when you paid for why they have this peculiar system. Other than that weirdness, I very much recommend this place. I should also note they have an exceptional selection of soft drinks, including some delicious juices. read more

Love this place! The food is always delicious and makes you come back for more. During the pandemic, they set up for curbside pickup or delivery. A nice set up now with seating upstairs. The staff are friendly and helpful with choosing the right dishes. read more

Tastes ok, very little wrap for CAN$10! Sick for days, should have known, not very clean. Factory setting. A shame, had expected better. They won't be getting my business anymore. Hope someone read this and does sth. About the hygiene. Just not right. read more

we first went to the back of the building not knowing you had to pre-order at the front counter. We ordered the chicken shawarma. I liked that you could get unlimited amount of toppings and there were different types of sauces with the option to make it spicy. The amount of chicken was impressive. The chicken was tender, and juicy. I would definitely go back. The purple cabbage was a good addition read more

Barakat Restaurant - Chicken shawarma - Middle Eastern Near Me - London, Ontario

The worst shawarma place I've been to and I've been to alot around London. Very small next to no meat or flavour of any kind.just finished my food never going back should of went to McDonald's food taste better there. Lol If I could give no stars I would. read more

One of the top shawarma places in London. It is always consistent. Chicken Shawarma wrap is straight fire. The building is great, huge selection of drinks and great portions. Staff is friendly. Top notch read more

Barakat Restaurant - Middle Eastern Near Me - London, Ontario

Best shawarma place I have ever tried in London Ontario hands down. It's not even a competition! Chicken shawarma is really delicious. Place is always busy so shawarma stays fresh. Portions are generous. Wonderful service. Few parking spaces at the back. Yogurty and a convenient store inside in case you want some fro-yo or Baklava along with your shawarma. Overall great place. Check it out if you are in London Ontario. read more

Barakats is the best Arab restaurant in London. Their food is authentic, and never disappointing. Wait times can be a little bit slow, but their food makes up for it. The service is pleasant whenever my father and I go. I love their chicken skewers, and hummus. I usually get the family platter, which good enough for 7 people :) Also, they have senior discounts, and accept UWO Student Meal Plan Card. read more

Barakat Restaurant - Middle Eastern Near Me - London, Ontario

Well it looks like things have changed over here at Barakat. They wouldn't honour the BOGO free soup off Ubereats pickup because they forgot to change that it wasn't sold out yet the app said it was. They stopped using crispy coated French fries and now use bland unsalted regular fry's. And to top it all off have cut the portion sizes in HALF(see photos, it looks like a kids meal) Guy at the till asks me what I want, I say everything and when I get home both shawarma combos have just meat and pickles on them. Oh sorry, my very last bite had a tiny piece of tomato. Speaking of the guy at the till who I believe is the owners son tells me to tap my card, I say I don't have tap and he tells me to tap it again then I take the debt machine to insert my card, he shakes his head at me and turns away in disbelief as if I'M the fucking idiot. Pal you sit at a counter and press a few buttons on a screen, you're a nobody. Take the silver spoon out of your ass and use it for something productive for once in your life. I don't know what happened to that place recently but it took a turn for the worst. I'll be checking out the Shelby's at Oxford and wonderland next time. read more

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I absolutely love Barakat! The food is amazing, and the prices are awesome as well! My favourite item is the classic chicken shawarma, but the beef shawarma is also really good. Everything on their menu is really good! :) The restaurant itself is beautiful. The booths upstairs are fancy, the drinks are organized in an incredible manner, and everything is clean. I would highly recommend Barakat to anyone who loves a good cheap meal! :) also conveniently located near Western University for students on a budget :) read more

Barakat Restaurant - Beef shawarma ($7) - Middle Eastern Near Me - London, Ontario

This is by far my favorite middle eastern restaurant! I came here a few years ago while doing some business in the area and was blown away. The food was so fresh, flavorful, and delicious. I had to return the next and final day of my trip to try more menu items. I've been back a few times since then and am always so happy with the food and the experience. Wait: Even when it's busy the wait isn't bad. The owner has even offered samples to customers waiting a few of the times I've been here. Customer service: excellent, very friendly, as mentioned the owner is so courteous and has offered samples to those waiting in line and during checkout. When I was paying for my meal and raving about the experience, he offered me some dessert samples. Food: So so good! My go-to is the vegetarian platter. The falafel, hummus, and salad are so fresh and delicious. I've also had a few other menu items and have always been very pleased. Ambiance: casual I always have to make a stop at Barakat when I'm in the area! read more

I went here on a friend's recommendation while visiting London, and though the food was comparable or better than it's Toronto counterparts I wouldn't rave about it like he did. Take this review with a grain of salt however, as I don't often find myself going out of the way to eat this sort of meal. Barakat's service and ordering system isn't exactly the greatest.. or good for that matter. Everyone seemed rather disinterested and gruff. As David C. said in his review, you order from one counter and give the receipt (the only proof of purchase you have) to another employee who slaps it on the wall with all the other orders. During peak hours, you can see how that may be a problem. Parking is pretty hectic too. Onto the food, the meat itself was fantastic and very well made. It was seasoned well and cooked to get it nice and crispy but not to the point where it feels like you're eating cardboard. The "sides" that they gave me (hummus, garlic sauce, and what I think is some sort of coleslaw type thing forgive me for not knowing) were pretty standard. The garlic sauce was really strong though and complimented the hummus amazingly, a great blend of contrast that really brought out their flavour. The rice I got however was surprisingly disappointing, it was rather stale and clumped together. Maybe I just got unlucky but I've almost never gotten served old rice in places like these. All in all, the food was okay for its price and if I had a craving for middle eastern food while passing through London, I'd probably come here. On any other day though, I would rather spend my money elsewhere. read more

TERRIBLE FOOD EVEN WORSE SERVICE. The owner and staff have no manners, they are rude to customers and are not fit to be running a restaurant. The food is terrible and highly unsanitary, don't go here unless you want unclean and mediocre (at best) food. read more

This place was a savior when everything else was closed midday. It has a large selection, good portions and it's quite tasty. I was only in London for 3 days but I went here everyday! read more

Pretty good chicken shawarma, I gotta say. The entire time I was eating this thing, I kept thinking about what was different between this and Amir (Lebanese franchise heavily present in Montreal) and it took me until the end of the pita to realize it's the pickles. Pickles! What are they doing in my pita??? I'm pretty used to seeing pickled turnips in my sandwiches, and while the pickles weren't detrimental in this sandwich, I kinda missed the turnips for its crunch and tang. These pickles were soft and kinda meh. Aside from that, the sandwich was great and was jam packed with ingredients! I read in other reviews how the sandwich is very delicately crafted with different flavours; I mean, yes, it is. But it's by no means a culinary masterpiece. It is, however, a well assembled pita with fresh ingredients (minus those soft pickles!) Fries are identical to Costco fries and I love Costco fries, so, win. Service was pretty slow but that didn't bother me. It was really busy. I have a lot more to try around here so I probably won't be back soon, but kudos, Barakat. read more

Food: 4/5 Price: 3/5 Service: 1/5 First thing you notice about Barakat is the decor. Fake ferns, out of place chandeliers, a massive TV with a horror movie on, and the biggest, blingiest indoor clock you've ever seen next to the stair case. The next thing you notice about Barakat is the wait times. For a limited menu with ultra-simple ingredients and a large number of employees, the wait can be brutal. My main problem with Barakat is that there's no good system for keeping track of customer orders. You pay at the front register and then you turn over your receipt at the food counter in the back (this is not explained anywhere, though it's easy to catch on). The problem comes when you turn over your receipt--your only proof of purchase--to an employee who puts it in a stack with all the other receipts and then tells you to go wait. Just to be clear, the employee does not take your name (like Starbucks). He does not give you an order number (like McDonald's). Once you turn over your receipt, you have only the dim hope that the employee remembers you and your order. And this hope turned out to be unjustified. I went here with a group of friends, and after we paid and turned over our receipts, we were told to go sit down. We were also told that the food would be brought to us, and that the wait would be 15 minutes--neither of which turned out to be true. After 20 minutes or so, we went up to inquire about our order, which took another 10 minutes to finish. Only it wasn't finished--they claimed someone "with a hat" had taken one of our combos. We were able to get the (stolen?) food replaced, but had to wait a few more minutes. At no point was there an apology, an offer of a coupon, a side or free drink to make up for it, or thanking us for our patience and patronage. Given the limited menu, and thus the frequency with which the same items are ordered, it's perhaps not surprising that the employees would get confused about who ordered what. But it's simply unacceptable that a place that does this much business would be so sloppy with their order system. Then there's the food. The meat is very good and well seasoned. The meat portions are somewhat small for the price, however. The pita and rice portions are generous, but that's not saying much. Overall, the prices are high--a function of the largely captive student body that lives nearby and has to choose between this, Subway, or Pizza Hut. This place would never survive in a different location, without thousands of hungry and undiscriminating students passing by every day. ----- Bottom line: OK if you're hungry, aren't on a budget, don't mind waiting, and understand that orders here got lost once in a while. Limited parking in front. read more

Why is it that ethnic restaurants have to be ( usually ) so bad at customer service? Slow service, unfriendly staff is only part of it. I went to this restaurant with a bunch of my students tonight, and it was not a pleasant experience! It took 15-20 minutes for a shawarma sandwich to be ready. Price is another issue: a plate of falafel (4 falafel balls) cost $10.! Holy! Hot sauce was a big chinese bottle from dollar store I think. Last time I eat here. Too bad, I heard good things about the owners. read more

The falafel sandwich is good. The chicken shawarma is bad. The chicken was dry, rubbery and tasteless. The hummus was alright. It could have used a touch more tahini in my opinion. The over size combo portion could easily feed more than two people. There is a excessive amount of chicken and pita bread in the serving! read more

Very yummy food. My friends like this place and they gave me a bit and I liked it thanks for letting me eat here your my favorite place I love you read more

We made a simple inquiry, the owner starting arguing over the phone. Terrible customer services.

Very average but solid and up-to-par Lebanese food. The falafel isn't the freshest I've ever had and the pitas are out of a bag, but the pickled radishes still have a nice crunch, things are cheap, and it's open late. Can't complain. read more

Barakat simply has the best shawarma in London. No restaurants close to campus can beat the prices of Barakat for the quality of food they serve. Wait times can get long especially on a busy Friday night but the food is simply worth the wait. I highly recommend checking this place out especially if you're really hungry since serving sizes are large. read more

I like Barakat. The food is tasty and the portions are fairly generous. My one concern is their blatant inefficiency and inconsistent customer service. I will continue to go here because it is close to my home and I like to give back to the community. Regards read more

I've been a customer for this restaurant for more than 6 years, and I was so happy. I thought the owner is a decent Muslim and I knew him for awhile. However, many things changed eventually. Many of my friends witnessed the owner have been using racial slurs and insults against them simply because they are from a country at the Middle east. In addition the owner being racist, I decided to stop eating there because I had a food poisoning during a couple hours after I ate their Chicken Shawarma sandwich and I had to spent two nights at the emergency. I was vomting so much, it was really horrible. Just food for thought. Thanks. read more

I am a big fan of the Barakat's other location In downtown on Richmond street. Never going back to this location ever again. The food taste here is NOT the same as the location in downtown Prices are the same as downtown This location is a lot bigger nicer and cleaner than downtown Staff here is friendly but only if u can speak Arabic The server who brings ur food upstairs is friendly with a language barrier but that's okay read more

Been going here for the last 3 years..........portions did get smaller and prices went up a bit but their food is good most of the times..............sometimes they give too little of the toppings. Tony's plate and mala fries are my favourites for sure. Definitely worth it because the price is still cheap for what you get. read more

Ordered a salad and meat plate and they gave me a rice and meat plate. I dont eat rice. This place sucks for getting orders right and its always a long wait. read more

All those stories you hear about Barakat being the most effing awesome place for shawarma in all of London?! Better than any place in all of Ontario even?? ALL TRUE... There is nothing fancy about the looks of this place. Except perhaps that they have the BEST goddamn Middle Eastern food in the whole wide world. I spent 3 days in London and this was breakfast, lunch and dinner errrrryday!!!! I thought I'd be sick of it by the time I left and yet two days after I got back here, I was actually contemplating a drive back from Toronto. What makes me love this place even more is what I heard at the restaurant, that the owner was broke and on the streets and now is basically a millionaire from his two locations in London. I preferred the Richmond St location over the one on Western Rd because the staff seemed to be much more polite and professional. They also deliver anywhere in London, which is a huge plus. I really hope they plan on opening a location in Toronto. If you are travelling there or haven't tried it yet - you honestly should! Very. Good.Food. read more

3 weeks I have been exposed to the worst restaurant experience.... the owner who was standing on the cashier refused to Serve me according to my rights as a customer...he refused to change my order ...more over he insulted me by saying "because you are Arab person you are making problems" ... he refused to give back my money and he was extremely unprofessional and very very rude. His colleagues also were not polite at all and the were yelling at me. I am a student a mother and I barely get in any unpleasant argument with anyone... But in that place I have been humiliated badly. One of the worst places ever ... TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE read more

Whenever I'm in a hurry and hungry at the same time, I think of this place. Good food with huge quantity at reasonable prices. Only downside is the lack of parking at meal times, but there's nothing anyone can do about that. read more

Ordered a shawarma through skip and added special instructions like "please make well done and please add hot sauce thank you" but they did not listen the shawarma was cold and tasted like GARBAGE. Never mind that they also did not add hot sauce. I will never order from this trash establishment again!!!! read more

Probably the most popular shawarma place in London. Served in a fast food fashion, which makes it a hotspot for students to grab some shawarma . I had the Tony's special, which was a plate of chicken shawarma with sauces, vegetables and a basket of pitas. The portion was large and I could not finish all the pitas. The taste of the wrap stuffed with everything was also excellent. The only con I found was that the line ups are a bit unorganized and during busy hours, they don't take your order unless you hand it to them. Overall, a great place to eat if you are craving shawarma. read more

Good food, nice people, horrible logistics. Today I ordered a chicken shawarma and normal fries. Asked for no pickles, half way through he started putting pickles on and I had to remind him. No problem. Wait for it to finish and see what turned out to be another guy taking my order, I just assumed he ordered the same thing. After awhile I ask where my order is. He asks what I ordered and I say it. I get told I already received it. I said no, I obviously did not, I've been standing here the whole time. He then tells me that I got it and left a few minutes prior, or maybe I took it and gave it to someone else. I ask him what he's talking about, and he says nice try but no. Basically they accused me of trying to steal from them. I asked to speak with someone, and I got my order redone through them. I finally get home, and unpack my food. Guess what? Sweet potato fries. These guys have good food and were nice enough, but have no reliable system in place to handle high volume times like today, leading to confusion. Being accused of trying to con them didn't help either. read more

so everything looks nice until you go to the second floor, and that's where every table is dirty. they were about 5 empty but all unclean tables, 3 of them still had dirty dishes from earlier customers, and the other 2 had bits of food on them from earlier customers, but no dishes. my friend and I chose the one that had dirty tissue on the side of it, then we cleaned it ourselves. we finished eating, and the dirty tables were YET to be cleaned. only saw one guy that came and cleaned ONE table only, took him 5 mins just to clean a table. their boss/cashier needs to learn to put his game face on, because he clearly forgot to bring that with him. food wise? I payed $12 for combo 1. the "combo" was honestly pathetic, two sheesh taook, with 6 or 7 pieces of meat each only, the rest was just some homus, garlic sauce, pickles, tomato, and a tiny salad. the so called combo didn't even include a drink. However, the food did taste good, but again, the portion was so small for the price we payed. Also, there was no tissue/paper towels in the men washroom, only an air dryer. I give them 1 star only because the food actually tasted good. read more

Food is great, portions are large. It has been my favorite restaurant for years. I recommend the Mala if you want a salad or Tony's Special if you're really hungry. read more

The best Leb food around. Shawarma is always a classic go to. The mala salad is awesome, as well as their many combo platters. Sometimes just love to get their fresh tabbouleh salad and some lentil soup -again always spot on. A+++ for a quick and healthier food option when on the go and busy! read more

Barakets is our favorite place to sit back and enjoy the delicious variety of tasty foods available, They offer very tasty meals, reasonable prices, but most of all the owners who run this establishment are absolutely the nicest people you want to meet. Very caring and concerned that their customers are satisfied with their meal. read more

Good portions at a very reasonable price. The restaurant itself has large open areas which is a bit odd and unconventional but due to the high traffic that this location receives it makes sense. Wait times for a shawarma plate is around 15 minutes. read more

Food is above average. Service is well below average. Wait time can be quite long too.

I've been coming here for years. Negative comments on here are UNREAL. This place H A N D S D O W N !!!!!!!!!!! Has the best Arabic food in town. Go try every other place and then say otherwise. No way!!! I have no problem driving across the city to go to this location rather than put up with sub par shawarma on the south end. Look at the quality you get next time you go there. It's all fresh and made their. They make their own garlic for crying out loud. No other restaurant does that here and they use fresh pita bread every day! Other places don't mind using day old bread..you can tell it's day old by the way it doesn't paninni right. Just ask middle eastern people which spot is the best and I guarantee you when it comes to shawarma they'll say barakats (Western location not dt...dt isn't that good and ill attest to that) if you want a great sit down place than yes Paramount is a fine dining restaurant and offers more of a variety but I myself dont care about a million things on the menu...shawarma, fallafel, hummus...perfect with me. On customer service, I never had an issue. I know it's a family restaurant so I guess things can get heated working with family and maybe you caught them at the wrong time...hey it happens..but cleanliness...maybe it happened to one reviewer here...but I've never had a dirty table and I've been going to Barakats for well over a decade. All I can say left is just to go there and see for yourself. Now I want a Shawarma! read more