We found this place while wandering the area in Ottawa, and had a great dinner! I had the…read morecombination dinner which included stuffed grape leaves, kibbeh, spinach pies, hummus and salad. Everything was fresh, flavorful, and delicious. The kibbeh was seasoned beautifully as were the spinach pies. Even the salad was really good. The pita was fresh and perfect as well. I had the rose water iced tea to drink which was quite good and the rose water was not overpowering. One person was serving and cooking. I am assuming this was Omar the owner. I have no idea how he was managing all of that! He also did the art around the restaurant which was beautiful. Definitely a great option in this part of Ottawa!

Food and service are wonderful in a beautiful restaurant! You won't be disappointed if you love…read moreLebanese Cuisine. If you're visiting Ottawa, this is a must dine! Thank you Mr. Omar!

Le Casablanca is a hidden gem of the byward market! The food was beyond delicious, the service was…read morekind and helpful and the restaurant offers a fun and cozy ambiance.

The Short Version: Casual Moroccan restaurant in the Byward…read moreMarket Square building. Food is pre-made and on warming trays so service is quite quick. The Long Version: I believe I have eaten at La Casablanca before but it was many years ago before I was on Yelp. Most recently I got food from here through the Too Good to Go app. (It's an app to reduce food wastage. Restaurants sell leftover/day-old food at a discounted price on the app. The catch is it's a surprise bag so you don't know what you're going to get.) I was on my way home and was walking by the restaurant and noticed they had a surprise bag for sale on the Too Good to Go app for $9.99 and I decided to buy it. The man prepared my meal by scooping various items in the warming trays into a takeout box. I got some chicken skewers, rice, roasted potatoes, cabbage, and a vegetable stew (which consisted of carrots, potatoes, bell peppers, and broccoli). I seemed to get a few rogue chickpeas too, lol. The food was flavorful and I liked the seasonings on it. I also liked the variety and that I got to try a little bit of different items. I felt it was a satisfactory deal for $9.99. However on the app it did list that the value of the surprise bag was $29.99, which I don't feel is true, lol. For the $10 I paid, I'll rate it as 4 stars. I'd give it half that rating though had I paid $30 for a takeout box of food (mostly vegetables and rice) from warming trays, lol. The restaurant is inside the Byward Market Square building so it's kind of food court-like but each restaurant has its own seating. The vibe is very casual. The man serving me was courteous. A good place for quick casual Moroccan food. Review #233 (2025)

Came to Shawarma Palace after shawarma came highly recommended by a friend and generally this meal…read moredid not disappoint! The portion sizes are RIDICULOUS. For us modest appetites, this is easily 3 meals - easily! We ordered 2 plates and a sandwich for 4 people and still had enough leftovers for a small breakfast the morning after. My personal favorite was the mixed shawarma plate. I love how it comes with pita made specifically for Shawarma Palace, rice, potatoes, salad, pickled veg, and the meat. We also got the mixed kabob plate which featured tender beef but the chicken kabob was just a hair bit dry. The falafel sandwich was actually very dry and I would not recommend this. We also picked up some baklava for dessert after and I liked how it was just sweet enough! You can taste the pistachios and I thought the kiss of rose water was just enough to make the bite memorable!

Happened upon this restaurant one evening. I saw a shawarma place on the north side of the street,…read moreso I prepared to turn off and go back, but here was another shawarma place. Quickly looked at Yelp and saw a fantastic number of reviews. So this place looked to be the real thing. I stepped up to the counter and ordered the beef shawarma platter to eat in. The guys just kept piling more and more on the platter. It was absolutely ridiculously huge by the time they were done. It was stacked with beef on top. As I paid, I asked for a take-out container. There was no hesitation. So obviously, this is the way they do it. I sat in the super clean dining area and started in on this massive dish. Then I saw a young family carry their plates to a table adjacent to me. And they all had these massive plates too. So after stuffing myself and hardly putting a dent in this pile of food I had to load up the take out clamshell. It would hardly close and weighed 2-3lbs (after filling myself). So if you want to buy one dish and eat a tasty healthy meal for a week. This is your place. It seemed very clean in the restaurant (signs say leave your dishes on the table - so they are obviously bussing the tables regularly). The washroom was also exceptionally clean. The staff that built my meat mountain were super friendly. I would certainly recommend this place!

Boustan is a chain from Montreal that sells Lebanese food. It has over 40 locations. I am certain…read morethat I had shawarma sandwiches at a Boustan in my university days in Montreal. It was before I was on Yelp and before I was "into" food as much as I am now, lol. This location on Rideau St is the first and currently only location in Ottawa. It's where Gabriel Pizza used to be and it opened in March 2022. I was browsing deals on UberEats and saw that Boustan was having a BOGO deal: $9.99 for a small beef or chicken shawarma sandwich. Man, I remember when $9.99 for 2 shawarma sandwiches was just the regular price, but now it's actually considered a deal. Anyway, I figured why not pick up a couple of shawarma sandwiches for my husband and I after work for dinner and we don't have to cook. So that's exactly what I did. I opted for the beef, and asked them to hold the onions. The sandwich was actually quite good. It had a decent amount of beef in it and the beef was tender and tasty and not gristly nor fatty, which I appreciated. It came with shredded cabbage, pickled turnips and tomatoes. I actually prefer the shredded cabbage here over the shredded lettuce at most other places. It keeps its crunch better and gets less soggy. There was also garlic sauce which wasn't overpowering. The pita was nicely toasted too. And the size was good, not too puny. I was impressed. Pickup was quick. It was ready when the app said it was, which was about 10-15 minutes from the time I ordered. Staff were friendly. I would return to try other items. They have Saj bread, which I love. Street parking only. There are paid parking lots nearby too.

Boustan from Montreal finally opened up on Rideau St at the old Gabriel's Pizza location. They…read morefully renovated the old location and it's pretty nice inside. I decided to try a mixed plate platter as that's been my standard when trying shawarma places to rate restaurants in the multi city shawarma show down. They made some potatoes nice and fresh and at first I thought the platter look at little small BUT they pack it in the food! The platter comes to roughly $18 but comes with a drink and did I mention they pack the food in? The platter comes with rice, potatoes, hummus, toum, salad (was a little bitter but I really liked it) and piled up meat. I really liked the potatoes and salad. Chicken and beef were marinated different from anything I've tried in downtown Ottawa. I liked it. Garlic sauce is not as garlicky as what we have at the Palace. Hummus was decent as well. 3.5 stars. The sauce was decent, way better than that sweet sauce from Osmow's. With Shawarma Palace a few blocks away, if you're really hard up for shawarma it's a decent option with decent portions. If you have some time head down to the Palace though!

This is a little dive just down from my hotel. They have indoor seating but a lot of take out…read more Chef had a special and loaded the takeout with extra meat and a large salad. Service was fast and the food was excellent.

Near the Canadian War Museum (6 minutes away) I found Sham House (Syrian food). Living in Toronto…read moreI'm used to excellent Mediterranean food and this is one of the best I've had. We enjoyed it so much we came back during our trip. The owner cooks with fresh ingredients, and he is very friendly. The restaurant is diner style and clean. We had two Sham specials: shawarma chicken and the beef, salad and garlic potatoes..every morsel delicious.

The Short Version: Quick and inexpensive eats in the Byward…read moreMarket. Tasty donairs. The Long Version: Ottawa is flush with shawarma restaurants so at first a new shawarma restaurant in the Byward Market did not excite me. However, I love deals so when I saw they had a special for 2 small beef donairs for $10 I had to check it out, lol. To my delight, the donairs were delicious. And $10 for 2 wraps is a great deal, especially for these days and in the touristy Byward Market nonetheless! They were not stingy with the filling. I got lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and pickled turnips. The donair meat was well-seasoned and there was a generous amount of it. I got the spicy garlic sauce and these guys do not joke around with the spiciness. It was legit spicy, which I loved. The spicy garlic sauce at many places is only mildly spicy, so I was pleasantly surprised. Food handlers wore gloves and they replaced their gloves after doing other things. Bonus points for good hand hygiene. Staff were courteous and efficient. There's only one tiny table with 2 high stools for dining in, but they do have lots of seats outside on their patio. They just opened up in 2025. What a great addition to the Byward Market! Paid street parking or paid parkade parking only, as with practically all businesses in the area. Review #188 (2025)

This review is exclusively for their meat pies (Pide) that they sell on UberEats under the name…read more"Manqousheh." It's the exact same store though. They sell Pide under the name Ottawa Kabab too, but bigger and more expensive, the ones I got are smaller. I got the meat one ($4.99 BOGO ) and the cheese and sausage one (also $4.99 BOGO). Both were delicious. The meat Pide was filled with ground meat. It was flavourful and smelled so good. The cheese and sausage Pide had lots of cheese and little cubes of sausage. It was tasty, but I preferred the meat one. Although my husband liked the cheese and sausage better, so I guess it depends on your tastes. At any rate, we both agreed that they were delicious. I ordered on UberEats for pickup. Staff were friendly and efficient. They even wrote "Thank you" with a smiley face on my takeout box, lol. The restaurant itself has some seating inside as well as a patio. The parking situation is the only downfall. There is free parking in front of the restaurant, but there are not too many spaces and it's very tight. Difficult to maneuver around. Street parking is available but not the easiest to find nor convenient. Glad this place popped up on my UberEats deals :)

This is a decent find especially at this price point. I…read moretried the 3 kebab mix and added the hummus and toum option. They don't hold back the spice so a pleasant thing IMO as one gets to enjoy the food it is supposed to be. Priced very well so impressed was I that I ended up making a delivery order the following day. With a dearth of decent food for this cuisine in this city I would even give it a half star bump. Give them a try if you like this type of food.

I hate this place, they barely care about you…read more The service is 1 out of 10. The food is 5/10. They usually forget to put side dish when you order an online delivery. Please AVOID this place. My personal suggestion, just go buy some groceries and cook the dinner yourself.

Employees are very nice and knowledgeable about the food although some aren't Lebanese, however the…read morefood itself is very plain sometimes depending on what you're ordering. I ordered a "pepperoni and veggie" pizza which was literally beef pepperoni with green pepper, no other veggies. That in itself was disappointing Next was the beef shawarma on saj which was filled with just beef, sauce, and a thin pickle. Tastes really meaty and not the shawarma flavour I wanted. Had like 3 small pieces of pickle on the side which I'm not sure what that was supposed to do. Anyways, the employees and servers are amazing and so is the decor (despite the dirty floor on the second occasion that I came) however the foods served need to have more vegetables and the menu some more photos of the foods since my non-Lebanese friends couldn't tell the difference between lahme, kafta, and kibbeh.

Doesn't look like much when you walk past it from the outside but upon entering! It's a whole other…read moreworld, the decor, the atmosphere. It's like I entered a portal and was teleported to another part of the world. This is a family-owned Syrian restaurant and delivers very authentic Syrian food ; I came here with my middle eastern friends, and they loved it. There is gorgeous buffet too! The buffet is timed so make sure to come appropriately.

Smash Daddy's - Restaurant Review Note for Americans: Bring…read morecash - no U.S. credit cards accepted! (Not sure if it's the same for international cards.) Walked here from my hotel. At first glance, the place is a bit cramped and chaotic, with minimal counter service and not much signage to help you out. But once you get the flow, it's straightforward. The menu is tight: Burgers, Fries, and Shrimp. That's it! There was a line out the door, which usually means good things. The small Asian lady working the grill was super nice and honestly seemed like the only one who had a handle on things. The burger joint itself is a haze of burger grease and onions--smells great while you're there, but be warned: you'll carry it with you the rest of the day. Food-wise, it's solid. The smash burger had a great crisp with a chipotle mayo or ranch-style sauce. Fries were better than average. I didn't try the shrimp, but people around me seemed happy with it. Now, the not-so-great part: they couldn't process any of my U.S. credit cards. That was awkward. My total was $23 CAD, so I just handed over $30 USD and told them to keep the change. Could've avoided the mess by ordering through Uber Eats (assuming you want to use a card). Bottom line: The food is worth it, but the payment situation and setup could be smoother. Slightly pricey for what it is, but your mileage may vary. Give it a shot if you're nearby--and bring cash just in case.

TL;DR/The Short Version: Tasty smash burger. A bit pricey at…read more$13 for just a burger, but it was delicious. The Long Version: I've been meaning to try Smash Daddy since they started their food truck on Preston St, but never got around to it. Then on a Sunday in February we were walking around downtown and checking out Winterlude and came across this Smash Daddy location. It's an actual restaurant (not a food truck), but is mostly takeout. They have 7 stools along a counter if you want to eat-in, but it's a bit snug. My husband and I got the original Smash Daddy ($13) to-go to share. It's 2 smashed beef patties, 2 slices of cheese, pickles, onions and Smash Daddy sauce in a buttered brioche bun. It was delicious. My first time having smashed burgers. I like my burgers well done, so this style is to my liking. I liked the crispy edges. I found the price a bit high for just a burger, but those are the prices everywhere these days :( Service was pleasant. There's really no decor to speak of. You go there for the food, not the ambiance, haha. Happy to see this business expanding. They have 3 locations now. I think 2 food trucks and this restaurant. Street parking only. Review #60 (2025)