Castle Shawarma

Great customer service and great food! Had a falafel and it was delicious. Will definitely coming back!

Great shawarma, best in the city maybe. Easily my favourite.

I love this place! The chicken is always moist and tender, everything is fresh and the staff always delivers the service with great zeal! You have to get «the flag» when you order your shawarma (Three different types of garlic: spicy red, regular white and oregano green!)
Ottawa loves it’s shawarma and Castle is simply the best.

I am surprised that the lineup isn’t longer for this place. Hands down the best shawarma I have ever had. One of the few good reasons to visit Ottawa.

Good. Very much a ⁴⁄₅. Not a 3 or 5. Pretty reliable. Got the shawarma platter. Was good.

The food is good, there is not doubt about it but the place is crazy tiny so you have to eat out. No place to sit most of the time. The atmosphere is a little unsavoury as there are usually people smoking in the front of the establishment (and often something other than regular cigarettes). I don’t like waking through a wall of smoke to get to my meal. I used to go frequently but I got tired of waiting for someone to finish their smoke break with their friends out front to come and serve us. As a woman, I don’t feel comfortable going there late at night on my own. The area is a bit rough. It’s better to have a place where I can park close by and feel safe.

Hands down best shawarma place in Ottawa. The spicy garlic sauce really does this one justice. It’s fantastic! Highly recommended!

I came here because of the great reviews but it wasn’t very good. The falafel was «cooked» in the microwave which made it taste dry. The veggies didn’t taste fresh at all. The redeeming point was the garlic sauce.

The chicken shawarma was as good as most of the previous reviews claimed. Both the orange colored hot sauce and garlic sauce were excellent. Well worth the walk over. If you are extra hungry get two shawarmas and skip the falafel. It was pre-​made, warmed in the microwave and very dry. Perfect quick dinner.

I really didn’t want to like this place. I grew up in a heavily populated middle eastern community and I liked to tell myself no one does Shawarma like Dearborn, MI. The truth of the matter is, the spicy garlic puts all the chicken shawarma I had before this to shame. The workers are all very nice and the price is decent. Will be returning the next time I’m in Ottawa!

I’ve had shawarmas in TO and I was kind of «meh» on them. You know, «tastes ok, it’s something fairly cheap to eat when you’re hungry» kind of «meh».
This creation is amazing. It’s like a movie when you walk into a little barber shop and a door slides open and hey, it turns into the Avengers hideout. I don’t know the owner’s name but the way he put together this hot chicken with the cool vegetables should be a national treasure. I couldn’t think of a way to make any part of it better (more/​less chicken? no. more/​less hot sauce? no). It was very well balanced. He also gave us some free potatoes with 3 different kinds of sauce on the house to taste test while we waited. A clever move, because I was distracted while he slipped in the crack this must clearly contain.
NB if you get a couple extra for the 4 hour train ride back to TO they will be soggy. But still delicious.

Went here because of all the good ratings and to try out the famous garlic flavours.
Little pricy for plates. Went on a sunday afternoon and it was not so busy, no line up.
CONS:
— Styrafoam container for a plate is smaller than other establishments
— They microwaved my rice and potatoes and beef under the counter IN the STYRAFOAM container… — this is a deal breaker for me
— Microwaving also means that the potatoes and rice were not fresh.
— The potatoes and rice were cold even though they were reheated.
— Rice was way vercooked and has bay leaves included. Don’t like picking out the inedible bay leaves from the soggy rice.
— Plate doesn’t include hummus although they include one piece of pita bread.
PROS:
— decent portion, although the container is smaller
— they load up on the interesting sauces
spicy garlic, regular garlic, and green (oregano?) garlic
Maybe their sandwiches are better, but I don’t think i’ll be going here for takeout plates anytime in the future. Mircowaving styrafoam is not something I want included in my food.
NOTE: 25 cents is added if you want to pay by credit card.

I stop in at Castle Shawarma whenever I’m in the downtown core. They have simply fantastic chicken shawarma sandwiches. The service I get is amazing, fast and friendly. The chicken is always fantastic, and the spicy sauce is very flavourful.
The other great attraction for Castle is the fact that it is priced how to-​go shawarma should be priced. Easy on the wallet, tons of flavour. Be warned though, unlike a lot of shawarma places, this is a place where you stop and go as there is not much seating.

I was introduced to this spot by two coworkers and I’ve been coming here ever since! This place is awesome! I usually get the small falafel shawarma with all the veggies on it, tabouli, and the spicy garlic sauce for $ 6.75. The veggies are fresh, the spicy garlic sauce is to die for, and the portion is pretty generous. Very tasty too. A small shawarma fills me up. If your looking for a cheap filling lunch I recommend you come here. Luckily they also accept credit cards too.

Ottawa has a lot of great Shawarma joints but this place stacks up well! Been here several times after late nights in the market and it always delivers. The staff are very friendly and tend to move the line-​up along quickly without sacrificing quality food. My friends from Toronto thought this was some of the best Shawarma they’ve ever had! Have never tried it fully sober though, haha.

I am no longer a fan.
I would prefer for my food to be kept hot instead of put in a Styrofoam container and microwaved.

Being in Ottawa, the last thing I expected was good shawarma, what I ended up getting was excellent shawarma! I swear, their chicken shawarama is the best I ever had!
The best buck for your money is really the shawarma sandwich — I got the platter the first time, it was double the price of the sandwich almost, and I wasted quite a it. The second time I was smart, and ordered exactly what every other college kid there seemed to be ordering — the chicken shawarma sandwich and it did not disappoint at all!
The chicken is juicy, succulent, and just absolutely delicious! The weird looking orange sauce is delish — do not skip it!
This is a tiny hole in the wall place with seating for about 8 people max. It looks run down, but the people running it are smiley and know what they are doing. It is open late — and it seemed to be teaming with college kids at all times of the day — a very good sign, because it meant the food here is affordable and dependable and yummy!

My husband and I went here recently for an early dinner. It was our first time there. I had a small beef shawarma sandwich ($ 6.75) and my husband had a large chicken shawarma combo (came with potatoes and a can of pop for $ 13. You could get rice or salad instead of potatoes if you wanted). A small sandwich combo would have been $ 11. Chicken and Beef are the same price.
I would say that this is currently the best shawarma I’ve had in Ottawa.
What makes the shawarma at Shawarma Castle so great you ask? The meat is so tender, juicy and flavourful. Yet it is also crispy at the same time (I love crispy, like when it’s been spinning for a long time, but not dry though, that sucks). I don’t know how they do it. Also, they give you a lot of meat. The toppings are also fresh. There are not 1, not 2, but 3 types of garlic sauce. I didn’t try the boring regular one, but I tried the spicy garlic sauce, which has a nice kick to it. And the bright green herb garlic sauce. Don’t let the colour scare you — it’s yummy!
I don’t know how they do it, but when they press the sandwich in the grill, it’s crunchy at some parts and soft at others, which is awesome, as I love different textures. They also put on a glob of garlic sauce at the opening before they hand you the shawarma.
We ate there, and they gave us the potatoes in an actual ceramic bowl. Awesome! I hate eating out of Styrofoam, I’m sure the chemicals leach into your food, especially when the food is hot. They also put the shawarma on a real ceramic plate. Nice!
So why doesn’t this place get 5 stars? The potatoes were too oily. There was a pool of oil at the bottom of the bowl. Also, the garlic sauce, although yummy, was too oily. It dripped down the shawarma and made it very messy to eat. Decreasing the oil content would not decrease the yumminess. And if they wore gloves while making the shawarma (and removed the gloves when handling money) (As long as they are not like those places where the employees wear the same gloves to handle money and prepare your food. Uh, what’s the point of that? Just an illusion of cleanliness, and not a good illusion at that.).
FYI: The place is tiny though, not a lot of seating. Most tables are just for 2.
The guy there (I think he was the owner) was super friendly and nice. I will definitely be back! :)

My stomach is always in search for one of two things– the perfect burger or the perfect shawarma. Many places attempt to create the perfect burger but the latter is elusive.
I’ll say that the Castle makes a valiant effort to give us a great sandwich. Some of the toppings didn’t look fresh but luckily the ones I usually go for looked succulent. The potatoes were also very good and the samosas, while odd in appearance, tasted great. And of course you can’t beat location so I, definitely am a fan.
I RECOMMEND– the spicy garlic sauce on evvvverything (orange one in pics). Yes it’s necessary!!!
EXTRA TIP– Guys here are comedians so expect some stand up comedy with your food. :) Very friendly service.

Some super awesome yummy Shawarma to be had in this pint-​sized restaurant. This guy takes pride in his food and it shows.
The portions are generous, as are the staff. I had a classic chicken Shawarma sandwich and it was pretty well stuffed to the breaking point. The ingredients were all nice and fresh and super tasty. Loved the garlic sauce.
Bonus Point: the guy had just made a fresh batch of potatoes and brought them out when we were eating and he offered us a spoonful (huge spoonful actually) just to try them out and boy were they fabulous. A bit spicy, but not overly so. Yum!
Side note, it was super hot and humid out the day I went, and the place was air conditioned, which I very much appreciated.
The place is tight, so if you’re a party of more than 2 people, it’s better to take your food to go.