Laziza

Great looking place. Pity about the food. They serve stone cold rice and chicken a real health risk. Wont be long before this place gets shut down.

This place seems newish and is conveniently located between my gym and the subway station (near Ossington) so I’ve been picking up delicious Mediterranean food on my way home.
The food here is super fresh and the owners/​employees really take pride in serving you, lots of friendly smiles and suggestions. I’ve tried the chicken plate to go, they grill the chicken while you wait, and load the container up with basically whatever you want. Their roast potatoes are amazing as were the grilled cauliflower and eggplant, and the salads are all fresh. I tried a sample of nearly everything.
They have some really good deals (2 chicken shawarma sandwiches for $ 7.99) so if you’re dining for 2 or ridiculously hungry, you can get a really good deal here.
Overall was impressed with the freshness of the food and the super friendly employees.

Laziza is a recent and welcome addition to the Bloorcourt scene. It’s worth checking out, but a couple of start up problems are holding it back from a higher rating.
The food is mostly excellent. Along with the usual rice and potato offerings are unusual finds like roasted cauliflower, eggplant and zucchini. The salads are fresh and plentiful, with yummy tabbouleh, marinated cabbage, and chickpea options.
The falafels are made fresh, as they should be, and are crisp on the outside and moist and flavourful on the inside. I highly recommend them.
The kefta kabab is likewise made fresh and tastes fabulous, but a little bit of warning about the 15 minute wait would have been helpful as I was on a lunch break with limited time.
The shop is clean, the staff are nice, and the garlic sauce is top notch.
There are a few problems:
My usual shawarma order is the beef plate, however the one time I tried it at Laziza, it was unfortunately fatty and gristly. A bad experience and I’ve never been able to bring myself to try it again.
They have a large selection of baklava, but it doesn’t seem to move very much so I question its freshness. Unfortunately, the staff was not able to tell me when it was made/​purchased or even what kind of nuts were in it.
The shop is always stiflingly hot. The huge open windows help, but it’s uncomfortable and I feel terrible for the workers.
The flow of customers through the space is a major issue. You enter, order, get shuffled back and forth to pick your items, and then go to back to pay and then squeeze out again past all the newcomers who are trying to order. On several occasions, people who came in later have been served before me or the staff has gotten confused as to which food belonged to which person. This is an issue that could easily be solved by simply making people pay and form line at the back of the shop, and then move through to pick their rice/​potatoes/​salad and leave through the front door. It sounds like a minor thing, but after you’ve shuffled around that small space a few times, you start shaking your head about why this simple fix hasn’t been implemented.
Overall, I’ve visited Laziza about half a dozen times and plan to return. I’m glad there’s a decent shawarma place in the area now and I hope it will continue to improve.