Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine.

shawarma!... I wrote a post last week about a very disappointing shawarma place, and its good to know you can still grab some tasty middle eastern food without getting blatantly ripped off.  After a study session for our PT exams, we headed out to grab a quick bite at a Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine at Dundas and University.  Most people have probably seen one one of these Ali Baba's around Toronto as they have a ton of locations around Toronto, so this review is specifically for the one on Dundas near University.  I've walked by this place many times in the recent months and it has always seemed packed at lunch, where they have a different special every day of the week. We went on a saturday and grabbed the Friday/Saturday special, which was 2 Shawarma Plate Dinners for $13.99 + tax. We chose 2 Chicken dinner plates (you can get beef instead), and for $7 each, it was a lot of food.  The plate was loaded with a yellow buttery rice, pickled turnips and some different salads.  They freshly shaved and grilled the chicken for us which was nice to see as some places just give you cold/ old pieces of meat. You can also ask them for a pita on the side, which they toast for you although they didn't seem to give this out unless you actually asked.  It wasn't the best shawarma but tasted better than I expected for the price.

This place seems to have 10+ locations around Toronto, so I would expect some differences in food/ service/ deals. For this location specifically, the best deals appear to be on $8.29/ 2 Chicken Shawarma Sandwiches (Mondays) and $8.29/ 2 Beef Shawarma Sandwiches (Wednesdays).  The service is what you'd expect at a fast food type place, but this place is a pretty decent spot for a quick bite- expect it to be busy during weekday lunches. It's also open pretty late, not exactly sure but I've seen it open around 2 am before.

Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine

197 Dundas St W

Toronto, ON

M5G 1C8

(416) 538-7001

Wrap and Roll- Shady Practices.

bad food toronto...! I'm dissapointed to have to share this, but sometimes bad business practices need to be exposed. A Downtown Shawarma/ Shisha spot called "Wrap & Roll" is guilty here.  I wrote a rant about this place a couple months back in a Red Flag Deals forum. Since then people have shared similar  negative opinions, including consistently bad reviews on Yelp, Restaurantica and Google Reviews. My rant as posted on RFD:

I went there on June 10, 2011... and I experienced the exact same thing as original poster, but even worse. He tried charging us $70 for 1 shisha and 2 drinks saying it was a per person charge (there were 4 of us, $70/4= ~$17/ person, wtf this isn't an ayce buffet, its a fast food shwarama place). We argued with him and he kept manually changing the price, down to $50 , $40..tryin to act dumb. This restaurant is blatantly trying to steal from customers. In addition this place is dirrtttty! There were mice running around all over their counter and I even quickly snapped a picture. We told the guy about the mice while we were angrily arguing our ridiculous $70 bill and he just kept acting dumb manually playing with the price of the cash register.The guy also tried to sell us "beer" pretending that it was alcoholic beer (he even manually scratched out the nonalcoholic label)... they don't have a liquor license and are jus trying scam people. I would urge people not to buy any food from this place as the cleanliness of this place is highly in question- we literally just left after seeing the mice run around inside the fridge display as we were grossed out.

After seeing the mice and having this place try to scam me, i've decided to contact the city of toronto - public health food premises ...hopefully can help close this place down. Heres a link for toronto public health if anyone else would like to email/call and complain about this place: http://app.toronto.ca/food2/FDContactUs.jsp

Who do I contact in terms of them not having a liquor license and blatantly trying to sell nonalcoholic beer as alcoholic beer?

I ended up trying to contact the media (CP24, Toronto Star, City News) but did not get any response. Filing a complaint to Toronto Public Health resulted in nothing:

RE: 519 Yonge St

Dear complainant,

Please be advised that your complaint was investigated on June 17/11.At the time of inspection, there was no evidence of rat infestation.The operator was in substantial compliance with O. Reg 562 (Food Premises), as amended.Thanks for contacting Toronto Public Health.

Vashti Rajpatty, BASc, CPHI(C)

Public Health Inspector

Toronto Public Health

Tel 416 392 0936 Fax 416 392 0714

Wrap & Roll continues to stay open with the same shady practices (as per the latest yelp/restaurantica reviews), scamming customers of their money and posing as a health risk to the public and it needs to be exposed. Avoid this place! but go have a visit if you don't believe me (I'd be surprised but happy if things have changed for the better).


Wrap & Roll
519 Yonge St
Toronto, ON 
M4Y 1Y3
(416) 929-9727

Anoush Middle Eastern Cuisine.

shawarrrrmmma... If you didn't know already, I'm currently studying Physiotherapy at the University of Toronto and our building is at University and Dundas. A new shawarma place called Anoush Middle Eastern Cuisine (I think it is a chain) opened up right behind our building and of course I had to go check it out. It is also very close by to OCAD. On their opening day, they had 2 dollar shawarmas which I took full advantage of. Since then, I've gone a couple times because it is so close to where I'm at school everyday. Anoush is a pretty small place with only a couple of chairs to sit at (most of their customers seem to do take out).
Most people who come here seem to get either a shawarma wrap or a shawarma dinner plate. The one pictured middle left is a chicken shawarma wrap ($4.99 + tax, or $5.49 + tax for Beef). As you can see in both pictures of the chicken shawarma, it is pretty damn big and they are not stingy at all with the toppings which include shaved chicken pieces, lettuce, tomatoes, hummus, pickled radishes, pickles, something that looks like parsley. They also cover it with the typical white sauce and hot sauce that you get at these shawarma joints. Taste wise, I'd say it is pretty average for a shawarma place as my friend Yasir from school walks all the way to Taste of the Mediterranean where he claims the shawarma's taste much better (although they are much smaller... here is a picture). The best part about Anoush is that you get a free pop or Lentil soup with every wrap or plate purchase. I've tried their soup once, but it is kind of bland and literally just pureed lentils (maybe I just don't like the taste). This is a limited time offer, although I'm not sure when it will end.
When I am really hungry at lunch, I will get the Chicken Shawarma plate ($6.49 + tax), pictured middle right. It is really big and will definitely fill you up + more for a lunch. It is basically the exact same as the chicken shawarma wrap but set out on a plate with salad, rice and toppings of your choice. They also give you a couple chunks of roasted potato. Again, the price also includes the free pop or lentil soup. Anoush is a good place to go if your hungry and want large portions of shawarma wraps or plates (the free drink doesn't hurt either). In case your wondering, they only take cash or debit.

Anoush Middle Eastern Cuisine
250 Dundas St. W. Unit 15
Toronto, ON
416-204-1680

Taste of Mediterranean.

shawarma... I haven't been updating much lately because I've been busy with school and also because I've just been lazy.haha, so hopefully that will change a little. I have school everyday around University and Dundas, so me and my classmate Henry have been grabbing lunch at places around the area. decided to go check out Taste of Mediterranean for shawarmas instead of getting subway (which many of us were eating for the first week or 2 of class lol). They sell shawarma sandwiches, platters, salads, roast chicken and pizza too.

We both went for the chicken shawarma sandwich (~$4.50 after tax) and they have the usual toppings (lettuce, tomatoes, pickled radishes, onions, hummus, etc). They also grill the shawarmas with a panini machine which I think always makes these wraps taste much better. The sandwich itself tasted pretty good and filled me up for lunch, although other places seem to be more generous with the chicken. One thing I didn't like was that they used some pre-carved chicken for our sandwiches. I prefer having the chicken freshly shaved off the giant spit so you know its hot and fresh. The place was also totally empty considering it was around noon and the area around University and Dundas is pretty busy.

I also noticed that they had a deal for a 7'' Halal Pizza for ~$3.00 which I will definitely have to try next time. There's so many places to get shawarmas around downtown Toronto, but this is right by my classes, so it works out.
Taste of Mediterranean
205 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario
416-850-3338

Queenslice Pizza and Pita.

shawarma... A friend of mine from school, Prashanth, who chills a lot in and around UofT recommended Queenslice Pizza and Pita. The place serves things such as Pizza, Pitas, Falafels and Shawarmas. According to Prashanth, the best thing to get here is the Chicken Shawarma Platter + Pop Combo($5.99 + Tax/ Tip). Normally, I like to get Shawarma Sandwiches at these places, but I had to try this platter. The platter includes buttered rice with a salad on the side and plenty of Shawarma Chicken pieces on top. There was also a couple of roasted potato pieces. All of this was covered with some kind of tasty sauce (maybe thousand island sauce?).

I haven't tried anything else from Queen Slice, but I would definitely recommend the Chicken Shawarma Platter. It is super convenient for UofT students as well, as it is located at 177 College Street, across the street from the main South entrance of the UofT St. George Campus.

Pita Q Shawarmas.

shawarma... After playing ball for a couple hours at U of T the other day, I was pretty hungry so my friends and I walked over to the Pita Q Shawarma place. I eat these middle eastern sandwiches almost religiously when I'm at UT. There is a huge selection of toppings you can get on your shawarma including hummus, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pickles, picked turnips, etc.. The most popular choices at Pita Q are there shawarmas (beef or chicken), specifically the chicken one. They load up a pita with all the toppings you want and fill it up with tons of shaved chicken/beef meat that comes from a big chunk of meat that is stuck on a spit and grilled non stop. To top it off they throw on a tassssty white sauce and some hot sauce. Finally, it's served with with garlic sauce on top. After the entire sandwich is grilled to perfection in a panini machine (used to grill sandwiches), they are mad crisp and give off a delicious aroma. These shawarma sandwiches are proper. Especially when you haven't had them for awhile, you just can't resist ordering one when you're there, which was what happened to me (even though I had already ate dinner that night haha).
Quick Notes: Pita Q also serves other things such as falafels, fries and shawarma platters, but its most popular item is definitely the shawarma sandwiches. The place is located at South West corner of Spadina/Bloor @ 750 Spadina Ave. right next to the Bubble Tease. Price wise, these shawarmas offer pretty good value. One shawarma ($4.50 after tax) will definitely be more than enough for the average person. If y ou're really hungry grab 2 for a bit cheaper (2 for $8.47 after tax). When they ask you if you want it to go or for here, make sure you ask for the garlic sauce or hummus on top regardless. My vote goes for the garlic sauce. Btw, they are open till 2 am on weedays and 4 am on weekends.