Baby I've missed you

Although Ottawa is known as governmentville, it does boast some of Canada's best bike paths and many of Canada's best rated restaurants including the world renowned Le Cordon Bleu school, Beckta, The Whalesbone and The Works to name a few. There are a few more that closed down a few years ago thanks to a little enquiry by the name of Gomery. But one thing Ottawa is known worldwide for (alongside the canal and Beaver Tails) is the amount of restaurants with the word "shawarma" hanging onto it. Even my dear university had a cover story in their newspaper dedicated to shawarma tasting. Having lived in Ottawa practically my entire life, I can easily tell the difference between good and bad shawarma joints simply by the storefront. If they have "donair", it's best to stay away, if "shawarma" is the second word, proceed with caution, if “shawarma” is a subtitle, it could go both ways, and if it ends with "King", it failed the health inspection test...twice (there is only one that ends with King, hence AVOID). Another positive sign is looking at the line-ups from the window. Long line=good stuff. And the smaller the store, the better the food. However, having moved only six months ago to Toronto, it has made me appreciate not only the crummy shawarma joints in Ottawa but their terrible service. Toronto's best shawarma restaurant is the equivalent of Ottawa’s worst shawarma joint, because even the obnoxious Garlic King in the suburbs serves garlic potatoes and decent garlic sauce. You're allowed to be rude if your food is at least decent. What’s up with substituting garlic potatoes with fries Toronto shawarma store owners? And who makes your garlic sauce? And who said it was okay to serve Gyros and have shitty customer service all at the same time? (Naz's Falafel house - DON'T EVER GO). Gyros is Greek and if you serve crappy food at least have the decency of including better customer service. This is UNACCEPTABLE! So, to the dear people who run shawarma joints in T to the Dot, please, for the sake of your professional development, take a trip down to Shawarma town, head to the corner of Rideau and Chapel, passed the crack heads and the Korean man directing people out of his parking lot and watch the 70 year old man at Shawarma Palace take over an entire table and hand cut all the garlic pieces that go into their extra garlic, mega tasty sauce and while you're at it, get a hold of some great customer service AND good food, all in one.

**PLEASE NOTE: many shawarma joints in Ottawa do indeed offer a combination of bad food and bad service, but there are so many shawarma joints in the city you're not limited on choice.

image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lexnger/2276605381/