To be honest I didn’t know what Shawarma was until I went to university and I’m not from a small town so I must have been under a decently sized rock to not notice, but not long after I moved to Waterloo for I school I was introduced to it and it very quickly became one of my favourite foods to get when I don’t feel like cooking (meaning most of the time), so naturally I went around to different places to try and see what each place has to offer and here’s what I found.
Lazeez Shawarma
Let’s start with what’s probably the most popular place, Lazeez is a large Shawarma franchise in Canada, having two locations in Waterloo, one close to Laurier and one close to UW and almost every student I know (that isn’t vegetarian) has tried Lazeez at some point. I can see why people like the place, plenty of options and if you love the garlic sauce, they cake it on the food. Honestly, though they put a lot of sauce on and it can make the actual food soggy and their rice isn’t the best, I can’t tell if that’s because it gets drowned in sauce. It’s too bad because I feel like if they lightened up a bit on the sauce it would taste better, seriously sometimes it feels like I ordered sauce with a side of food.
Mozy’s
Mozy’s is conveniently located right at King and Uni, it’s right in front of the Laurier campus, they have about the same selection of items as Lazeez, but they portion the food out more, usually having more vegetables with their food and I personally feel like their meat is cooked better or maybe it’s just higher quality but I prefer it. They also go lighter on the sauce which I personally like, but some of their options can also be a bit more expensive than Lazeez and they seem to give a smaller portion, but I guess quality over quantity.
Osmow’s
Osmow’s is kind of like a middle ground between Lazeez and Mozy’s. Osmow’s puts on more shawarma than Mozy’s but not as much as Lazeez, they also apply some more seasoning on top of that. They also give massive portions of food in a single dish, but this is offset by their prices being the most expensive. Overall the food itself is pretty good, but definitely for its price is more of a treat yourself kind of thing or if you and a friend or two are hungry after a night at Phil’s which is right next door.
