Eventually, after Big John's Subs changed location and left a spot vacant, a place called Sam's Shawarma decided to break the mould. I mentioned this briefly in a post after my diabetes diagnosis. Sam's had announced their upcoming opening and I was being really strict with my diet at the time. I lamented the fact that I wouldn't be able to try it.
However, it took them awhile to get to opening day, and by then my health situation had changed a lot and I was more relaxed. Me and Lee-Anne got classic pita wraps as a control to test their skill. Unfortunately, it was probably the worst wrap job that I've ever seen. I could easily, easily have done a better job myself and I can't imagine that someone who had never made a wrap before could do worse. We chalked it up to early-day jitters, although they were several days in and it's probably the most common order.
We came back later and got platters, which were fine but surprisingly expensive. Despite serving my favourite food and being the only option for it in the area, I found myself having difficulty buying from them. I understand that small businesses often need to charge a bit more than chains, and prices of ingredients have skyrocketed. But still, there's a point where even with these things in mind, cost becomes a deterrant. If they had been a little cheaper or a little better, I might have been a regular.
They never posted a sign displaying their hours and it seemed kind of random. Eventually Google labled them as being open until 7:00, but there were a few times when me and Lee-Anne thought about getting dinner from them before then and they were closed. Builds a loss of trust.
They kept expanding the menu and trying different things, a common mistake of independently owned places. Typically, you should have a few standard options, maybe one thing that distinguishes your establishment, and something simple that goes against theme for picky eaters. I don't remember everything they tried but they introduced a few pita wrap alternatives. First they added saaj bread. This isn't unheard of and I'm kind of disappointed I never got around to trying it, but I just never trusted them to wrap anything again. Then they added durum wraps, which as far as I can tell is a flour used to make pasta? I couldn't find an example of anywhere else making durum-wrapped shawarma. I wonder if it really was like a pasta pita.
I'll never know because they shut down about a year later and were quickly replaced with Bossman Shawarma. At least one of the staff members retained her position. I know this because we recognized her when we went in the first time and she told us about how she was working at the old establishment when a car drove through their front window. It's not a large place so she would have been staring it right down. Terrifying
When I first saw her, I wondered if the brief closure and change in names indicated a renovation and new branding rather than a change in ownership. But the employee talked about a new management with new goals, so I guess it was an actual new business.
Bossman's displayed a Ganesha statue at their cash register. For food options, outside of the standard shawarma and falaffel, they had butter chicken and tandoori. I guess an Indian owner decided that shawarma was more marketable in Kitchener than his home cuisine and opted to use it as the main selling point. Somewhat curious, as they were neighbours to Raja, an Indian sit down restaurant that has been around long before we moved into the area. Maybe they didn't want to be directly competing with them, but since Bossman's was fast food and Raja sitdown, it would have probably been fine.
One notable thing about Bossman's was that their falaffels were ENORMOUS. They were the size and shape of hamburger patties. I've never seen anything like it. I wasn't even sure if I enjoyed it or not, but it was interesting enough to bring me back several times.
Bossman also lasted about a year. Now we have Relish Shawarma. They don't stock the ingredient relish, so I suppose the name is for the descriptive, as in, to enjoy and savour shawarma. This time it doesn't appear that any of the workers from the previous establishment carried over. I feel bad for the one woman who managed to survive changes in ownership and a car driving through the store front.
Relish is owned by an Indian family, and so in addition to the usual options, they also have tandoori and Sikh kabob. They're about six months in and unfortunately appear to be having an identity crisis akin to Sam's, as they added Philly Cheesesteak.
They are really, really friendly. Like, almost to the point of intimidation. They made sure to get to know us, and the second time we went they were looking for tips on anything they could tweak or modify. Theoretically, I think it's good for businesses to learn about their customers and connect, but I'm not above this culture of isolation that we're in, and the prospect of making conversation can be a bit much when I just want to get food and get out.
One thing that is odd about them is their hours. One time, I got back home from out of town at like, 10:00 and noticed they were still open. They recently put a sign up with their hours, and apparently they're open until midnight every day, even Sunday. There are places where this makes sense, especially places with a party scene. In Guelph, there's a shawarma joint that closes in the evening and then reopens from like, midnight to 4 am or something like that. Pretty obviously for sloppy drunk University students coming back from the clubs.
But out neighbourhood really isn't that scene. We have a few bars but they mostly attract middle aged people that would probably just buy food wherever they're drinking.
Anyway, I do hope they are doing well because the people that work there are nice and their prices are a bit more reasonable. I think the tandoori platter is probably the best thing on their menu. They have fattoush salad, which I like and don't often see. But it's easy to imagine them falling to the same fate as their predecessors and that Philly cheesesteak addition feels like a move of desperation.
Maybe shawarma just can't survive here. Oh well, at least I have four options to buy luxury doughnuts from.
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