If you throw a rock in Ottawa you will probably hit a shawarma joint. They are everywhere. In fact, not only is Ottawa the shawarma capital of Canada, it basically has the highest concentration of shawarma shops outside the Arab world. When there are over 70 shawarma places in Ottawa, you have to find a name that sticks out. Garlic & Onion is one joint's answer to that question.
Now I'm not a huge fan of shawarma. I like it fine, but I rarely crave it. It's better here in Ottawa than anywhere else I've had it. Shawarma Garlic & Onion (SGO) has decent shawarma. But on this occasion I was here for wings, not spit roasted meats.
SGO is located in Britannia in a little plaza with food competition from Popeye's, McDonald's, DQ, Pizza Pizza, Gabriel's and a few others in the area. Inside, the place is clean, modern and pretty welcoming. I think it's mostly take-out but there's lots of seating inside. You come up to the counter, order your food and you watch them assemble your meal in front of you.
The wife and I have gotten shawarma here before, and I've seen wings on the menu but never got them. This time I was here to get wings. The restaurant was pretty quiet, so I had time to find the wings on the menu, but there was no info on sauces. The friendly young woman behind the counter took my order (she's been there I think every time I've gone), but she panicked a little when I asked for wings. "It'll be 10 minutes, is that ok?" to which I said yes it was. Then there was some extra time needed because the deep fryer oil was cold so she had to heat that up, she kept apologizing but it was ok. She asked what kind of 'dressing' I wanted on them and I had to ask. She said they had Honey Garlic, Sweet Chili, and BBQ sauce. They do have Hot, because you can get it on your shawarma, but she must have forgotten about it. I went with BBQ.
It did make me think though why have wings on the menu at all. I don't think a lot of people order them. This is the case with a lot of places with extra things on the menu. I guess places are trying to cast a big net for customers.
I took a walk and came back after about 15 minutes. I could hear the wings in the fryer (it's a distinct frying sound). They tossed them in the BBQ sauce and placed them into a styrofoam container and into a paper bag.
There were no sides with these wings (no dip, no veggies) and no cleanup tools like wetnaps or napkins. There were napkins on the counter but I didn't grab because most places put them in the bag. Oh well, I had lots in the car.
The wings come in two orders - 6 for $6, or 12 wings for $10. Not a bad price for take-out wings in this city.
The wings were naked fried wings. They were about a medium in length and a medium in meatiness (although some of the drummettes were more plump in size).
They were pretty crispy, probably their best feature. Some of the skin had that spongy-crispy bites that are really good. The chicken itself wasn't tender, but it wasn't tough either. It was all very middle of the road in wing textures.
The wings were pretty saucy. There was good coverage on all the wings. Of the sauce choices I was given, I went with BBQ. It had a darker, more savoury flavour than say sweet, but still had a hint of sweet. But, there wasn't much flavour. Nothing stood out about the sauce.
FINAL SCORE:
I, ah, I was ok with these wings. There was just nothing special about them. Very very meh. The texture, the sauce, the flavour. Nothing interesting. They were just ok, but I would just stick to the shawarma next time. 6.5/14
Shawarma Garlic & Onion
1465 Richmond Road, Ottawa ON
shawarmagarliconion.com (site not updated)
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