Rannosh Restaurant & Cafe

Located a short block away from the scenic Mountain Brow, Rannosh Restaurant & Cafe is nestled in the nice Concession Street strip. It’s been there a while, it used to called Almizan Grill (which offered a product called “shwerma”), but I’m pretty sure it’s the same place, allow me to explain.

When you first walk into Rannosh Restaurant & Cafe, the first thing you notice isn’t the billboard sized menu. No, no, the first thing you notice is the people sitting around smoking. You see, Rannosh Restaurant & Cafe is also a hookah bar. I guess that’s the part of the sign I couldn’t read.

It evoked memories of my first week living in Hamilton, when I was exploring my new home. I climbed the Wentworth stairs to take in the view, and decided to stop in at Almizan Grill for a shwerma, and was quite surprised to see the employee smoking a hookah. I also went to an antique shop where the guy was smoking cigarettes. Anyways, let’s talk shawarma.

Upon entering Rannosh Restaurant & Cafe, you can look through the haze to see their massive menu. Clear and organized, I like it. I rang the bell to summon the gentleman from the back and let him know I’d like to order a chicken shawarma wrap. The gentleman returned to the back to fetch a pita, that seems inefficient. The gentleman then used his strong hands to absolutely shred my pita open.

Toppings were pretty typical shawarma fare: lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, turnip, and the like. The gentleman accidentally put an olive in my wrap, but I’ll forgive him. I ordered what I liked and that was when I noticed something odd. There was no chicken in sight. No beef, no falafel either. As I contemplated this, the gentleman went into the back again. He came out with a small dish of chicken, steaming hot, almost as if it had been heated in a microwave oven…

As you may have expected, this shawarma was pretty good! The vegetables were well dispersed and grilled just enough to soften them but keep a bit of crunch. The sauces were tasty and mixed well together, though I’d like to see a bit more heat from the hot sauce. The chicken from the back room was well seasoned and tender. The bite with the olive in it wasn’t nice, but that’s okay, we all make mistakes.

It’s a bit of juicier shawarma so watch your clothes if you’re going to walk and eat it. It really is that kind of place, the kind of shawarma you’d grab walking home from the bar. Is there any bars on Concession? Walking home from the hospital I guess.

I had fun at Rannosh Restaurant & Cafe. I like reminiscing about one of my earliest Hamilton shawarma experiences, and the food was pretty decent and not expensive. Stop by Rannosh Restaurant & Cafe for a smoke and a shawarma. 7/10