The North End: a child and family friendly community. Just ignore the grain elevators and concrete plant. I was excited to visit North End Pita, it’s well established in the community and I sometimes see it come up in “Best shawarma in town” discussions (it’s not, the best shawarma in town is at a gas station on the mountain). North End Pita immediately scores a bonus point for being next to Grandad’s Donuts. Let’s head on in.
It has a pretty bare bones interior, but I don’t mind. The focus is on getting you your food and sending you on your way. I was excited to see the chicken spinning on the spit, its juices glistening in the sunlight. The gentleman working the shop quickly took my order and asked if I was okay with spice. He shaved some chicken off the spit and threw it on the grill, I like it. He wrapped up the sandwich and threw it back on the grill, I like that. I was feeling good about this shawarma, so I grabbed a bottle of mango nectar to go with it. It pairs so well with shawarma. After a few minutes my food was hot and ready for me.
This shawarma is a big one, North End Pita isn’t shy with the meat. The vegetable selection was a bit odd. It seems they used salad instead of lettuce, there were shaved carrot bits throughout. At one point I bit into a big tough piece of what seemed to be pickled jalapeño. I doubt North End Pita is growing and pickling their own peppers, so I’m willing to take it as bad luck. The pita was nice, toasted but still soft. A bit too thin though, the wrap really fell apart at the end. There were a lot of running juices too, I wouldn’t recommend walking with this shawarma.
Now for the unfortunate part. The chicken, that was glistening beautifully in the sunlight, is pretty bland. The sauces too, are rather bland (and judging by the mess, they didn’t hold back on them). The whole wrap, despite making such a good first impression, turned out to be mostly uninteresting. I’m pretty disappointed with North End Pita, I really thought we had a winner here. Check it out if you’re interested, make sure you grab a donut next door. 7/10 (thanks Grandad’s)
hamiltonshawarma.com 