Big Caesar Shawarma

This is a new place on York and I love it for its branding. It’s unlike any other restaurant I’ve ever seen in my life, with a bold orange colour scheme and pleasing rounded white font. I just had to check it out.

It was nice inside, spacious with a big counter, a Pepsi fridge, and shawarma on display in the back: hot and ready. An older gentleman was working the grill, he must be Big Caesar. A younger gentleman worked the till and graciously took my order, I’ll call him Medium Caesar. Much to my surprise, a second, identical looking Medium Caesar came out to assist him, either twins or I’m seeing double. Before long my shawarma was ready.

It tastes different than I’m used to. The pickled turnip was surprisingly pronounced. The sauces were both surprisingly muted, and and surprisingly messy. And the chicken tasted different than any shawarma I’m used to. It all was reminiscent of the shawarma I once had at Perfect Plate. (See the 01/08/22 edition of hamiltonshawarma.com, excelsior!) That sounds insulting, comparing it to the worst shawarma we’ve ever had on the site, which isn’t what I’m going for. More that it reminds me of that Persian style cooking mixed with shawarma. Kind of like nailing what Perfect Plate so poorly went for.

I guess what I’m saying is it was alright, but not very shawarma-y. Still, Big Caesar gets big points for their creative and unique brand identity. Their building is pleasing to the eye. 5/10.