Mr. Fez Shawarma (Downtown)

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Mr. Fez Shawarma (Downtown) is one of the best middle eastern restaurants in Ottawa for group dinner, especially if you want a strong option in Centretown.

Mr. Fez on Bank Street is one of the more pointed arguments for why Centretown's shawarma scene still has room to surprise you. This is a Syrian-owned counter — Mohammad runs the room — and the foundational commitment here is to saj, the thin flatbread cooked directly over flame, not to the generic pita that most Ottawa shawarma stops default to without thinking. That distinction is the whole premise of the place: reportedly, the bread is run over the flame with chicken fat worked into it, a technique that produces something structurally and flavour-wise distinct from what you'd get a block in any direction. If that detail registers for you, Mr. Fez is built specifically around it.