The title is official. The cross-city proof is not in yet. Here is what our Google Maps count and the 2021 census do show.
The short answer
Yes, by council vote. Ottawa City Council declared Ottawa the "Shawarma Capital of Canada" on April 3, 2024 (CTV News). BlogTO reports the vote was unanimous, and the Kitchissippi Times says the motion came from Innes ward councillor Laura Dudas. It is a civic title, not a measured ranking.
Our own count, pulled from Google Maps on 2026-10-29, finds 106 qualifying shawarma locations in Ottawa-Gatineau. That is 7.9 per 100,000 residents in the City of Ottawa, and 41.5% of those locations are rated 4.5 or higher. We have not yet counted other Canadian cities the same way, so we cannot say Ottawa has the most shawarma per person. That comparison is coming, and this page will be updated when it is done.
How many shawarma places Ottawa-Gatineau has
Our pull for the query "shawarma" returned 1,549 records, or 576 unique places. After our filters, 106 locations qualify. Before we removed large chains, low-review listings and invalid records, about 119 shawarma locations matched.
Per 100,000 people, using Statistics Canada 2021 populations: the City of Ottawa has 7.9 (80 locations, 1,017,449 people). Gatineau and Cantley have 8.9 (26 locations, 291,041 people; this slightly overstates Gatineau, since Cantley is outside its population). The whole Ottawa-Gatineau metro area has 7.1, or 8.0 if you count the 119 locations before exclusions.
Other counts run higher. In 2022 the Ottawa Business Journal cited 196 shawarma shops in Ottawa, per Yelp. BlogTO, citing CTV, reported that shawarma shops outnumber Tim Hortons nearly two to one. Our number is lower because we only count places with at least 10 Google reviews and leave out chains with 10 or more locations.
Where the shops are: both sides of the river
Of the 106 qualifying locations, 80 are on the Ontario side and 26 on the Quebec side. Branches fold into their brand, which leaves 76 ranked brands. By the address of each ranked brand, 39 are in Ottawa, 20 in Gatineau, 4 in Orléans, 4 in Nepean, 3 in Gloucester, 3 in Kanata, 2 in Stittsville and 1 in Cantley.
Gatineau holds its own on quality. Three of our top 10 brands are there (La Casbah, Shawarma Sinbad and Shawarma & Plus), and 8 of the 21 Quebec-side brands are rated 4.5 or higher. Downtown is dense too: one top 10 spot is on ByWard Market Square and another is in World Exchange Plaza. See the ByWard Market guide and the Orléans guide for more.
The top-rated shawarma right now
Ratings are high across the board. The median brand rating is 4.45, and 38 of the 76 brands (50%) are rated 4.5 or higher. The 106 locations hold 80,463 Google reviews between them.
The top 10 by our formula, as of 2026-10-29: 1. Shawarma Al Mouna (4.8, 1,509 reviews, Wellington St W). 2. Grilled Shawarma, Orléans (4.8, 1,092). 3. Ottawa Shawarma, Clyde Ave (4.8, 959). 4. Shawarma Time & Place (4.9, 397, ByWard Market Sq). 5. La Casbah, Gatineau (4.8, 738). 6. Shawarma Maestro (4.9, 337, World Exchange Plaza). 7. Shawarma Sinbad, Gatineau (4.8, 492). 8. Big H Shawarma & Poutine (4.7, 1,544, Lancaster Rd). 9. Shawarma & Plus, Gatineau (4.7, 1,205). 10. 3 Brothers Shawarma & Poutine (4.8, 379, Carling Ave).
The full ranked list of 76 brands is on our ranked shawarma list for Ottawa. For sit-down meals, see our ranked Lebanese restaurants list.
Why Ottawa became a shawarma city
The Ottawa Business Journal traces the first shawarma shop to Marroush on Elgin Street, between Gladstone and Frank, which opened in spring 1984 and closed in 2012. When it struggled, its co-founder extended its hours to 3 a.m. every day, and the late-night crowd kept it busy for about 20 years. Ottawa Tourism calls Shawarma Palace a local institution since 1997.
The Lebanese community is the other half of the story. In the 2021 census, 2.02% of Ottawa-Gatineau residents in private households reported Lebanese origin, second of 41 metro areas after Windsor (2.87%) and ahead of Montreal (1.64%). In the City of Ottawa the share is 2.40%, or 23,990 people. Respondents could report more than one origin.
You will often read that Ottawa has the largest Lebanese share of any Canadian city. That was true in 2001, per a 2007 Statistics Canada profile. It is no longer true: in 2021 Windsor was ahead.
Shawarma Fest and the world record
The first Shawarma Fest ran Sunday, June 7, 2026, at 73 York St in the ByWard Market. Guinness World Records lists the longest line of shawarma wraps, 2,451, set that day in Ottawa by Shawarma Palace and shawarmafest.ca. Capital Current reports the wraps went to Shepherds of Good Hope and that Boustan won best shawarma in a blind tasting. Boustan is a large chain, so it is not in our ranked list.
No 2027 date has been announced on the festival site yet. Check our events page for updates.
Method: how we counted
We searched Google Maps for "shawarma" across Ottawa-Gatineau and kept places with at least 10 reviews. We removed chains with 10 or more locations (Boustan among them), alcohol-led venues and invalid records. Places are ranked by a Bayesian average: Score = (v/(v+m))*R + (m/(v+m))*C, where R is the place's rating, v its review count, m = 200 and C = 4.351, the Ottawa-area average for this list. Confidence is v/(v+m); in our top 10 it runs from 0.63 (Shawarma Maestro) to 0.89 (Big H). The full formula is on our methodology page. Data was pulled 2026-10-29 and is refreshed every 90 days; the next refresh is due 2027-01-27.
Known limits: a few Shawarma Palace records look like near-duplicates, so the 106 may slightly overcount. Our filters also explain why we count fewer shops than figures near 200 that appear in news coverage. More data studies are on the data hub.
Questions and answers
Is Ottawa the shawarma capital of Canada?
Officially, yes. Ottawa City Council declared it on April 3, 2024. We have not found a public source that measures shawarma shops per person across Canadian cities, and our own cross-city count is not finished, so the title rests on the council vote.
How many shawarma places are in Ottawa?
Our 2026-10-29 count finds 106 qualifying shawarma locations in Ottawa-Gatineau, 80 of them on the Ontario side. About 119 match before we remove large chains and low-review listings. In 2022 the Ottawa Business Journal cited 196, per Yelp.
Why does Ottawa have so much shawarma?
Two reasons show up in the sources. Ottawa has a large Lebanese community, 2.02% of the metro area in 2021, second in Canada after Windsor. And the first shop, Marroush on Elgin, opened in 1984 and stayed open until 3 a.m., which drew a steady late-night crowd.
How many Lebanese people live in Ottawa?
The 2021 census counted 23,990 people of Lebanese origin in the City of Ottawa (2.40%) and 29,515 in Ottawa-Gatineau (2.02%). Respondents could report more than one origin.
Is there a shawarma festival in Ottawa?
Yes. The first Shawarma Fest ran June 7, 2026, in the ByWard Market and set a Guinness record of 2,451 wraps in a line. A 2027 date has not been announced yet.
Sources
- fromOttawa place data: best-shawarma list (Google Maps, pulled 2026-10-29). Checked .
- CTV News: Ottawa is the shawarma capital of Canada, council declares (2024-04-03). Checked .
- BlogTO: Ottawa declared shawarma capital (2024-04). Checked .
- Kitchissippi Times: Shawarma anyone? (2024-04-26). Checked .
- Ottawa Business Journal: It's a shawarma thing (2022-01-11). Checked .
- Ottawa Tourism: Unbeatable shawarma places in Ottawa. Checked .
- Statistics Canada: 2021 Census Profile API (CSD and CMA). Checked .
- Statistics Canada: The Lebanese Community in Canada (2001 data, published 2007). Checked .
- Shawarma Fest. Checked .
- Guinness World Records: Longest line of shawarma sandwiches/wraps. Checked .
- Capital Current: Ottawa's love of shawarma on display with inaugural festival (2026-07-06). Checked .