Souk Shawarma

I should have looked at Unilocal before ordering here. I’m a big fan of chicken shawarma wraps and was starving. I think this was pretty much the only time in my life I have been disappointed with a chicken shawarma wrap on top of that it was $ 10 for just the wrap. In short go to any other Mediterranean place and you’ll get better food for a better price.

This was the hope for Denver. It’s Middle Eastern scene is average at best. And that is even a stretch. The «best» rated places would be run out of town if they were in Southeastern Michigan.
I had been following this place ever since they announced they were opening in Avanti (such a great concept). Visited a few weeks back with much anticipation. But once I got there all the hype was gone.
Because of code (building, Denver, not sure??) they cannot use the vertical spit to cook the meat. Instead they braise it. Once cooked through they put on the spit to get some crisp on the outside of the meat. But then they put it back in a tray with the liquid and serve.
This is not shawarma! Cooking on a vertical spit is something that cannot be recreated through braising. Layers of fat melt down over the breast and thigh meat on the spit to create that magical bite. Why do I know this — because I have my own spit.
This is merely a pita roll up. They use store bought gyro bread that you can find at the grocery store, not even real pita. They put rice in the pita (that’s a no no) with the chicken. I will give them credit on their sauces. They are good, but they really need to consider adding toum (garlic sauce) as an option.
This place will probably survive because of all the traffic Avanti gets. But hope they can put a little more effort into this venture. Because taking the next step to a brick and mortar is way to risky.

Been to Avanti a few different times and there is always a line at souk. After sampling all of the options That avanti has to offer I find myself thinking about the chicken shawarma in those times I have strayed. Highly recommend, Ian no shawarma expert like some of my fellow Unilocaled I just like food that tastes great and I’ve never been let down… Side note all my meals here have been before 8pm because anything Tastes good around midnight.

You can’t call this middle eastern food much less shawarma. The pita tasted store bought cardboard, the chicken was almost nonexistent and dry, the sauces were meh. I couldn’t even finish it, and I’ll eat mostly anything. I wish I had tried another food option in the food hall. Sad face. I wouldn’t recommend this place.

I had a chicken shawarma here and was disappointed. The meat was fine, but the pita they used ruined the dish for me. It tasted like the cheap, always-​stale type of pita you buy in a grocery store, overly bready with weird artificial off-​flavors. «The works» for sauces was too muddied and unbalanced, just too much going on that didn’t all work together. There are far better places to get middle eastern food in this city.

Went here last night. I have had some awesome shawarma in the Middle East, but I’ve never had an even decent one, much less a good one, in Denver. I’m glad for Souk Shawarma, because it was tasty. But it’s not authentic, not in the ingredients, flavors, or portion ratios. Nothing about my chicken shawarma tasted authentic. It tasted like a watered down, trendified western version of shawarma. Real shawarma should first and foremost showcase the meat. The meat in my shawarma was not the main ingredient, and there wasn’t enough of it. There was rice (completely inauthentic filler), some pico de gallo like concoction, lettuce, and pickle wedges. Not enough meat. The pita bread was huge, and that may be what threw off the ingredient proportion ratios in the first place. They’re trying to stuff a very large pita bread, so had to sprinkle the meat like it was a condiment.
But it was really tasty nevertheless. All the ingredients were tasty. Chicken nicely seasoned, the filler rice had a wonderful flavor, the sauces were tasty. Doesn’t matter that it didn’t taste like a real shawarma. Whatever it did taste like was good.
We also had a side of fries. They showed up looking really limp, but in fact were crispy in the outside and creamy on the inside. Very yummy fries. I will definitely go back and hopefully score a more generous meat portion.

I grew up in Southeast Michigan, so I know Middle Eastern/​Lebanese food. I’ve eaten more shawarma that I could even begin to quantify. I keep looking for authentic or at least delicious shawarma in Colorado and I have yet to find it. Most places don’t define it correctly on the menu. Shawarma meat is cut from a giant, (usually vertical, in restaurants) rotisserie. It is not grilled, or roasted, or sauteed. I was ready to arrive at Souk Shawarma and be disappointed yet again at the lack of said vertical rotisserie. I was disappointed for other reasons.
They had pre-​cut the meat and left it sitting in a heated tray. The chicken I had was dry. Dry! How can delicious thigh meat that’s been basted in the fat and juices of all the meat sitting on top of it for hours on a giant rotisserie, usually so moist, so delicious, so flavorful, be dry? They should be cutting the meat fresh. I understand this takes longer than using some tongs to pick it up out of a tray, but a few seconds wait time is worth it.
They also put rice on the sandwich. I don’t hate rice. Rice is fine. This isn’t Chipotle. Rice does not go on a shawarma sandwich. If people want rice, fine. Make it a side. Make a nice rice pilaf. Whatever. It shouldn’t be in, let alone the majority of, a shawarma sandwich. The focus should be on the meat. (Some really great hummus as a side would be nice, too. Everyone loves hummus.)
The pita bread they used was good, not great. I understand their space is limited and they likely can’t make it from scratch there. Surely there is at least one bakery in Denver that provides authentic pita?
I thought the sauces were very good. I would purchase the carrot harissa if were available in bottles. Harissa is not Lebanese, though, it is north African. The sauces seemed sort of trendy, though, if that makes sense. An attempt at fusion, or something sort of new, rather than traditional. New things are fine, but sometimes you can have both innovation *and* tradition. Most egregious was the lack of toum, the powerful, pungent garlic sauce that makes you reek of it for days. Aside from the meat, the most important aspect of a great shawarma, in my opinion. No toum at this place. Garlic in some or all of the sauces, I’m sure, because you can’t really avoid it, but no pure garlic sauce. Everyone else I know who eats shawarma loves this condiment as passionately as I do. Souk Shawarma may want to consider offering it.
I feel like this place has possibilities, but that they’re still working out the kinks. Maybe soon they’ll be able to cut the meat off the spit really fast. Maybe they’ll offer toum, or hummus, or change their pita supplier. I want them to do well. God knows the lack of real shawarma in the Denver area is a real shame. I’ll probably come back to this place every now and then, hopes high.