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Babylon Café
Category: Restaurants Middle Eastern Middle Eastern [Edit]
1156 Denman StVancouver, BC V6G 2M9
Neighbourhood: West End
(604) 568-7010
- Hours:
Mon-Sat 11:30 am - 11 pm
Sun 11:30 am - 10 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Price Range:
-
$
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
21 reviews for Babylon Café
Review Highlights
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"They produce a really, really good chicken shawarma." In 3 reviews -
"Lots of fresh ingredients and hella good tabouleh." In 4 reviews -
"...and flavourful as their original location on Robson Street." In 3 reviews
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21 reviews in English
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Review from Anna P.
Vancouver, BC
5/5/2012
It's the perfect location right next to English Bay. A nice summer beach day and a chicken shawarma plate...happy times.
I live across town and will only go here for shawarma. Fresh and delicious. They give you heaps of toppings on your plate and the chicken always has a nice crispy edge to it. Yum! -
Review from Charly S.
4/1/2012
Very good chicken shawarma and plates, great prices, very friendly and helpful staff. Lots of topping choices.
This place is a tiny little hole in the wall. If you want to eat there you can sit at 4-5 bar stools along a cramped counter inside or 3 little tables outside. But of course, walking down to English Bay is highly recommended. -
Review from Jonas J.
Vancouver, BC
1/20/2012
This is the best deal for shwarma's anywhere. I usually have the chicken plate but the wraps are awesome too. The portions are huge and the price is cheap. Importantly, I see them using gloves and washing their hands all the time.
Edit: Feb 2, 2012. I had the usual chicken shwarma but I noticed that the two new guys didn't wash their hands after handling the cash. Even worse, when giving me my change after I placed my order, the one fellow had sauce all over his hands. He made my food with dirty hands and then gave my change back with even dirtier hands!
Also, the meat portions were half the size of what they used to be. I have to reduce my rating as a result and hopefully this behaviour will be corrected. -
Review from zack f.
Vancouver, BC
4/22/2012
The food: I had a chicken shwarma and falafel platter which had its ups and downs. The excellent - the shwarma itself was lovely. The kebab burner spun toasted the meat nicely and it had a delightful crunchy/chewy exterior. It's probably the best shwarma meat that I've ever had. The tzatiki, salad and potato wedge were good, and the rice pilaf was above average. They gave me some extra pickled turnip which was nice - love that stuff.
The pita bread was your standard thin offering. Not really impressed. The falafel looked awesome from the ordering line, but to my horror the cook popped it in the microwave for a minute. What emerged was a big soft bland ball of mush. Far from the crunchy ball of fried chick peas I was expecting. Sad.
Atmosphere:
It's a crowded ordering experience. You stand in line behind the counter, trying to avoid other patrons as they order, collect their food and go. There's very little room to sit inside the restaurant, but we were able to grab a table in front. Despite the chilly weather - maybe 10-13 C, we were able to warm ourselves by the spinning doner kabob device. I think this is probably best as a take-away place.
I'll probably go again, but I'll probably avoid the pita and rice, and just get extra salad. My favorite place so far continues to be Sammy's on Denman and Robson. It's cheaper and the food is better, though the portion is smaller. -
Review from Andre E.
Vancouver, BC
4/3/2012
This place rules. You can't really sit here and eat but if you want good middle eastern food at a nice price that is authentic - you've found the right place. Portions are great and the food is delicious every time. Some staff are nicer than others but all are professional. Best shawarma in Vancouver if you ask me.
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Review from Cathy S.
7/25/2011
Sunny day + chicken shawarma from Babylon Cafe + sitting at the beach = makings of a great day.
They produce a really, really good chicken shawarma. A very generous portion of perfectly spiced and moist chicken was shaved off of the spit for me. They have a nice variety of vegetables and dressings to pick and choose from. I made it easy and told them to load it up with everything! This is the first shawarma that I have had that didn't have hummus spread on the pita, they used mayo-like garlic spread I think, but to no detriment.
Only grievance, I'm not saying that you have to learn to roll a nice tight shawarma wrap under the tutelage of cuban cigar rollers, but I would like it so when the wrapper is pulled slightly back there is not a food falling out everywhere.Listed in: Swarms of Shawarma
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Review from Novaira M.
Vancouver, BC
7/9/2011
Grab a shawarma plate for $8 and walk over to english bay and eat it on the beach = yummmmm.
This place is my go-to when I'm in the mood for some tasty middle eastern food and don't want to spend too much. The place itself is very tiny and not recommended for sit-in. The shawarma plate is my favorite, comes with rice, bread, salad, baked potato, taboulleh and the shawarma meat. all in all a great meal for under $10 and is always consistent, and always tasty ! When you get it to go they put it all nicely in those take-away boxes, so it's easy to eat later too.
Definitely recommended if you're going to spend the day/evening at the beach.
p.s. this place serves halal meat for those who are interested. -
Review from Joshua N.
3/14/2011
Babylon Cafe, why do I love you so much? Maybe it's because you're always open late and a chicken shawarma is what I need after a pitcher of beer. Or maybe it's because the ingredients are fresh and the meat is perfectly marinated and the combination is so delicious. But probably it's because when I asked what kind of sauce was in the white bottle, the guy behind the counter shrugged and said, "eh, this? Khabibulah!" as if any idiot would know that.
So I'm a big fan. Delicious pitas, good prices, open late. It's a winner. -
Review from Ramon V.
1/5/2011 2 photos
I was nervously laughing when they began assembling my shawarma plate...
Salad. check. Tabouleh. Check. Pita. Check. Hummus. Check. Feta. Check.
Woah, woah! Where are they going to put the chicken?!
Then I gazed upward at the menu and saw "comes with rice and potatoes"! The result was a massive plate of food for only $7.50 (see pic). The potato was lemony and roasty, and the rice had all sorts of carrots, corn, beans and peas in it. The chicken was as juicy and crispy as only a slowly roasting fire could make it.
I would not have believed that the quality would also be good, but everything was delicious and I left without a micron of space in my stomach and a grin from ear to ear. -
Review from steff c.
Vancouver, BC
12/4/2010
This place does what the Granville/Robson location doesn't: The shawarma plate. Oh, ho, ho.
You want value for money, great food, and a LOT of it?
For $7.50, knock yourself out. The G/R spot has been considered home of Vancouver's best Shawarma for a decade or more.
This is this same but with even more to choose from.
The plate comes with a great salad topped with feta, a potato, the meat, and all your usual "plate" fixings, like pita, hummus, and tabouleh.
It's all so very good.
I love the wrap shawarma for cycling trips along the Stanley Park sea wall, but get it double-wrapped if you do! -
Review from Johnny Z.
Vancouver, BC
8/23/2011 2 Check-ins Here
This is the best place to eat on Denman
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Review from Marc D.
Vancouver, BC
4/20/2009
I want to thank Kath R for letting me know about this Babylon opening up and the little secret of them having lahmajeen. I have visited twice now - with the second visit being for lunch today.
The couple that operates the place is really really friendly and happy to talk about the food.
After you order your lahmajeen they take a ball of dough out of a red container, flour it, run it through a nifty machine that has a two step flattening process to produce a thin layer of dough. Very fun to watch!
They then grease a tray, place the dough on it, curl up the edges, run one of those back massager looking devices that punches holes into it, cover it with a delicious sauce made of stewed beef, onions, and various spices.
They then put it on a conveyor oven similar to those you would find at a Quiznos and before you know it they take it out, roll it up and serve you this wonderfully hot, delicious, and flavourful treat. What a steal at only $2.25! I wonder how long that price will last!
Also tried the chicken pita, which was just as juicy and flavourful as their original location on Robson Street. I love the variety of toppings they provide here which include pickled beets, tabouleh, garlic sauce, tahini, etc., etc. This is a very flavourful wrap which they also prepare fresh for you when you order it.
I love the custom preparation of everything they make so that everything is served at a proper temperature to fully enjoy it. That, combined with the friendly couple and wide selection of middle eastern drinks (you can even get Fanta with Arabic writing on it if you are curious to do a taste comparison) make this a winner of a hole-in-the wall. Literally - it has only 3 seats against the wall and a small table out front with 2 additional seats.
Go for the lahmajeen, stay for the rest. I'll definitely be back again - soon! -
Review from kath r.
4/9/2009
Now with three locations downtown: Robson @ Granville; lower Robson (in the Robson Public Market building); and now on Denman (near Davie), but Babylon Cafe's newest location (Denman St) is the only one that serves the famed turkish pizza.
The turkish pizzas served here are cheaper ($2.25) than Istanbul Topkapi's and are of a slightly different style. According to Fred (the manager) the version here is a more traditional Iraqi style as opposed to the Turkish ones served @ Topkapi. In other words, don't expect the freshly sliced tomatoes, parsley sprigs and pickled onions. Here the ingredients are all topped on to the pizza prior to cooking and wrapped and rolled as one. In this way, these ones are much more like the street food of Germany. -
Review from Crystal H.
Vancouver, BC
Since we're going with the thanks - I want to thank both Kath R and Marc D for pointing me in the direction of Babylon!
A musical diddy dedicated to delicious chicken shawarma.
[insert music icons here] Oh chicken, chicken - you filled my tummy so full of flavours that I have been raving about you all day. You put every lunch this week to shame...to shame! And you do it on the cheapo- on the cheap-cheap-cheap-o. Like $5.70!
Raspberry soda-oda- whose brand name I've lost- I've lost in the bubbles of the fizzy sweetness - sweetness-sweetness
Here comes the lahmajeen filled with meaty goodness-goodness (they were out of vegetable fill for the record). How can you go wrong? Although I'd spritz a little bit o tatziki on mine for next time! [next time with jazz hands]
Oh, the love affair just keeps growing stronger and stronger...[insert music icons here] -
Review from Ellie V.
Vancouver, BC
8/26/2011
Affordable, tasty shawarmas, and a great place to go to with friends after touring downtown. Just wonderful.
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Review from Brad W.
10/1/2010
God I love this place! You simply cannot beat a delicious-dripping shawarma wrapped up good and tight to take to the beach! I have not had it this good since Na Na on Bondi Beach in Sydney! There is just something so perfect about shawarma, sea and sand and Babylon Cafe has got it right!
The boys behind the counter knew their stuff too and were super nice! I can't wait to go back! -
Review from Stephan W.
Langley, BC
3/30/2011 1 photo
I've been there twice now and the shawarmas and donairs are great. Lots of fresh ingredients and hella good tabouleh. The debit machine however is messed up, the buttons seem to be reversed. In order to get the transaction to work I had to select "banking" instead of "chequing" and it automatically added a tip even though I chose "no". It wasn't a big deal to me but I could see a few people getting really upset about this, like the police for example! Point of sale machines already have a bad enough rap for skimming scams. Parking is near impossible and expensive so I suggest walking here. Would have easily been 4 stars if the debit machine worked properly or if they took visa.
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Review from Russel M.
8/2/2010
This is it! The killer Chicken Sharwma Plate speaks for itself over the Brown Rice Pilaf along with the other items on the plate. Falafel King down the Street is also very good.
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Review from Brian N.
Vancouver, BC
9/26/2011
Excellent!
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Review from Nikki C.
7/7/2011
Each time we visit Vancouver, we stay at the Sylvia Hotel on English Bay. Its in the best location, in our opinion. And just a block away is this place, with the best chicken shawerma we've ever had. There are quite a few places there on Denman but this is our fav place! Delicious, affordable, and friendly owner.
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Review from Mike S.
Delta, BC
6/10/2011
Another one of my favourite donair spots. I always grab the chicken donair. The best!
