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New shawarma restaurant in Orangeville hosts grand opening  

April 9, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Joshua Drakes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Shawarma Alley hosted its grand opening celebration on April 2, inviting town council and residents to come out for free wraps.

Orangeville has a new shawarma spot in town, with a fantasy twist. Shawarma Alley, located at 75 First Street, hosted a grand opening to celebrate its successful launch in January. The restaurant isn’t just a normal shawarma location; it has a theme. For magic lovers out there, Shawarma Alley is themed after the Harry Potter novel series by J.K. Rowling, featuring decorations and themed item names on the menu.

Aamir Mohammad Ashraf from Shawarma Alley said that since opening, they have been warmly received by the community. That welcoming attitude shaped their desire to open a franchise in town.

“The Orangeville community is great,” he said. “The people are awesome. They’re super nice, supportive, and they’re honestly very, very welcoming compared to some other towns. Combine that with the need we saw for another shawarma spot in town – we thought it was a perfect spot to open a new shop.”

Since opening in January, Ashraf said customer foot traffic has been steady, despite the poor weather that winter brought.

“I think that even the very first day when we opened, the foot traffic was great,” he said. “Honestly, traffic has been pretty consistent, and I think now that we’ve done the grand opening, a lot more people know about us. So we are seeing an increase in traffic since then, which has been amazing.”

The grand opening was a hit, with a line stretching from the main door into the parking lot. The menu offers a great variety of items, from the more common shawarma wraps to more unique options.

“Our most popular item by far has to be the chicken shawarma wrap, and the other is the chicken on rice,” Ashraf said. “Of course, we have variety for our beef lovers, our lamb lovers, and so on. We have our classic stuff, like the poutine, which you can make into a shawarma poutine.”

“We have our signature pizza, the shawarma pizza, which is pizza with shawarma on it, with the garlic sauce, things like that. Essentially, what you would get is a chicken shawarma wrap exploded onto a pizza for a larger group.”

With a variety of food options available, a comfortable interior, welcoming staff and a consistent customer base, Shawarma Alley is carving out a place in Orangeville’s dining scene.

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