Shawarma’s House first came on my radar while driving back to Detroit after a long hike west of Ann Arbor. Famished after 10-miles in the woods, I craved protein, wanted it in chicken shawarma form, and it had to be from a shop close to Interstate 96.
The option with the best Google reviews in the neighborhood was Shawarma’s House, in Westland, with a 4.9 rating on over 1,000 votes. “They must’ve hired bots, but whatever, it’s close, I’ll try it,” I thought to myself.
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Turns out it probably wasn’t bots. There’s no shortage of shawarmas in metro Detroit — even good or excellent shawarma abounds, because the universe has smiled upon us. But finding a spot that does a common dish like shawarma better than everyone else is a rarity and a joy in life, and that’s what Shawarma’s House has on offer.
As with any simple dish of this caliber, it’s the details that make all the difference. Shawarma’s House cuts its bird from a massive inverted cone of chicken on a spit to produce small shavings. They’re intensely aromatic, moist, bright, and lemony pieces of bird that are wrapped in pita with better-than-most pickles and solid garlic sauce. Guessing on the spice combo here, but I suspect it’s driven by coriander, paprika, clove, nutmeg, cumin, and more. The aroma-generating combo and the perfect texture are what put the package in its own class.