Johnny K’s Authentic Donairs

Lions and tigers and vegan donairs, oh my! Okay, so there’s not really lions or tigers but I felt like being corny. :P
I had been wanting to try Johnny K’s since they opened since they offer a vegetarian donair option. I had been holding off hoping they’d finally get vegan donair sauce but still no such luck but I had friends who told me it’s good even without the sauce. I walked by today and say their trio deal of a drink, fries and donair for 9.99 and I couldn’t resist.
The meal is HUGE! And I can’t even tell you how beautiful the seitan is. Hubby and I made our own coconut milk donair sauce at home and it was delish and so filling!
My only complaint was the woman that worked there. The guy was fantastic and so nice but this woman came from out back, there was another gentleman waiting for food and she asked him if the donairs were his and he said no, he had a box and he just wanted onions and tomatoes. The woman went and put onions and tomatoes on mine even though he said they weren’t his… A little weird and I felt bad and told the guy working what she did cause I don’t like tomatoes or onions. He was very nice and made me a new one but just wanted to add that she wasn’t very smart about that and needs to pay attention.
All and all yummy food for a good price!

Meh. The donair was good, but not original. I’m not sure why anyone would open a donair shop that follows the same trends as everywhere else. KOD is still #1 my books

This is a very difficult review to write because it is more about an experience than the food consumed. I came to Nova Scotia with a researched list of places I had to visit and food I had to try. I love to try new food, especially local foods. I came to Nova Scotia to eat a Donair and get the same feeling and sated satisfaction as the locals. My friend and I were directed to Johnny K’s. We entered the shop with that half baked look that told everyone at the counter and behind the counter that we hadn’t a clue. Thinking this would be a breeze «just give me a Donair», the menu was plastered with every conceivable Donair combo, including poutine. I was falling to pieces when a young gentleman next to us helped us pick our first Donair. He insisted we go with no frills, «keep it simple the first time» for the taste experience since we needed to get the feel of the sandwich. We ordered a beef Donair. Shreds of beef, carved from a huge piece of beef on a spit, fell onto the bread, then decorated with tomatoes, onions and that special sauce. We were handed a huge, warm foiled wrapped sandwich, along with lots of napkins;we walked across the street to sit on a wall, like many others, to eat our famous Haligonian signature sandwich. I bit into this hybrid sandwich, chewing the beef, getting a spicy sensation after each swallow. Suddenly, something sweet hit my palate that interfered with the tangy beef. It was a sugary fondant type sauce that just exploded onto the palate and alas, for my taste buds, did not complement the taste sensation I was getting from the beef. I tried another bite and another but I could not wrap my head around this combination. I ate only the parts that did not have the sugary sauce.
There was nothing wrong with this sandwich, it was I who could not acclimate myself to a local culinary pleasure. Everyone else was having a ball with the sandwich.
So, I cannot say that I liked the Donair but I liked the meat and bread.

Their vegan donairs are AMAZING!!! Vegetarian donairs have the sauce with dairy. But, they offer a non dairy chili sauce.

Strategically situated at Pizza Corner (how Haligonians dubbed the Grafton and Blowers St intersection), Johnny K gets incredibly busy after 3 am, with young and not-​so-​sober patrons lining up even on the sidewalk. Since there’s not sit-​in, takeout is the only available option, but the staff wraps and packs your meal so conveniently that it shouldn’t be an issue (unless it’s in the middle of February and snow is burying the city).
Donairs, as advertised, are as tasty as they can get: sweet because of the sauce and the tomatoes, starchy because of the pita but, most importantly, meaty because of the donair meat. Donair is the drunk food par excellence on the East Coast, and it consists simply of donair meat (a Westernized kebab meat), donair sauce (sweet mayonnaise), diced tomatoes and diced yellow onions. The whole is served warm, and the staff makes sure to wrap it in two layers of aluminium paper… And to give you tons of napkins.
The regular donair is a bit pricey ($ 8 each), but convenience has a price! The extra meat that’s added also makes up for the extra dollars.
Johnny K is one of those places where you wouldn’t bring a date to, but you’ll end up there anyway at the end of the night.

According to Unilocal this place opened 3 weeks ago which is roughly when I was there (today is Sept. 10, I was there Aug. 14).
They’re decent, I would consider myself a bit of a connoisseur of donairs.
First of all I love that they offer Tzatziki as a sauce. I also enjoy the subway style assembly. But the meat isn’t anything to really set them apart and the sizes are reasonable enough for the prices but there isn’t a huge difference between the regular and the large.

I want to like this place more but I find it very inconsistent. The first time I went there, I found the taste different and unique. I wasn’t sure if I loved it or not so I vowed to go back. What I did like was the meat wasn’t just long strips, it was somewhat chopped making it easier to get a bite out of the donair.
The second time I went there the meat was nothing like it was the first time. It was actually quite bland.
I decided to give it a third try. Again, it was different. I found the meat to be very spicy as if it was polluted with cayenne pepper.
That being said, I actually enjoyed all three visits. Great sauce, pitas cooked well but not soaked in water like some places and very fresh veggies.
Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to try it again. The taste was really good but the meat was in the long, tough slices. My favourite thing about the was missing. Damn it.
I prefer a place where I know what to expect and what I’m going get when I order it. There is a reason McDonald’s is as successful as it is. A Big Mac on Mumford is the same is a Big Mac on Spring Garden Road. Consistency. That’s what it’s all about.
I’ll give Johnny K’s a try again later on. Maybe after they are open for awhile, they will know who they are.

Pizza corner — it’s the intersection named after the three slice-​slinging restaurants that used to occupy three corners of the intersection at Blowers and Grafton. With a history of being jam packed with post-​bar crowds craving a slice or Halifax’s famous hot mess in a pita, the donair, that intersection has undergone a change in the past few years. Sicilian is the only one of the three enablers of late night food cravings that still remains. Gone is King of Donair, replaced by a cleaner and trendier frozen yogurt place that surely has fewer health code violations. European Food Shop, better known as «That place that isn’t Sicilian or KoD and has the awesome shawarma», has also moved on but has been reborn as Johnny K’s Authentic Donair.
Johnny K’s is a donair-​centric joint; despite the wrap of spicy meat and sweet sauce being an integral part of our food scene, this is actually a unique concept. Normally donairs are an afterthought, thrown on the menu because pizza places in Halifax basically have to offer them or they’re going to be left behind by the competition. Even the places that claim to have created the donair were originally, and still are, pizza places. Johnny K’s, however, will be all donair, well at at least all meats cooked on a vertical spit as they have traditional doner kebab and gyro options as well.
The new restaurant is definitely breathing some much needed life into the previously well-​worn pizza corner. Its logo in bright blue script on the side of the building feels like a toss out to both old school diners and the restaurant’s namesake, John Kamoulakos, one of the creators of the donair and owner of the building. Given the focus of the restaurant, the menu is compact with beef, chicken and vegetarian offerings of donair, doner kebab and gyros, as well as a couple salads and poutine. No cardboard pizza, no half-​assed Canadian food like every pizza joint in town that’s serving frozen fish and chips. Johnny K’s is laser focused, and it’s refreshing to see.
Being that it was my first time coming by, I had to go with a beef donair, with the works, naturally. It was past supper time and many hours before the stumbling masses would be there, so there were only a couple people in front of me and things moved quickly and efficiently. I was soon on my way with my foil-​wrapped wrap and a handful of napkins since I wouldn’t be knife and forking it. It was a Thursday evening, so Argyle Street was closed to traffic, making it a great spot to set up camp. Undoing one end and digging in, I really noticed the spicy donair kick that it had. The texture of the meat was a bit different than probably every donair I’ve had before, as you can feel the texture of the ground meat just a bit more. This adds up though, as the house-​made meat would have less time to compress and have salt break it down compared to most other places that get their spits made at meat packing plants and shipped here. It certainly wasn’t a bad thing, just unique. The donair sauce added sweetness to balance the spice of the meat, with just a hint of garlic to it, and the tomatoes and chopped onion rounded out the donair flavour profile we all (should) love.
I got a regular sized donair, with large being the other option. It wasn’t as big as some regulars are elsewhere, but it was the perfect size for a meal and at about $ 8 after tax a very reasonable price.
Johnny K’s is a solid donair and continues a legacy on pizza corner, but steps things up for the modern day. Just don’t expect anyone to call that intersection anything but pizza corner for at least a couple more generations.

I really wanted to like this more. I can’t seem to find a decent donair in this city. Either the meat or sauce blows it, sometimes both. I’ve been planning to get down there since I saw the story about the opening in the Herald.
I ordered a regular beef donair with the works plus cheese. The meat tastes great but it was sliced a bit too thin for me personally, and I like it to hit the grill a bit longer. I can’t comment on the sauce as it was virtually non existent and I have no clue what it may have tasted like. Staff was friendly, store was clean. I’ll try them again and ask for more sauce. Nailed the flavour of the meat, if the sauce is good I’ll be a regular.

I’ve been a few times. The donair was superb, super tasty.
I also tried the donair box. Wasn’t as impressed with this. Definitely gonna stick with the wraps.

I wanted to like this more. I visit Halifax twice a year and always have a Donair, for old times sake. The ‘meat’ texture was a bit squidgy for my liking, browned edges are better, and I asked for chili sauce — got chile con carne (ish) mush. Bleagh!
All in all a mushy, tasteless mess.
And since when was chicken a Donair option???
The place was clean and efficient, however, hence the two stars.

Nice staff, good fries, that’s expected. The donair meat is the same meat they sell at every other donair shop, like across the street. The gyro is just donair meat with tahziki. Somebody, please open a gyro place that’s similar to Island Greek!

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t eat too many donairs; however, after my experience at Johnny K’s, I am now officially hooked on these famous sandwiches.
I saw the owners on Global Television earlier in the week touting their new venture — an establishment that focuses primarily on the donair — at the famous Pizza Corner district on Blowers and Grafton Street. After checking out the menu online, I thought I would see if the quality of these donairs would live up to the hype.
My lunch break was late on this day, I ended up ordering my donair at 1:30; thus, there were only 3 or 4 people ahead of me, but I was struck by how efficient the staff were at getting the orders done in a reasonable amount of time while not dropping their quality standards.
You have the option of ordering a beef, chicken, or vegetarian donair and adding onions, tomatoes, mozza cheese, and donair sauce with the cheese costing an extra $ 2.00. I decided to go with the chicken donair with all of the aforementioned toppings and a beverage for $ 15.00. While this may seem expensive, I was blown away by the enormity of the donair and the fact that it stayed warm for a long time.
There are 2 different types of wrappings placed around the donair, the first is a waxed paper substance and the second appears to be tinfoil, but it prevented the donair from becoming a sloppy mess and the Johnny K logo sticker used to keep the paper together was a stroke of genius.
I will caution those people that first enter the establishment that there is a slight slope that may cause you to stumble as a lady found out a few minutes after I entered the line-​up, so be sure to watch for that.
I’ll be very interested to see if Johnny K’s can maintain their standards over the next few months, but they have made a very promising start.