Best Budget Bites: $9.99 Chicken Shawarma Sandwich at Wally’s Falafel & Hummus

A delicious deal in Dinkytown.

11:09 AM CDT on July 30, 2026

Eatin’ good on the streets of Dinkytown

|Jay Boller

The cost of things these days? Far too expensive! Tariffs, the Strait of Hormuz, rent prices, giddy price-gouging from proprietors large and small—the boring factors are too numerous to count. To protect our readers, Racket launched the Best Budget Bites series, where we’ll showcase a toothsome, wallet-friendly food item that’ll actually fill you up. Have a nomination? Hit us up: tips@racketmn.com.

What: Chicken shawarma sandwich
Where: Wally's Falafel & Hummus, 417 14th Ave. SE, Minneapolis
Cost: $9.99
Availability: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. all week

There's never been a better time to support Palestinian-owned businesses, and it just so happens a Minneapolis restaurant has been serving up outstanding Gazan cuisine since 2009.

Wally's Falafel & Hummus in Dinkytown is built around "the family recipes they used back home," owner Wally Sakallah told the Minnesota Daily in 2019, adding that the hummus-bound chickpeas are hand-mashed, a special tahini comes from California, and many spices are imported from the Middle East. (Sakallah also owns the nearby Hideaway head shop, among other local businesses.)

Positioned right next to Al's Breakfast, Wally's is run by Sakallah's sisters, Amany and Dana. The dining room tabletops are laminated with photos from Palestine, the decor attempts to transport you to the Arab world, and, crucially, the food kicks ass. My family has been known to gorge on the $39.98 Wally's Feast platter for days at a time, but we're here to talk about the $9.99 chicken shawarma sandwich, one of the best budget lunches available on or near the University of Minnesota campus.

The shawarma arrives piping hot and tightly cocooned inside tinfoil. Unwrapping becomes an unraveling, with the stretchy pita casing blossoming to expose the bounty within—shards of chicken, spears of pickle, fries of french. Like all chicken shaved from a twirling rod, the marquee protein doesn't wow you with juiciness, though it's expertly spiced and abundant. The real draw is the talismanic textural effect of tender chicken, crunchy pickle, and fluffy potato commingling with gobs of creamy, punchy garlic sauce. On a Mount Rushmore of Sandwiches, broadly speaking, you could make a compelling case for the mighty shawarma.

In a culture of $17 corporate slop bowls (looking at you two addresses over, Crisp & Green), the allure of a simple, well-prepared lunch for under $10 has never held more appeal. Hell, that's why we keep Best Budget Bites humming, and why Wally's has become its latest deserving inductee.

“The money is not the motive for me to open a restaurant as much as [it is] to show I exist. To show my name exists," Sakallah, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1997, told the Daily. "A Palestinian guy and Palestinian food—why not?”