Lunch #72: Gyro House, Seattle International District

Immediately Next door to Tenoch is a relative newcomer to the neighborhood, the Gyro House. The Gyro House has been here for almost a year now and most of the MSG150 crew have been occasionally to regularly for the past few months. It replaced a fairly horrible Filipino restaurant/night club that had been there for years. In Seattle we pronounce this Greek sandwich dZee-ro starting with the voiced alveopalatal affricate (duh). The patron saint of the Gyro is of course not the Gyro Captain. After a couple of false starts the MSG150 crew made it out today to put it to the test.

Gyro House, Seattle
Address: 212 5th Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Average rating: 3.4 chopsticks
Lunch date: 4/8/2009 @ 12:08:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 10 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 37 minutes
Chopstix quality: Forks!
Do they use MSG?: No
Where is the owner/chef from?: Greece
Number of tables: 20
Number of occupied tables: 6 (30%)
Number of business lunch tables: 6 (100%)
Number of "local" tables: 0 (0%)
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Chicken Schwarma Sandwich and Greek Fries - $5.99 + $3.99
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Adam's Review

It's nice to have some diversity in the area. This place and their neighbor, Tenoch, are members of a precious few who serve non-Asian food. Because of this, I've probably been here about 10 times prior to our "reviewing visit."

After years of getting Gyros, I've learned one thing: always get the "greek fries" too. One thing I've learned from eating at Gyro House: Don't order the falafel. Their falafel is dry and not that delicious. With these nuggets of wisdom in mind, I ordered the Chicken Schwarma Sandwich.

Let's start with the fries. They were Seasoned fries with some parsley(? something green), and topped with a healthy amount of Feta cheese. There were four of us eating the fries, and it ended up working out pretty well for portions. A great starter to precede the coming sandwich.

The chicken Schwarma sandwich was one of the first dishes to arrive, and I had a tough time resisting it because of the delicious smell wafting out of the paper wrapper. Finally everyone's food got to the table and we dug in. I spiced mine up with a splash or two of hot sauce (which I had to fetch... they have several bottles by the soda fountain). A solid "sandwich". The schwarma sauce was good and the pita was a bit chewy but still easy to get through.

The food is good, but the service is typically a little slower than I'd like for a quick lunch. The food portions are also a bit smaller (but still filling) than other places, and I was left wanting of left-overs.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Mozaka - $8.50
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Emmett's Review

I've been here several times, and generally love Mediterranean food. This place has a couple of things going against it. They're very slow, even when there isn't a long line, which makes me think twice about coming here for lunch. Second their Falafel is dry and bitter. Perhaps Ross got treated to some new batch, but there's something unsavory either in their mix, or in how they cook it. On the other hand their Gyros are tasty, and their Gyro Salad is loaded with meat, which makes it a great deal for the price. They also have daily specials, which keep things interesting.

Today I went with their Mozaka. Go ahead, click the link, it will tell you NOTHING. I assume they meant Moussaka (also Musakka), which is forgivable, given that it was delicious. According to Wikipedia there are several variants of this, made slightly differently depending on if you're in Greece, the Balkans, Turkey, or Arabic nations. I'm generally accustomed to the Greek versions, which is layered and covered in Custard or Bechemel. But this was closer to the Turkish version, and wasn't formed into a lasagna-esque square. It had great flavor, and big pieces of eggplant, onion, potato, and even broccoli. I can't remember if it was lamb or beef, but the seasoning was great. They served it on top of rice with a greek salad and some pita on the side.

This place does a few things well, but overall I prefer Zaina.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Lamb Gyro Sandwich - $5.99
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Geary's Review

There are three other spot in the neighborhood where you can get a good gyro: there's the Mediterranean Mix on First, Main Street Gyro two blocks west on, and Zaina on Cherry. Gyro House falls somewhere in the middle, somewhere between Mediterranean Mix, on the low side, and Zaina, the gold standard. I had the Lamb Gyro. It was good, but the meat was a bit too salty and dry. Adam shared his Greek Fries and they were excellent, although clearly not healthy.