Sam’s Gyros
8922 East 96th Street
Fishers, Indiana  46037

This was my second visit to Sam’s Gyros.  In my previous visit, I reviewed the Gyros Plate and was amazed by the amount of tasty food that you received with your order.  On this visit, I was feeling like something a little lighter, so…

What I Got:  Large Gyros Salad; $8.50.

The Gyros Salad is their normal Greek Salad topped with tender pieces of Gyros.  Just as a starting point, the Greek Salad is lettuce topped with tomatoes, sprinkled oregano, feta cheese and Sam’s own special Greek dressing.  All salads are served with a side of pita bread and cucumber sauce.

As you can see from my picture, they certainly don’t skimp on the “large” size salad.  When I received this, I was as surprised by its size as I was in my initial review of the Gyros Plate.  For a salad, this was a large amount of food.  When you added in the healthy size serving of pita bread that came with the salad, you had a hearty meal.  So, my desire to have a “light” meal went out the window once I got this and thought, “oh well, I’ll live.”

As for taste, this was delicious.  The cool lettuce mixed with the salty feta cheese and the tart taste of their special Greek dressing all complimented each other perfectly.  When you added in the perfectly tender (and plentiful) gyros meat, you had an outstanding salad.

The pita bread was also warm, soft and doughy and while the cucumber sauce was a little bland, this was all a great mix to add to the salad.  It even got to the point where I had so much pita bread that I ran out of cucumber sauce and I started making mini-gyros with my pita bread and salad toppings.  Mmm…it was awesome.

Would I Buy It Again?  Oh heck yes.  $8.50 seems like a lot to spend on a salad (at least for me, but that’s how much one costs in a normal chain restaurant), but when you consider the portion sizes and the fact that you get a truck load of pita bread with it, this is a fantastic deal.  It’s not really a “light” meal, but it is somewhat healthier than the Gyros Plate.  Give it a shot and you won’t regret it.

FYI, Sam’s now has a third location at 7534 North Shadeland Avenue (closed on Sundays), so business is apparently going well and that is a good thing because they certainly deserve it with their tasty food.

-IndianapolisEater

The Trojan Horse
100 E Kirkwood Ave
Bloomington, IN 47408
http://www.thetrojanhorse.com/

As I’ve mentioned before, I spend a lot of time in Bloomington.  This past winter, I was in Bloomington again for a basketball game and a friend talked me into visiting one of the longstanding traditional restaurants of the city:  The Trojan Horse.  Open since 1978, The Trojan Horse specializes in Greek food,as you could imagine from the name, and is a small, cramped place consisting of two floors and rundown furniture.  Once you walk in, you can clearly tell that not much has changed since opening and like most traditional college places, that is perfectly okay.  On my visit, I got one some of the traditional Greek fare, so here we go…

What I Got:  Super G, $8. 

From their menu, the Super G is described as “Our gyros sandwich with more meat, more veggies, and more Zaziki, but not more pita.”

As I hope my picture conveys above, this was not exactly a small sandwich and that’s what you’d expect from something with “Super” in the title.  As for the taste, the gyros meat was tender and had a slight peppery kick to it.  The veggies were as fresh as you could expect from winter produce and added a nice crunch and texture to the sandwich.  The pita was a little too pillowy for my liking as I prefer my pitas to have a slight crunch to them, but to each their own.  The Zaziki sauce was a bit too tame for me as I think it could have used a bit more zing since all it really did was add a “creamy” texture to the sandwich and not really all that much flavor.

Overall, this was a tasty gyros and one of the better ones that I have had “locally” (I’m counting Indianapolis area too).

Would I Buy It Again?  If I was in Bloomington again and ended up at The Trojan Horse, I absolutely would.  It’s not the type of thing I will go out of my way to get, but you certainly cannot go wrong by either being at The Trojan Horse or by ordering this sandwich.

-IndianapolisEater

Parthenon Gyros
1486 W. 86th Street
Indianapolis, IN

One of my favorite intersections for food added a gyros joint.  Once I saw the coming soon sign, I was pretty excited about it and I even tweeted about it.   I really like gyros, they are a great stinky lunch food that are difficult to beat when done right.

When I walked up, I saw the usual Kronos signs and I felt comfortable that this was going to be a normal Americanized gyros, which I like.  I had a Greek roommate in college and he said that real gyros are chopped meat and a lot greasier.   That sounds good too.  I’m rambling…

I walked in and was greeted by a server.  There are about 40 seats, two servers and it was 30% full.   The Kronos sign in front said gyro/fry/drink for $6.99. However, when I looked at the menu, there is a 1/2 gyro option which was confusing…what are they going to do, cut the gyro in half?  The server let me know that the special is a 1/2 gyros.   I was starving, so I had to get the whole gyros.

What I Ate: Full gyro, fries, drink.  $6.95 + $1.00 (fries), $1.40 (don’t quote me).

Before, I even start the review portion…lets compare something.

Kronos table tent:

What I received:

Ahhh…the ol’ bait and switch!!!

What in the world are those things?!?!?!?!?

First, I absolutely hate pita pockets.  They are dry and always break.  These were no exception.   The “famous” sauce must be famous for sucking, because it was nothing special. Plus, because of the half circle shape of the pita pocket, you get a ton of it at first and then nothing.  Notice that the table tent shows tomato and sliced onion.  The onion was diced and folded into the sauce and there were no tomatoes to be found.

The only good thing to say was that there was a good amount of meat for the price.   The meat was the standard American gyro meat, so if you’ve had one…

The fries were out of the bag frozen with a little seasoned salt.  Nothing special.

Would I Buy It Again?  NO, NEVER EVER!  If I had a wall of shame, this would be on it…and at the top.  Why would you replace a a nice soft warm pillowy pita?   It is like putting a taco in a pita pocket and calling it a taco.  This is truly false advertising.

Also, I didn’t see the point for table service.  With tax and tip, lunch was around $12 and I couldn’t even say that it was a good value.

-wibia

Mediterrano Cafe
5941 East 86th Street
Indianapolis, Indiana  46250

I’ve known that this place existed in Castleton for several years but never knew what it really was.  It’s in a dreary strip mall and I figured it was just a dreary place, so I never really gave it any thought.  My curiosity got the best of me one day as I was driving by and I decided to do a little internet research and much to my surprise, Mediterrano Cafe had some solid internet buzz (see Worth Your Attention’s review).  I decided that was enough for me, so I had to give it a shot.

The thing that stinks about Mediterrano Cafe is that they are open on odd hours.  For whatever reason, they’ve decided to bag dinner service and are now only open for lunch (11:00-3:00 on weekdays, 12:00-3:00 on Sundays), where they run a lunch buffet.

When you walk in here, it is pretty much no frills.  It’s very clean, which is nice, but they didn’t take a lot of time to work on the ambiance with minimal artwork and paper tablecloths.  Basically, it’s tables, chairs and a buffet line.  You walk straight to the register, pay for your food and they give you a paper Pepsi cup, your utensils and turn you loose.   All the food is hand-labeled with the Mediterranean name of the dish along with a very brief description of what each dish is made up of for those people that are unfamiliar with some things (like me).

What I Got:  Lunch Buffet with Drink $14.00.

I’m not going to walk you through the buffet and give you a taste comparison of each item like I’ve done previously but I do have some pictures and I will highlight some of the menu options that they have available.

The buffet features a lot of meat dishes such as ground beef kabobs, chicken kabobs, gyros, lamb stew and several other pasta and food mixes combining meat and vegetables (I didn’t take the greatest notes and some of the names are names that I am not entirely familiar with).

In terms of the meat dishes, I would put specific highlights on the gyros meat (tender, flavorful and perfect), the ground beef kabobs (pictured above; oddly enticing as well and juicy and flavorful), the lamb stew (pictured in the bowl above; lamb was tender but the winner was the stew sauce which was both sweet and spicy at the same time; I’ve never tasted anything quite like it and actually was using it as a sauce on some other dishes), the spicy chicken (pictured below above and to the left of the pasta; not really spicy but very tender) and the apricot chicken (chicken wrapped in a leaf and cooked and steamed).

The buffet also includes falafels (not a fan), regular white basmati rice as well as a rice mixture that included lentils and cilantro.  Other side dishes (cold) included traditional Greek salad (pictured below; loaded with feta cheese, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes), lentil salad (lentils mixed with onions and cilantro; that is it under the kabob above), cabbage salad, a parsley salad (pictured below; I would not recommend it), and some other mixed Mediterranean dishes (baba ghannouj, hummus, etc.).

In terms of bread-type things they had the typical pita bread for gyros (the pita bread seemed to be store bought and not fresh; it was the only real disappointment of the buffet).  They also had something called Spanikopita (first picture at the very top of the plate).  This was something new to me that was a mix of spinach and feta cheese in a crispy phyllo dough.  All I can say about this is that I would eat it every day of the week for the rest of my life.  Incredible.

To top it all off, the buffet also includes some vegetarian dishes (didn’t try any), a soup (didn’t try it) and also some dessert type items that included coconut cake and rice pudding.  I’m not a huge fan of either coconut cake (or anything coconut) or rice pudding and eaten alone, I still wasn’t a big fan.  When I mixed them together, I was a HUGE fan of the contrasting doughy blandness of the cake with the creamy sweetness of the rice pudding.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, definitely.  This really was an awesome array of tastes (the buffet was quite large) and nearly everything was delicious.  I wouldn’t go often because $14 is a bit much to spend on just myself (yes, I’m frugal), but I would go a few times a year.  Just an FYI, if you are going to go here, try to find a way to have somewhere nearby to lay down when you are done due to the fact that you are pretty much assured of walking out of Mediterrano Cafe being absolutely stuffed since you won’t be able to push yourself away from all these wonderful flavors and will end up overeating.  I really don’t see how anyone could go here for lunch and then go back to work after that.  It would take incredible self control and I know I wouldn’t be able to do it and thankfully I visited on a Sunday where I could go home and take a nap.

All in all, I’m so glad that my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to give this place a shot despite the drab exterior.  You can tell that the owners take real care and pride in putting out delicious food and they seem to have developed a regular clientele as well since the owners were interacting with the other customers as if they’ve known each other for years.  Mediterrano Cafe is a hidden gem and I would recommend that everyone give this place a try.  Chances are good that you will not regret it.

-IndianapolisEater

Pita Pit Gyro

Pita Pit
Website

My brother and I were going out to lunch and since I’m a professional reviewer (that statement drips with sarcasm), I figured a review would be in order.  This place is a national chain and at first glace after walking in, I decided that the best way to describe it is that they are Subway with pitas instead of bread rolls.

What I Got:  Gyros Pita $6.29

When you go in, you get your option of a white or wheat pita.  Being that I’m always at least pretending that I’m looking after my girlish figure, I chose wheat.  To go along with the gyros meat (seasoned lamb and beef strips) that comes in the pita, you get your option of various types of fresh vegetables (big postive here since they were very fresh) and cheeses, just like you would at Subway.  I chose to add tomatoes, red onions, mushrooms, shredded lettuce and feta cheese.  Since I was eating a gyro, I also added in Tzatziki sauce as well.

One thing this pita had going for is its size.  Once they loaded my gyros meat (they don’t skimp on the amount of meat you get) and then my toppings, this thing was huge.  The “Pita Artist” (ha, I just came up with that one to continue to overplay my Subway analogy) even had to try to re-wrap my pita twice just to make sure that it didn’t fall apart.  So, if you are looking for a filling meal, you can really have them load these things up to make it pretty big.  I can definitely say that I was very full after eating this.

One thing that this pita didn’t really have going for or against it was its taste.  I’m not going to say it was bad, but it also wasn’t good.  It was just middle of the road.  The gyro meat was well-cooked and tender and had a nice taste to it (well, at least a nicer taste than I expected), but the only contribution the Tzatziki sauce made to the pita was that it existed and took up space.  It really had no taste at all.

Would I Buy It Again?  At these prices, no I would not.  There was nothing really wrong with this pita, but when all is said and done, you are really paying too much for something that is pretty much just run of the mill.  If they were to lower the prices to compete with Subway (there it is again!) or the other sub shops like Quizno’s or Blimpie and offer these things at $5 or less, then maybe it would be worth another visit.  Until then, I won’t be going back.

Pita Pit does have a nice little nutrition calculator on their website that you can play with too and I calculated that my pita was 780 calories.  Ugh.

-IndianapolisEater

Sam's Gyros Plate

Sam’s Gyros
8922 East 96th Street, Fishers, Indiana 46038
Menu Available Here

What I Got:  Gyros Plate $11.95 (comes with Pita Bread and a small Greek salad)

There’s been a Sam’s Gyros in Broad Ripple for years (I never knew until recently), but this second location in Fishers just opened within the past month, so I figured I’d give it a shot.  Since most of my history with Greek food and gyros involves going to a late night gyros stand in Broad Ripple while hammered (I loved it), I decided that it was time to try everything while sober.

Anyway, I ordered a gyros plate here and two things stood out to me as soon as I received my order.  Number one, the portion sizes were HUGE.  I honestly was worried that I wouldn’t have enough food when I first ordered, but those fears were more than subsided once I got my order.  This order comes with a very large helping of gyros meat in addition to at least seven half pieces of pita bread, tomatoes, onions, cucumber sauce and a “small” Greek salad (there was nothing small about it).  Number two, the smell of the food was intoxicatingly good.  I got this order as a carryout, so the wonderful aroma of the food in my car was killing me on the way home.

As for the taste of the food, it was outstanding.  The meat was tender (even after I heated it up for 45 seconds in the microwave when I got ready to eat), perfectly seasoned and had a nice tart taste.  The onions and tomatoes carried the same tart flavor as well.  The pita bread was nothing special, but it was the perfect complement to the gyros.  The salad was also outstanding as it was flavored with the usual Greek dressing and a heaping helping of feta cheese (I LOVE feta cheese).  My only complaint about the meal was the cucumber sauce…it was too bland.  If Sam’s were to put something that gave this sauce a kick so that it would make the flavor of the food even more tart, it would be outstanding.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes. I’m not in the habit of “splurging” on myself and buying dinners that cost roughly twelve dollars but I would definitely do this from time to time as a treat.  Truly though, this place is a winner and I’m anxious to go back on another occasion and try some of the other items.  Plus, the girl working the register/waitressing that night was cute and spunky, which is always a plus.  I just hope that this Fishers location is still open when I go back since the last business that was in this location lasted about six weeks before closing.

-IndianapolisEater