Athena Gyro Returns - CLOSED

Athena Gyro

25381 Alicia Parkway, Ste. Q

Laguna Hills, CA 92653

For ardent readers of the blog, you will notice that we have been to Athena Gyro before. It was way back in the early days of the blog. Over two years ago we went to the now-closed Athena Gyro in Mission Viejo. One of the readers of the blog, Amanda had given us the tip about this hidden gem, located right off of Alicia Parkway. Unfortunately, four months after our review, Athena's was no more.

About a month ago, I got another tip from Amanda that Athena's had opened back up. Still along Alicia Parkway, but now in the city of Laguna Hills. I pass this small shopping center almost every day on my way to work. This strip mall has been in desperate need of a remodel, and along with a new El Pollo Loco, they are finally getting that remodel.

We visited the new Athena Gyro on a recent Friday night. This small, ten table restaurant had a small trickle of customers the night we were here. At most, they had about three tables, including us at one time. Not exactly bustling, but enough that I think the word is getting out that they are back and in a new location. The first thing I noticed when getting here was the door. This is the first time I have ever mentioned a restaurants door, but it was not a normal door, it was a sliding glass door. Very unusual for a restaurant, and it was almost comical watching people maneuver it. Not sure if this is going to be a permanent feature, but keep an eye out for it.

We talked to the owner or someone we believed to be the owner briefly about where they have been. He sold the restaurant up the street to another guy, and that guy started taking shortcuts, and the business suffered and was forced to close. There is another location of Athena's in San Mateo. That restaurant has been in business since 2000 and gets average reviews on Yelp. We were hoping that our experience would be better than average. Let's check it out.

We will start with Maureen's plate first since it was the first to arrive. She knew what she wanted almost immediately, the Mousaka entree ($11.99). I did not know it before this, but Mousaka is eggplant and potatoes mixed with ground meat, then topped with meat sauce and tzatziki sauce. This sounded delicious to me, but Maureen was less excited by this. She called this, "good, but not the best I have had."

A meal that I was much more familiar with was this Gyro Plate ($9.99). This came with your choice of beef, chicken or lamb gyro meat, and Denis chose the lamb. Denis really liked this plate and seemed a little reluctant to share any with Maureen. The entrees here are served with a side Greek salad, rice pilaf, and pita bread. Not a bad amount of food for under ten dollars.

Katie and I started off our dining adventure at Athena Gyro by having the Humus with Pita ($5.75). This creamy mixture of chickpeas and tahini was seasoned with garlic and lemon. Not a bad plate of hummus, but it needed a little pop of flavor for me. Not bad, but average.

So after Maureen and Denis were done with their meals and their plates were taken away, we finally received our dinner. Not sure if they only had a limited number of plates or something, but it was one of the most awkwardly served meals we can think of in the time we have been doing the blog. There were other issues going on here as well, but for now, let's focus on the food. I selected the Zorba's Combo Mixed Grill ($15.99). This plate had a little sampling of everything. Lamb and chicken cubes, gyro slices, Greek meatballs, and chicken gyro slices with tzatziki sauce on the side. All of the meats were seasoned the same way, but they were all pretty good, and tender. I liked the gyro meat the best, with the Greek meatballs a close second. The chicken was not dry like some places can serve it. Overall, not a bad plate of food. The Greek side salad had fresh produce, but I did not touch much of it.

Katie's Chicken Gyro sandwich Plate ($8.99) may look pretty plain, but she was pretty happy with it. The salad and rice were just average, but what made her take notice was the gyro. The pita bread was soft and pillowy, the thinly shaved chicken was very tender and had a nice flavor to it. The produce here was fresh and added a nice crunch to the gyro. I am more of a traditionalist when it comes to gyros, but this one was pretty good.

Time for dessert. They were out of two of their four choices, so we went with the other two, the Baklava (3.50), and the Shekepare ($3.00). The Shekepare was a very forgettable dessert. It was described in the menu as honey syrup and crushed walnuts baked in a flour and semolina mix. It really suffered from a lack of flavor. The Baklava was another story though. It was very sweet, but not chalky. I have had a good number of Baklava, and some of them can be very dry, this one wasn't. I'm glad we split this one because I am not sure I could have eaten this rich dessert by myself.

Welcome back to the neighborhood Athena's. The food was just as we remembered, which was very good. The service, on the other hand, was kind of crazy. I know this restaurant just recently opened back up, so I am going to give them a pass on not having certain items that are on their menu, the weird way they served two of the meals to our table of four, and then served the other two meals twenty minutes later, and the lack of attention by a waitress that had three tables the whole night. Hopefully, these growing pains will be worked out by our next visit. I would sum up Athena Gyro as a good place to quench your Greek cravings. In an area where there is not a lot of Greek places, Athena's can be counted on to do that.

Out of five owls, (because the Greek Goddess Athena is the Goddess of Wisdom, and one of her symbols is the wise old owl), five being best to zero being worst, Athena Gyro gets 3 owls.

For more information about Athena Gyro, check out their web site right here: http://greeklagunahills.wix.com/anthenagryo

It's All Greek to Me at Athena Gyro! - CLOSED

Athena Gyro and Grill

24000 Alicia Parkway

Mission Viejo, CA 92691

I love getting recommendations from people on where to go and blog about. This is one of those times. Amanda wrote me to tell me about Athena Gyro, and since it was close we had to put it on the list. I think that we have only had one other Greek restaurant on the blog so far, and wanting to get some diverse posts, we headed out on a Friday night.

According to their web site, Athena Gyro is owned by Mr. Gurel. He has operated restaurants in Greece, England and in the bay area. This is his first stab at a restaurant in Orange county. The restaurant is located right off of Alicia Parkway and Jeronimo. The place is kind of hidden in the middle of the strip mall. Let's see if it is worth finding.

We wanted to try two appetizers, and this was our first, the Humus with Pita Bread. This was not only presented well, but also tasted fresh. Every time I have humus, I wonder why I never pick up any in the store, because it is really good. This humus was chopped a little more roughly than others that I have had, but it worked well.

Our second appetizer was the Keftehakia Souvlaki, ( I know I butchered the name when I ordered this, but the waitress said I was close enough). Beef and lamb grilled in meatball form, served with tzatiziki sauce. This had a great flavor to it. I love lamb, and it is so infrequently that I get to have it, so it always is nice to come back to it.  The sauce paired with the meat was very good, but I did not like the sauce too much when I tasted it alone.

This is the Greek Salad that came with my meal. It is your basic dinner salad with feta cheese added. Like the other items so far, this was really fresh. One of my few complaints of the night would be about this salad. The lettuce was cut in long strips, and was hard to get on the fork. Not sure why they would cut the lettuce this way, but it was awkward in a salad. I am not much on oil based salad dressings, but this one worked here.

So you are in a Greek restaurant and you are not going to get a gyro? Not on my watch! We got the Beef Gyro. This was a very good gyro. It was a little heavy on the lettuce and tomato for me, but I tossed that aside easily enough. The meat was seasoned well, and the sauce was again very good with the meat.

Since this was our first time here, we wanted to sample a little bit of everything, so we could not pass on the Zorba's Combo Mixed Grill. This plate featured lamb and chicken kebab's, gyro slices, Greek meatballs, and chicken gyro slices. This was the Mount Olympus of meat, (see what I did there, Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, I know I did not have to explain that to you, but I did it for the other people reading this). So anyways, I really liked the lamb kebab the best. The meat was flavored the best, and Katie even liked it, even though she did not know she was eating lamb. You should have seen her face when I told her, it was priceless. The chicken kebab was the only thing that was a little dry. Even the rice was good, I mixed it with the sauce. Very good plate of food, and I recommend it for people who are skeptical about Greek food.

For dessert we got the Baklava. I let Katie pick this dessert. I am usually not too big of a fan of this dessert, but it was made well and was not too overly sweet. You could really taste the honey on this one. There was also no shortage of walnuts on this either. Very good end to a fine meal.

Athena Gyro really impressed us with their freshness of ingredients, and the presentation of the food. The service was good as well, but a little inexperienced. The food prices seemed to be good, the Zorba's feast set you back about $15, (the most expensive thing on the menu), and the gyro was $6.50. The atmosphere was casual and relaxed. As with all Greek people that I know, they are all proud of their heritage, and take pride in showing their culture off to other people. This seems to be the case here also. Thanks again for the tip on this place Amanda.

Out of five olive branches, (the Greek symbol of peace), five being best to zero being worst, Athena Gyro gets 3 solid olive branches.

To view their web site, click here: http://www.athenagyro.net/