Nice selection of Meditteranean cuisine in this Gyro house in Mountain View
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 992
Reviewed: 12/13/2004
Rating: 8
My photo gallery
The Gyro House is fairly new to Mountain View so what a better way to welcome them to the jatbar community. Ive been wanting quick service meditterranean food in the area for some time now. We normally would have to drive out to Palo Alto or Santa Clara.
If you have never been to Castro street in Mountain View, its lined up with numerous restaurants catering to the silicon valley crowds. One tip I can offer is use the many free parking lots nearby instead of trying to find parking on Castro.
Gyro House is near the corner of Villa and Castro. When you walk by the window, you'll notice the slow rotating slab of meat against the heat coils..lovely indeed. I actually ate here 2 days before and had to come back just to make sure. Heres what Ive tried
Falafel - served on lavash bread, with huge falafel balls, tomatoes, cucumber, and tahini sauce. The 1st time I ordered this, the balls were crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. The 2nd time I ordered the falafel sandwich the balls werent anywhere near crunchy or tasty. I would order it again..its still quite good
Chicken gyros - I was a little disppointed with the chicken. It could have been more tender like other places Ive had. They were very generous with the portions but the chicken was a tad rubbery.
Lamb and Beef gyros - hhmmm...tasty, I love this sandwich a lot. I cant wait to come back and order it again. Call me gross but I just love when they use the tomatoes that have been smothered in the gravy.
If you want affordable meditterranean food, quick service, hearty portions, and food that will satisfy your stomach, give the Gyro House a try.
Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 724
Reviewed: 12/15/2004
Rating: 8
My photo gallery
This was my first visit to Gyros House. I decided to go wtih a falafel sandwich and some hummus. The food was prepared quickly and I brought it back to work today. It was a LOT of food, but I was ready to take it on.
The falafel sandwich was really more like a burrito roll which is fine. It was filled with vegetables and green falafel balls. It tasted a little dry - maybe more tahini sauce was needed? Adding spicy sauce and hummus to it helped a bit. Overall, though, the flavor was not quite there. It was not bursting with flavor like Falafel Drive In, it was just a tad bland.
The hummus was really good. Perhaps a bit more lemon would have made it 10 stars, but it was pretty close. The bread they supplied was a thicker bread with seeds on it (sorry dont know the name) and it tasted very fresh but to me I would have preferred pita bread with my hummus. For the price, though, ($5) it could have been a good meal on its own.
So prices were not bad, the falafel sandwich here was just OK, and the hummus is pretty good. I will return if I'm in the area, but if I am willing to drive, there are other places I could visit.
Reviewer: Dan
Total Reviews: 71
Reviewed: 1/5/2006
Rating: 7
My photo gallery
I'm always on the lookout for good Mediterranean food, so when I saw this place on Jatbar, I decided to make the trek to Mountain View. Gyros House is in a good location, with an all glass front looking out on Castro street. The inside is bright, clean and inviting. This appears to be greek-inspired med food whereas other spots I've tried in the area have been Lebanese or Persian-inspired.
On my first visit I had the falafel sandwich. This was fairly large and came wrapped in lavash bread. The bread was nice and slightly crispy on the outside. Good tahini based sauce. The cucumbers within were crispy, but the lettuce was a little wilted. Sadly, the main problem with this sandwich was that the falafel balls were bland, uninspiring, and too dry, almost like they had been frozen and defrosted. What a shame! I still finished the sandwich but I don't plan on ordering it again. I can find much better in the Bay Area.
Given the restaurant's name, on my next visit I decided to try the lamb and beef gyro sandwich. This was very good and came wrapped in the same nice lavash bread with fresh veggies. The sauce was good and portion size was substantial. Spent $7.50, which isn't bad, though not as good a price as Mediterranean Wraps in Palo Alto ($6).
All in all, I'm not wild about this place because of the poor falafel, but I may return in the future to try a few more things or get the gyro again.
Pros: Inviting & clean setting; good Gyros Cons: Sub-par falafel, a crippling blow for me
Reviewer: tanya
Total Reviews: 14
Reviewed: 3/31/2006
Rating: 9
My photo gallery
I've been to the Gyro House now more than half a dozen time and it has been always consistent, so has my ordering I guess :)
When you come into this restaurant you're always greeted with at least one smile! The staff is so friendly all the time, my boyfriend who I took here for the first time commented that the people must really like working there.
Anyway, now to the food. I always order their lamb and beef gyros every time I come in here because I love it so much I don't want anything else when I'm there. I remember the first time I ordered this I had to grab it and run because I had a meeting back at work. I was already starving so on the way to the car I took a bite of the gyro and the meat just really blew me away. It's nice and juicy, has a great balance of spices and lean/fattiness as well as lamb and beef ratio. I've been hooked ever since.
Every time I walk by the restaurant on Castro street that huge Kabab of lamb/beef is always staring at me and if you ever watch these guys slicing off the meat from the big hunk you'll see it oozing with juice! They wrap the meat with the lavish bread and some of their salad mixture and sauce and the balance is so nice you really don't need to add anything else unless you like lots of pepper. I'm not a huge fan of lavish bread but either before or afer they wrap the gyro in foil they throw it on the flat grill first to toast the lavish up a bit which makes it more tastier for me.
I've taken quite a few people here to try, and so far I've had 100% positive feedback. I had to convince one of my co-workers to go because she doesn't like lamb but since they have Chicken, she was able to eat the chicken gyro and she really liked it, so that's speaking for people who don't like lamb much either.
At a bit under 8 dollars for this gyro, it might be considered a bit pricey but I think the quality and taste really speaks for itself. The staff also add brownie points to my score.
