December 2, 2009 – Pizza Extreme (Raymond Road)
This particular Pizza Extreme location also serves Ancora coffee, Chocolate Shop ice cream, Greenbush doughnuts, thin crust (Pizza Pit) pizza, and Athenos gyros in addition to Pizza Extreme’s pizza.
Pat says: On a Monday night, with no plan for dinner, we decided to get together and try the gyros at the Pizza Extreme on Raymond Road. At first glance, it didn’t seem like this was going to be the best idea – the front door of the restaurant was boarded with plywood after someone broke the glass doors. There is no menu for the gyros part of the restaurant – we only knew what to order because of the list on the back of the ValPak coupon we brought along. And, the person taking our order told us that it would be a long wait for dinner because they had just gotten a phone order for 200 sandwiches. With no better plan (although I did suggest that we run next door to Walgreens to get some chips to hold us over until dinner came – no one else liked this idea) we decided to wait.
We got our gyros and fries about 20 minutes after ordering, and I thought they were delicious. Crispy fries, the meat in the sandwich was seasoned just right and there was plenty of it, and the sour cream was served on the side. Based on the restaurant’s casual approach to service, this was a lot better than I expected, and I’d definitely go back the next time I want gyros and don’t feel like heading downtown. I do hope that they post a menu, though, because I think they might have a salad with lamb, and I’d like to try that the next time. I’ll give Athens Gyros an 8 out of 10 – good food, not much ambience (but not bad for a strip mall restaurant), and hopefully, they’ll post a menu soon.
erin says: I did think it was funny that the guy that helped us said the chalkboard menus hadn’t changed since he’d been there (and maybe he said a couple of years?). I think the best way to find out what they’ve got is to ask them what’s good. We were a bit worried about how long the wait would be after we heard about the big order (200 gyros? really?), but then the food arrived after about only 15 minutes. No one needed to gnaw an arm off… no problem. I think maybe the big rush of business was because of the coupons they had issued (that was why Pat and Kevin suggested that we go there). A lot of people came in for carry out orders while we were there. Sometime I’ve got to try the doughnuts. We were all eying one giant doughnut that was still in the case. I think it’s great that they have all of these different local food choices. I was pleasantly surprised by the gyros. They weren’t as good as some other places we like to go, but pretty darn good considering they came from a pizza place. Sometimes convenience wins – so I’m sure we’ll be back when we’re craving gyros and unwilling to travel far. I hear there’s a blizzard coming… 7 out of 10.
