Kirk M.
Yelp
The food outshined the service!
Ambiance: 4 stars
Food: 5 stars
Service: 2 stars
Well, I came here with a friend for lunch. He loves the place and said the Gyros are fantastic. So I went with his recommendation.
First impressions: The place is small and nicely located in the District at Prairie Trail in Ankeny. They have adequate seating and were only slightly busy when we arrived (I would say it was at half capacity the entire time we were there) We stood at the reception location for a while before we were 'greeted' and finally seated. We sat for quite a while before the guy with the headset to came back to take our orders. This was the weird part - he was fine, but he spoke so quietly we were not sure he was addressing us or talking to someone in his headset. Eventually we got our orders in, and we again waited. Some time later the water showed up, then after another pause the drinks we ordered were delivered, and sometime later the food showed up. He even remembered the dipping sauce which I thought I was going to have to ask for. We ate our entire meals without once being asked how things were, and eventually after the food was all gone, he came back to unceremoniously plop the bill on the table, and after another extended period he came back to process the payment. All-in-all the interaction with this guy was 'just weird'. (It was suggested that he might be the son of the owner...) He was doing his job but there was absolutely not any extra effort put in to make us feel welcome, and the total lack any real interaction was off-putting.
The overall appearance of the place was nice and appeared clean, the decor was fresh and classy. However the bar area around the kitchen was very cluttered and looked like it was being used for overflow storage and it was a bit chaotic and had lots of clutter.
Please forgive the fact that I forgot to take pictures of the delicious food. I got into conversation with my friend and just forgot! It was a very well made traditional Gyro with generous portions of meat, fresh hummus and a perfect portion of super fresh tzatziki sauce. I ordered fresh jalapeños and they got that right too! The side of fries were delicious as well, seasoned perfectly, crispy and fresh, and the garlic sauce...well did not lack for garlic! Wowza!!
Overall I do recommend this place for the food! I will most likely return and I hope that the service will be a little better next time around.