Ever since my eyes landed on the word ‘gyro’ on the Arby’s menu, I’ve been fascinated. I’m not aware of any other fast food operation tackling this magnificent Greek street food dish. Here in Utah (the home state of Menu And Price) we have a lot of Greek immigrants, and as a result, a lot of Greek restaurants; most notably a whole slew of Greek fast food. Suffices to say, I’ve eaten a lot of gyros. A Lot.
First up the Arby’s traditional gyro is listed as coming with the following items:
- Gyro meat
- Tzatziki sauce
- Gyro seasoning
- Red onion
- Tomatoes
- Shredded lettuce
- Flatbread
The brand writes, “You don’t need to be Greek to enjoy Arby’s Greek gyro. You just need to like flame-seared, knife carved gyro meat, with crispy vegetables, creamy tzatziki sauce, and warm pita bread. You also need to be able to get to Arby’s. Apparently you can order a cab on your smartphone now, so that’s a solid option.”
Here’s a couple shots of what you’ll find inside:
So how does the Arby’s Greek gyro stack up, is it any good? Actually, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Lets look at each of the components in turn.
The star of the show of any gyro is the meat. Arby’s has created a decent enough gyro meat for this wrap. It’s a lot thinner than I’d personally like to see, and it’s a little sparser than what I’d expect to find in a real Greek restaurant; see below for a few examples of gyros from independent eateries.
The meat itself has a very mild flavor, which isn’t necessarily a negative. All too often gyro meat can be aggressively seasoned, especially with garlic; you can often taste them for the rest of the day. Arby’s is very moderate on the seasoning and you’ll be able to enjoy this for lunch and still be able to show your face (and breath) at the office meeting in the afternoon.
The tzatziki sauce was particularly good. Tzataki is basically a yogurt/cucumber based sauce and it adds some nice zip and zest that cuts through the fatty gyro meat. Arby’s was nicely acidic. I actually liked that it wasn’t overtly creamy, some tzatziki sauces really lean into the ultra-rich Greek yogurts and I find that a little too much.
One oddity was the lettuce, thats pretty uncommon in gyros in my opinion, and frankly, under the hear of the gyro meat it just wilts. It ends up a mushy nuisance and should be nixed.
Overall I have to say I was impressed, at least in the context of a fast food gyro. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. If you don’t have access to Greek fast food in your home town, you might want to check this out. Think of it as an intro tog reek food, a gyro-lite if you will. Of course, if you have access to great Greek restaurants in your town, this gyro probably won’t beat that.
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic Salt Lake City, and a former freelance restaurant critic. I’ve worked extensively with local, regional and national food and drink organizations. I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have been writing about food and drink for more than fifteen years. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. I don’t mind admitting to a certain secret obsession with fast food as well – and that’s where Menu And Price comes in…