Best gyros in Athens
 

I will be visiting Athens in November & I love gyros. Would like to hear from fellow travelers about best gyros/souvlaki in Athens.

We loved O Thanasis, on Monastiraki plaza. Cheap and definitely not fancy, but delicious!

Thanks TexasAggie, I saw that name come up in other places - that's a good sign.

We didn't find too many gyro's in Greece...I know that sounds strange.....but it is true! We had the best souvlaki of our entire trip at O Thanasis!!! So good! and I hear that across the street has good gyro's, it is called Savas. These are both on Mitropoleos street where it meets Monastiraki square. Do Not miss a delicious and inexpensive meal at O Thanasis!!!!

We've always found that no matter where we stayed in Athens, all we had to do was walk a block or two to find a nice neighborhood gyro joint (taverna). You'll know it's good if you see lambs' heads roasting and if there are a lot of locals running in and out carrying take-out. You should be able to get nice big gooey ones for 2 Euro each. Wash 'em down with Mythos beer for 2.50 each.

On a previous tour through Greece our bus driver warned us at every stop on the way to Athens: wait until you get to Athens to get gyros. That's the only place where they do them right.

I don't know which of the places at Monastiraki we tried, it was one with a takeout counter and a mob lining up. Pointed to the one we wanted and the guy sliced it off for us with a flourish. Brought the gyros back to our hotel twice. Cheapest, best street food I have had in many years.

Thank you all - I can't wait.

By the way, be sure to order a souvlaki sandwich if you want a US-style gyro. If you order souvlaki, you'll get the meat but not in a pita. At O Thanasis, you'll need to specifically order the tsatziki sauce. It's like 20- or 30- €-cents.

Is there any difference between gyros and souvalaki?!

As I understand it, gyros is meat ( chicken, lamb, beef) sliced from a rotating grilled "hunk" of meat stuffed into a pita bread ( with veggies, etc). Souvlaki are meat chunks ( with onions, etc) on a skewer.

If you just order souvlaki, you will likely be brought a plate of the meat on a bed of lettuce, tomatoes, etc.

If you want a gyro (souvlaki meat on a pita bread), you need to specifiy "sandwich"