Athenian Express

The space formerly occupied by Athenian Express is for lease. Barring divine intervention, it appears as though it will never rise again.

The owner was nice, but that is about all this place has going for it. I ordered hummus and it was scooped with an ice cream scooper then it held its place. It had the consistency of old mashed potatoes. They do not make their own pita or falafel. I assume that everything is frozen and bought from large corporations. Stay away!

This is another place we order food from and have it delivered to work.
I am hooked on the Chef’s Julienne Salad. Sliced ham, turkey, american & swiss cheese, boiled egg, peppers, onion, tomato & cucumbers on lettuce…$ 7.35
How i order mine… No Peppers, Add Bacon and a Pickle spear.
Comes with pita bread and a cookie, both i cannot eat because of my Gluten Intolerance issue.
We order from Athenians Express a few times a month and generally speaking, i think that everyone is pretty happy with their orders. Salads are huge, but i manage to eat it all!
I suggest getting some gluten free cookies :)
I recommend Athenians Express! :)

I’ve been looking for a great Greek place and found it here. Falafel is thinly prepared which makes for a tasty sandwich. Put a was hot and
came with a side of fresh veggies and tazeek (?) Sauce. This place is not newly decorated but was VERY clean.

When I want to go Greek I go to Athenian Express!!! This place is totes amazeballs. I love everything from the hummus to the falafel… they have patio seating so I prefer to go to the restaurant and sit outside. Very CA casual and peaceful. Def make a point to visit.

Service is the best. Everyone is super friendly. Love love love the Authentic Greek Salad… The veggies are just so fresh and the feta is so creamy!!! One of the best lunch places downtown. I love the quirkiness of the restaurant. The only reason it is not five stars is the bread is usually hard around the edges. But don’t let that keep you away…

This place is great! Use to eat at it maybe 4 times a week! I use to work at the record store next door and me and the guys would always order breakfast & lunch. George, the owner was a great friendly guy always took care of us next door. It’s a great family operated business with great service and delicious food.

Origin of GYRO: Modern Greek gyros turn, from Greek; from the rotation of the meat on a spit… Not here, 3 pieces of pre-​cut delivered frozed gyro meat with 6 thick slices of tomato on a super thick pita, the kind that would be well paired with a mountain of freshly shaved and grilled cone meat topped with a nice scoop of sauce. Could not taste the meat over the bread and tomatoes, sauce was bland and boring. They may have other, better items on the menu but when you call out for the ol’ #1 at a Greek/​Med. restaurant and it is a huge flop I will not be back to explore.
2 stars because the service was wonderful and I saw a salad that I wished I had ordered…

A co-​worker recommended the place. The food is inexpensive, bland and the restaurant has the décor of a double-​wide. Never again, especially with all of the other great options on the area.

I like it! The chicken pitas are tasty. I’ve only gone for lunch since I work downtown, but I always enjoy the food. Try ordering the hummus too! I just wish they stayed open late at night.

It’s a good place for lunch in Phoenix. The food is inexpensive and the service is always friendly. They also deliever but the last time I ordered delivery, it was well over an hour by the time my food arrived. I either eat there now or order ahead and go pick up.
The vegetarian pita with hummus is really good. They sautee the vegetables and always put plenty of hummus on the pita. I always get a side of fruit with it because the fruit is always fresh and a good selection. Most places just do melons for fruit cups, but this place includes berries, kiwis, and grapes which make for a great dessert after lunch. It’s a lot of food though, so come hungry or be prepared to leave some on the table.

One of my favorite paces to grab a quick lunch when I’m at work. The place is not the best looking one, but the food is definitely yum and fresh. The Greek salad and hummus are my favorite. Oh and the cashiers are very very nice!

Completely and totally A-​OK.
Several people in my office regularly get food delivered from here.
I’ve had the gyro pita a few times, the Greek salad with gyro meat, fruit salad, tossed salad, fries and baklava.
The food is always fresh, delivery is quick.
It’s not the best gyro by a long shot — but there’s nothing in the world wrong with it.
For lunch delivery, it’s one of the best options at my office. I have never been super impressed — but I’ve never been disappointed, either.

I wouldn’t exactly call this the best gyro I’ve every had, nor would it be a close second — or third.
The gyro was made with pre cooked pieces of (beef/​lamb) gyro and not sliced off a cone. I’m not sure where this new trend is coming from, but I’ve had a few gyros from othe Med. places around the valley, and all were made with the same or similar pre packaged gyro pieces.
In case any gyro /​greek /​mediterranean restaurateur cares, the pre packaged gyro meat is NOT GOOD. I’m just not sure what else there is to be said. If you can’t do a decent gyro, I’m just not coming back. Sorry. :/

I’m a huge fan of Greek food. I’ve been to Athens, and I loved it there. And believe it or not, I like «express» aka fast casual restaurants where you order at the counter and they bring your food to the table.
So, when I found myself downtown and hungry for lunch, heading over to Athenian Express was a no-​brainer. I can’t say that I’ll be rushing back, but it was fine… it delivered on what I was in the mood for on that day.
Lunch pricing is super affordable and portions are large. The Greek Salad was nothing special — I’ve definitely had better (but I’ve had worse too).
**One key thing to note: I do not recommend adding chicken to your salad. It’s not the greatest quality chicken. If you do go here, stick with the vegetarian options.

The greek’s just don’t make a good falafel, I should know this by now, alas I had to try it.
Athenian express is a cute down town fast Greek eatery, you order at the counter and they bring it out. They have a array of food items salads pitas pastas sandwiches etc.
I went for the falafel as usual. It was cheap enough ~$ 5 it came with a choice of side }(Salad, fries or potato salad). It comes as a round Peta cut in half with a few flat dry falafel patties and a plastic cup of tiziki. The side salad is nice but small if you are hungry go for the fries. Over all I was not impressed but I will try some other item here.
Big plus for me was the huge hot sauce selection.

You must look for the signs to park in the park and they will direct you, might I mention that right across the street is Short Leash Dogs? so take your pick. The inside is surprisingly big, dim, and cool. If you enter in the back to your right you will find the enormous condiment counter with every hot sauce, sauce you can think of. The menu is really big and we took about several minutes to look everything over.
In addition to that, there are signs to modify everything if that doesn’t make the menu that more exciting. Platter of big chocolate chip cookies, brownies and lemonade were calling my name but if it were not for my diet, I would have given in. I had the usual falafel plate with french fries and my other diner had the steak sandwich. The fries were thick but tasted a little old, and some were brown like they were old. The falafel was crisp, they are fried into little discs rather than balls and the pita bread, while soft, appeared not home made.
I felt like I was still hungry after this meal. My companion’s sandwich he proclaimed was good but was a bit too small, and the potato salad it came with seemed to be made with lots and lots of mustard and very little mayonnaise. The service was friendly and I will probably return to try something else as I saw they have breakfast specials but it has not become my most beloved of places.

Solid three stars. i was not able to try the hummus on this trip since that would have been the determining factor if this place would get a fourth star or not.
Three stars for the food we did have, price, and portions were good as well. My friend had the feta gyro and thoroughly enjoyed it. i had a turkey/​cheese pita it was good could only eat half. it was a lot of food. You get a choice of fries, salad, fresh fruit and a potato salad i believe. we both had the fresh fruit and it was very good. Nice assortment as well. Just not one measly grape and a crapload of cantaloupe. had strawberries, mango. the whole shebang.
The spanakopita was just alright :/​
glad there is Greek food spot close to my job since it is not that common in this area, def not bad and i will be back to try it again. there’s some potential.

Glad to have found a dope local spot for a Gyro. I finally checked this spot out for lunch and am happy as a clam. Caled in my order and was ready in about 10 minute. I got the gyro pita with feta, onions and tomato. It comes with a side, so I went with fries. Next time, I think I’ll try the salad or potato salad. The Gyro was perfect. Great grilled pita, super good Tzatziki (sp?) and just the right amount of flavorful gyro meat/​veggies. The fries were bland and soggy, but that didn’t bother me that much. I saw a ton of other stuff on the menu that I can’t wait to try. Can’t wait to go back.
***Parking*** I found it super easy to park on the East side of Central on Garfield and pop a quarter in the meter to just walk across, that’s probably the easiest way to handle it

Oh, Athenian Express. You were so promising, alluring, and tempting when I walked in the door and yet, so disappointing.
The bad:
— Awful gyro meat. This tastes like the gyro meat at Crave sandwiches, which we all know isn’t real gyro meat.
— THREE slices of gyro meat. THREE. I took a picture to prove that it literally only came with three slices. Whichever reviewer said that their sandwiches were bigger than a Kronos lied and lied mercilessly. Seriously, who gives three slices of meat?
— The sauce was mediocre. It’s homemade, but that doesn’t mean it has to be mediocre.
— Fries aren’t anything special. They taste like fries that come in a bag, no special seasoning or anything.
— Cubs fans. Enough said.
The good:
— I ordered fries, which I got, but they also gave me fruit. I don’t know why, but this saved the review from being one star because the fruit salad had mango AND orange in addition to melons and strawberries.
— Fast service. Damn fast. Maybe too fast since they gave me so little meat.
Overall:
I was so excited to go here because I only get gyros on a special occasion. Well hot damn, I won’t go back. I’m going to stick to George’s Famous Gyros on McKellips in Tempe where not only are they not Cubs fans but they use real gyro meat.