Ayhan’s Shish-Kebab Restaurant

Went to this Plainview Greek/​Mediterranean restaurant for lunch and was not impressed. Interior is very nice and they even have outdoor seating. Ordered the lamb kebob over basmati rice to be cooked medium and it was served well done anyway. It wasn’t seasoned enough either, chewy and quite bland. Also, the Greek garlic dip just tasted like salad dressing. Service, however, is very friendly which is why I’m giving two stars instead of one. Prices are average as well. Not recommended.

This place is huge and have a great atmosphere. They come out with this fantastic and flavorful dip, but the bread wasn’t that great. I would suggest replacing it with the pita bread. We did get to try the pita bread when we ordered the hummus, but the portion of the hummus did not pair well with the limited amount of pitas given.
The lunch special is $ 13 for soup or salad, and a pita or sandwich. The portions are huge and I would highly suggest the red lentil soup. I glanced over the dinner entrees and the prices seemed quite high for a Mediterranean place. Good experience, I would definitely come back again.

After a few more visits, I need to bump the ‘kebab, back up. I’ve had some solid eats there and haven’t experienced the dreaded oily gyro syndrome in quite some time. Being a food dumpster, I recently ordered the Mixed Grill, which is about every meat they have on one plate. It. Was. Terrific. Tender meats of all shapes and sizes, a greek salad to start and rice ‘n veggies on the plate as well (I think? Who cares when there’s meat around?). They also have some huge lunch salads that run about $ 12 – 14, but are enough for 2 meals. I stayed away for a while, but I’m happy I came back. The ‘bob ain’t half bad.

I came here with my mom in the afternoon… the place was empty. I was excited to try the food here based on the reviews. I ordered the chicken kabob and my mom ordered the ground beef one. We also ordered soup and salad. The soup was delicious so we ordered another to go. My mom’s kabob was undercooked when they bought it to the table! Mine was alright it wasnt all that. We had to send it back. And the soup we took home had hair in it. The service was okay. I wouldn’t come here again sadly. I really wanted to love it but I didn’t.

the reviews made me a little iffy about ordering from here. I ordered a lamb kebab sandwich with the lamb to be made well done. Lets say it’s a 3.5 (not a 3, not a 4)
When I opened the massive sandwich I thought they forgot my lamb cause all I saw was veggies. I picked through it and saw some pinkish lamb when I asked for it to be well done but it wasn’t terribly pink so not gonna complain. The lamb is cut into smaller pieces and it looks like there’s a lot of it (under the salad). It came with a vinaigrette that soaks the pita bread. Pretty yummy.
Their yogurt sauce is more like tzatziki sauce and I wish it was more like the white sauce at other restaurants (dill, yogurt or mayo, and something with citrus to make that sour yet pleasant and addictive sauce)
For $ 9 it was a huge sandwich, got my money’s worth and Tasted pretty good. I normally hate cooked tomato but it had that slightly burnt grill taste and it tasted fabulous. I love anything that’s char-​grilled!!!
The lamb isn’t really marinated compared to afghani and Persian restaurants in Hicksville so that’s also one of my grievances.
It’s also really pretty inside. Felt like I was in Greece with all the white décor and curtains etc.

I used to come here often for the buffet and the place would be packed. I am sitting here now and it’s empty and I know why. The service is terrible and the quality of the food has declined severely. I’m disappointed I came here and won’t be coming back.

This is our favorite Mediterranean restaurant in the area. We always have a great meal here. The warm pita. The gyros. The falafel. All good choices. Waiters are nice.

The chicken gyro is my favorite, but tonight it is baby lamb chops… Oh so tender. Oh
the hummus is smooth and flavorful.

We came here this evening. It was good and really enjoyed it. I love the rice and peas that is served with the main course. Yummy!!! I had the whole Dorado fish which was cooked on the charcoal grill perfectly. My friend had the roasted chicken. The Greek salad was perfect and for dessert we shared the baklava. Wonderful food and very good service. We will be back.

Driving back to NJ & wanted a quick/​yummy bite to eat that was also pet friendly. We sat outside and the friendly wait staff brought my pooch a refreshing bowl of water. They brought us a plate of grilled pita, cous cous salad & tzatziki sauce. We had a few appetizers & beers since happy hour is until 6pm & those items are ½ price! Also had the grilled chicken kabob which was tender & juicy. And no meal is complete without dessert — a few pieces of baklava for the ride!
I walked through the inside & it is HUGE! Love the classic Mediterranean décor & a large party room in the back.
Delicious food & very friendly & accommodating. We will be back!

2.5 really. The food is mediocre at best. I’ve been coming for years now and it seems to get worse and worse each time. The POOR customer service doesn’t help. When you call to place an order, it seems whoever answers seems lost or confused. Such a shame as the place itself is beautiful. Dated but beautiful.

The service was HORRIFIC, the food tasted absolutely DISGUSTING, and the air conditioner was turned on way to high.
1.) The hummus tasted like crap. It was absolutely the WORST hummus that I have ever tried, Sabra’s hummus is better than there’s, and I am a hummus lover.
2.) The bread, and my dinner was cold, even the second time after I had asked them to re-​heat my food from the first time.
3.) They gave my dad and I a hard time when I asked if they can bring out a complimentary platter of hummus, as they do with the other Ayhan’s restaurants that my family and I go to.
4.) The waiter we had was just down right rude. Management definitely changed, for the worst.
5.) The room was too cold. Even though it is the summer, management failed to lower the AC.
6.) Management significantly raised the prices, since my family and I were there for my grandmother’s birthday, last year.
*In sum, I do not recommend this Ayhan’s location!

Old food. Everyone got sick. The gyros were not fresh. They were laying in some drawer and re– heated.
Stay way. He is back to his old tricks.

Ayhans shish kebab in Plainview is a beautiful restaurant. The interior design is stunning, you get greeted by a friendly staff member upon entering, and the menu has an interesting assortment of Greek and Mediterranean dishes. Unfortunately the total restaurant experience is not always pleasurable. When we asked for a frappé the waiter didn’t know what it was and said no they could not do it. Unusual for a Greek restaurant. But when we asked for an iced cappuccino the waiter said he could not do that either. The lunch specials do not come with soup or salad so we decided to order from the dinner entrées which are $ 16-​$ 25. The entrées come with rice or bulgur wheat and when we asked if we could substitute lemon potatoes the waiter said no. that’s a lot of negative responses. We finally ended up ordering Gyro platters with rice which were good and we opted for the lemon soup which was kind of watery and tasteless so our overall experience was not great. Anyway the lesson to be learned is service is just as important as food. we left unhappy mainly because the waiter was very negative and never smiled once he seemed unhappy at his job and that affected our overall experience

Although the best value for whole grilled fish on Long Island, the Plainview location leaves something to be desired.
Physically, the restaurant is tired — past it’s prime. The servers try to be helpful but they also seem tired and overworked.
Meals start with either included soup or salad. Our salads tasted overly bitter — a poor excuse for a «Greek» salad.
The grilled tilapia came drowning in lemon butter. The sauce was so strong that I could barely enjoy the fish. Filet of sole «Athenian» wasn’t much better.
But, as I stated earlier — there is value here. Each meal was under $ 20, and if you don’t expect Le Bernadine quality, that is pretty hard to beat.

I really love this place. The food is always great and the atmosphere is beautiful… it makes me feel like I am in Greece every time I come here. We always start out with there delicious fresh hummus, baba ganoush & tzatziki with pita bread and a side of dolma (stuffed grape leaves). I usually get a combination of salmon, shrimp and or/​chicken kabobs with a rice pilaf and my partner usually gets the «whole fish» (bronzini/​bronzino) and our meals always come with a greek salad. The food is always satisfying and we always walk out full (a good full/​as everything is pretty healthy and «light»)
Shout out to Heidi our server every time! She is a sweet heart!

I have some horror stories about this place. But overall we really enjoyed our meal.
I recommend trying to get a seat in the back. We came here on a cold winter night and sat close to the front. Pretty much every time the door opened we, and our food, was blasted with super cold air. We ate with our jackets on.
We started with the zucchini pancake things. The flavor was excellent. Totally addicting dish. A little oily for my taste, but still very enjoyable.
We also got some babaganush (cant spell it for my life) and tahini sauce, which was made just the way I like it. They served it with bread, and did not charge us when we asked for extra. That is a huge plus, because a lot of places do that.
We ordered gyros for dinner. Again, the meat was too oily for me. I ended up not eating much of it. MY boyfriend liked his because he loves greasy food. I would not get it again, but I would go back just to eat more of the cold salads and appetizers.

Walked in… sat down. And waited.
And waited and waited. And after ten minutes we weren’t even approached for drinks. No one came over. Perhaps they were busy waiting on the other FOUR tables filled in the whole place?
Needless to say, I won’t be back. The hostess could have put down her iPhone long enough to send someone our way but naahhhh… too busy texting.

I’ve been to this place MANY times. I’ve been going here for years. However, I’ve noticed that the quality has declined over the last year or two. Both the service and the food are inconsistent.
The restaurant itself is beautiful. I love the atmosphere because it feels like you’re stepping into a little town somewhere in Greece. And the pita bread is pretty good. Also, they have an open kitchen and the place is pretty clean — so that’s nice to see.
I usually order the same thing: The Energy Platter (they call it a few different things — it’s a platter of falafel, hummus, tabouleh, and a little salad of cucumbers and tomatoes). The last time I ordered this platter, it was a weird temperature. The hummus was warm. It made me feel kind of sick actually.
The portion sizes are good. I’ve been here for brunch and it’s definitely a great bang for the buck, but I don’t really understand why they mix fried American food with their healthy Mediterranean options on the brunch bar. It’s weird.
Anyway, I have mixed emotions about this place. Honestly, I’ve had WAY better. I think I’m just nostalgic. I miss the way this place used to be. I keep going back every now and then HOPING it will be better, but if I’m being honest — it never is…

Met up with a friend here for lunch the other day. I was surprised how open and spacious the restaurant is. It’s quite nice in that respect. That’s probably the only nice thing I can say about this restaurant.
As for the food, we were served yogurt sauce and bread for dipping. The bread was warm, a little dry (so maybe reheated bread?), and the yogurt was runny. I like yogurt sauce to be sort of thick and yogurt-​like in its appearance, but Ayhan’s seems to be watered down.
I ordered the Falafel Fitness Platter, which was about 5 – 6 falefel balls burried under hummus and yogurt sauce with a sice of rice and peas/​corn/​carrots (that look suspiciously like it came from a bag of frozen veggies). My dish was certainly filling.
My friend had a doner gyro platter. The meat was sliced thin and looked a little sad. I don’t know how «happy» meat should look like what he got. It was served over brown basmati rice with the same vegetable medley I got.
Overall it was a mediocre meal, nothing spectacular to say about it. At $ 15pp for lunch, I would suggest going elsewhere for Mediterranean food.