Ayola

I ordered a chicken gyro and it was super delicious, i like the tenderness of the chicken and the white sauce on it also the pita bread was fresh. Overall it is a very nice gyro place.

Staff was super nice and friendly. Food came super fast after I ordered. Ordered 2 9″ inches for 3 people to share. $ 8 dollars for the 9″ and 7 for the 7″ with fries and drink is additional $ 3 dollars. The fries are a must get, super yummy! Also I love their hot sauce. I can dip that in anything.
I really like the **Gyros Pita. It’s made with Lamb and beef with tzatziki sauce. And comes with With lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions. Very tasty.
**Chicken Gyros Pita Sandwich with herbs and tzatziki sauce. I didn’t think it was as flavorful. I think it was lacking Tzatziki Sauce in the chicken.

If you need a super quick lunch, this is the place. On average, even during lunch hour, the wait is less than 5 minutes. More often then not, it’s even shorter.
The chicken giro is decent, but nothing special. The french fries on the other hand are one of the best in the city. They are salty, rich and really tasty. Those I can recommend getting every single time. You can’t go wrong with those!

A satisfying gyro option in the FiDi. The gyro meat and tzatziki are quite rich compared to the omnipresent cold cut sandwiches nearby.
Gyro Pita: The pita tastes very fresh; it is thin and chewy. Much better than those puffy pitas from the grocery store. The gyro meat was thinly shaved, though not particular crispy. I imagine they have such high turnover that it doesn’t get much of a chance to sear on the spit. Still quite tasty though. The tzatziki was creamy and delicious. A bit too much romaine lettuce; I had to sweep half of it off.
Falafel: Perfectly crispy on the outside then firm and grainy on the inside. It was a tad dryer than I like, but still enjoyable.
Fries: Medium thickness. Not a limp fry in the batch. What really made these was dipping them in the smoky hot sauce instead of regular ketchup.

This is one of my favorite lunch spots in the FIDI! They have the best tabbouleh and baklava in SF– I could eat here every day.
It also helps that the owners are incredibly nice people.

Favorite gyros around (lamb and chicken), better than the other place a block away. I prefer the thinly sliced meat to the chunkier pieces at Oasis Grill. Their piece de resistance is oddly their french fries. They are the perfect ratio of crunchy outside, soft inside, and seasoning. Occasionally, you are lucky enough to get a fresh, hot batch.
You can order small or large gyros. If you are getting fries or a side, you may as well upgrade to the full combo for 25 cents more and get a drink.

Let’s face it, there are few options downtown for lunch under $ 10. Even most sandwiches are around $ 12-​$ 13 now (who doesn’t get avocado, even if it is $ 2 extra).
The staff at Ayola are all very nice, quick to hand out a sincere thank you for your business. The shawarma is good (and a good portion size with the 9 inch option), but the real belle of the ball is the sauce. A little sweet, a little tangy, and just a hint of heat, I’ll come back just for that.

Best gyro and fries on Kearny, ’nuff said. If you want more vegetables, the Gyro or Troy salad has just as much meat as gyro but on a bed of lettuce.
Go for the smaller gyro, the pita they use is superior to the larger size.
Make sure to grab some of the spicy sauce on your way out.

*** In Short ***
Alright Mediterranean for the area, but if you can, do yourself a favor and trek over to the much tastier Oasis Grill on Drumm.
*** In Depth ***
My old manager loved this place. I, on the other hand, after discovering Oasis Grill a few months ago, have always gone out there when I need my falafel fix. Sure, it’s a bit further, but I’m on wheels: I get around pretty quick.
Now, call it laze, or call it… okay, it really was just laze, but my coworkers didn’t feel like trekking out an extra ten to twenty for lunch one day, so we gave Ayola a try instead, given our manager’s preference for it. Comparing like to like as much as I could, I went with their falafel pita, which wasn’t bad, but lacked the flavor oomph of Oasis, so it’s hard to justify ever coming here again when a little more work gets you a lot more taste.
***Accessibility Info***
Venue — Assuming you’re just coming in and buying food to go, the place is super accessible. Even if you’re sitting down to eat, I do recall a few tables around that shouldn’t pose any problems.
Bathroom — Didn’t try.

This place is dirty. One of the workers in the back was using his finger to smooth hummus onto the plate. GROSS. I cancelled my order and got my money back.

Idk why this place has four stars seriously. I feel so bad for ya’ll to be so deprived of good Mediterranean food that you think this fecal attempt at it is any good.
The shawarma was so dry and over-​peppered. The greens weren’t fresh at all and neither were the tomatoes. Totally unacceptable.

Great gyro. The meat was moist and not charred like some places where it’s just chunks of black. The taste was great, although I could do with a little less yogurt. I opted for the larger version which was just the right size to fill me up.

Came here for a brief lunch with a friend.
I ordered a gyro platter and he got falafels.
Gyro platter is seriously a huge plate. Lots of slices of gyro meat — it’s flavorful and on saltier side but not a fan of the meat quality. Taste a little rubbery, and I like fresh slices of good meat
I love the red spicy sauce! So good, nothing I’ve had before tastes like Marinera and hot sauce — great on salad and meat.
This Greek place didn’t blow my mind, but it’s decent food and good price in the FIDI/​Soma district

OMG! Ayola is SO good. One of our staff recommended we order our staff lunch from them. So this week we did. I ordered the chicken gyros and it was really good. Tasted even better with the hot sauce they gave us. I also got an order of fries which were just okay. But I was very happy with their service. They delivered on time and got everyone’s order correct. The 3 item combos are a bit on the small side but the wraps are very filling.

I was looking for a good Greek/​Mediterranean place by work. Using Unilocal,I found Ayola.
October 2013
*Gyros platter ($ 8.95) with side of Hot sauce
The Gyros platter comes with gyros meat, hummus, tzatziki, a small greek salad and pita. I’m not a huge pita person, so I made a salad with the meat and sauces. The meat was good, but it was kind of dry. It needed the hummus to give it moisture. The hummus itself was good. Full of flavor and smooth. I thought the tzatziki was a little too thick though. Made it hard to eat with the salad I made. Make sure to grab some hot sauce to add a little heat to the dish.
Decent Greek food. And fairly cheap.

I’d make a terrible Greek. I can’t dance, even if Anthony Quinn was holding onto my shoulder as he kicked up his heels on a beach in Crete. My everyday plates are Corelle, so they bounce when you try to smash them. Nope, I’d make a lousy Greek, which may mean you have to take my review of Ayola with a grain of salt or maybe a grain of orzo. But hey, I’m a big fan of the one on New Montgomery where they do something nearly magical with their fries, so I’m not sure why this one doesn’t make me want to go «Ooom-​pah!» Part of it, I have to admit, is location, as this Ayola stands in the shadow of Baladie on the same block where their gyros wraps are outstanding as you gaze at the mural of Petra. Here you just gaze at the condiment stand.
On my first visit, I went for what I knew best, the $ 7.95 Lamb & Beef Gyros, the nine-​incher as we say in the trade (.I have no idea what trade I’m taking about) with a splooge of tzatziki sauce (photo:
). It was certainly big enough with a decent amount of meat shaved from the spit (presumably), but the pita wrap was crusty to the point of jaw-​tiring. What’s more, the fries were dry like Sahara-​dry (photo:
). Needless to say, I was not all that motivated to come back until recently when I had a hankering for some Greek eats for lunch but wanted to be a bit more mindful of the calorie count. This time I ordered the $ 8.75 Neptune Salad described as a «Greek salad with tuna». Well, not quite but it was still pretty good.
It was actually a pile of chopped Romaine with a few tomato wedges and even fewer Kalamata olives thrown in. On top was this mass of tuna that looked like it came from a can. Not that I’m complaining as I eat canned tuna voluntarily, but I had no idea Charlie the Tuna even knew the God of the Seas. Anyway, their special house dressing was on the side as were a couple of grilled pita wedges (photo:
). And halelujah, the fries were almost back to their magical form — hot, lightly crisped and oh-​so plentiful (photo:
). It was enough for me to reconsider the gyros at some point when I can afford the carbs. In the meantime, I sat up in the balcony where they set up a counter for diners to have a panoramic view of the first floor. It’s the nearest I’m getting to a vacation for the next couple of months.
FOOD — 3 stars… kinda hit-​and-​miss with their gyros and fries but the salad is pretty decent
AMBIANCE — 3 stars… small space, not that comfortable but the view from the balcony is just… oh who am I kidding?
SERVICE — 3 stars… order and pick up, no big whoop
TOTAL — 3 stars… will Anthony Quinn ask me to dance?

Hands-​down one of the best gyros I have had ever! There are a lot of Mediterranean restaurants all within the same 0.5−1 mile radius. After performing taste tests on all of them, Ayola has had the most consistent, flavorful, and moist gyro sandwich and/​or plate.
Their fries have also been consistently good — crunchy on outside, smushy and moist on inside.
Great job guys!

When I was a work’n stiff on Market Street, I came here once a month or so for a lamb gyro. They have a loft upstairs and a nice bar. The seats at the bar have a commanding view of the street and the customer area. Below the loft is a giant menu of all the things at Ayola.
Pretty girls come in off the street to order their food. They look up at the menu from below and smile. It appears they are smiling at me as in, «Oh! What a cutie you are!». That was the first time it happened and I wondered how it was that a lovely young girl could give a look like that to a sucked out old geezer. Then I figured it all out — she was making a menu selection. Now I go there and just pretend they are all smiling at me. I don’t smile back and wave though… that would be bad form.
I have never eaten anything but the lamb gyro’s here. When I first came to this place I started eating at the other gyro places. After sampling 3 different establishments with inferior gyros I made this place my one and only gyro shop. There is an Ayola on Montgomery but it isn’t as good as the Kearny shop. I would only go there if there was a hard rain.
They make their own hot sauce for the food. I love it and put gallons on my gyro. You should too.

Had a hankering for some Greek food and Ayola was conveniently located in the direction I was heading, so I made a pit stop for some yummy fuel.
I arrived around 1 PM and there was only one guy in line ahead of me. The man at the counter was really nice, and I ordered the chicken gyro with no sides. They have free water, utensils, and spicy sauce on a little cart which was awesome because I was super thirsty and didn’t want to pay for a soda. I grabbed my water, hung out by the cart, and only waited five minutes or so before my food was served up in a convenient paper bag by a smiling young lady =)
I headed to the park near the Transamerica tower because it was pretty crowded inside and I wanted to get some fresh air. The gyro was quite good, I really enjoyed the liberal amount of lettuce and tomato inside, but the pita was kind of dry on the edges. The meat was nice and tasty and moist and the tzatziki sauce was delicious. I grabbed some of the hot sauce on the way out and poured some of it in my pita while I was eating which gave it a delicious kick. The seven inch sandwich was definitely enough to fill me up, no sides needed!

Welcome to the latest edition of food kid f.A.A.t city’s morning show. Please give a round of applause to our special guest, the Best Fries in FiDi Award winner… AYOLA FRiES!
food kid — «Well congrats on winning the Best Fries in FiDi Award. That’s quite a distinction.»
Ayo-​Fry — «Thanks, but I can’t take all the credit. I need to thank the owners of Ayola for making me so hot and crispy. Seriously, I didn’t know I’d be able to get grown men to drool over my thick-​cut figure.»
food kid — «Can’t argue with you there. You’ve partner with Schwarma, can you tell us a little about him?»
Ayo-​Fry *blushes* — «Oh Schwarma was such a pleasure to work with. I really want him to win the Best Supporting Lunchie Award. He brings so much meat and substance to the table. Without Schwarma, I don’t think we would be the satisfying and fulfilling lunch that FiDi knows us to be.»
food kid — «There are a group of people out there who believes that you robbed Super Duper’s Garlic Fries for the Best Fries Award. Let’s look at this footage from the award ceremony.»
*********************Footage Start*******************
*Kanye Zest storms on to the stage*
Kanye — «Yo Ayola, I’m really happy for you, and IMMA LET YOU FINISH, but Super Duper has one of the best Garlic Fries of all time. OF ALL TIME.»
*********************Footage End*************************
food kid — «That was harsh. How did you feel?»
Ayo-​Fry — «I try to not let it bother me. There are people like Kanye, and then there are nice people. For example, the Ayola employees are super nice. They provide SUPREME customer service even during busy lunch hours. I try to focus on nice people like that.»
food kid — «Great answer. Well, have you spoken with Super Duper since the award?»
Ayo-​Fry — «Yes, I have. I tried to make light of the situation and I send him a text. Apparently, it got screenshot and now it’s going viral on the internet. Here it is.»
— — — –screenshot — — — –
YOU MAD BRO?
— — — — screenshot — — — — –
food kid — «kendricklamarshouldvewonomgforgetstupidmacklemore»
Ayo-​Fry — «Pardon me?»
food kid — «Ahem. Nothing. Well thank you for coming to the show today. Another big congratulations to Ayola and their Award-​Winning fries!»

Auch im Zentrum San Franciscos kann man einen Hauch der Akropolis und der griechischen Mythologie schmecken… denn hier ist man dem griechischen Gaumen so nah, wie nirgendwo. Mein Gyrus schmeckte unglaublich gut und das Fleisch war zart und würzig.
Hier kommt ich gerne wieder her.