Reunion Cafe in Davenport, FL

During a return drive from Tampa to Orlando, I made a pit stop for lunch at a restaurant called Reunion Cafe. Technically, I guess the restaurant is located within Reunion based on the name, but I was always under the impression that Reunion was more of a golf resort than an actual town. Wikipedia says Reunion is located within Four Corners (another non-town?), so I suppose it's not an actual city? I'm still not sure, besides the fact that I had a tasty lunch at a restaurant with Reunion in the name.

Reunion Cafe sold all sorts of Middle Eastern food. I went for their Gyro Combo, which included a gyro pita, French fries, and a beverage. The pita was filled with lots of lamb. It was slightly spicy and had lots of flavor. Lettuce, tomato, onions, green peppers, and a creamy mayonnaise-like sauce finished it off. The fries were okay, but nothing to write home about. A pickle was also served on the side.

Reunion Cafe had a tasty gyro. They are far from home for me, so I don't think I'd return soon, but might stop in again on a drive to or from Tampa.

Kosher on Wheels in Orlando, FL

There is a food truck called Kosher on Wheels that is parked along International Drive near Fun Spot. I was looking for something for lunch one afternoon and decided to give this truck a try. As far as food trucks at non-food truck events go, Kosher on Wheels seemed to be doing very good business. They had seating on both sides of the truck, and I got the very last open seat while I was eating. I got the feeling that about half the customers at the time were like me, there for some Middle Eastern food regardless of religious affiliation, and the other half was there specifically because the food was Kosher.

I ordered a falafel pita. The pita was filled with a generous amount of falafel, hummus, tahina, red cabbage, onions, and Israeli salad (cucumbers & tomatoes). The falafel was very good with plenty of flavor and was nice and moist. There was also plenty of tahina, so much so that it started being absorbed by the bread. That is always a win in my book.

At some point I want to return to this truck to try their shawarma. I enjoyed my falafel, so hopefully the rest of their food is just as good. I did think they were a bit expensive for the size of the pitas served, but they were pretty equivalent to many of the other 'gourmet' food trucks in Orlando.

Gyros & More in West Melbourne, FL

Gyros & More is a Greek/Middle Eastern fast food restaurant that has a couple locations around Melbourne. While the other locations are stand alone, potentially the most well known Gyros & More is located in the food court of the Melbourne Square Mall. A few different people each told me to try the falafel at Gyros & More the next time I visited the mall.

That visit to the mall food court happened eventually. I followed everyone's recommendation and ordered a falafel sandwich combo, which came with a side and a drink. The sandwiches were made very quickly, and soon enough it was time to eat.

The falafel pita from Gyros & More was decent, but I've definitely found better elsewhere. The pita was filled with falafel, lettuce, onions, tomato, and tahini, but yet I found it to be on the dry side. The sandwich tasted good, but a little more moisture in the pita would have been better. Still good, but not the best. I had stuffed grape leaves as my side. No complaints about these.

Although the falafel was a little dry, it was still tasty. This was also way above most of the other choices in the mall food court. I'd get food here again, although next time I think I'll try a gyro.

Boca Skewers in Boca Raton, FL

While in search for dinner in Boca Raton, we made our way to the Mizner Park section of town. There, we found a middle eastern restaurant called Boca Skewers.

Following the instructions that were on the tables, we were able to get a free appetizer by signing up for their mailing list on our phones. Everyone agreed to share the hummus. This was soon followed by our main courses. I had a falafel & hummus pita. The sandwich was filled with lots of falafel, hummus, lettuce, and tomato. A salad was served on the side.

I had no complaints about Boca Skewers. I hope they do better business than the night we were there though. We were the only customers in the restaurant on a Saturday night for the majority of our meal. It seemed the Greek restaurant two stores down in the same strip mall, probably serving similar food, was doing much better business than this place. Too bad, because the food here was really tasty too!

King of the Gyro in Melbourne, FL

I got take-out from a middle eastern restaurant in Melbourne called King of the Gyro one afternoon. I decided to go against the restaurant's namesake and ordered a chicken wrap instead.

This pita was filled with chicken, garlic sauce, mayonnaise, and pickles. The pita was good for what it was, but I found it to be somewhat boring. There was too much chicken and not enough other sandwich fillings. The garlic flavor was nice, but more vegetables never hurt in my opinion.

King of the Gyro is located on the second floor of the same shopping center as Middle Eastern Aromas. While the food was alright at King of the Gyro, Middle Eastern Aromas is definitely the winner of the two middle eastern restaurants in the shopping center...

Grillwise in Deerfield Beach, FL

I stopped for lunch at a Middle Eastern/Burger restaurant called Grillwise in Deerfield Beach.
I ordered the Falafel Pita. The contents of the sandwich were kind of interesting, filled with the fried chickpea balls, tzatziki, and french fries. I've honestly never seen a falafel sandwich with french fries wrapped in the pita.

According to the menu, the pita was also supposed to come with tomato and onions. Since my pita didn't come with these, I borrowed the missing ingredients from a fellow diner's burger.

The falafel at Grillwise was tasty, although I would have preferred more vegetables and less french fries. The falafel balls were nice and crispy while the tzatziki had great flavor. Good enough for $4...

Athenian Garden in Lake Mary, FL

Athenian Garden is a new Greek restaurant in Heathrow. Positive things were being said about the restaurant on other food blogs, so I gave them a try.

The meal started with some rolls and an olive tapenade. Soon, our order was taken and I choose the Chicken Souvlaki Pita. The pita was filled with chicken, lettuce, tomato, onions, and tzatziki. The tzatziki was actually my favorite part of the sandwich. It had a great dill flavor that really stood out. Unfortunately, the chicken was kind of tough and also had a pretty strong charred taste, almost on the border of tasting burnt. Overall, it was an average sandwich, but really nothing worth rushing back to get again. For $8, the sandwich was also a bit expensive to not come with any sides. When ordering, I was asked if I wanted fries to go with the pita. I was informed that I could get a side if I upgrade to a dinner for $12. An extra $4 for some fries is a bit too much to be asking in my opinion...

While writing this, I found out Athenian Garden is connected to Cypriana in Casselberry. It's funny since I like Cypriana but really wasn't too impressed with Athenian Garden. The menu here seemed smaller with higher prices. I think next time I'm looking for Greek food in Lake Mary, I'll head to Greek Village instead...

Spiro's Taverna in Jupiter, FL

I was driving along Route 1 around Jupiter thinking it was a good time to get some food. I saw someone hanging a sign for a Greek restaurant called Spiro's Taverna and decided to give them a try. It turned out it was their first day open...


My meal started out with a side Greek Salad. Romaine lettuce was topped with feta, onions, cucumber, tomato, and olives.  The creamy dressing had pinkish tint.  I couldn't figure out the source of the color, but it was tasty!

For my meal, I had the Mediterranean Pita filled with Mahi. The pita was filled with very good hummus, feta, onions, tomatoes, and the grilled fish.  I had no complaints as far as taste goes, although the fish did tend to fall out of the pita a bit too much.  Perhaps slightly larger chucks of fish would solve the problem.   

For a restaurant on it's first day, Spiro's Taverna did a nice job.  The service was good and the food was tasty.  I'd return...

Athens Cafe in Winter Springs, FL

I got takeout from Athen's Cafe in Winter Springs. I initially was going to order some sort of chicken pita, but then changed my mind and got their Falafel Pita. I'm glad I did too!

This was some of the best falafel I've had in Central Florida. The falafel balls were full of flavor, fried to a crispy brown color on the outside, and moist and tasty on the inside. Feta, lettuce, onions, and tomatoes were also wrapped inside the pita. The side of tzatziki sauce was also really flavorful. Rather than the normal cucumbers mixed in yogurt, this tzatziki had a really nice kick of garlic. Being that most Greek restaurants don't have falafel on their menus, I was really surprised how tasty this falafel was!

I wasn't too pleased with the potato salad served on the side though. It really wasn't anything against Athens, but more of an issue with my personal taste. It had hard boiled egg mixed with the potato. Personally, this is a food combination that really bothers me. The smooth, cold, and somewhat slimy consistency of hard boiled egg is somewhat unsettling when mixed in with potato. Without the egg, I think I'd be happy...

Overall, I enjoyed my meal and I'll definitely be back. Next time I'll be sure to get the full experience and eat my food in the restaurant instead of getting takeout.

Hummus House

I bought dinner one evening from the Hummus House on University Boulevard in Orlando.

I had a falafel pita, and while it tasted alright, it was hard to ignore how stingy they were with the fillings in the pita. They used three or four tiny falafel balls that were too small and too few to properly fill the sandwich. I went several bites in a row without hitting any falafel. Hummus House wasn't any more generous with any of the other minor fillings (vegetables) either. The only redeeming factor was the hummus. Possibly because of their name, Hummus House put lots and lots of hummus on the pita.

I really have no complaints about the taste, but why go to Hummus House when there are so many other nearby restaurants that serve similar food and aren't stingy with the portions? Across the street, there is Falafel Cafe where you get a properly stuffed pita with and a cup of soup for basically the same price. There is also a Pita Pit across the street, and although I have not tried their falafel, I have always been pleased with their other pitas. Even the Mrs. Fields Cookies in the UCF Student Union has really good falafel!

I also ordered some stuffed grape leaves. Unlike the falafel pita, I was completely 100% happy with these!

Pita Pit in Downtown Orlando

I ate at the Pita Pit on Orange Ave in Downtown Orlando. I ordered a chicken souvlaki pita and had no complaints except that the setup of available toppings for the pita was a little confusing. I didn't realize that some sauces and cheeses were available until halfway through my meal.

Eating at The Pita Pit was also a good people watching experience. All of the restaurant employees showcased all sorts of piercings, tattoos, and dreadlocks. Over in one corner of the restaurant, there was a group of vegans eating their meat/dairy free pitas. Every so often, the vegans would go bother the tattooed employees with some vegan food related question. About halfway through my meal, a man entered the restaurant who I paid no attention too until he sat down and started singing what sounded like a Gregorian Chant. The chanting made me think of Catholic churches, and it then clicked that this man looked a whole lot like Silas from the Da Vinci Code. His whole meal, he looked angry and kept on sneering at the group of vegans. When going home after eating, I noticed that he had returned to his post on a street corner holding a sign about how the world is ending and we are all going to hell. Definitely an interesting crowd in the Pita Pit.

Weekend Trip: Mediterranean Sunrise Falafel

After disembarking from the plane and finishing up all of the airport stuff, it was soon time for lunch. We chose a Greek restaurant called Mediterranean Sunrise in Franklin Square, NY. I ordered a Falafel sandwich, and it then turned out everyone else I was with also ordered the same. Mediterranean Sunrise was basically a fast food restaurant, but they seemed to have issues getting the food out in a timely manner. It took about twenty minutes for the sandwiches to be served (which don't require all that much preparation), and in the meantime, some of the other customers in the restaurant were getting angry about the wait.

The amount of time that it took for the food to come out was bad, but the food itself was good. The sandwich consisted of two falafels, each crispy on the outside, but moist on the inside, along with lettuce, onions, and tzatziki in a pita. It was a tasty sandwich...

Falafel Cafe

I picked up some take out from Falafel Cafe across the street from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. I've heard only good things about this place, so I decided to finally give it a try. For some reason I thought it was fast food, so I was surprised to see that Falafel Cafe was a sit down restaurant.

I had a Falafel Sandwich which came with a choice of soups. The lentil soup that I choose was interesting. It was very smooth, very similar to split pea soup, only with lentils instead. I've never come across lentil soup with this consistency. It was good, but I prefer the chunkier lentil soup that is more commonly found. The falafel sandwich was really good. There were nice sized falafels wrapped in Lebanese bread, along with lettuce, tomato, onions, parsley, and tahini. This was one of the better falafel sandwiches that I've eaten in the Central Florida area.

On the way out, I'm pretty sure I saw someone eating a plate of pickled turnips. I've only seen them in Lebanese restaurants, and it's been a very long time since I've eaten these. I definitely need to return to get myself some of these wonderful pickled root vegetables!

Athena Chicken Souvlaki Pita

I ate a Chicken Souvlaki Pita at Athena Cafe in Altamonte Springs, FL. The pita was filled with very flavorful chicken, lettuce, and tzatziki. Tomatoes were also an option, but I had them left off of the sandwich. Pasta salad was served with the pita and it was all very tasty.

Even though the food is good, the atmosphere of the restaurant could use some improvement. Being able to watch the employees do crossword puzzles due to there being so few customers isn't a good thing.