Gyro House

Gyro House menu
Photo by Chris R.

In a word: Check them out before they do.

The specs: #00895  
4601 Verona Rd., 53711
Details at Yelp,

Latest Gyro House news and reviews at del.icio.us

Chris, JM, Marissa and Nichole ate the gyros, perch, burger, Italian beef, nachos, and fries with a grape Faygo.
The bill was $37, or $9ish/person, plus tip. (Thank you, M&C!)
Chris and Nichole gave Gyro House a B+; JM and Marissa gave Gyro House a B (see our grading rubric).

Among carryout outlets in gas stations, Gyro House is among the better ones. Helpful, good-humored staff; pretty speedy service; and the namesake item is tasty. On the downside, many, many menu items were out of stock (if you look closely at Chris's snapshot, it looks like they let Yossarian go nuts with duct tape), and even accounting for travel time, the fare was pretty chilly by the time we unpacked it at home.

So. The gyros were very good. Not at all greasy, with fine tomatoes and mild white onions, on soft pita with creamy tzatziki - it was all there. JM will own up to the fact that gyros are not one of his favorites, but these were good enough and better than most he's had in Madison. The fusion-style nachos were also topped with gyro meat (for a little upcharge, but still cheap), which was an interesting choice.

On the beefy side, a (very) wet, hot Italian beef was not worth repeating, but the charbroiled cheeseburger was way better than the average fast food burger (per Accidental Hedonist's rubric):

• Bun: soft, sesame-topped white roll.
• Meat: medium-thick, likely pre-formed patty of lightly seasoned, non-greasy ground beef. Good grilled flavor.
• Bun/meat ratio: More bun than beef.
• Cheese: Melty American.
• Misc.: Great tomato, nice onion, OK iceberg lettuce. A burger to smush and relish; big portion. About an 8 of 10 for its style.

Finally, the fish fry was pretty amazing! Though the perch was the only choice, the cod and catfish being among the Foods Not Appearing in This Film, it was very good. Four nice-sized, gorgeously pepperly (not a word) breaded filets came with almost all the fixin's, from fries, tartar, lemon, and ketchup to Tabasco and slices of white bread. No coleslaw was the only ding there, but for less than $10, we'd consider going back for drive-thru fish fry at Gyro House.

Chris and Marissa really saved our bacon six ways to Sunday helping us get this one done. Thanks, you guys.