Mr. Greek Donair Shop — Restaurant in Burnaby

TL:DR - Frequent customer receives good food despite bad service.

I've been coming here for years since I discovered them, and they've always been good until today. The food is tasty, the sauces definitely make it good, don't forget to ask for the sweet sauce if you like to add a little bit of sweetness to your donair.

Service is usually pretty good, but today I've had probably the worst service from them to date. I do have a background in customer service so I can understand sometimes you're tired, but there was a girl today who was quite short and snippy with me for some unknown reason but was completely pleasant to the customer before me. This girl has light eyes, with light hair, she was fairly friendly with the gentlemen before me, going as far as to compliment his shirt after he asked her for recommendations for toppings when she made his food. But when it came for me to place my order, she was incredibly short with her answers to me. I had asked for a mixed donair and the girl immediately asked "is that it?" I hadn't even told her what mix when she asked that. I told her the mix and told her I needed a 2nd mixed donair to which her reply immediately was almost like she was in a rush to get me out "What else do you want? is that it?" she wasn't even putting it into the computer, she just simply punched it into the card machine immediately and I paid. So because she didn't put it into the system and just tried to memorize my 2 donairs, she had to ask me what the mixes of meat were, 1 was chicken and lamb, the other was beef and lamb, she asked to clarify because she thought I had ordered both chicken. I think the glass does make it hard to hear, because I had asked for one of them to add jalapenos and she thought I asked to take out the tabouli. Usually they double bag your donair, I noticed she didn't do that, and noticed also she didn't place any tissues inside the takeout bag. Those are all pretty normal things they do, I'm not sure if maybe they changed it recently to not do that. But when she handed me my food she just stuck her hand out, no thank you, no goodbye, didn't even bother to look at me so when I left I made sure to say to her "Thank you, have a nice day". I hope it was just that she was having a bad day which is no excuse to take it out on another customer, hopefully I misinterpreted it. But I definitely didn't receive as warm as service as the gentleman before me. Suffice to say I'm a little disappointed, hopefully my next...

Back in August, I came across Mr. Greek Donair Shop, located next to the Save on Foods on the upper level of Highgate Mall. Unless you frequent this area, it’s easy to miss because you can’t see it from the street level.

When I walked inside the bright and spacious (but minimally adorned) interior, I was surprised to see so many people working behind the counter. They must have had a large order of take-out donairs because they looked like they were working at an assembly line, piecing each donair to order.

I decided to try their Beef Plate ($11.43) which lets you choose your pick of salad and rice (which I thought was a nice option). I opted for the tabouleh and dill rice and it also comes with pita bread. I was actually fairly pleased with this order (although I think the tabouleh was missing something – perhaps it needed more diced tomatoes).

On my second visit, I ordered the Beef Donair ($8.57 + $0.5 for the added feta). This is a really big, stuffed, and filling donair. Inside, you get your usual lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pickles, hot peppers, tabbouleh, red onions, tzatziki, hot sauce, and meat. I thought that the beef was a bit too shredded for my liking. While I added feta cheese to this, I think that was a mistake as it kind of threw off the flavour.

On my third visit, I went with the Lamb Donair ($8.57) and remembered to skip the feta cheese. It’s very similar to the beef donair – just with a different protein. Like the beef version, the lamb was a bit too shredded for my liking but this is a very filling wrap that should satisfy your hunger pangs.

Next, I tried their Chicken Donair ($8.57). Again, not much different than their other donairs with the exception of the protein used. That being said, the chicken version is pretty good and it had a nice char to the exterior of the meat.

Nothing really fancy here but solid,...

I guess it will be the first time for me to not writing 5 star review. And it’s actually my first time getting food in here as well. The ambiance around the restaurant is nice as it sets in a lovely shopping compound that is well designed. The restaurant itself is nice and clean but I guess it’s just too crowded and with the restrictions are lifted they seem to allow so many people in. The service is actually what I regret the most. I placed my ordered clearly, paid and told the server I would wait outside as it has quiet many people inside and she said Ok. As I waited and waited I saw people line up behind me got their food and not one or two but like 10 customers behind me (who placed ordered after me) and I decided to wait inside on the other door and they’re like “Are you waiting for your orders?” I said YES and one of the servers said “What’s your order again?” And I repeated myself then she made the don air but then it took 2 others asking about my other one and even when it’s done they decided to serve other customers before finishing my order and I was like WOW … Finally after maybe half an hour they gave it and thanking me for being patience. I just nodded and walked away. The don air done way before my steak kebab rice , hubby said it’s pretty good, the steak kebab rice was mmhh dunno how to explain, the steak was ok but the rice was so soggy (probably from all the liquid from the salad and onion pickles or the sauces, it’s just kinda hard to enjoy very soggy rice that totally looked different then the photos on displays. And I’m just not sure when they asked what kind of rice do you want? Isn’t supposed to be the first things you asked when customer place an order?

I’ll give it another try next time but for now I can only rate it 2 stars. They need...