Santorini Gyro — Restaurant in Cathedral City

My wife is Greek American, and we've eaten Greek food - good and bad - from Mytilene to, well, Cathedral City. Since we live in the desert, we were ecstatic to find Santorini, and to read the good reviews. We really wanted this place to be wonderful. First, the good: The restaurant is a cute little place, tucked into a shopping center. The waitress was nice to us throughout our meal. We thought it a little odd that the day's "special," moussaka, was priced the same as the regular moussaka dinner, which was exactly the same meal. Maybe somebody doesn't quite get what a special is, but that's OK. We ordered the lamb gyro plates, reasonably priced, and dolmathes to start - after being assured they were house made. So, maybe you can fool the general public, but both of us agreed that the dolmathes that arrived did not appear, nor taste, or have the texture of homemade. They very strongly resembled every canned stuffed grape leaf we've ever eaten. I'm not saying they were canned, but if they weren't, whomever was making them back in the kitchen, has done a superb job of making their dolmathes just like the ones in the can. After that, the gyro plates arrived. The "salad" that arrived with the gyro - chopped lettuce with a couple slices of tomato on top - was clearly long past its prime. The lettuce was browned - not just on a piece or two, but on virtually all of the salad. There's no way whomever was working the kitchen could have put that on our plates and not known it was not acceptable to serve, thus my belief that they just didn't care. At all. I have my suspicions about the gyro meat as well, as it was the darkest brown gyro meat I've ever seen. Had it been cooked before, and then re-fried for us? It wasn't bad, but again, the gyro came only with a bit of tzattziki and a couple slices of tomato. The gyro flatbread was the best thing about the gyro. We were disappointed, but we wanted to enjoy our Greek night out as much as possible, so I picked up some dessert (which looked very much like the Philoptichos from our church makes). The waitress, who noted she was not Greek and not from the family that runs the restaurant, gave us one extra piece of loukoumi to make up for our salads (which were not replaced with edible salads, and we were charged full price). Needless to say, we will never return. It's not a good strategy with a Greek restaurant to provide this inexcusable of a meal to a Greek American and her husband. It's insulting to be served this kind of food, and even more so to have no attempts made at making amends for what was inedible. I've been to other restaurants where they've lied about whether something was house made or not, and even some where they would have been better off serving stuff from a can. But you just don't pile up a bunch of brown lettuce on someone's plate and think you're going to get away with it. Even if the lettuce had been fresh, the salad would have been at best, mediocre. But to serve it the way they did - and then not either replace it, or compensate us for inedible food, was just...

As one of the other reviewers said " Do not let the outside of the restaurant prevent you from enjoying the experience." This is a storefront Greek restaurant that may seem 'basic', but its service, great food, and excellent prices help us look past it!

We were referred by a friend our first time & were amazed.We have been coming here now this last four months! The place quite small, but is bright and has an authentic Greek atmosphere. Its nice to come and having a relaxing casual lunch, or dinner.

The menu consists of authentic Greek dishes and the chef is obviously Greek. I had the Roast Lamb dish and my friend had the Mousaka, a very generous portion, which was absolutely delicious. They do serve Beer, and wine; however, they do not serve hard alcohol. We do not come here to drink, Ron and I come here to EAT! The prices are excellent!

Our server appeared very clean and professional. He was very pleasant and welcoming and the service was quick and efficient.

They have a little section with some authentic imported goodies from Greece. Jams, Tahini, Olive oil, Olives and various cookies. The Sour Cherry Preserves are to die for!

This is definitely a little jewel of a place, not in a high profile location, but easy enough to find. I highly recommend a visit. Remember people, its not " how big it is, its how...

Who told you this was Greek food??!! The most horrible Plain and Bland Tasteless food!! and I know for a fact it was frozen! The so-called chicken kebab had absolutely no flavor!!! Hummus was frozen tasted like water horrible Awful Slow service!!! The waiter didn't even know what half the menu was.....he didn't even know what Aioli was! Hello 'Mayo&Garlic w/Drizzle of olive oil &red pepper !! Learn something!!!! Real Mediterranean! The chef needs to go back to cooking school or ask his Grandmother who's hopefully old school and knows how to cook and prepare Greek food/Mediterranean food. Service was also horrible & Poor!! very slow service. By the way this is illegal....They add more to the tip amount then what you leave them they actually STEAL-- straight out of your bank card and bank account!! be very careful... this PLACE is horribly ran. Awful food and on top of it they steal &also I saw cockroaches in the bathroom. Awful. Can you imagine what's in...