Hungry Platters & Gyro — Restaurant in Prosper

I wish I could give less than 1 star. My boyfriend has been asking me since this place opened to go and try it. Something always came up to make us not but today we decided we would. Now, I will say, him being of Mediterranean decent, he has a higher standard of what anything in the realm of this type of cuisine should be, but we were willing to give it a shot since it’s so close to home and we have been looking for a good place. We went into the establishment with high hopes, and quickly were dissatisfied and quite frankly left frustration for the lack of respect and willingness to do your job correctly. Some background: I have worked in the food industry, had my own store front, and dealt with people of all different backgrounds and understand the necessity of respect and LISTENING when you are dealing with someone’s food, and when you make a mistake to deal with it honorably. Now on to the situation. I let my boyfriend go first since he basically knew what he wanted from the beginning and I was going between a few. -Now since we are going through a pandemic right now I will add this, there was no instruction for customers to stay 6 ft away, no sign about washing your hands, only ONE of the workers was wearing proper PPE over their faces and he came in later when we were already there. The cook from the back was only wearing one glove and came out to help when they started to get busy. - The woman working was extremely quiet and it was hard to hear over the music but that’s fine. He told her he wanted a lamb/beef wrap and I decided to have the HUMMUS beef/lamb BOWL. She told him the lamb would take about 10 minutes. We would prefer it being super fresh. So we waited. The woman told him that our lamb was ready and the cook apparently was the one to continue our order. He asked my boyfriend what I ordered and he said bowl. 2 times. Once out of reassurance to me and then once directly to the cook. He asks me what rice I want, I was a little confused but answered. Asked me what sides, I asked if I could get anything. He said “you can get what you want” so I added 4 things: Potatoes, Eggplant, Lentils, and the Cucumber Tomato Salad. (Not knowing that I had a 3 side limit and added 4 and didn’t mention that it was going to be extra) He then asks me what sauce I want and I said tahini. Completely skips over the hummus, which is a main part of the dish. He tells me that I got a platter and I already had 4 sides when I was only allowed to get 3. I said No, I asked for a bowl. The hummus with lamb/beef BOWL. I asked him just to add the hummus on top it’s fine. He starts to talk to the woman who originally helped us and she seemed flustered like she couldn’t remember. He then decides to just give me hummus on the side, at which he has this attitude while scooping out hummus into a cup. At this point I was pretty upset but I was going to give the food a chance regardless of the service. My boyfriend asked for a wrap, the cook (same guy) made him a PITA. Asked my boyfriend what toppings, and not wanting to get into a further argument decided to be safe with his toppings and not get as many as he would want. He asks for baba ganoush, hummus, and the cucumber salad. He added SO MUCH of the hummus and baba ganoush that it swallowed everything else and added just one small spoonful of the salad. The cook asked if this was to go or for here. We said to go. And we went to pay, both pretty upset but we were hungry and wanted to just eat. After payment asked for the receipt. The cook CHARGED me for the hummus, even after admitting it was their mistake. We walked out irritated and not excited at all to eat. Just from the customer service we won’t be coming back but... The Food: the pita, since it wasn’t a wrap, was smothered in hummus and masked all other flavors, the lamb was oily and hard to bite into, and the salad was nonexistent. My “bowl” was mostly rice, which I didn’t want. The lamb was oily and hard to eat in a bowl. I didn’t even eat half. I didn’t even get the pita it was supposed to have with it....

I discovered Hungry Platters in Peosper shortly after it changed hands and was acquired Mr. Tasos Kaiafas and his lovely wife Kristina. I can't speak to the nationality, heritage or authenticity of the recipes offered by the prior owners--a pair of brothers who launched the restaurant in 2018--but, Tasos & Kristina are the real deal and you know it from the moment you meet Tasos face-to-face. Greek hospitality & warmth abound and Kristina patiently described the menu in great detail & introduced me to a few Greek / Mediterranean staples that were previously unfamiliar to me. She was delightful & very gracious with her time and I still make it a point to look for her even though she is quite often confined to the kitchen out of sight, tending to prep work and the like. The Kaiafas' have expanded their staff to include several roughly college-aged part-time employees who are generally friendly & typically accurate / thorough when putting together online orders with substitutions or special requests.

The food is fantastic, fresh and consistent. I love their special garlic sauce and tzatziki is as wonderful, cool and refreshingly cucumber-y as I recall ìt being in Greece. It should be noted that Tasos modified the menu offerings & the flavor profiles of the original Hungry Platter recipes....and this seems to be a very GOOD thing. I am told that despite the Mediterranean Grill moniker, Tasos and Kristina found the authenticity of the flavors rather lacking and as such they made significant changes to better align the restaurant menu with their Greek vision and to fully align the recipes it shared in common with their catering company, "SKEWERED - Greek Kabobs & Gyros." I personally LOVE their Greek Lemmonates and wonder how I lived so many of my years without them! Yum.

Sidenote: I have twice been unlucky with one young man who seems genuinely ill prepared for the common stressors & variety of potential hiccups that are typically associated with the fast-paced food service industry and this was never more evident than the day when upon arriving to pickup my order at the prescribed time, I was greeted by a frazzled & disoriented young man with a strong accent who was speaking over the telephone in a language I didn't immediately recognize.

He appeared upset and distracted so I just motioned towards the place where the online orders are placed once they are ready for pickup, inquiring if the one bagged order sitting there was in fact for me. The young man had no idea that he was supposed to have prepared an order for me in the 25 minutes since it was placed through the HP app. He looked frantic as he searched through tickets still being actively prepped but to no avail.

I had my dog with me in the car and was not prepared to have to wait 15 minutes for the food to be prepared--but I was even less prepared for the lack of communication & failure to acknowledge the bizarre situation, which later I found was the result of the online order printer being allowed to run out of paper & then accidentally powered off to change it, which erased the queue of unprinted orders from printer memory....leaving no trace of the pending order & completed transaction. Thankfully I had the HP app open on my phone and showed him my receipt. He thrust a small pad of paper and an ink pen that barely managed to write and I was told to write out my order.

Sigh...it eventually worked out, but it was the one time that neither Kristina nor Tasos was present in the restaurant and I fear that young man was not ready for the responsibilities he faced. I've encountered the same young man since and unfortunately he has not made a better impression as of yet....but I trust the Kaiafas to make wise choices for their restaurant and guests, so I will refrain from passing...

TLDR: thoughtful decor, stellar customer service, and the best restaurant food I’ve had in years. That place you’re thinking of going for lunch or dinner? Don’t go there - come here!

I’ve grown to not expect much from restaurants these days, as I spent years running them and saw the industry/food quality change for the worse in the last few years. I feel like most restaurants these days are pretty, but lack in flavor and customer service (the most important parts to me!). This place, however, completely and utterly blew me away. I was greeted with a welcoming smile the moment I walked in the door (most places I end up feeling ignored and leave before anyone even notices I’m there). When I seemed uncertain, I was kindly directed to the order counter, shown the menu with explanations of each item choice, and offered samples of anything I wanted. This was all before I even ordered! The owner said, “It’s like a Greek Chipotle”, which I find to be a perfect, approachable explanation. However, it’s a COMPLETE understatement! All but three menu components are made in house, and MAN can you taste it. The lemony roasted potatoes are basically confited in olive oil and are the perfect amount of tangy, the chicken was moist and crispy on the edges, and the baklava was out of this world (made this morning)! Normally I feel the need to drench my restaurant meal in a sauce or ask for extra spices/salt/oil/etc to stomach it, but it was so delicious I forgot to even touch my homemade tzatziki. Which of course, was absolutely delicious. I guarantee I’ll be back in less...