Pitaria — Restaurant in Tallahassee

I virtually never leave a review. But I feel it's my duty as a Greek American to let you all know this is not Greek food. I went to this establishment for the first time. I was told I should try the Pastichio ( παστίτσιο) So I ordered that and also ordered a gyro. It came to a little under $24. Now let's start with the Pasticio. It wasn't bad. It was a little bland but passable. The problem with it was the serving size. If you know the serving size of pastitsio is normally. Pretty much the size of a regular piece of lasagna. So this was as if you took the top half and served it. This did not come with any side. No rice no pita bread no nothing. I would be okay with that if they hadn't charged me $13 for something the size of a brownie. So that's the first issue. No value for money. The second issue is that the gyro which is simply frozen Kronos meat that they use for gyro. Any Greek will tell you that Kronos is not a name that associates itself with something of quality. That's the first issue the second issue is that they didn't even heat it up on a grill they put it in the microwave. Served on a pita that hadn't been grilled, what's a ketchup size side of tzatziki. I Live 5 minutes from this store got home and of course the gyro was not hot. In fact it looks like it was from yesterday. When I walked into that restaurant I told them that was my first time in the restaurant. I asked them what they had that was actually Greek and that's how I was told about the Pastichio. I'll only say I would never recommend this place to anyone. Not quality ingredients no knowledge of their own product no care of the preparation of their product, and to top it all off. Way to expensive for what they served. No value for money whatsoever. I will not be back. Save yourselves a trip and a headache and leave this restaurant off your list.

PS. Just a hint for most people who don't know. A sure way to tell whether a restaurant actually is Greek and run by Greeks. If they don't offer pork souvlaki, and they only have beef or lamb. It is not a Greek restaurant. Greeks eat a lot of lamb, but the thing that differentiates us from the Muslim Middle Eastern countries. Is that Greeks eat pork as well as lamb and beef and whatever. But the Greek traditional gyro consists of pork tomatoes onions, and they put a couple of french fries in the sandwich. Anyone who's been to Greece can attest to this. So if you truly want Greek food find a...

We drove nearly an hour to go have some not so great Greek food. It's almost a if the restaurant was being operated by a couple of children.

I assume I have been spoiled the Sponge Docks of Tarpon Springs, FL. But still, you read some reviews about Pitaria, and it sounds like a place you want to put on your list of places to go eat at........ yet, the end result was undesirable.

The lamb on the gyros was overdone, and if I were to try serving it to my family at home, they would not have been very pleased. It was like burnt and dried out.

One delicious consultation was the Greek salad dressing. It was so good! Yet, being able to compare several Greek Restaurants in my post experiences, it is one of the few times that the Greek salad did not have potato salad in the middle of the lettuce, but again, the dressing was superb!!! Getting drinks from the soda fountain was impossible, and the iced tea tasted like it had been in the pitcher for about a day or two. Yuck!

My mom loves to have dessert, and my daughter went to ask about homemade baklava, and the staff could not answer if it was previously frozen or if it was; so to speak, store bought. So we passed on the dessert.

So, unfortunately, we drove a fair distance to have subpar food, service, and an atmosphere that is in need of a total remodel.

To sum it up, I should have said to my family, "Let's go somewhere else" as while we were standing in line to order, there was at least two calls that we actually could gather from reaction of the staffer, was a complaint about a pickup order.

I would just love to find a delicious Greek restaurant in the Tallahassee area that has table service, real silverware, and wait staff that knows their stuff. This establishment used all disposable plastic wear, Styrofoam containers and charged for each and every item that a fullservice Restaurant would have brought to your table to make thee experience more first class.

The tables and chairs were pretty close to eating at a formica , fast food type eatery, yet their prices were pretty much like a sit-down full service...

The extent that this place has gone downhill in the last 15+ years is insane. I am a Pitaria veteran who goes way back, at one point I would have described it as my favorite restaurant. I’ve eaten here 100s of times. I ate here 1-2 times a week when they were by FSU. When they moved to the drive-through only location by Capital Circle, I worked nearby and probably ate it 3 times a week.

I’ve been here three times since the pandemic. The first time, they forgot one of our four meals and we didn’t notice until we got home. We drove all the way back and waited in the drive through line since the lobby was closed, then they passed closing time and the owner tried to not serve us, the staff had to appeal on our behalf to get the food we’d paid for like an hour before.

The prices have increased over the years obviously, which is expected. But my second post-pandemic trip marked my complete disillusionment with Pitaria as there was virtually no meat on my sandwich. It was completely unsatisfying and nothing like the Pitaria I’ve known for the last 15 years, which consistently had arguably too much meat, absolutely brimming with the stuff.

More than a year later, I was craving gyro and all the other Greek places were closed. I convinced myself that maybe the last trip was a fluke and this would be awesome again. But there were like three pieces of gyro on my sandwich, it felt like I was mostly eating bread and lettuce.

I’m leaving now and literally still hungry, would have been stuffed for less money at any of the other places I was considering. I have regrets, but at least now I know it wasn’t a fluke and the Pitaria I knew and loved is dead and gone.

I give two stars mainly out of nostalgia, but I would have to be in a rough spot to consider ever eating here again with so many other Greek options around. The gyro was the selling point but they don’t seem to be selling...