Pork or chicken stacked on a vertical spit, shaved off in slivers and rolled into a pita with chips, tomato, onion and tzatziki, the late-night Athens staple.
Gyros arrived in Athens in the 1920s with Asia Minor refugees, a Greek adaptation of the Ottoman doner kebab. The vertical-spit pork version became the Greek standard in the 1950s and 1960s. Bairaktaris on Monastiraki has run a gyros window since the late 19th century, before the modern format settled. Today the pita with chips inside is the canonical Athens late-night order, EUR4 across most counters in the city.
2 editor picks for Gyros pita in Athens, ranked by editorial score. All Athens signature dishes · Gyros pita across every city.
Kostas Souvlaki ★ 4.7
monastiraki · Agia Irinis Square 2, Athina 105 60
Kostas Souvlaki on Agia Irini Square in Athens has fired the pork souvlaki pita with its house tomato sauce since 1946, a counter run by the same family for three generations.
Bairaktaris ★ 3.8
monastiraki · Pl. Monastirakiou 5, 10555, Athina
Bairaktaris on Monastiraki Square is the tourist-targeted Athens institution. The family has run the souvlaki and taverna room here since the late 19th century.