Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices

The pros: Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices are decent gyro, but nothing that will wow.

The cons: These are no where nearly as good as a Greek restaurant, however, if you are no where near a good Greek place, then these are a decent substitute.

The verdict:  The neighborhood I grew up in was very Greek. How do you know your neighborhood is a little bit Greek? Well, if you identify a little too well with the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding then you know you are in a Greek neighborhood. Or if most of your neighbors have statues that are primarily in the nude, then you might find that statement to be true too. I was surrounded by some amazing Greek restaurants and even carts that just sold gyro. Let me tell you, that Gyro is on point.

Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices are no where near the quality that you would get off of a spit. I’ve been to a number of street carts, or street meat as we New Yorkers frequently call them. Those run laps around this product. You can’t hope to match the quality of a Greek Restaurant or street cart. Probably for a few reasons, the first of which being that this is mostly beef in place of lamb.

Next, the sear that Gyro gets on those large spits can’t be replicated at home or in a pan. The slices in a gyro sandwich are also no necessarily uniform in the way they are packaged here. However, this package does not financially set you back what a single gyro sandwich will. In fact you can easily build 2 generous gyro sandwiches out of this package.

For $3.99 this did not taste bad, but was no where near the quality of the authentic gyros. However, if you take a moment and realize this is prepackaged refrigerated gyro meat that you can do at home, it isn’t terrible either. My gyro slices ended up in a pita, with lettuce, Trader Joe’s Tzatziki Dip and I had two pleasant meals. If you don’t have a good Greek establishment, then this is a reasonable substitute.

Here is the visual run down of what you get if you buy this product:

The box of Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices:

The nutritional information:

The ingredients:

How to prepare:

After being heated and placed on a pita:

Would I buy this again? While I liked, but not loved Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices, I would buy them again once in a while if I know I’m not going to my favorite Greek restaurant any time soon.

Want to see more items I’ve reviewed from Trader Joe’s? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.

Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!