Midtown Lunch

Lately the number of trucks parking in the lower part of the Financial District has ratcheted up a notch as more and more encounter parking problems in midtown. It’s only a matter of time before this starts happening on the few blocks where trucks can park down here, but until then we can enjoy more diverse lunch options. From the look of it, you lunchers have fully embraced the Souvlaki GR Truck which is almost always parked on Old Slip (off of Water St.). So why did it take so long for me to go review it? Well, because the line is always 10 deep when I walk by and sometimes my stomach doesn’t have the patience for that kind of wait. Then came a day when I wasn’t ravenously hungry come lunch time and decided to brave the line. 

Most of the sandwiches were eaten by Jeremiah when the truck first started parking in the Flatiron area last year (and it looks like prices are about 50 cents more across the board since that review). My eye was on the chicken and pork stix ($1.75 each) and the Greek fries ($4.50) and I had a greasy bag of meat and potatoes in hand after about a 20 minute wait.

The stix each have about five chunks of meat on them and each come with a quarter piece of pita that, because it was put in the bag with the meat, was deliciously coated in meat grease. There’s also a container of tzatziki thrown in there for making a couple of mini sandwiches, or dipping. My favorite of the two was the chicken (on the bottom), but only because it was a little more moist than the pork. Bottom line – if you like salty meat on a stick, you’re going to like these.

The fries were a hefty portion put in a bag and then absolutely annihilated with chunks of feta. There was so much salty cheese and potato here that if you’re not that hungry this could easily make for a lunch on its own. If you’re not into a festival of feta they also have fries without it for $1 cheaper. My only complaint was the fries were pretty greasy and not salted which made the ones on the bottom that weren’t gobbed with cheese a little bland.

I can’t believe it took me so long to eat here, but now that I have I’m glad the truck parks far enough away from my office to make it a hike to get there. And at $8 this lunch was a way better deal and quantity of food than what I’ve been finding lately at newer trucks.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Salty meats, feta galore, what’s not to like?
• Prices are reasonable, especially for a new school truck.

THE — (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• There’s always a line and I’m impatient.
• I’d rather head to Pita Press where there are more options.

Souvlaki GR Truck, at Old Slip & Front, although check on Twitter before heading out.