Zakia’s

I ordered a Gyro for lunch and it was $ 17 on take out! Food was ok, but a Gyro should never end up in the $ 17 range. I should have told the girl never mind and walked across the street to Amigos. Never Again… Skip the seasoned potatoes for the up charge.
** On a side note the Gyro sauce had no flavor and the seasoned potatoes where meh. The Gyro meat itself had too much flavor for me.

Try the lemonade, OMG Passion Fruit Lemonade is sooo good. Also I had the gyro which was also great and if your ever here on a nice weather day try the patio.

We’ve been to Zakia’s 4 or 5 times in the last year, and this is one of our favorite Mediterranean restaurants. The food gets 5 stars, the atmosphere and servers get 3 stars, so I’m giving an overall 4 stars.
The lamb souvlaki (hubby’s pick) and beef souvlaki (my pick) are perfection, tender and moist and flavorful. As garlic lovers, we think Zakia makes the best baba ganoush we’ve ever had. I’m not in love with the often-​suggesed potatoes upgrade, but the saffron rice is good.
It’s a little pricey considering the ambience, and in general customer service is so-​so. However, Miss Zakia herself is always there with a quirky charm and quick wit. If this were a «real» restaurant with waitstaff and nice décor, then I wouldn’t think twice about the $ 14-​$ 17 entrees.

I have been eating Zakia’s food for a long time. She used to run a place called Greek Pita House in Pflugerville that I frequented for a lunch time gyro and fires, and the greek lemonade with the rose water.
Shortly thereafter she opened up Zakia’s on parmer and since I worked close by I thought, «Great!» For a while it was a better version of what she had cooked before, and the rose-​lemonade and pita was still regularly good. But it seems she can never keep people employed for very long. Her husband cooks in the kitchen (Or at least did for as long as I can remember, and may still) but as time went by there seemed to be something going on behind the scenes that slowly was doing something to the chemistry and flow. Theres a lot of verbal and loud argument going on in the kitchen… Which is in plain site of the dining area.
Zakia always used to be happy and cheerful, and generally interested in her customers. Now she seems detached, distracted, and is subsequesntly unable to multitask efficiently. Just Meh… This also can’t be good for the relations she has with her other employees, who seem to be getting slowly more and more inept. I want this place to be good. I’ve been a fan for a long time, and things are in no way what they used to be for me. Also, I think she plays a little heavy on the Greek background. I get it your proud. But The food isn’t like the food I’ve eaten with Greek folks… It’s really watered down. What happened to the real spice and flavor, Zakia? Both food and personality wise.
This last visit did it. I waited for very long time to be acknowledged. When I was talking to Zakia or the waitress they both could care less what I was saying. The food came out bland and almost cold. its was like grilled-​in-​oil chicken on yellow «saffron» rice. The salad was devoid of dressing. The bill seemed absurdly high.
I prefer to go to Plaka or tino’s when I’m north and some places down south now…
I love you guys, but get it together…

I had been wanting to try this place for a while now…
We decided to have a big group gather together there for Valentines. We had reserved seating. It was about an hour before we were «allowed» to order anything… we literally had to wave our arms in the air to get the attention of our waitress. I have never done that in my life. I’m a patient and understanding patron given that I’ve worked in this industry before, and on a busy holiday shifts as well. They were full, but not slammed busy, so there was just no excuse at all for how badly we were being taken care of.
Finally, we received our appetizers, and they were pretty good, but maybe we were just starving… before I could even finish my appetizer, or before those plates were cleared away, I was getting a chicken souvlaki shoved in my face – literally. I moved my salad plate over, with a mouth full of food, so the waitress could drop my plate. Really? Then they tried to immediately take our appetizers from the table but we were still eating them!
My chicken souvlaki, was truly inedible. The chicken tasted like rubber, even looked like rubber, and had clearly been microwaved before it hit my plate. I didn’t eat it. and I was super hungry, it was THAT bad.
Lastly, we were sitting on the inside, not on the patio where the live music and belly dancing was going on … though we couldn’t see or hear anything much. However, they had the door open to the patio the entire dinner, and so we could feel the cold outside air coming up our backs and legs (maybe we should have just sat on the patio, it looked warmer than my indoor seat!). It was a very cold evening and the breeze would sweep in and directly hit our table. All of us were uncomfortably cold. We asked 3 separate times if they could please close the door, we were not sitting outside and deserve the opportunity to be warm and comfortable for our dinner. The third time we asked, the bus boy responded and informed us that the owner personally said: «That’s a FIRM no.» Wow…
We spent $ 80 bucks on this stupid dinner and that price didn’t even include alcohol. The only thing that I would say was good, was their coffee moose dessert. Also, they are the closest hooka bar near me. These are the only two reasons I gave them two stars and not one. I honestly don’t think I will go back here again, and if I did, I wouldn’t order food. I would just pack my own food in my purse, along with my flask, and just smoke the hooka. The customer services and quality of food in this place is nothing to be depended on. Sorry. I’m bummed about it. Really would have liked to have loved this place!

Been getting food here as take-​out and hitting it up for lunch.
I haven’t been disappointed. The food is good, the atmosphere is relaxed and the place is packed at lunch-​time.
I usually stick with the basics with is a simple gyro. It’s tastes great,
also, in the evenings it’s great to chill in the hookah lounge outside.

I’ve been wanting to try this place for a while, and I was pretty disappointed. While the service was friendly, it was a bit slow.
The food was not as good as I had hoped. I had the chicken shawarma and a side salad. The tzatziki sauce had absolutely no dill, and the salad while fresh had a very disappointing dressing — seemed like mostly some type of mayonnaise. The chicken had some fish-​like flavors to it. Overall, seemed to be overpriced given the portions.
2.4 stars.

Zakia has is a good place to get Greek food. And as far as Austin goes, I think they may be the best place to get Greek food. The place is clean, with large patio. The menu is very simple, which I like, and the service is a bit slow. The owner is friendly and welcomes you with a smile.
I haven’t been back here is a long time because I didn’t think the food warrant a return trip. With all the positive reviews, I decided to give them a try again. I’m very glad I did. The food is so much better than my last visit. I also like that they have an Americanized children’s menu for picky children.
From the appetizer selection, I found the tyropita to be a bit greasy (but expected). The dolmas were delicious and I like the Greek yogurt accompaniment. I love their Greek salad dressing. The acidic dressing worked well with the creaminess of the feta cheese. The gyro and lamb souvlaki had great flavors, but I feel like the meats were way over-​cooked. This may be an ethnic thing (I know Asians like to cook the meat to a crisp); however, it left the lamb extremely dry and tough.
Overall, I think the food is good and the prices are reasonable for the amount of food. Perhaps, I can request a lesser well-​done souvlaki the next time.
Also, they do BYOB with NO corking fees!

Small plates big prices. Must pass on this for future visits.
Have had better

I can’t believe how expensive this place is!
The hummus and baba are very garlicy and my daughter wouldn’t eat it. I wouldn’t say it was the worst Greek food I’ve ever had, but for the price paid I expected a little more.

Their gyro is ok. Other than that there is nothing I would go back for.
The service here is sad the attitude of the owner is not good.
I have been here 4 — 5 times over a span of couple of months. Been here for lunch and dinner, with a larger office group and family.
When my co worker asked for refill, the owner was pretty rude about informing him that refills are extra charge.
Once we went and the waiter was new, it was his first day. He didn’t do a good job but we were like «ok its his first day and he is nervous». After he left our table, the owner gave him a run down just a few tables away from us. I felt bad for the waiter.

Hu, Zakia’s maybe the worst Greek food in Austin. Like, it’s not even properly made.
I stumbled in here and ordered their chicken schwarma sandwich: instead of sliced chicken, there were four giant hunks of breast meat (uncut) sitting on top. There was one giant piece of uncut lettuce, too. Very strange. It was served open flat and there was no way to eat it. I had to cut up the chicken, which didn’t taste right compared to all the other schwarma I’ve had all over the world. It made no sense. It was a sandwich made be someone who read how to make in an incomplete cook book. It totally sucked. I didn’t like it.
No more Zakia’s for me, sorry. I’ll stick to Tino’s Greek and other places that do it right.

There are some things I really liked about this place, but unfortunately the negative in this case completely overshadowed the positive.
I came here with coworkers because I was excited to find a hookah place near our office: I was going to introduce them to hookah for the first time and try some Greek food. Online menu looked great with reasonable prices, and the Unilocal reviews were right in the middle, so figured we’d give it a shot.
When we arrived at 1pm it was pretty empty: we took a seat outside and asked for a hookah menu along with the regular one. Right off the bat we had a small issue: hookah prices had been changed to $ 10 with a $ 5 additional charge for each person smoking.
Now I want to pause for a moment to talk about the hookah price because it’s something I have a lot of experience with. I used to own a hookah bar and then managed another: I have about five years of hands-​on experience in that industry and know all about import and operational costs. So let me just say that $ 25 for three people to smoke a hookah at lunch time in a near-​empty restaurant in Austin, Texas is very high. I have visited many high-​end hookah bars in New York City: Karma Lounge in East Village costs $ 16 for a bowl, and some of the other swanky lounges are $ 15. So if you are visiting this place for the hookahs, you can DEFINITELY find something less expensive. Regardless of what sort of import tobacco they are using or how nice their pipes are, this is simply too much. (Four people sharing a pipe would cost $ 30). But I digress…
After we ordered, I stepped inside for a moment to have a word with our waitress. I politely let her know that their website advertised hookahs for $ 13.95 and that we were a little disappointed in the change. I suggested that perhaps they could fix the error so customers are not disappointed in the future: she thanked me and said she would pass that along. To me, this was a golden opportunity to provide good customer service. «Sorry about that, our mistake, since you came in based on our advertisement of $ 13.95 and it was our mistake, we will honor that price as a courtesy just this once.» That’s all it would have taken to have us really impressed, greatly augment the customer experience, and turn us into repeat customers.
Instead the owner came outside and spent about two minutes talking to the whole table about their website being hard to update because it’s in Flash, why she raised the hookah prices, what her costs are, etc. It was a little embarrassing for me since they didn’t even know I had mentioned it. I responded politely and told her I understand and that I had simply wanted to make sure they were aware of the disparity, for which she thanked me and shook my hand. Again, great opportunity to be customer-​minded and offer to honor their advertised price, but she just went back inside.
Then they brought the food out: we ordered two beef shwarma wraps and one chicken shwarma. I did really enjoy the food: it was noticeably different from the Lebanese and Egyptian versions of the same, and while not necessarily better or worse than those, it was distinct in a way that I appreciated. The prices on food are also pretty reasonable: I think it was $ 7.95 for the wrap.
Another pitfall came when I asked for hot sauce. The waitress told me there was an upcharge of $ 1 for sriracha sauce, which I accepted because I really like hot sauce. Then they brought it out in a little cup, rationing me to a small amount. I don’t think I have ever in my life paid $ 1 for hot sauce at a restaurant.
What. The. Hell.
Other reviews have indicated that they also charge for soda refills, another rarity today.
The overall ambiance here is nice: we really enjoyed the patio, and their lounge area looks cool too. The inside is nice and clean.
When we were ready to go in and pay, we were told they do not accept American Express, which was another disappointment. I understand AmEx really screws business owners, but most can develop their pricing models around this fact in order to make things more convenient for the customer.
Overall I feel like this place has real potential, but they they would do well not to confuse friendliness with customer service. Zakia clearly makes an effort to go talk to customers and check on her tables: she is very friendly. But we were dissatisfied with the customer experience as a whole.
My advice to them would be to raise their meal prices by $ 1 – 2 rather than doing things like charging for drink refills and hot sauce. People pay those little upcharges because we have no choice, but it leaves a sour taste and prevents us from becomming repeat customers. And I don’t really know what to say on the hookah prices, but I will never pay $ 25 to smoke a hookah no matter how good it may be.
PROS:
— Good food
— Low prices on food
— Nice overall ambiance
CONS:
— Customer service
— Exorbitant hookah prices

Disclosure: I know Zakia. We share a similar heritage but she’s also part Greek from her mom’s side. And this is actually how she learned to make traditional Greek food! She also has Algerian and French roots; and she speaks Greek, Arabic and French fluently.
Stumbling on a place like Zakia’s — where the Greek food is ACTUALLY made by someone with Greek origins, is like finding ancient Minoan jewelry in a Texan barnyard. Don’t get me wrong, I find nothing wrong with a non-​Greek chef making Greek food. But most do so for the wrong reasons. Half the «Greek» places in Austin are owned by Albanians, Arabs and Persians. So, knowing there is a lot of tension and racism in our post ⁹⁄₁₁ world, they cook food under the «Mediterranean» umbrella. Because, you can serve Arab dishes like hummus, falafel and baba ghanoush if you slip it into the menu with Greek dishes. They’ve done it so regularly that people can no longer differentiate Arab from Persian from Greek from Israeli.
Firstly, I really really liked the décor. Every inch of the restaurant seemed to have had a great deal of thought and consideration put into it. I also like the fact they have hookahs. Not exactly Greek but a great addition and very reasonably priced. And for those that don’t care for the flavored smoke pipe — it’s only available outside.
Now, to the food. Everything I’ve tried on the menu is tasty! Every appetizer is good! So, if you are debating on getting one, go for it. You really can’t go wrong. My favorites: the spanakopita and the dalmades! For main dishes, I loved the beef shawarma plate and the moussaka [as traditional as it is for Greece, the word actually comes from the Arabic, «musagaa» or chilled]. My sister had the salad and there’s something about that dressing that makes me think Zakia needs to start bottling it and selling it! Yes, it’s that good.
Lastly, the host. Zakia treats this restaurant like her house and you, like her guest. When I was there, I noticed her walking up to each table, introducing herself and making sure everything was going well. I’m trying not to be biased but I really think she makes that extra effort. You can see it in the décor, even the restaurant’s website, and most importantly, the food. I wish it was closer to me but I’ll gladly drive up there for a little piece of Greece!

I can not recommend Zakia’s. I’m posting this because I trust reviews from Unilocal when I am looking for a service and I assume that other people don’t want to waste their time and money either. We did not read the posts here before eating there. I wish we had!
My experience was pretty much the same as the other posts here. Overuse of garlic, salt, and oil to the point that we left with our food uneaten. The quality of our service was equally as bad as the food. Both our waiter and the owner were informed that the food was inedible and we were offered not even an apology.
I had to laugh at some of the reviews here because our stories are so similar. As soon as my mother and I got into our car to leave, we looked at each other and said, Never Again!

Wanting something different but craving Greek food, we headed over to this cute little restaurant that we’d seen several times but never been in. All of us were in high spirits. We all love Greek food. Our favorite is Zorba over in Round Rock, but we wanted something close by and to branch out. It really is a cute little restaurant, not too fancy, but very inviting — the owner is to be commended in that respect.
I can honestly say that we will never forsake Zorba again. We ordered the domalades. BIG mistake and really bad first impression. Yes, they were tinned. And the tzaiki sauce was just bad. Too much greek yogurt, not enough seasoning. Instant bad strike for me. The hummus had chunks of raw garlic or onion or something — whatever it was was entirely too much and it was just off — I can make better at home and I burn water. The pita was warmed, but did not have that slightly crisp texture that you look for, there was no structure — AND it was swimming in an awful lot of olive oil. Fail on the appetizers.
Salads were up next… the dressing was good, but under seasoned. The feta on top was not of good quality. The rest was just salad, not a huge disappointment, but not what I would be expecting.
On to the entrees. There were 4 of us. My daughter ordered a chicken gyro, my son the spinach ravioli special and my husband and I decided to split the surf and turf kebobs. Easy fare. I must admit that the chicken, while a little too oily/​buttery for my tastes, was really really well seasoned. The true one and only stand out to this meal. The shrimp were uninspired as was the beef.
Service was just okay. For the cost, I would have liked to not have felt a little rushed. There was one waitress and what I presumed to be the owner there and one would assume with only 4 – 5 tables there they would have been a little more relaxed. I like to chill out a little more than they do, perhaps :)
Oh, and they charge for soda refills — yeah, I KNOW. Our bill came out to $ 75 without tip. Just not worth it for not even mediocre food.
Avoid this. For fabulous Greek food, visit Zorba. It’s unassuming — an understatement perhaps, but the food is absolutely amazing — get the chicken and spinach, you won’t be disappointed.

This place had THE WORST SERVICE I have experienced in my entire life. I have lived, traveled, and worked in upwards of 25 countries in my life. I’ve waited a few weeks to write this review to make sure I wasn’t blinded by any residual emotions. Nope. Not upset anymore. Facts are facts, and I’m left with the fact that I will soooo never visit this place again.
My friend booked a reservation for a party of 6 for approximately 6pm. It was the evening of the restaurant’s anniversary — I don’t know how many years; that in itself is surprising — and I was the first to show up. I had recently broken my tail bone and brought a special blanket to sit on. (I shouldn’t be roller skating is all that’s about.) In any case, the waitress was clearly annoyed prior to my arrival, so I seated myself at an empty table inside the restaurant — they were all empty — and waited for my friends.
I have worked as a server before and totally get it. However, I am a human being and get that, too. When I shared with her that 5 people were coming to meet me, she responded with, «Wow. We have a party tonight, I’m not sure how we’ll do this» and shook her head as she folded silverware into napkins. A) Is this a restaurant or did I accidentally walk into some girl’s kitchen? B) All the freaking tables are EMPTY as we have this exchange…
Moving forward: my friends arrived and nobody (including us) uncovered the fact that we had a reservation and there was a table waiting for us on the patio where there would be live music later. OUR BAD? I remember working as a hostess, too, I would usually ask a guest upon arrival if they had a reservation. Whatever. I think we should take some responsibility since we also should have asked if there was a table designated for us.
A note on the food: I’m originally from Chicago — 2 miles west of Greektown. I have a few very close friends there who own Greek restaurants — first generation Greeks. Where is your saganaki, Zakia’s? The food was fresh, though. Kudos for that.
I would go on about the annoyed waitress but she obviously has enough to worry about.
Finally, a female manager wearing her sexy party dress came to our table to answer our question that we had asked the waitress earlier which was: «May we have some coffee on the patio» (This by the way, is how we discovered there was a table out there with our name on it)
She responded, «We have shut down the kitchen for coffee and will be making it again in an hour and a half.» Oh. My. GAWD. REALLY?! There were 6 witnesses to this statement. Kitchen is shut down for coffee. I asked her why is there no coffee. She said something about them being slammed because it’s their anniversary but she «would make it herself» if she «had to.» That plugging in a coffee maker is some serious business folks! And the coffee cup wrangling? That’s a plethora of complications unto itself!
We moved out to our table on the patio and had some coffee. She was not happy that she had to make that coffee. We were short 2 chairs so a couple of us stood which was just fine given my butt situation. As we sipped our coffee and enjoyed the live music, she sat on the lap of a man at a nearby table and hung out awhile. I guess that’s this hostess/manager/I-don’t-know’s version of professionalism.
I found her before I left and gave her a special $ 30 tip «for her hospitality.» (We also tipped the waitress 30% ‘cuz that’s how I make my passive-​aggressive behavior a win/​win when I’m dissatisfied) The look on her face was pretty confused. I got to walk away with my silly broken coccyx and drive home but they get to work there tomorrow. And maybe wonder why our group is so dang cool despite people’s ineptitude :)

For Friday date night, we decided to try Zakia’s for some Greek food. Both of us were excited to try a new place. It’s tucked away in an apartment/​retail complex on Palmer. Parking is in the back of the building. The stone path to get into the restaurant is narrow and unless you can walk one foot directly in front of the other, you will fall off the path.
When we walked in the wait staff gave us looks like we walked in the wrong door. One finally asked us if he could help us. When told we are here for dinner, he said take any seat. The place was half full so we had three tables to choose from. The female waitress handed us menu and asked if we wanted an appetitzer. We told her we need time to look at the menu. So she walked away. We later figured out it was her first day when she kept leaving us to ask the others the answers to our questions. She comes back a few minutes later to ask what we wanted to drink. We both ordered the iced tea because it was the only beverage they didn’t charge for refills.
When she came back with the drinks, we asked her how many dalmades come in the appetitzer. Off she went to find out the answer. She comes back with another woman (Turns out this was the owner.). We asked the question again and the owner corrects us on the pronouncation of dalmades. Ready for my rant! First of all, I am here for the food not a language class. Second, I have ordered dalmades in so many different places and I am using the pronoucation that 90% of them use. I have NEVER heard it pronounced the way you said it. Oh, four dolmades come in the appetitzer.
We ordered the dolmades and our entrees. BF had the Gyro platter and I had the Chicken Souvlaki. A short time later our side salads arrived. It was large for a side salad and nicely layed out. Four slices of tomato, cucumber and four olives sprinkled with feta cheese on top a romaine lettuce. We both dug in only to find both of us reaching for the salt and pepper. All I can say is, Where’s the dressing! It was only when you reached the bottom did you find traces of the dressing. Basically it was a dry tasteless salad. The dolmades were deliveried while eating the salad. There were four dolmades on top of a layer of Tzatziki sauce. I have to admit the dolmades were good. The Tzatziki was bland and smooth with no hint of cucumber or garlic.
Entrees arrived before we finished our salads. So we moved our salads to the side to make room. The waitress put the entress on the tables and was ready to remove our salads. I stopped her and told her we weren’t finished. The quantity of food was a huge portion. The saffron rice was dry and insipid. My chicken was dry and boring with no spice at all. BF Gyro was hard and dry and also lacked flavor. The pita was kind of chewy. To say the food was disappointing is an understatement.
We decided to push our luck and get a piece of Baklava to share. Let me warn you in advance, Don’t do it. The piece that was serviced was a one inch square. Seriously one *^%*^$ inch!!! We each got one bite. At this point, we got our check and paid the $ 42.00 for dinner and left.
Once we got in the car, BF and I looked at each other and both said… Never Again. We don’t mind paying those prices if the food was good, but it wasn’t even close to good.

Maybe I’m partial to Niko Niko’s in Houston already but that has set the bar for quick Greek food in my book. The portion size is filling but not oversized. The gyro just seemed average to me. The tzatziki sauce was decent but I like a little more dill in mine. The lamb meat was good but not totally sold on it as I thought I would be. It’s a nice location but underwhelming for some reason. Also the staff just seemed to be alright. I felt like the staff would have been a little more cordial.
Definitely just hit it up for lunch.

Last Friday, at the suggestion of our friends, we dined at Zakia’s, a Greek restaurant in Round Rock. When I worked downtown, we would eat fantastic Greek food at least once a week at a restaurant in the space where Charlie’s is located. I can’t remember the name but this former restaurant was amazing and it takes alot to impress me with Greek food.
We started our meal with several appetizers served with warm pita bread and Greek olives. I have never tasted hummus so tangy and perfect and the feta cheese was to die for. I would have been happy with only appetizers but we wanted the full Greek experience so the mister and I shared a heavenly bowl of moussaka. Our bowl was filled with tender beef cooked with eggplant, bell peppers and potatoes in a delicate tomato sauce that tasted like someone’s Greek grandmother had been stirring it on the stove all day. I thought the serving was small, though, for the $ 13.95 we paid.
I was a little disappointed in the pistachio baklava. It was very small – three bites maybe and a tad dry – but it only cost $ 2.50. I would have preferred paying more for a larger slice. We sipped Turkish tea and coffee lingering over our three bite baklava while chatting with our friends. Zakia’s is well worth a visit for quality Greek food.