"Hey! What can I get for you my friend?" the man says behind the counter with a thick accent.
Well, I'm here for some tasty food and I hear Café Agora has it.
I came here for lunch with my little bro and Buddha-san after finding out that my beloved ramen joint Yakitori Jinbei was closed for lunch on NYE. Thank god FB was with me because without him I would've been more lost than a 4 year old at Toys"R"Us on Christmas Eve.
There is no formal waiter service and you don't pay until you're done - this is just a real chill, relaxed place. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to meet Al (the crazy, friendly owner of the café) but I got the low down from Buddha-san about what it's usually like with him in the house.
We started out with the Mixed Maza Platter (pictured above) which was just a mountain of foodstuffs. The orange thing on mid-bottom of the plate (which I have no idea what the name is...sorry! havuc salatasi thanks Buddha-san!) is a type of carrot salad and it's absolutely delicious. The hummus (at the top) is creamy, vibrant and fragrant cumin tops off the dip. The sour cream flavored with dill is a real winner and I'd be a happy man if I had a bowl of that next to me during a football game. Baba ghanoush? Awesome. I mean, are we seeing the common theme here? Everything is just freaking, good. Sure the presentation isn't much to look at but screw how something looks when something's this tasty.
(chicken gyro)
We ran out of warm pita for the Maza Platter about a quarter into our dish and Buddha-san sighed and had to go ask for more. "They always do this" he said, looking slightly annoyed. I'm glad we were able to get more warm, grilled pita because they were delicious with anything on that plate. They were cut up pretty small so it was difficult to pick up some of the dips but I ended up just eating them by the forkful anyways.
My brother got the chicken gyro while I went with the beef and lamb variety. Buddha-san, having tried out pretty much everything on the menu, went with the falafel gyro. The gyro...oh that delicious, mouth watering gyro. It's something I craved later that night and I'm still craving that now as I write this. Tender slices of beef and lamb are topped off with lettuce, red onions and tzatziki, wrapped around by a warm pita and held together by aluminum foil. Hands down, the best gyro I've tasted in Atlanta. Nothing went to waste. Every slice of meat was eaten and any leftover lettuce was consumed with what little tzatziki was left on the sheet of foil.
After dominating our gyros, introducing my little brother (and possibly tainting his innocent, pure heart/mind) to Buddha-san and watching the former Michigan graduate do an extremely good job of keeping his curse words under control during a Michigan basketball game, we went to pay our tab. The thing with Café Agora is that there is no written price on their menu. To be frank, I don't really know how much each item was. For the Maza Platter, Chicken and Beef&Lamb gyro, it cost me $28 even. I'm guessing $7 for each gyro and $14 for the platter but again - that's only my guess.
"Wait my friends! Let me get you some dessert" the friendly man says. I mean you would've thought we went to high school together or something.
Out comes a paper plate of baklava. Sweet, buttery, delicious baklava. I hear Al tells you how to eat them when he's here but again, I couldn't experience the true Café Agora today. Buddha-san took 1 of the 4 pieces and my brother didn't want any because he was too full. Hey, that's fine by me. I'll take all 3.
While I wish Al was there to tell me what to order/eat, how to eat the gyro and greet us but I wasn't that disappointed to leave with an incomplete experience. I'll be back again and again for those delicious gyros and anything that Al tells me to eat.
Tips:
- Parking located on the side of the street or behind the Café...park without paying at your own risk!
- Open late - till 4am Fridays and Saturdays!
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