Been going to this restaurant for 15 years. Best Mediterranean food in Riverside. When I want comfort food and don't feel like making it myself, this is where I go. I hope this place stays open forever. (Have to laugh sometimes though, because occasionally they have this one person at the register who doesn't understand Arabic names. lol) read more

Haven't been to this place in years but I really wanted some Mediterranean food and it's the closest to where I work. After eating this meal I was reminded why I don't come here. Let's break it down: -Staff is friendly and helpful but service is slow - Food is just ok and is pricey for what you get - A gyro, fries and a water was almost $20! - They do have plenty of seating inside and the interior is basic and relatively clean. They give you a tiny container of tzatziki on the side for your gyro which does nothing for the gyro. There is no additional sauce other than that small side they give you. It's pretty dry and needs more. They do give you a nice amount of meat but the taste is mediocre at best. The fries are good and were freshly made. If I'm paying $20 for this meal, I expect more in terms of quality and taste. read more

Elias Pita - Gyro and fries with tiny container of tzatziki. The meat is dry and needs more sauce to balance it out. - Mediterranean Near Me - Riverside, California

We used to love coming to Elias. The food was great and you couldn't beat the price. We would get the kebab lovers for 49.99 and feed our entire family. Today it was just my husband and myself . We got a combination plate, 3 falafel, and 3 baklava and it was $50+. Yikes. The baklava was crisp but flavorless. The kefta and shish kebab were fine. The chicken kebab was dryyyyyyy. The falafel was as very tasty but they are micro sized! I know this is the price of eating out in the current economy but the food has to be worth it. It was hot and stuff in the restaurant as well. Okay if you don't want to run AC but please turn on the fans or open a door. It was uncomfortable. That said, we probably won't be back. At least not for a while. read more

Elias Pita - Holy shrinkflation - Mediterranean Near Me - Riverside, California

I'm sorry but food was pretty bad & expensive never again if I want mediterranean I'll go to Alina's in Ontario I had to throw it all in the trash as you can see the lamb kabobs read more

Elias Pita - food was pretty bad & pricy for Mediterranean food go to Alina's in Ontario had to throw it all out it was so bad - Mediterranean Near Me - Riverside, California

Great food! Great service! The hummus is some of the best I've had. The shawarma is flavorful and veggies are crispy. Highly recommend!

Second year on a way to Palm Springs came here for lunch. The food is ok, beef shawarma definitely dried up but reasonable healthy lunch option. Huge turn off when you walk in and the two workers here barely answer when you say hello (no Tiger customers are here), order, pay and when picking up the food after saying thank you they don't even answer. One would think you would be friendly to have return customer business. Next time I'll give the Greek folks down a street a chance. read more

Elias Pita - Inside - Mediterranean Near Me - Riverside, California

Awesome food. Prices are little high. Everything is halal. You can place order over phone as well. read more

Elias Pita - Menu - Mediterranean Near Me - Riverside, California

The food is just amazing and my favorite is the Beef Kufta.Everyone should try it.I come every

Delicious fresh food. Environment was clean and welcoming customer service. Food was perfectly cooked, tender and seasoned just right!

Food is amazing here! The place is in a strip mall and ambiance is what you would expect, pretty plain. I did like that there are touches like freshly made rice pudding. The two ladies that were there were very sweet, but the cashier did agree to my replacement request on my order and I still got the standard veggie plate. The falafel and the pita were the standouts!! read more

:( it's not the same as it used to be anymore. I agree with the most recent reviews. My chicken shawarma was salty/rubbery and my pita bread broke apart. I hate to see it declining in quality and ambiance. read more

Delicious! Generous amount for great price, me & my family stop by every time we are in town.

Excellent + food was delicious, great portion, I added extra chicken kebab, I took it to go but restaurant looks clean. Thank you Kazi for your wonderful customer service. I will definitely come back here, next time I'm in Riverside. I was so hungry and food looked to so good I forgot to take a picture. read more

Great place to go, but don't expect fast service. The food was great! The people were nice. If you want some great Mediterranean cuisine, this is one good place to go to. The restaurant is a nice place to dine, as it was quiet with a street view. I would go here again for food as what I ordered and had soothed my hungering body at its core. I absolutely would return instead of dining at a Cava. The food at Cava is more like caca. Elias Pita place is halal, everywhere else is haram. Come to Elias Pita. The speed at which my food was ready was my only complaint. It took about 20 minutes. Otherwise this would be a 5 star review. read more

The food taste good, the weight is long and this is gotta be the smallest chicken kebab wrap I've ever had... Two wraps cost me $23 with tax and there's literally almost nothing in it read more

Elias Pita - Chicken kabob wrap, almost nothing in it. - Mediterranean Near Me - Riverside, California

The sorriest chicken well I think I was chicken . When I asked the counter lady about the meats she replied " I don't know what the meat is " that's scary and after spending $100 on this food ! Please don't save your self ! Not the money but the nausea !!! read more

Elias Pita - Might be beef jerky !! Do not buy anything in this "CULTURED "food ! - Mediterranean Near Me - Riverside, California

Disappointing. Taste leaves things to be desired. Gyro was salty, overall meh. Made me long for my NYC street cart gyros... Portion of the gyro was avg, the chicken kebab wrap on the other hand is on the smaller size for the price. Our order of the gyro and chicken kebab wrap took 20 min. I guess the chicken kebab is grilled to order so that was the rate limiting step. If you are on a lunch break or in a hurry , do NOT order the chicken kebab wrap. The wait simply was not worth it. Below average in taste and portions for what your paying. We did try calling in our order ahead but no one answered. Bottom line : not sure how this place has high reviews ...is it just a college crowd with limited choices?? read more

Love that it has two entrances. The girl at the counter was so nice and welcoming. I ordered the combination plate shared with my husband. If I wasn't watching my food intake I could have ate it all myself lol. We took it to go but they had really cute chairs on the side if you want find a chill spot to grab a bite or take a business call you can definitely do it here. I will be returning. read more

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Elias Pita is a counter-serve restaurant serving Middle Eastern comfort food. The restaurant is located just a block away from my hotel and I decided to stop by here for a quick take-out. [Parking]: Has a private parking lot - free parking with no issues. [Menu]: Each plate comes with customer's choice of protein served with rice, hummus, salad, pita bread, and sauce. They also have wraps, appetizers (hummus, salad, grape leaves, falafel, etc), and baked goods (different flavors of baklava, kenafe, etc) available. *** Gyro Plate (Sliced Gyro meat served with hummus, salad, rice, pita bread and Tzatziki sauce - $15.99): Plate portion was huge. Tzatziki sauce had lemony flavor and pita bread had soft and puffy texture. Gyro meat tasted pretty savory but just a tad salty for my taste. Hummus and salad hit the spot, but I wouldn't say they blew me out of the water. *** Above-average Mediterranean food and definitely a perfect spot for local university students with a big appetite. read more

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Did not even have gyro sandwich on their menu in the restaurant It was mentioned in the menuin here - but nada at the location read more

Great spot for some fresh authentic Mediterranean food . My go to is the vegetarian plate a little bit of everything so satisfying you will thank me later read more

Elias Pita - Vegetarian Plate - Mediterranean Near Me - Riverside, California

Overall: 4.7/5 (delivery) Wow, it's rare for a place to be really good with delivery but Elias Pita delivered! The portion size was good, the food tasted great, & the delivery time was short. Homemade Baklava ($3): For $3, you get a huge pistachio pastry that's super delicious. We had many baklava and this is by far one of the best ones we had! Falafel (3 pieces for $4.99): The falafel came in a brown bag so it absorbed some of the oil for us. The falafel was a nice size and very crunchy on the outside. It tastes much better with the tzatziki sauce than alone though. Combination Plate ($19.99): This was a huge portion that can fill 2 people up. It came with grilled shish, chicken, kufta kabob, rice, hummus, salad, pita bread, & garlic sauce. Everything was good but I really liked the hummus. read more

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Unfortunately, Yelp reviews had me misled about this Mediterranean restaurant. I usually order from a great place out here in Fontana on Sierra Lakes Pkwy (starts with a Z and ends with Bistro) that has delicious, mouthwatering seasoned food, but decided to try someplace different tonight and that turned out to be a big mistake. Items ordered (delivery): *Chicken Kabob plate: came with about 5 large sized pieces of chicken breast cooked well on a grill. They had no flavor AT ALL. Bland! The plate came with plain rice, not even rice pilaf, which wasn't seasoned, a tomato and cucumber salad that was warm, and hummus. Such a disappointment. The chicken was in between dry and moist, but closer to dry and one of the pieces was too hard to eat. The hummus is average. It wasn't very flavorful. I like mine lightly salted with a little tang from the lemon juice and earthiness from the olive oil. I didn't get any of those flavors on my palate. FYI: Some inconsistencies with amount of chicken in some of these posts. I had only about 5-6 pcs of chicken, whereas someone else had between 8-10 pcs of chicken and we ordered the same plate of food. Check out the photos. *Vegetarian plate: comes with 3 falafels, 3 grape leaves, baba ghanoush, tabbouli, hummus, and assorted pickles. My first bite was into the cold, hard, dry, flavorless falafel. Wow! I don't think I've ever had falafel with so little love put into the making of it. This tasted like it was days old and had been warmed up in the microwave. The baba ghanoush was watery, didn't even have that great roasted flavor that it should have. Almost tasted like it was from a can. Not a fan. I thought that the grape leaves would at least be the saving grace. Can't mess those up, but they sure did. Absolutely no flavor whatsoever. Where was the tanginess from the lemon juice? The filling was mush and had not a speck of seasoning in it. Also was not freshly made. Only think I did like was the tabbouli. It tasted fresh and well-seasoned. *Garlic sauce/spicy garlic sauce: Ordered a 4 oz. side of each ($1.50 ea). Disappointing, to say the least. Almost tasted like they put mayo in it. Very weird creamy texture with the spice, or heat of the garlic showing through. Also had no lemon flavor and no salt. Think of garlic Mayo and that's what it tasted like. The spicy garlic sauce was also a joke. It had some great heat to it but too much sourness and not much of a garlic flavor. Think spicy Mayo. * Ordered extra pita bread, because I love bread. It was good. Can't really mess that up since it was purchased from a bakery. Not sure why this place is rated as high as it is, but the only thing I can think of why is that most of these yelpers haven't had bomb Mediterranean food. You guys need to venture out and try some other places and then update your review. I guarantee you'll give less stars. read more

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Hmmm homemade hummus to go! Chicken Schwarma sammie, stuffed grape leaves and a plate of delicious chicken and rice all is delicious. Great for families or business meetings. The service and ambiance is great. read more

Ordered online no problems. Gyro bowl was better, had good portions, Shawarma not as flavorful. Not a fan of the baklava here honestly read more

Elias Pita - Gyro Plate Beef Shawarma Plate - Mediterranean Near Me - Riverside, California

Parking: They have a back lot with a decent amount of spots. Ambience: It's a fairly small establishment that reminds me of your typical fast food place. Service: Excellent! They were very friendly and even offer a student discount. It's meant for UCR students, but it seemed to be applicable to other students as well. I'm a student and biased, so this discount earned them another star in my eyes. Taste: The portions were huge! Got the chicken kebab, and it's about the size of a Chipotle burrito that's not fully loaded. Definitely could split into two meals, which is quite generous for the price. Chicken was nicely marinated and juicy. Nothing mindblowing, but definitely good for the price and speed :) read more

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The food was amazing! We had the gyro's and hummas plate. The Taziki sauce was delicious! Great stop heading to palm springs. The service was friendly and so nice! I recommend! read more

Food was horrible! The chicken was hard and dried. They didn't have certain items listed on their menu (beef and basmati rice) the pita bread was super hard, there was no ice, their soda machine was broken a party of 4 walked out after they ordered, PAYED and sat because apparently they didn't have enough of whatever they had ordered and to top it off they were refusing to give them a refund on the spot. They were being asked to call the next day to speak to the manager so he can approve the refund. We should've known, the place was dark and deserted (I had to ask if they were still open) bad choice. read more

I'm not sure if this place went under new ownership but the food quality and the restaurant went downhill. The soda machine is not working and has no ice. They have can soda and other soft drinks that are over priced. The chicken shawarma wrap was not the same as it used to be. The chicken was dry and over cooked, it used to be juicy and packed with flavor. The pita was so dry and breaking into pieces when I would bite into it. They used to give you garlic sauce with your meal but now you have to ask for it. The tables were clean inside the restaurant and there were only two people working. They have an outside area but all the tables and chairs were put up. The parking is in the back of the restaurant and it's a bit scary as it's full of homeless people camped out there. The garlic sauce is still amazing. Their fries are delicious! They put some kind of seasoning on them and it tastes so good. I'm so sad because this was the one place I loved to eat but I don't think I will be coming back here again. read more

Used to be amazing now they are just ok. They sold the business so it appears the recipes are different.

Best gyros in Riverside. Delicious gyros and baklava. People are nice. The atmosphere is clean & welcoming.

We have been going to Elias for many years. They used to have wonderful food, but the quality has slowly declined. After our recent meal, we will never return. Every item we ordered was bad: the salad was mushy and seemed old; chicken shwarma--once delicious--was dry and flavorless; same with the falafel. Even the rice was bad. read more

Delicious food full of flavor. The lentil soup was my favorite. We loved the food and we will try it again.

delicious, great menu, love the food amazing. i can't express enough how great the food was. j always get the chicken kabob wrap

Love coming here, the first few times chicken was perfect recently it's been getting less cooked each time I ordered. This time I thought I saw some pink in my chicken and cut open all the pieces. All the other pieces were cooked except for this one piece. I would've preferred burnt chicken over raw chicken. Thank god I didn't eat this I would've had food poisoning. Service is always good so this was very disappointing. read more

Elias Pita - Chicken Kabab Plate - Mediterranean Near Me - Riverside, California

After 4 years of eating here I had my first bad experience. Ordered two combination plates for take out. The steak on both was so over cooked it was inedible. The kufta and chicken were flavorful but super dry. Phoned it in and they said 20 mins.. ended up being 40 mins. I hope it was a one off because it's hard to find good Mediterranean food in the IE and this place was the best. read more

If you want some good chicken kebab, chicken, Shawarma, beef, Shawarma, lamb Costa, and much more! This is a place to go.

I came here after going to a yelp event a few streets away. I chose to try their chicken shawarma platter ($12.99) and a gyro sandwich ($7.29) for my dad and brother to bring home. The chicken shawarma came with garlic paste, warm pita bread with the shawarma piled on their rice. The sides were hummus and their house salad. The chicken shawarma was not salty and it was not dry, juicy and it was seasoned well. The gyro was too salty for my dad and my brother liked it. It came with sliced beef, sliced red onions, and sliced tomatoes with a tzatziki sauce. They have a yelp check-in for a can of soda. The staff is nice, the restroom is clean. read more

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On University Ave. very close to UC Riverside, it's a convenient drive. I've had my share of Fafalel, Gyros, Baklava & Turkish coffee, but this place is Amazing!! Orders: Gyros- with a fluffy pita that was so soft, fragrant & fresh makes you want to just buy another pita just for this reason. The beef slices were well seasoned & the tomatoes plus red onion were fresh fresh. I was especially pleased to see that the tzatziki sauce was a very thick cucumber consistency unlike other places where the tzatziki is thinner. Every component of this gyro exceeded my standard & the fact that they received an "A" rating from the Dept. of Environmental Health is very comforting. Pistachio Baklava- a buttery, flaky pistachio filled dessert that was an addictive treat bc you could taste the rich buttery ingredient as well as the sweet honey. I would re-order again, but really wanted their cinnamon baklava so hopefully next time I visit they will have that. Turkish Coffee- was a really nice brew with the perfect amount of sweetness. It was the perfect compliment to the Pistachio Baklava. Without a doubt I would return for the food, the quality & the ambiance. read more

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Hands down, best Mediterranean food in SoCal! Hidden gem. My fav is the chicken kabob plate. So delicious and flavorful