Our party of four came across this little place as we were walking back to our hotel after a morning tour of the Vatican, so we stopped in. We'd seen and rejected a couple of other doner places earlier in our stay in other neighborhoods because the menus looked odd: doner and kebabs were there, but seemingly as an afterthought to pizzas, hamburgers, and sandwiches. This one was the same, but now we were hungry so we gave it a try. I figured the burgers and pizzas were there to draw in tourists, but if we stuck with the doner, it'd be good.
We ordered two doner sandwiches, a wrap, and a plate that came with meat, salad, and fries. We also got a plate of fries to share. Those came first, and they were crispy and piping hot. The entrees were also very good...but the meat was unlike any doner/gyros any of us had ever tasted. It tasted like carnitas. Ya know--shredded pork. I could see a sign from where I was seated proclaiming that all their meat was Halal, in which case it couldn't have been pig, but still...
I wondered if they kept a secret stash of pork for the customers who didn't didn't appear to be Muslim, or if they had some weird technique for shredding their gyros that gave it such a different texture, but I didn't have the guts to ask our host. So the food here, while delicious, will always be a bit of a mystery to me. read more
