The Hungry Foodie: Review of Victor's Gyros and Pancake House Review in Muncie, IN

Rating: 6 out of 10. (BUT: This rating has more to do with growing pains of a fledgling restaurant than the quality of the food or service; the two issues I had with Victor's are things that are easily remedied)

Address: 700 S. Tillotson

Phone: 288-1777

Situated in a corner storefront once the home of a pizza place and a Skyline Chili, Victor's is the newest addition to the "culinarily" lacking west side of Muncie. Intrigued by the combination of advertised gyros and pancakes, I've ventured to Victor's twice in the last week. Both times the food has been exceptional, though the cooking once (at breakfast) was lacking in some regards and with an over-apologetic waitress the stay was somewhat tarnished. It clearly has some growing pains still, but overall it is worth the trip.

The first trip by yours truly was for dinner. My wife and I both had the gyro plate. Heaped high on the plate was the lamb and its accoutrements-feta cheese, tzatziki sauce being the two most important-as well as potato of your choice and a vegetable. It also comes with one pita. And that was problematic and my main complain/concern about Victor's. The meat is piled high and is surprisingly good considering the eclectic menu; it is, in fact, excellent tzatziki sauce and the meat is far better than an actual Greek restaurant in Zionsville, IN at which I ate a few months back.

My major complaint about Victor's is this: the plate comes with one average sized pita. Yet it is at least a two pita meal, perhaps three. My greatest beef about this is that to get a second pita you will be charged the exorbitant rate of $1.25. That essentially raises the price of the platter to the $10 mark. And that is where I have to draw the line. Pita bread is not worth $1.25 per slice, and gyro platters, regardless of how good they may be, should never hit the $10 level. I've had the same amount of food in a few places in Detroit and Portland, OR specifically that top out at $7.95.

As for the service and atmosphere, the service and atmosphere for the dinner was quite pleasant. Victor's isn't a high class restaurant, and it doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is: a nice, unique-to-Muncie eating establishment. It's unfortunate that Victor overcharges for pita and skimps on it at the same time.

Enjoying the food (with that one exception) as well as the service and the atmosphere, we ventured back for breakfast. My dreams of having a pleasant meal were abruptly put on hold. I ordered the ½ biscuits and gravy special of the day, and had another mixed experience with my meal. I'm reasonably particular with my eggs and hash browns. I like my eggs to be on the less-done side of well done (typically known as medium well; the yolks are solid, but not cooked completely through) and I prefer my hash browns to be crispy-very, very, very crispy. I emphatically emphasized my preferences to the pleasant server and saw her write my information down precisely. But when I received my special, my eggs were cooked to over medium-easy (the yolk wiggled when I touched it; NOT over medium well, not even medium!) and my hash browns were far from very well done and crispy; they were on what I'll call the near side of warmed. What made this more troubling for me was we actually heard the waitress emphasize to the cook that the hash browns had to be almost burnt (it was easy to hear; we were the only customers at the time). I promptly sent the plate back for a do-over. Once she brought the new plate back, it was perfect. She apologized profusely for the error, including a statement that the cook is from Latin America and still working on his English; it went beyond that even, so much so that it actually became irritating.

Lest I forget, I do need to mention that while the eggs and hash brown incident did end with a wonderful meal, the biscuits and gravy were very good. It was, in all honesty, a very pleasant surprise. The gravy was not floury, and it was seasoned perfectly; too many restaurants in the north somehow think floury, under-seasoned gravy is acceptable fare. It's not. Of course, it's not of the same quality you might find in the Deep South, but who can match them? It's one of those things Southerners can do well naturally.

And the thing that impressed me the most? It was neither the food nor the service, rather it is what happened when I asked to have my food re-cooked: Although I approved of simply cooking the food on the plate more, the waitress emphatically insisted that the cook would remake my eggs and hash browns completely new. She emphatically emphasized that although I gave the okay to further cook the food on my plate, it would be a health code violation to do so. Impressive. Victor trained his people well. After 20 years in the food service business and years of being a foodie, I have only heard someone who was not management say something like that once. Once. Kudos to you Victor. Kudos to you for training your staff so well.

And don't worry Victor. I'll be back. The experiences we had weren't enough to dissuade us from coming again...and again...