Gyros and Pizza: A Winning Combination?

It perhaps comes as no surprise that combines two types of great quick-eats cuisine — you guessed it, gyros and pizza. But here’s the thing: I have tried a few different items from their menu and actually enjoy their Italian food more so than the Greek.

The restaurant is set up similar to a pizzeria. You walk in to the dining area where there are a few tables and on left side towards the back is the counter where you can place your orders. I have eaten in once and ordered out the rest. 

Their menu consists of gyro, souvlaki, falafel and other Greek specialties along with pizza, heros, calzones and pasta from the Italian menu. The also have a nice selection of salads, wraps and burgers.

When eating in, my wife and I went up to the counter and placed our order and then sat at one of the tables. When our food was ready, one of the girls from behind the counter brought it out to us. Our meal consisted of a falafel sandwich and spinach pie for my wife and a souvlaki and gyro platter for myself.

I though the falafel and spinach pie were pretty tasty. My wife thought there were too many onions in the spinach pie on this occasion but she has ordered a few times since and there were less onions and garlic in it that she liked much better. The souvlaki and gyro were also both very good but what killed it for me is their tzatziki sauce. I didn't really like the flavor or consistency of it… to me, their tzatziki was too runny, I prefer it creamy.

Recently I tried their Moussaka (layers of eggplant, meat sauce and potatoes topped with béchamel sauce above) and a chicken Parmesan hero.

Their chicken parm hero is served on a foot long hero stuffed with chicken cutlets. There is a decent amount of cheese and sauce to boot. I found the taste to be just ok. It had to do with their sauce. I found it to be a little too tangy and overwhelming as I kept eating.

The last time I had some Moussaka was when I lived in Astoria and it was amazing. So I was pretty excited when I ordered it from Aegea. The piece I got was huge and looked promising, but sometimes looks can be deceiving. I found the whole thing lacking any type of flavor, dry potatoes and meat sauce and Béchamel sauce was nothing like the one I had before. It was a thin layer with very little flavor, very disappointing meal.

There is one item on their menu that my whole family loves and we order regularly: the $9.99 large pizza. This is the best deal around for a large pie and they do deliver in the large department. Their pies are thick with good amounts of cheese and sauce and I have not had the same experience with the marinara sauce on the pizza as I did with the chicken parm hero.

My experimenting with Aegea hasn't really panned out the way I hoped. I would have liked to get more out of the place because of their selection — but their $9.99 pizza pie can't be beat.

Aegea is located at 242-05 Northern Blvd. in Little Neck and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.