Zaalook

This place is liiiitttt right now! But honestly, best place to eat after you get drunk in China Town! Shout out to this place!

Lahcen is so cool very friendly! His chicken and saffron rice is really good! The rice is perfect and very flavorful! Love from Colorado!

Have wanted to try the Lamb shank with Saffron Rice for a while, Glad that I did this past evening. It was really quite delicious and good flavor. It came with some Sauce and Olives.
It was a huge portion. 2 people could enjoy this together… will definitely be back…

Very sub-​par service, sub-​par food, and lack of numeracy (ability to do math from a coupon).
Pros
+Food didn’t taste bad
+Guy behind the counter was decently friendly
Cons
–Took forever to get my food ready, 2 others’ were served and got their food before me*(See story)
— Had a $ 10 off coupon, instead, 1 entrée (of $ 7) was deducted instead. Not cool.
— Food made me sick afterwards
— Hours kind of suck
Bottom line, the food is alright, but the service, quality, and sickness afterwards render this a poor option, even among the low standards you may be accustomed to with most food carts.
Story: I ordered 3 entrees, a couple sides, and 3 drinks. The guy started one of the orders, took another 2 peoples’ order, finished my first entrée, only to let it sit out for 10+minutes while he made the other peoples’ orders and the remaining two entrees of my own. This was on an ABSOLUTELY DEAD NIGHT. In the 20 minues I was there waiting, only 1 customer ordered before me (no one else around) and two guys came after me, but there wasn’t anybody else even ON THE STREET, let alone ordering from them otherwise. Then, while I waited, he tried to explain that my food took longer to make, when the first item he prepared was the same as the other two. Disappointment.
Afterwards, the three of us got pretty sick near food poisoning that lasted about a day for each of us and that was the only thing the three of us had in common for any food or drinks around that time period. :(

The gyro was good, like most other Mediterranean carts.
However, I loved the saffron chicken rice. Would probably return for it again.

This place is great for when it’s 2am and you are starving after the bars and waiting for Lyft. The owner is super friendly and the Gyros are delicious! I got a falafel gyro and it was perfect — definitely hit the spot.
I will be back! perhaps during a normal hour of the day ;-)

Midnight food run = You never know what you’re going to get in downtown Portland near Burnside. Lol.
The streets were a mix of people who were uttering profanities and talking to themselves, voodoo donut patrons, bar hoppers, and others who just got off work and were hangry. Thankfully, there was plenty of parking nearby.
What first stood out to me was that the servers were so friendly and it felt like they made a positive presence in the neighborhood. They even had good attitudes when it came towards dealing with snarky remarks from more «complicated» patrons or those finagling pennies, and put a lot of care into what they made and served.
And it showed… The signature lamb gyro was heavenly. Meat was moist and not too rich, veggies were fresh and crisp, sauces had great but not overpowering flavor, and the pita bread they used was perfect– moist, warm and so good even on its own! Big thumbs up!

I had one of the best falafels in town at this cart. The fries and hummus were really good too. They were very accommodating of my vegan and gluten free diet. Great for late night. Definitely eating here again

Fantasic! I had the lamb gyro with all the fixings. My wife isn’t a fan of lamb so she had the Chicken Gyro. They offer a larger size but the regular was plenty. The staff was friendly and gladly took my Unilocal coupon.

amazing lamb gyro. Best I’ve ever had! Super friendly dude showed us his sweet new state of the art truck. Very cool will definitely be back :)

The one bite from chicken saufron was godly I would recommend anyone who visits Portland to eat here

This was my first time buying Mediterranean food from a street vendor and the service was great. The man was very knowledgeable and helpful and I didn’t feel rushed at all. My only complaint is that the lamb meat in my gyro was not shaved from a rotisserie like it has been at every other Mediterranean place I’ve eaten, it was very thinly sliced, pre-​packaged cold cut style meat. It really changed the flavor. All of the other ingredients were fresh and delicious so I was a little bummed to see him whip out those thin frozen strips of meat when preparing my sandwich.
A few weeks ago, the owner contacted me and told me that they had read this review and had made the decision to start using fresh lamb instead of the cold cut style meat. This is great news and from some of the photos I’ve looked at, the gyros look absolutely amazing now. I can’t wait until my next trip to Portland so that I can stop in and have one. If they taste as good as they look, I will definitely be re-​editing this review afterwards.
So far, I’ve been back to Portland twice and both times, I’ve stopped by Zaalook to try the new meat. The first time, it was early in the day and I didn’t realize that their hours are 8pm to 3am. Last night I tried again at about 9:25pm and they were closed again. I only make it to Portland from Seattle a few times a month at that so I guess I’ll have to keep trying. I was pretty disappointed that they were closed because I really wanted a gyro but not from any other place. We settled for On Deck Sports bar just a few blocks away and that made me really wish that Zaalook had been open. Oh well. Maybe next time.
I finally made it back to Zaalook when they were open and I got to order the lamb gyro. Just as the owner said in the message to me, they have changed their ways and started using real lamb meat. Everything else about the gyro was the same. Quality ingredients but it still didn’t taste right. Instead of the traditional lamb/​beef combo meat that cooks all day on a rotisserie, they are using roasted lamb meat. Don’t get me wrong, the meat did taste good but it just isn’t right in my opinion on the gyro not to mention that they seem to use very little of it to stretch their profits. I wasn’t lucky enough to have a little meat in each bite of my gyro. It’s definitely way better than the cold cut meat they were using before but still a let down after trying so many times to go back and update my review. With so many other places to try in the downtown Portland area, I’m afraid that I won’t be going back to Zaalook for a very long time if ever. If ever the owners of Zaalook are in Washington, make a point to stop by a place in Tacoma called It’s Greek To Me located at 1702 6^th Ave, Tacoma, WA 98 405
(253) 272‑1375. They serve the absolute best gyro that I’ve ever eaten.

I got the $ 5 for $ 10 deal on Unilocal,total cost me $ 6 for a lamb gyro and the Hebrew National ($ 4 for basically a hot dog). Price was a steal, especially in the evening when everything is closed. Great customer service as well, had a great conversation with the cook.

I got the chicken saffron rice dish. Real solid tasty plate. I try to criticize this plate but can’t find a flaw. Real good, guarantees to please you.

in between 3 and 4 stars it’s hard to give an accurate star rating. some things can easily be improved to bump it to a 4.
so, they are open late!
the gyro is good. it’s not too big — somewhere close to medium size.
tastes like a gyro — other items also available.
a gyro here is about $ 7. not too bad but, there are many carts within vicinity selling similar gyros for $ 5. that’s not that big of a difference but what ticked me off was the extra charge for using a credit card.

Lamb gyro with tzatziki sauce. They also add the legendary siracha sauce (good on everything). Had it for lunch. Came back and got it again a few hours later (don’t judge me: P). Awsome and the two gentlemen that work there (one of them is the owner) are really nice and outgoing.
Great experience all around.
Hypothesis of the name:
Someone was looking for it and couldn’t find it. So this person settled for less and ate at another spot. Then they came across the incredible smell of this places food and saw the guys running it and they said «zaaaaaa! Look!»… ok maybe not. Perhaps someone will ask and add it to their review lol.

Made a stop to get some food in Portland on our road trip from LA to Seattle and found this little gem. The cook had forgotten my ridiculous order and instead of guessing he asked me to recap so he wouldn’t get it wrong. Service was awesome and personable.
The food was fantastic! The tzatziki sauce was amazing and the lamb gyro was the best I’ve ever had. Try it with sriracha! The feta cheese, sriracha and tzatziki sauce balanced really well and added an extra kick without the sriracha being overpowering. Everything was made fresh to order so it took a little bit, but totally worth it for the quality.

Holy delicious falafel! In from the east coast, just needed a bite before crashing. Instead I got a lovely chat, a few laughs, and as wonderful falafel wrap! Mmmmmm

Good food, friendly service. Definitely a must in Portland! Try the lamb and chicken gyro.

Late night food is what I was craving, late night food is what I got. But better than expected. Yes, I know that food trucks have stepped up their game over the past few years. No better than here in Portland where the food pods and trucks are mainstays.
We had been over at the Crystal for a night of 80s music and a bouncing third floor… unnerving. We were wandering about and came upon Moroccan food and a pizza window, but neither was grabbing me. As we were walking on we saw a guy with a gyro. Looked good. He told us where he got and then proceeded to escort us across Burnside to said food truck. Zaalook was what you would expect it to be. Middle Eastern folks playing Spanish music… isn’t that what you expected??? He was really friendly and even thanked the guy for bringing us over. Apparently, he was a regular.
There was some good food to be had. Gyros, burgers and baklava. They had two sizes of gyros $ ⁵⁄₆ the bigger one had more meat and a lot more feta on it. I asked for some hot peppers, but he told me he’d add sriracha to it. I had a choice of lamb or beef and I chose lamb. There was a good mix of lettuce, tomato and onion and of course plenty of feta cheese. It was worth the extra buck to get the larger one. It was a much better option for the evening than the other two choices I had seen. There were also taco trucks and soul food nearby as well, but on this night, a gyro was just what I needed.
I don’t know how many people know of this place because there are so few reviews on it. The truck is unassuming. It’s not one of the ones with the fancy graphics all over it, so mostly you miss it. It is worth making your way over there. As some of the other reviews mentioned, it’s a «hidden gem» right in front of your face.
Good food, friendly service. What else do you need?