Salem Gyro & Submarine

There is absolutely no consistency, every time I order the same thing it always different. And since the staff can barely communicate with themselves much less customers it’s hard to get them to get an order right. If it wasn’t for the convenience of location I wouldn’t go here again. The food isn’t super spectacular.

The place is not too much clean but the food is super delicious. The service is also very fast and the quantity of the food is so generous. The staff is friendly. You can also refill your drinks. The delicious smell will make you want to come here again and again.

Why are these restaurant only in the ghettos it seems very obvious if you see a saleems you are in the ghetto. It seems really dirty I’m sure they will appear on Dirty Dining multiple times

Really cheap food. The food is okay but it is kinda gross. It is college food but it is not great college food. I would not recommend eating this stuff unless you are still young enough to not notice the grease or drunk.
The service is okay. Not the best

I am so confused! We almost went to Lala’s Gyros down the street, but the scathing reviews scared us off. Just a few blocks down, there was Salem, which seemed to have much better Unilocalage.
So we walk in, and several things are very clear:
1) LaLa’s and Salem are the same. That is, same owner, same menu, same same same. Kinda weird, since they are so close. One one hand it is like they are hiding that, and other other, that are making it completely clear. Confused.
2) Salem really likes to see pictures of himself, and wants us all to know he is the «President» of this little dive. OK, that is kinda cute and made me laugh.
3) They have an incredibly confusing menu with a little bit of everything, and a lot of nothing.
But we were craving Gyros, and here we were. How can I put this? Possibly the worst Gyro I have ever had. It was just really, really bad. Maybe their other menu items are better, but hey, «Gyro» is in the name of the place, right?
The guy working the place was almost impossible to understand, and it was clear the feeling was mutual. We had to repeat ourselves about 5 times to order 2 Gyros. Again, this is the name of the place. I would think asking for a Gyro (Yee-​Roh) would be something he hears often? Confused.
Then there is the ambiance. This is where I take it from one star to two stars. I love dives, and I couldn’t make a place look as divey as this place if I tried. I mean, it is in my top 10 list of «What a Dive!!!» Kudos on that, seriously… even though I doubt Salem was going for that.
So it seems that the positive reviews here center around the 4AM close time. I get that. If I were really, really drunk at 4AM, this would count as food, and that would be worth some stars here… until I had my meeting with the toilet the following morning.

Great Food, with good price !
My favorites are cheese burgers, felafel & gyros
This place need more attention to restrooms & keep it more clean, good service.

Excellent gyros, fries, baklava and have tried several middle eastern dishes that were great as well. Very quick and open late, Unilocal says they close At 4pm but more like 4am.

I had the #8 which is a cheeseburger w/​fries. The burger was juicy and the fries were fresh, not frozen. You’ll have to tolerate the guy who takes your order, cuz his English is not that good but you will enjoy the food.

I was craving a gyro when we happened to be driving by here so we decided to stop in. When we first walked in we realized that we were the only people there, that can always be a bit scary. The menu is very random. They have anything from gyros to lomein. We decided on the fries, chicken gyro, and chicken philly. Our total was $ 18. The service was okay. The food did not take too long to prepare and it was all nice hot. Fries were fresh. The philly and the gyro were «eh». The gyro was really bland. The philly was okay but nothing I would go back for.

mediocre food, not disgusting but def your best late night option. I’m assuming it’s all halal too so there’s that. Price is right as well and staff friendly and quick.

While the food here was tasty compared to fast food chains, the service was not at the same level, which is the reason I’m giving Salem’s three stars rather than four.
With that being said, I had a surprisingly flavorful meal of chicken tenders with bleu cheese sauce and an order or cheese fries. The tenders were… tender! They were also incredibly juicy, and the fried outside was amazing. They definitely weren’t typical chicken tenders — the spices were more powerful, and the outside was thin as opposed to a super crunchy, flour-​drenched chicken strip. I liked it significantly more than other kinds I’ve had before, mostly because it’s the first novel approach I’ve tasted.
The cheese fries were pretty good, nothing to rave about, but they were decently coated with an almost mac’n’cheese-like cheesy sauce. The fries by themselves are also pretty good. I did have one weird tasting fry, but only one in the whole dish. Not sure why that particular fry was funky.
My two friends had the chicken and rice and the Philly steak. Both reported that they were alright, nothing wrong with them but not the best they’ve ever had.
Be sure to speak your order clearly, and reference the names of the food — don’t try to order the «Special» numbers. BONUS: University of Tampa students get 20% off their purchase!

I just finished my hummus and felafel mix wrap. yum! I took the pickles out. Not the best since felafel/​taameya isn’t new to me. I will be back! Yummy!

It’s decent. The fries are not my favorite but it’s open late and will satisfy your late night junk food craving. Don’t go if you are dieting!

An okay place to go after a long night of partying and drinking. Lots of food for a cheap and decent price.

Awesome take away biryani. Fresh spices, good rice. For a drive through, this is awesome quality.

This place is a typical ghetto style Gyro place with the standard «Salem Gyro» name that you see all around the Tampa Bay Area but this one is independently owned and does have a better and higher quality taste and food. They have one of the best gyro’s you’ll find anywhere and the sizes are HUGE! The food is good quality and it’s «halal». I saw where one of the other reviewers asked if it was Kosher and it’s not mainly because of the mixture between meat and dairy. that doesn’t mean the food isn’t awesome though and some of my friends who follow «K» guidelines will still eat a gyro there minus the tzatziki sauce.
The wings are also awesome and be sure to order them hot and crispy. Honestly I wouldn’t be caught in this neighborhood in the nighttime or eat in the dining room but it’s a great choice for a quick take out lunch and a great value. Skip all the other Salem’s though because they aren’t the same quality.

This place offers gyros, falafel, some other middle-​East & various chicken dishes to go. Sorta fast and lots of somewhat confusing specials/​combos. The food is OK, not more. Interesting to learn it is Halal… does that also mean it is Kosher… or what?

Best place to hit with one eye open, someone else driving and you are starving after a night of drinking!
Be full warned though, next morning it does catch up with you. I always and only get the gyro — no fries. Open 24 hours with a convenient drive thru that opens to the passenger window, so you better have a passenger in the car to grab the food.
I can’t tell you anything about the inside of this place, I’ve never gone inside.
What I can tell you is the later it is, the better it tastes ;)

Shit’s bucknasty with a little bit of dat chicken and beer flava… bee deez up!

Let me start off with that I really hoped I’d like this place since I love Middle Eastern food and I live nearby this restaurant.
I ordered a Falafel pita and anxiously awaited it as I watched the World Cup on their TV. The place is blistering hot. I can’t fault them for only having fans instead of AC but, I had to wait an inordinate amount of time for what turned out to be something that could’ve been thrown together in a matter of a couple of minutes.
The Falafel itself was not fresh. It was clear it was made some time ago. I loved the cucumber paste/​sauce or whatever was in the pita along with it. What I couldn’t believe was that they also had shredded iceberg lettuce.
As far as I’m concerned, iceberg lettuce could disappear and the world would be better off. It has no taste and no nutritional value. It just takes up space. Additionally, I’ve NEVER come across it in any Middle Eastern restaurant since, well, maybe it never existed over in the Middle East. WTF, why put that in there.
I left sweating from sitting in their restaurant and forcing that pita down. It was by far, the worst Falafel I’ve ever had, bar none. I’ve gotten them in the Middle East and I even like Petra on Busch Blvd much better than this place.
I will give this place one more try and order something else. I’ve reset my expectation level and hopefully next time, Salem’s will meet my minimum expectation of something authentic.