Manny's, finally a good restaurant at that location!

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I love the place out on 17^th and Wanamaker called Manny’s.
Featuring Greek cuisine, pasta and burgers, Manny’s includes a dine-in or a car-hop experience. The first time I dined in and the second time I tried the car-hop. Inside is pretty small though, with only three to four booths, four window seats and a small bar-like area. The place was busy both times I went, and the people working did a good job serving everyone. It wasn’t fast - I waited a couple minutes to be served - but only had to wait seven to 10 minutes minutes for my food, and they were busy the whole time. 

The first time I visited, I ordered the cheeseburger and French fries, the second time I got the gyro and onion rings. I have been back many times for the gyro. The French fries are the thick restaurant-style and can be ordered plain or with seasoning - I ordered plain. The second time I went, I ordered the onion rings and would recommend those over fries, every time. The onion rings were crispy and traveled well, unlike the fries that were soggy by the time I got home. Even when I ordered them the first time, when I dined in, they weren’t that memorable – just basic French fries. 

The burger was pretty tasty too, but was a basic cheeseburger. Good but there are much better things on the menu than a boring cheeseburger and fries. What really stood out to me was the gyro. If you don’t like meat, they offer the veggie gyro, too, but the meat was the best part. It’s usually a combination of lamb and beef and Manny’s has cone-style gyro meat, which means it isn’t the frozen, already sliced meat. It’s on a huge spit that rotates and they cut the meat off in strips. The tzatziki sauce was tangy and garlicky with a robust cucumber flavor, (tzatziki is a cucumber sauce) and they added plenty to the sandwich so it wasn’t dry like some gyros I have tried in the past. They give you a choice of grilled or raw onions, I chose grilled, of course – I don’t like raw onions. The pita bread was grilled, but soft and held up nicely to the hot meat and sauce. It comes with lettuce, tomato and feta cheese. Instead of crumbling the feta on top, they place a cube of feta for you to crumble yourself. I like this because you can control how much cheese you want, and it doesn’t get lost in the tzatziki sauce, which is a whitish color and has chunks of cucumbers in it.  

Everything tasted homemade, and I know for a fact they make their baklava from scratch. This is another thing I look forward to trying when I go back in the near future. 

For a look at their menu and to see what others are saying about Manny’s, check out their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mannys/544025782274259. I am looking forward to returning and trying their souvlaki dinner, which is like skewered chunks of meat and vegetables  and it looks like they have chicken.