Santorini

Came here a few times the past month so now I feel like I can honestly review it. First time I came with my family on a Saturday night about a month ago. The waiters that night were a tall dark haired boy and girl, the boy took care of us. He suggested hummus as an appetiser and some shwarmas and a kabob platter for us since we don’t eat food like this often. The food tasted amazing! And the service was probably the best we’ve ever had in Las Cruces, our server was getting us our refills before we even realised we needed them and the girl also came and helped clear up some of the plates and talked with us, when he was at another table. So our first visit was excellent.
My next visit came on a weekday during lunch with my friend and the food was still just as good. The servers this time were three girls and ours wasn’t as attentive as the first visit and had a robotic feel to the way she went about everything. But it was definitely still worth the trip.
My family decided we should come back on this past Friday night. The same boy was working as the first time we came and he took care of us again, there was a different girl though but she was still kind to us when she came by. This time we ordered some baba ganoush, and platters with the Greek salads and they were great. Our server told us this time we needed to save room for the baklava so we got a couple pieces and it is to die for!
Overall, the food is great and the service is excellent at dinner, at lunch it just seemed like the girl was overwhelmed by everything going on. I’ll definitely be coming back soon.

This place is awesome, great atmosphere and very well decorated. Prices are reasonable if your looking for Greek this food is awesome!

We tried this lovely first time today and have that we are going to go back again. The food was really good. My wife had the Chicken Gyro and enjoyed it though her on complaint was she would dressing options. I had the Ophalia (hope I got that right) and was surprised how much flavor out had. My only problem was salad but that’s because everything else on the table had so much flavor it just seem to lack something. Also if you go order the Hummus it is so so good.
Service was great a very attentive waitress made the experience so much better.

This is the best Greek food I’ve tasted. The stuffed grape leaves, the gyros, and the souvlaki were all great. But my favorite was the cashew baklava.

Grew up in a Greek town and this is the best in Las Cruces! All Greek and Mediterranean, nothing else… straight forward! Sean and Charlie are the best!

Because the location is close to the university, I have visited this restaurant on multiple occasions, with the same result: Very tasty, fresh food — and slow service.
As previous reviewers have noted, wait-​staff is either poorly trained or just overwhelmed by the magnitude of their job. They forget drinks frequently (PS: you will not get a refill). Also, as other patrons noted, they forget to bring the check and process payment (further delaying your exit).
If you can avoid the lunch-​rush entirely, you might be able to focus on the good food.

While the food tasted good, the service was sad. I asked for vinegar and even though the waiter said they had it in the house (they make their dressing with vinegar) the owner was disinclined to acquiesce to my request. Said they don’t «sell side orders of vinegar». They we really strange about it..

So good, great service, & a nice atmosphere. Will be back for sure. The portions are huge & can easily be shared. Our table had lentil soup, taziki, pita, hummus, eggplant dip, & lamb gyro… all delicious.

Their hummus and baba ganoush was on point! We also enjoyed their lamb kabob sandwich! If I ever find myself back in this town, I will definitely come back here!

Second time in. And I have to say… I am VERY pleased!
Their Gyros are fresh and taste wonderful. Love the Tzatziki sauce: perfect flavor. Definitely will be stopping in more often. Also, how can you complain with a meal under $ 8!

Yes! Yums. So good! I’m so glad I stopped here for takeout while staying at the Garden Inn up the street. I Unilocaled dinner options, narrowed to Greek and thankfully ended up here. Wow I guess I’ve never actually had real, homemade dolmas– amazing! Tried this dolmas side and Greek salad with lamb. This lamb is so good I stopped feeling guilty for a minute. This place is legit!

I would say this place earns a solid 4 stars. Personally, I really enjoyed Santorini. The service was great and timely, and the food I ordered (falafel sandwich) was delicious! My friend’s meals on the other hand were not up to par. One of my friends ordered a hummus sandwich and it was purely hummus, way way too much. My other friend’s salad was smothered in way too much dressing… It could have just been an off day, but it was disappointing for both of them. The atmosphere is very chic and modern, fit for anything from a date, to a birthday gathering, or just dinner. Pretty casual, and the prices are REALLY really great.

I absolutely love there food, all of it. Me and my husband love this place. The service is good but they could tend more to the customer. They’re not to busy to the point they can’t, the times we’ve gone in.

We’ve been eating at Santorini every since it opened in the strip mall across the street from NMSU. The restaurant has now moved into the big space that used to be the Village Buttery and about eight other restaurants, but I’m pleased to report that they have completely refitted the big, awkward, death-​of-​restaurants space and the atmosphere is nice and light and open.
What’s good about Santorini:
Some of the food is good, some of the time. The meat – ranging from kefta to schwarma to gyros to shish-​ke-​bab – is pretty much uniformly good. The hummus and pita are very tasty. Something in the greek salad makes me cough – I think the dressing has sumac in it? – so I don’t order it anymore. Santorini used to have a fabulous dinner for two meal for $ 20 but I’m sure it was bankrupting them so they discontinued it.
What’s bad about Santorini:
I like to order the veggie sampler, which gives you a choice of three out of a list of food items, but despite the fact that falafel is listed on the menu – and that when they make falafel it is tasty – they are usually out of falafel. Their dolmas are often good, but the last time I had then they were a soggy, disgusting mess. And spanikopita, which has been tall and light and crispy in the past, was a flat, oily. pancake the last time I ordered it.
Service is friendly, but the waitresses tend to forget to bring the check.
It’s not clear to me whether the problems I experienced on the last visit are due to new cooks in the kitchen, or lack of management supervision, or what, but the restaurant may be going through a transition, and not necessarily for the better. ..

They have the best Greek food and service! We travel all over and they have some of the best Greek food we have ever eaten in the states.

I love this place! The food here is beyond delicious. Everytime I eat here, I leave very full and very happy. I always get the hummus and the Falafel plate (to die for). Their chicken, beef and pork dishes are perfectly grilled and come with a generous side salad, pita, wonderfully delicious rice (amazingly prepared with a gentle amount of fragrant spices). Everything is outstanding, and comes to the table fresh and quick. You can tell that they use only the freshest meats and produce in their entrees. I would give his place 6 stars if I could. My only gripe is that most of their tables are a little wobbly/​wonky, but it’s worth it for the food.

Traveling home to northern California and stopped in New Mexico to stay the night. I dislike trying restaurants I’ve never been to. This time I made an excellent choice choosing Santorini. I love gyros but not everyone knows how to make one properly, however, this restaurant does. The ingredients were very, very fresh, tatziki sauce was probably the best I’ve ever had, and the lamb was seasoned perfectly. Server was friendly and provided excellent service. Too bad I live so far away, otherwise, I’d eat there regularly. Try it, you’ll love it!

Excellent food! I had vegetable sampler and chicken shawarma sandwich with a Greek salad. Everything was fresh and good. Plates were beautiful. Sandwich had a strong garlic flavor but I like that. Service was fast and friendly. Clean restroom.

Best felafel I’ve had anywhere– crispy on the outside (with sesame seeds, no less!) and soft and almost fluffy on the inside. My husband always gets some version of the veggie platter and has loved everything he’s gotten there. I usually go with the chicken Taouk (platter or sandwich, sometimes just a side). The garlic cream is amazing if you really, really like garlic. The hummus is wonderful. Seriously, we haven’t had a thing there we didn’t really enjoy. We live several hours away, but any time we pass through Cruces, we will absolutely be stopping there again. By the way, we’ve eaten in twice and gotten take-​out once. Service was excellent each time.

Before I start, might I suggest you go to Tiffany’s instead. For about the same price, you receive better tasting meat, and better customer service. You’ll have a good time talking to the owner there.
Okay, my review might be more on a Californian standard and having experience as a head server for Japanese and Korean restaurants.
I thought Vietnamese restaurants in SoCal have the worst service… but nope. This place has been the worst place I have ever dined at!!!
Minus one star for when I first stepped in, the man (assuming is in charge) and this girl (cashier/​server) just stares at us. I would expect at least, «Sit anywhere guys», especially when it was empty at 8pm on a Monday night and they close at 9pm.
This was on Monday night of January 5^th, 2015.
Minus another star when we had to grab our own menus and seat ourselves. The man still just stood there until we sat down he asked, «For here?». Uh… yeah…we sat down and grabbed our menus to order for to go –_​–
Minus another star: when I saw the man leave to his backroom to play his own music loudly (disturbing the music videos being played for customers) and the girl got us waters. She asked if we were ready and it had only been two minutes since we sat down with the menus we picked up ourselves. It we walked in confused and asking out loud if we had to seat ourselves and looked for the menu, maybe it’s best to start us off with «are you new and would you like any suggestions or a few minutes to decide?» rather than «ready to order?»
In addition, she was spraying chemicals and cleaning when the food was ready to be served. I watched her and she did not wash her hands, just grabbed both plates and served us. If you had your food serving certification, you would know you must wash your hands every time you have touched: chemicals, a broom/​mop, cut up meat, cooked, etc. before you serve food.
Minus another star for the girl constantly coming back every five minutes to check on us (if we finished eating) and gave us a check 10 minutes into our food.
Left the credit card on the table with the check she gave us there for another five minutes thinking she’ll come back to check on us, but no. What was she doing when we came up to pay? She was on her phone.
The food was good but not extraordinary. But then again, my dine in experience may have caused me my appetite. Because of my experience here (no smiles, rush me out, and bad business), I honestly like the food and service at Tiffany’s more. My first time at Tiffany’s you can tell they were closing and everyone had gone home. The last man there just waited patiently and chat with us while we finish our food. The experience felt more friendly and a business with integrity.
We left Santorini at 830pm (only stayed there half an hour, 5 minutes of figuring out of we needed to seat ourselves, grab our own menus, and order; 5 minutes for the food to come out; 15 minutes of eating; 5 minutes of waiting to pay) and they close at 9pm. I would give them no stars if I could.