Petra Mediterranean Cafe

Think Chipotle with Mediterranean food, but without food poisoning. I like getting the mixed bowl — a bed of rice, topped with their garlic lemon chicken and gyro meat, lettuce, mixed vegetable salad, feta and garlic sauce. I’ve tried the falafel, and it’s a bit dry for my taste. It’s not bad, but the other options are so tasty for the omnivores among us that I can’t justify getting anything else.
The staff are always polite and efficient, and I’m told the owners are known to shake things up sometimes and offer freebie bonuses with purchase. I haven’t actually experience it, but I’m looking forward to coming here often and finding out!

The gyro wrap is delicious! The staff is always smiling and they get the lunch rush in and out quickly so you don’t have to spend your lunch waiting in line. Oh, and tiramisu. Yumm! Really great lunch spot!

I like the gyro wrap here a lot. It’s filling, warm and delicious! I like their pistachio baklava a lot and the mango drink they have! Great quantity for what you pay!

I am almost a regular here. It’s right next to my office and they are a very convenient for a quick take away.
— Falafel bowl tastes really delicious. You must add hot sauce, garlic sauce and tziki sauce for the best flavor
— Quick take away place. They have good seating space as well
Taking one star off because
— I am a vegetarian and there is only one item in the menu for me — falafel bowl. Come on Petra. Downtown has a lot of vegetarian people. I will visit more often if they add more vegetarian items to the menu
— They are stingy on quantity sometimes depending on the person serving

Mediterranean Chipotle. I’m a huge fan of their gyro bowls, which make for a nicely portioned lunch: I take mine with gyro meat on rice topped with lettuce, mixed chopped veggies, feta cheese, seasoned corn, tzatziki sauce, and a little hot sauce. The staff is always very friendly as well. Great place!

Average food and very crowded. Like their lentil soup though.

The food is decent, not good or anywhere near great.
I had the gyro salad and it was fine but nothing that is great. The gyro meat is cut so small that it looks like dog food and it’s all chopped way ahead of time so it’s kind of mushy from the hot holding. They clearly thaw out frozen corn to put on the salad as well. I think the hot sauce is what saved this salad.
I didn’t enjoy all of the handwritten signs all over the restaurant. I got it after the 5^th sign that they don’t accept Amex but then I saw two more signs about it. Also, I get that you can kick me out if you want to. Lay off the sharpie and work focus on customer experience.
The sister restaurant on 4^th in Belltown is much better. I don’t understand a 5 star rating as this barely got a 3 star from me.

I love Petra. The people that work here are some of the nicest people in the city, and the food is always excellent.
I always get a gyro wrap when I come here. It’s basically a mediterranean burrito that’s about the size of what you would get at Chipotle or Qdoba. If you want it spicy then they can also make it REALLY spicy. It’s not just a spicy burn either, it’s a very flavorful spice. I highly recommend making your wrap spicy.
Sometimes the line is out the door, but that’s not really that big of a deal because the employees here move very quickly and work through the line as fast as they possibly can. You can definitely fit a visit to Petra into a typical lunch break.

Love Petra for lunch. Very quick service and a super nice staff. One of the best quick lunches in this part of town. Favorite is the Gyro/​Falafel mixed bowl.

Holy salt bomb, Batman! I feel like I was as-​SALT-​ed, for reals.
Don’t let the online lunch menu fool you into coming here. There’s two different locations, and this one doesn’t have any of the shawarma or shish kabob entrees. The café is pretty bare bones with a smattering of tables and a Chipotle-​style assembly line where you order food. I think it’s weird that they use tortillas for their wraps, instead of a more traditional flatbread.
I went for the rice bowl with gyro meat, tzatziki sauce, and some greens, along with a side of hummus. My co-worker’s falafel looked super hard and dry and we couldn’t get over how salty and lukewarm everything was. The amount of salt even overwhelmed the garlic. It was pretty gross. Overall, it’s the right price point for lunch, but the food is basically inedible.

Great food, great service, nice portion, clean & comfortable place and reasonable price for downtown. What not to love. I’ll be back…

I love this place because it’s quick and affordable. The falafels are dry, but when you add them to a salad bowl it all works out in the end. Mostly.

The food here is amazing you will not be disappointed! It is the best Mediterranean food I’ve ever had. You can also visit the older sister restaurant in Bell town called Petra Bistro which is more formal dining. I admire the interior decorating of this place. The pillars are a nice representation of the beautiful ruins in the Middle East. The owners are a very cute married couple who worked diligently side by side in creating this fabulous café. With any new restaurant it needs it’s time to really set it’s roots in, and sometimes needs to get rid of bad weeds (employees). This is a lovely place where my family and I will forever come to visit.

This is my favorite lunch option in the area and I usually stick with the chicken over rice with all the veggies, and sauces. It is consistently fresh and a great deal for the amount of food they give.

Very interesting place.
It’s like America-​Mexican meets Mediterranean-​ish food.
Thank god we got there around 11am. By the time we were leaving the line was around the block (figuratively speaking, not literally). This place reminded me of Chipotle or Qdoba in terms of the set up. Service was pretty fast but not memorable (I guess this could be a good thing).
I ordered a Gyro wrap and it really looked like a burito with Mediterranean stuff inside such as carved lamb meet, Tzatziki sauce, feta, etc. etc. Portions were good and I had nothing to complain about the food I received.
They take credit cards.

3.5 star. Service was fast, food was fresh and portion was fair for the price. Only quam I have is that the hot sauce and cucumber sauce should be self served. Sometimes café’s need to find a balance between what makes a customer happy and what they should be frugal about.
Pricing is average: $ 7.45 — 7.95 for meals.
Overall, not my favorite go to, but would dine there again if I’m in the area.

Petra Café (not to be confused with Petra Bistro in Belltown on Fourth… same owners) is a great extension of the Petra business.
Think: Greek Chipotle. I routinely stop at Petra for lunch and get a Mediterranean bowl of Lemon Chicken, rice, and all the fresh veggies, lettuce, and fix ins available. It is a great meal and it is very easy to save some a large portion for dinner.
The staff is very courteous and the coffee is great as well.
If you like Mediterranean and want a quick meal downtown, this is a great place to try.
Don’t forget to ask for a side of the hot sauce.

Don’t really understand the negative reviews, as I come here quite frequently and I have never had a negative experience.
For me, these are the positives:
+Good price points
+Good portion size
+They have been open around holidays when others were closed
+I like the complimentary desserts and lemonade they often give out
+Halal chicken
One I want from them to change is for them to have more halal meat (like lamb or gyros). Also, I would prefer normal tables, instead of the «column» tables. One time I actually hurt my knee sitting down ’cause it hit that column thing which the glass rests on.
Otherwise, 5 stars from me.

2.8 stars. Service issues remain. Food is tasty, fresh and made to order. Agree with Ryan W. and Tony A., service has issues. There’s a ton of staff behind the counter, which results in confusion amongst the staff… it took 3 individuals to try to start my order. Co-​owner (older lady) has an attitude issue, seemed irritated that I wanted all veggies and also unsure whether to put less on.
Pricing is average: $ 7.95 for meals, $ 7.45 for salads.
For a small, still-​new shop, hopefully just growing pains. Good luck on addressing your issues.

Let’s clear something out of the gate: The food is good. Not the best Mediterranean I’ve had, but this is solid tasty fast Mediterranean. I would give the food a ⁴⁄₅.
What you can expect: The space is a bit trendy; Mediterranean motifs but there’s that fabricated, trendy, modern expensive condo feel about the entire space. This clashes with the Subway-​style food assembly line where way-​too-​many workers stand around bored behind the counter, dishing pre-​prepared ingredients from warming bowls onto your wrap or bowl as you ask. Definitely conveys a sense of made-​to-​order the way you like it! Largely, this is how it’s been.
You’ll pay about what you would expect for a quality food truck assembling Greek food in this manner, despite space and décor. Everything is served to go: paper plates, plastic clamshell bowls, and plastic utensils. You’ll pay at a register run on an iPad and whip out your Amex card and get a little bit of attitude as they inform you their modern-​looking card system can’t handle Amex. Right, ok, so that iPad swipey system is no Square. Boo; I’ll live.
This is what you can expect at a baseline.
Now let’s talk about the customer service and attitude, where it started, and where it went.
I started coming here within the place’s first few days of being open. They were rough those first few days, but I stuck with them because the food was delicious, reasonably priced, and they were trying really hard. An older woman, I presume to be the co-​owner, asked me for feedback, how they could do better. I made suggestions (like switching to Square), and she was a little defensive, but receptive. I really liked the place and, happy to have a Greek alternative to eat near work that was good, I referred a LOT of co-​workers from my highrise around the corner. I probably generated 20 – 30 new regular customers for them.
Since opening the attitude there has gotten shittier. They always have way too many people behind the counter. One person I see there nearly every time, all I ever see her do is grab a wrap, put it on the foil, and pass it to the next person (usually the owner). That person will spoon one ingredient onto the ensemble, and pass to another employee for the next ingredient. They tend to get caught up in each other and confuse one another. The person standing four feet away with nothing to do on their phone texting/​browsing/​Facebooking doesn’t help. It’s been a slight but tolerable decline of common sense and decorum for a few weeks.
Today I drew the line.
I walked in and decided to get my usual rice bowl. I love the lemon chicken and I love their gyro beef/​lamb. So I ask the young woman prepping wrap breads when she asks what I’d like if I could get a combination of the two.
She gets a very uncomfortable look on her face, quite nearly a «oh no not again» look, tosses her chin at the owner next to her serving the rice and meat options and says, «that’s gonna be a question for him».
Owner perks up and starts snapping off to the guy in front of me, «You have a question? What’s your question!» I politely wave and say, «That’s me…» Swings over to me, «Fine what’s your question?»
«Well, sir, I really love both your chicken and your gyro, it’s good stuff! Can I get a combo of both? Half and half?»
He scowls at me, «No! No I can’t do that! It can’t be done!» To which I am now staring in disbelief at the spoon he’s using to dip into the bowl of chicken and the bowl of gyro meat, alternatingly. All I can manage is a wide-​eyed, «Really…» and broad gesture toward the meat bowls.
He points at the menu, «You have to order the other meat extra. It’s extra meat.» It’s also $ 3.00 more.
I’m thinking there’s a misunderstanding. «I’m sorry sir, I’m not being clear. I’m not looking for extra meat, I don’t want extra food for free. The amount you serve is perfect. I just want a variety, a little of both, the same amount. Half one, half the other, on the same bowl. Can you do that?»
He’s now getting pissed. «No! I told you this cannot be done!»
People are starting to stare.
I simply respond, «Well, ok, that does seem awfully arbitrary considering the rest of the bowl has always been made to order. I’m not sure why you’re so upset about this, but…» I’m about to say, ‘…I’ll just order a gyro bowl,’ when he just erupts. «Listen, if you want your food made your way, you go to McDonald’s over there. They’ll be happy to serve their fast food to you however you want it.
I looked at him, looked at his staff all trying to look as busy as possible, at the other customers, explained that I’d been referring customers since the day they opened, that he was out-​of-​line rude, and left.
McDonald’s gave me a vanilla/​chocolate mixed shake — with a cherry. And I paid with my Amex. And I got zero lip or extra charge for ordering what I wanted within reason.
Do better, small, local business man. Reward those who’ve supported you, and brought you more customers.