Ari’s Restaurant

The place was pretty slow for a Monday evening so service was excellent. The overall experience was fabulous. The appetizers of dolmathes, spinach filo (spanikopia) toasted ravioli and pita with hummus were all some of the best ever (except the ravioli which is about the same anywhere in St Louis). Each of the main dishes of pork chops, Greek combo, lamb shank were top notch greek. The Italian alfredo pasta was better than some of the Italian restaurants. The stuffed peppers were very good for the top ¾. The bottom ¼ lacked the same spiciness, but was still good. the baklava and galaktobireko (lemon custard) deserts were excellent. Prices were very reasonable. Atmosphere wasn’t anything spectacular but the place was clean.

I love this little place. Hidden gem !
The service was great. Very fast, friendly and efficient.
The food: For the appetizer we had the Greek dips with pita bread. They were great. Fresh, homemade. Yummy. Loved the tzatziki sauce and hummus was excellent!
Main dishes: We got the large Greek salad with gyro meat and a gyro plate. They were so good. The salad was so good we ordered one to go so that we could have it tomorrow for lunch. Everything was so fresh and tasted so good. We will be back soon I am sure !
The prices were so good. Our entire bill was 54.00…

We have tried the breakfast buffet before and thought we would give it another chance. We were again disappointed. Bacon was crumbled and burnt. The French toast sticks were hard. He gravy for biscuits and gravy was lacking. Maybe the coffee would redeem the meal? Not even close. Very bitter. We watched as the server made the coffee guessing how much to add.
It’s our last trip here.

Friendly people, food is always excellent,
And they are very accommodating for large groups. Love this place.

I consider myself a gyro fiend. I’ve tried all the places in the South County/​Jefferson County area, and I come back to Ari’s every time. I’ve been to the past few restaurants that have occupied that space, and they’ve been nothing special. I wandered in here on day, hungry and needing some time to kill before work, and I’ve been coming back ever since. I only ever order the gyro, because it’s delicious. It’s juicy and flavorful, and quite large for the price. The service is incredible-I’ve been there a handful of times, and they remember my order. I went with my dad, and he mocked me for that, but what can I say? I’m a creature of habit, and when I find somewhere I like, I return – often!

Quite simply, awesome! The chicken souvlaki sandwich was divine! Not tooo salty. Just perfect. Steak fries and perfect amount of seasoning. The tzatziki sauce was a bit too liquid, but still quite yummy. Service was great. Plenty of parking, but getting here was a bit of a hassle. I wish there was more than one entrance & exit. You have to get on the side street off of Tesson Ferry. Lin Ferry is the name of the street, & there is a bike shop on the left hand side.

We went for their $ 8 ($ 5 for kids) breakfast brunch. We were greeted by the owner upon entering, that was nice!
But it was just… Meh. Eggs tasted like they were powdered. Biscuits were over cooked. Gravy was watery and didn’t have any flavor. Bacon was like the end scraps of the package. My bacon loving 5 year old spit it out. French toast sticks were undercooked and mushy. The sausage was ok… but not what I would personally consider breakfast sausage. The potatoes were good. The service was very good. My oldest son only ate ½ of a biscuit, and they didn’t charge us for him, so that was nice. They had an omelette station, but we didn’t see it until we were about ready to go. It’s in a corner behind where the owner was greeting everyone. My husband did go up and get one. He said it was «edible».
I will not go back for breakfast again, but I’ll give them a try for their Greek menu.

Great atmosphere, awesome breakfast buffet. Fresh and hot. Super friendly efficient staff.

Quality gyro… not as good as gyro co or Spiros but was good. Came in for lunch today, Sunday, wasn’t busy, one other table. Our meals came quickly and the food was good. The sandwiches were moderately priced, the average entrée price was about $ 15 which seems a bit pricey for a small restaurant in south county but maybe they are outstanding… I would be willing to come back for dinner.

I really wanted to like this place as it’s been a number of different restaurants over the years, but unfortunately the food was not good.
The plus side was the restaurant was clean and nicely re-​done. The tables were comfortable and the service was good. But that’s where the positives end.
First off, they are trying to be a nice restaurant but served my water and soda in plastic cups– yuck! I ordered the gyro plate. It was clear that the lamb was not freshly carved off rotisserie as is common in most authentic Greek restaurants. The meat was thin and overcooked and the Greek potatoes I paid extra for were greasy and had one taste– Rosemary.
Another problem was the enormous menu. I don’t understand a restaurant that has over 100 mediocre menu items. Make a few things homemade and excellent. Price them according to the demographics of the neighborhood and that should be the recipe of a decent restaurant. Sorry, Aris but we won’t be back.

The lamb chops were great tasting but there were only 3 bites on each one. What earns them the low rating is that the server noticed we were running low on pita, he brought more– so far so good but after settling the $ 78 bill for 2 took a look back at the ticket and noticed that the unordered pitas were charged for. I chose not to haggle but will not be back. Spiro’s is much better

We went here for the cheap $ 8 brunch. Well you get what you pay for. There were very limited selections. There were eggs, cheesy eggs, biscuits & gravy, sausage, fruit and some danishes. Everything was pretty meh except for the biscuits and gravy, those were very good.
I think there was a create your own omelet station but this was back in the corner and the owner was blocking the view of it when we came in.
The buffet station is crammed up against the bar area and very hard to manuveur. There is the option to order off the regular menu. If I came back I might do that. Otherwise, i would say try Hammerstones or Southwest Diner for a better meal.

Moving my review from 1÷20÷15 here now that the page has been set up.
We visited the new South County location. I wanted to love this place. The inside is charming with low lights, intimate setting, but the three televisions are there. The inside is small and intimate. I didn’t come here to watch the tennis channel over my pricey dinner.
My husband and I both ordered the lamb kabob special. It came with a Greek salad that was nice. I heard other patrons complain about only having two olives in the salad, but this wasn’t an issue. I don’t care for olives and passed my two to my husband. When the lamb came I was pleased to see that it was cooked perfectly, but then it had no flavor! How is this possible? Everything else was bland as well.
I hope this place finds its stride and makes it. The price stated on the menu wouldn’t be much of an issue if the food delivered. As it is I can have meh food anywhere for a fraction of the price.

Probably in the top 10 Greek restaurants in St. Louis. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure I haven’t been to 10, either.
The good news is the prices were very reasonable. The Ari’s special gyro salad was 8.95, I think, and it had a lot of gyro meat on it. The greens were fresh. It was good. My daughter had a grilled chees and fries and she loved all of it. I had chicken souvlaki and it was kind of dry and kind of meh. Since everything we got was toward the bottom of the price range, there’s a chance the higher priced items could be more impressive. The table next to me had the flaming chees app and it looked good.
Wine by the glass is cheap at $ 5, but don’t expect anything special. The atmosphere was fine, the place was clean and all the employees were friendly and attentive. I won’t rule out coming back to try something more special.