The Parthenon Gyros Restaurant first opened its doors in 1972 as the first restaurant in Wisconsin to offer gyros. Since then, it has continued to be one of the few restaurants still in existence nationwide to have kept up the tradition of offering homemade gyros and sauce. For this reason, The Parthenon is still recognized as the premier gyro restaurant in Wisconsin (many customers say the world), winning numerous awards, and recognized nationwide, having delivered as far as California and Hawaii!
After complete reconstruction in 1991, The Parthenon became the first restaurant to feature an open-air roof garden located on Madison’s renowned State Street. The roof garden above the restaurant and outdoor café in front of the restaurant are open for dining everyday from 11am to 11pm, weather permitting.
Back to our award winning food which brought us here…
The complicated gyro making process begins by mixing a combination of quality lamb and premium beef together with a variety of secret spices and is eventually molded into the cone shape form that the customer sees rotating on the fire grill.
Our signature tzatziki or gyro sauce is a yogurt based cucumber sauce with a hint of garlic and lemon made from scratch from the finest and freshest ingredients. This sauce, along with juicy tomatoes and crisp onions on a warm, grilled pita bread are what make up an authentic and now famous Parthenon gyros sandwich!
Go big with our mega gyro or change it up and enjoy one of our other delicious sandwiches, such as our original chicken or chicken Caesar or souvlaki (pork) sandwich. Don’t forget our award winning French fries! We also have three 7” pitzas to choose from; cheese, veggie, and Parthenon (topped with our signature gyro meat). For healthier vegetarian dishes, try our crisp Greek or Caesar salad or warm spinach pie. Complete your meal with our homemade yogurt topped with honey or a piece of baklava (a melody of walnuts and honey, wrapped in paper thin sheets of dough called phyllo dough).
Come experience why the millions who have passed through our doors consider our gyros the best in the country (and even the world)!
Simple ingredients.
Simple recipes.
Simple pleasures.
Keep it simple. Less is more. We learn this as we get older. We appreciate the simple things because we learn that those are the best things in life. More is not always better. It's not about quantity, it's about quality...that applies to most things, but especially food and ingredients.
We don't need celebrities or celebrity chefs, or fancy schmancy decorations and a million ingredients to try and distract you and convince you that our food is great. We keep it simple and real...and let our food speak for itself.
There's a reason why:
- we have served millions of gyros. More than any other restaurant.
- chances are that anyone you meet that has lived in Madison has eaten at Parthenon.
- people will regularly drive 1-2 hours to eat our food.
- people will freeze our food and fly it to other states.
If you don't understand why yet...you will.
- Parthenon was the first restaurant to bring the gyro to Wisconsin
in 1972
- We are the only restaurant licensed in the state of Wisconsin to
make homemade Greek-style yogurt.