Nick the Greek Gyro-ically Hits Santa Barbara’s State Street

“We’re a classic gyro house,” says Niko Heliotis, one of three partners, along with Dimitri and Panayioti Trembois, who are opening a Nick the Greek location at 508 State Street, in the former Natural Café spot. “After spending time in Greece, a lot of Greeks hold nostalgia for that food,” Heliotis explains. “We hope to bring a piece of that nostalgia back.”

The Bay Area-based chain, now up to 80 restaurants or so (the number grows nearly weekly), certainly delivers delightful gyros, particularly the lamb/beef, with both meats tender and succulent, wrapped in a warm pita with tomato, crispy fries, red onion, and zingy tzatziki. With its extended evening hours — until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 1 a.m. on weekends — Nick the Greek will no doubt fill many a post pub crawl craving. It’s easy to imagine the spot serving up its over-the-top Nick’s Fries slathered in feta, garlic, spicy yogurt, a protein of your choice, and green onions to a long line of happy chompers.

Heliotis, 27, grew up in the restaurant industry, and even managed Greek cafes in high school and college. He and his family visited Santa Barbara two or three times a month from the Bay Area when he was growing up, so he already had a soft spot for the region. 

Time in business school and corporate accounting didn’t do it for him, he says, “So when the opportunity to open up Santa Barbara for Nick the Greek came along, I jumped.” A tour through potential sites in town with the Nick the Greek founders — yes, all Nicks, and cousins, nicknamed “Big Nick,” “Little Nick,” and “Baby Nick” — made clear they wanted to be not just on State Street, but the 500 block. “It took a little bit of faith,” Heliotis admits, coming in as COVID finally (?) fades, “but fingers crossed, we’ve got a good summer season ahead.”

While the Santa Barbara location is on the larger side for the chain, the menu will be the same as the one in other California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Kansas, Utah, and Missouri locations. (One exception: some local microbrews.) That means everything from pork or chicken souvlaki to falafel, veggie pitas, and Greek salads. Even the froyo is worth considering, made with the zippier Greek yogurt, of course. The brand consistency, Heliotis, says, “Is both easier and harder — sure, we would want to make things more personal, but the goal is to do the best we can do every day.”

Although Nick the Greek soft opened on April 18, the official opening day — Tuesday, April 23 — will be celebrated with an offer of one free entrée per person from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Heliotis suggests they have no idea how many people will show up. “We want to make sure we give our kitchen time to handle it,” he says. “And we will close from 2:30 to 5 p.m. to give them a chance to rest and recoup.”

Nick the Greek is located at 508 State St., nickthegreek.com.