LEGACY GYROS
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★⭑
District: Legacy
Gyros & Greek Cuisine
Perfect For: Casual Dining; Takeout; Lunch
Standout Dishes: Gyro; Beef Kabob; Chicken Wrap
It’s always such a joy to see a restaurant become resurrected. Sometimes restaurants fall off, but an injection of life can bring them back to their former glory.
That’s absolutely the case with Legacy Gyros, an Omaha gyro restaurant in the Legacy shopping center since 2017. It started off strong, but the quality declined after a few years. But a new family took ownership in 2025, changed the gyro recipe and made some menu tweaks, and brought Legacy Gyros back to its former glory.
Legacy Gyros is a small, order-at-the-counter joint serving salads, kabobs, mousakka and other Greek specialties. But the highlight is the gyro, and the sight of the meat cones roasting on the vertical broilers was a beautiful, welcome sight. You’re hit with the smell of Greek spices (garlic, basil, oregano, pepper, etc.) the moment you walk in the door.
Gyros can be ordered with chicken, beef/lamb, falafel, or philly steak and cheese. The gyro supreme adds grilled onions, green peppers and mushrooms, and these additions bring a nice freshness to the dish. The traditional gyro is heavy on raw white onions and a few slices of tomato.
The most important change the new owners at LG (168th & Center) made was in its gyro meat, incorporating lamb and using a new spice mix. The thick cuts of beef/lamb are tender and deeply savory with notes of oregano, garlic, and thyme. It makes a great partner for the creamy, herb-y tzatziki, which has less dill than others. The pita is oiled up and toasted in the flattop, giving it a crispy finish.
Legacy Gyros also offers kabobs platters, which comes with a toasted pita, rice, pickled veggies, and tzatziki. Options include beef, lamb, chicken, and shrimp, all of which comes with 5-6 chunks of large, heavily seasoned pieces of meat.
The spice blend packs a powerful punch, delivering of oregano, garlic, and black pepper. The spices give the proteins warm, herbaceous, earthy flavor—they’re downright delicious.
Both the Beef Kabob and Chicken Kabob are a bit dry, but the flavor is exactly what one would hope for.
The meats can be loaded into the pita and topped with tzatziki, essentially offering a spin on the gyro, or eaten with the yellow rice. The rice is a bit uncooked, though the chewy consistency isn’t necessarily displeasing.
The dining room at Legacy Gyros is modest, as this is more of a fast casual spot that does a good deal of takeout. But the large plate windows let in plenty of warm sunlight, and the family that runs the restaurant is very welcoming and friendly.
And any Greek spot that has the meat rotating on the vertical spit in the open kitchen is a win in my book.
Shawarma is another beloved part of Greek cuisine, and the Chicken Wrap showcases why. Legacy Gryos’ verison is about 10 inches long, and it’s packed with chicken, french fries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sauce.
The chicken is tender and very well-seasoned, punching forth with oregano and garlic. The starch from the fries adds interesting balance, and the cucumbers provide a nice crunch. The garlic sauce is delicious and creamy (think tzatziki with less dill and more garlic), but there’s not enough of it. The wrap eats a bit dry, but adding some extra tzatziki does the trick.
The Falafel are tater-tot shaped barrels of flavors, as they’re fried to a perfect crispiness. The exterior is very well-seasoned, while the chickpea interior has a nice, clean vegetal flavor to balance the heaviness of the deep fry.
As far as sides go, the Greek Potatoes are the way to go. Tender and buttery, they have plenty of flavor on their own (though dunking them in tzatziki isn’t a bad idea). The dressing in the Greek salad has a nice punch, but the iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes aren’t of the highest quality. It’s a fine side salad, but not one worth ordering.
All in all, Legacy Gyros is a casual takeout or quick meal that serves up standout Greek cuisine. It’s not perfect, but it’s a grand improvement on what it was before, and that’s a win for Omaha.