Apóla Greek Grill – Closed

We love Meditteranean and Middle Eastern food – enough that we’re willing to drive to Little Arabia or Long Beach for great meals, and actively seek out nationally famous options when we’re traveling outside the area. That said, we’re always looking for good options elsewhere in Orange County, which brought us to the small Irvine-based Apola Greek Grill chain several times. Though the menu was very limited, Apola did a fine job with its main dishes, and an okay job with sides.

The concept: choose from seven possible proteins (chicken gyro, chicken breast souvlaki, beef/lamb gyro, pork gyro, shrimp, falafal, or meatless gyro) to place in a pita sandwich, divided rice plate, or mixed bowl of vegetables, add spreads and/or sides, and end with a piece of baklava. At Apola, the meats were the stars, all properly seasoned and decently portioned. Other items, including hummus, eggplant, fries, and baklava, tended to be unremarkable rather than great, though a lemon and rice soup (avgolemono) was nice, and dolmas grape leaves were atypically bland.

Apola’s biggest assets were fairly low pricing and clean, In-N-Out-style dining rooms with indoor seating. It had two remaining OC locations in Irvine and Yorba Linda, which closed at the end of 2025; an Anaheim location closed in 2023, with additional LA shops in varied temporarily closed/closed states.