Yiani's Greek Restaurant — Restaurant in Sunshine Coast Regional

Worth the wait! My wife & I booked a dinner reservation a day or so in advance as we'd heard it was popular. Parking is tricky, with street parking being sort after. Upon arrival at the restaurant, there wasn't any obvious queue or area to wait, so I headed to the cash register I could see to let them know we had arrived. I was intercepted by a gentleman on the way who asked me to wait on the footpath, no question was asked to ascertain whether we had a reservation or not. We waited for approx 10mins, and were then seated outside, there is both inside & outside seating, some open to weather, most seating is under cover. No question re our reservation was asked, they must try to seat any walk in customers? We were offered water and menu's immediately and the waitress circled back to check if we were ready to order with a few minutes. They offered a reasonable selection of local & imported wines. We chose imported reds from Greece, a glass of Nemea & their Pinot Noir (unsure of name), both were impressive. We shared the slow cooked grilled octopus for our entree, and the platter for two as our main (calamari, chicken & lamb skewers, pork gyros, pita, haloumi fries, tzatziki & aioli dips, and chips) and a small side of greek salad. The time from ordering to the entree arriving was approx 15mins, and then it took another 20mins after that for the main to arrive. Although the wait was a little long, we could see the restaurant was full, and they seemed very efficient serving other patrons, so we felt comfortable waiting. The serving sizes were generous, everything arrived hot, cooked perfectly and tasted fresh. The standouts to us were the slow cooked 🐙 & pork gyros... wow👌. The toilets onsite also deserve a mention, they were clean, roomy and easy to access. Payment at the end was easy, accurate and efficient. Overall, the customer service was great, friendly & reasonably efficient, with the exception of the arrival confusion & lack of knowing whether our reservation was confirmed (still a 4 star, but room for improvement). The food was amazing 👏, and the atmosphere was what is expected (typical Greek images, flags and pre-recorded music playing over the top of the restaurant hustle & chatter). We thoroughly recommend Yianai's Greek, we'll be...

We visited Yanni's last Friday evening and it was a big mistake. It was jammed with way too many people and also too many tables and chairs and the noise was terrible, actually it was deafening and exacerbated by very loud, actually unnecessarily loud music, which made everyone raise their voices and really killed conversation. The welcome was very average as there was a mix up with tables and also Yanni's welcome was brusque to say the least and did not seem at all genuine. He needs to smarten up his customer care. The mix up with the tables was embarassing and confusing as after a while Yanni said it was ok to stay at the table we appeared to have been allocated, then one of the staff or perhaps his partner or wife explained in great detail, which we did not need to know, it was not. We explained Yanni had said it was OK! So we stayed where we were. In any case the saving grace at the end of the day was that the food was very good. I had the crispy fried barramundi and while it was very good and tasty I would not say it was crispy. It was served with a very nice small Greek style salad with feta and some nice fried potatoes. The others dining had either lamb or chicken souvlaki which they all said was very good also served with salad and chips. The bill was incorrect with over charges for corkage as two of us took a bottle of wine, but we were charged for four and we were also charged for drinks we did not have. Yanni did not like us mentioning this and was quite dismissive! In summary the food was good, the service was good from the young staff working there but Yanni needs to work on his customer care. Would we go there again? Yes we all agreed we would, but only mid week and definitely not on a weekend and especially not on a Friday! Would we recommend it? We agreed we might but not on a weekend and to be aware of the noise and lack of...

From the moment I walked into Yiani’s Greek, I knew I was in for a treat. The place smelled like the best garlic festival you could dream of, and I could hear the crackle of fresh pita bread somewhere in the kitchen. But then, something caught my eye at the bar—and I realized I was about to be served drinks by an absolute legend.

The bartender isn’t just a man behind the bar. Oh no, he’s the Zeus of Zest, the Dionysus of Drinks! This man could probably make a glass of tap water feel exotic. I asked for a cocktail, and he raised an eyebrow and said, ‘I make you something special.’ Well, my friend, that ‘something special’ turned out to be an Aperol Margarita that somehow tasted like a Mediterranean vacation. It was so good that halfway through, I found myself breaking into a Greek dance I didn’t even know I knew.

Every drink had a little extra magic in it—whether it was the sprig of mint from his secret stash or the olive he’d personally blessed in some ceremony I can only assume involved olive oil and some serious chanting. Let’s just say my mouth felt like it went to a beach party while my liver was waving a tiny white flag.

Do yourself a favor: order anything off the menu, but for the love of all things feta, be nice to the barman—because he isn’t just pouring drinks… he’s crafting...