Andreas Restaurant — Restaurant in North Vancouver

We are spoiled for choices here on the North Shore when it comes to dining out so when I have an experience that just doesn't measure up to the competition, I try to give it a fair shake; chef might be having a bad day, change of ownership might be working out a few kinks, etc. There is a lot of competition in this city so every establishment needs to stand out for something. I think Andreas is known being open late and having cheap prices. My dinner date and I wanted an inexpensive dinner on a Sunday afternoon so we ended up here. We arrived just as they opened at 4:30, passing a customer on the way out with a pizza. This looked like a good sign, we thought. The place was quiet for a Sunday afternoon but it was early yet. The menu is large, offering standard classic Italian and Greek items. We expect a place that specializes in Mediterranean cuisine to use good quality, fresh ingredients to create dishes full of flavour. It's hard to go wrong with garlic, onions, salt and pepper, or so we thought. While we contemplated the menu, that customer we passed came back in and loudly demanded to see the manager. He complained his pizza was not up to par; the meat was not high quality according to him. It was cheap meat, he asserted, and he said the toppings slid off the pizza and he demanded a refund. The manager pointed out they "sell a lot of pizzas" but gave him the refund. I quietly suggested to my dinner date that we not order pizza. We chose a Greek platter with Greek salad to start and a mixture of beef, lamb and chicken souvlaki, calamari, humus, tzatziki, pita, spanakopita, rice and roast potato for $42. We ordered a pop each which came as a glass of ice and a can. How hard would it be to put the pop in the glass? The salad arrived first. Now, Greek salad, as I know it, usually includes; red onion, black olives, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese, olive oil, oregano, lemon juice and black pepper. In this instance, the cucumber was in odd size chunks (some of which didn't look all that fresh), a couple hunks of tomato, green pepper and white (?) onion. Feta was liberally sprinkled over top but it tasted dry and powdery. It was topped with a couple black olives right out of a can. There was no sign of oil, oregano, black pepper or lemon juice to give it that zing Greek salad is known for. Edible but disappointing. The platter looked marvelous but as we dug in, we noticed how dry the rubbery the calamari was and the spanakopita was half flat with no hint of feta cheese in the filo pastry. We wondered if it had been sitting under a heat lamp too long. The skewers of meat were okay for flavour but also a bit dry. I'm used to rice cooked in broth and this wasn't. It was just plain rice with a sprinkle of green something mixed in (dried oregano?) The tzatziki and humus were standard fare. We didn't even bother with the potato. We ate enough to sate us and the leftovers when home with my companion who is a trained chef. We decided to skip desert. The bill came to $52 for a so-so meal which I don't consider inexpensive. I have other, better options for Greek and Italian food and I go where my taste buds come out satiated and happy even if I have to pay a little more. Andreas is not on my top ten best places to eat in...

I've been living in North Vancouver for twenty plus years, and I've learned to appreciate the simple pleasures of life. Like hiking, sunsets, and pizza. Not the fancy, artisanal, wood-fired kind that you find in down Lonsdale or Edgemont Village but the honest, greasier, New York-style pizza that you can fold in half and eat with your hands. And there's only one place that does it right on the north shore: Andreas Restaurant.

Andreas is a family-owned joint that has been serving pizza and Greek food since well before I moved here. It's not a place you go for the ambiance. The decor is stuck in the 70s, with fake columns, plastic grapes, and cheesy paintings of Mediterranean scenes. My friend, who joined me for dinner, was not impressed. She said it looked like a cheap imitation of a Greek taverna. I disagreed. It reminded me of those old-school Greek-Italian restaurants that you find all over North America, the ones that have survived the trends and fads of the food industry. The ones that have a loyal clientele of locals who know what they want and don't care about the frills.

We decided to skip the pizza this time and try the Greek platter for two. It came with a generous assortment of appetizers, salads, and meats, served with rice, potatoes, and pita bread. The last time I had it, it was better. The lamb skewer was uneatable tough, and the pita bread is not really pita bread. I know we are not alone in this opinion. The family behind me ordered the same thing, and they ate everything but the pita. The hummus has always been sort of bland but definitely passable. The weak points of the platter, for sure. But the rest was good. The spanakopita was flaky and cheesy, the tzatziki was perfectly creamy and garlicky, and the chicken souvlaki was juicy and well-seasoned The Greek salad was fresh and crisp, with feta cheese and olives. The portions were generous enough for three adults, and we had enough leftovers to take home.

Andreas is not a place you go for a culinary adventure or a first date. It's a place you go for comfort food, for nostalgia, for familiarity. It's a place you go when you want a slice of North Vancouver New York-style pizza, or a hearty Greek meal, or both. (It is not New York Style pizza but it is the closest you will find on the North Shore) It's a place you go when you want to support a local business that has been serving the community for decades. It's a place you go when you want to feel like you belong.

A quick aside if you have a coupon code, ask if they will honour it before you order. I had a coupon code for $10 off, with no expiration date or conditions. When I showed the manager the whole email, she said “oh that is for takeout.” To which I said, “Oh it says that nowhere in the email.” Her response was “It should have.” So unfortunately for me, I needed to...

On my last review I mentioned that I like the fact that the food is hot and fresh and they they are open late... my last complaint was about their horrific customer service on the phone and blatantly rude people taking orders. This time I encountered very polite people on the phone but my pizza was soaking wet, undercooked and not edible. I immediately put it in the over to try to dry it out and almost had to burn it just to get it to a slightly less wet consistency. I called in and the girl on the phone was very helpful and said they would send replacement pizzas but that it would take an hour for them to arrive. I said we had to leave the house in just under an hour so if they can't deliver them in time they will have to send them another day. she said ok. Then 20 minutes before we had to leave I called back to make sure the pizzas were on their way. I was put on hold for a long time then it disconnected. I am not sure why, but they never sent the replacements. I called back 4 days later and explained the situation to a polite guy on the phone. He was very nice. Then he put me on hold and the most unprofessional manager I have ever encountered got o the phone and immediately made a number of negative assumptions without knowing the situation. All she did was try her hardest to make a case for me looking like I didnt do what I was supposed to do. She asked me why I never called to complain the same day as the delivery (I called twice actually). She told me she didnt want to get in trouble so there was nothing they could do. I had to tell her that she could start by finding out who I spoke to about the replacements, (she there were four girls on that night, as if that would be a chore to have to ask four people who said I could have replacements.) I spent $50 on two medium pizzas including tax and I still can't believe that after being super rreasonable and patient and not giving them a hard time about it, I was met with an immature and aggressive attempt to villainize me and make me look like I was trying to scam them. This manager chick was not interested in trying to help sort out why my pizzas never arrived. Or why I had to chase them down and explain my story several times. All she wanted to do was try to find reasons why there is nothing they can do four days later to replace the pizzas. She was actually willing to make a customer feel like they did something wrong, just so she wouldn't have to talk to the owner about it or do ANYTHING about it. I had to give her instructions on how to help me and be accountable and show they care...because she...