Kallisto Greek & Mediterranean Grill — Restaurant in Ottawa

These are the sub-standard service reasons why I had to walk out of Kallisto’s tonight before even being able to order any food: (1) I arrived around 9 p.m., and waited for a few moments at the front cash desk. A sole, late-middle aged white female server, with long black hair and glasses, saw me but ignored me for a few moments as she walked past me and went to lay napkins on the window-side tables. (2) So I walked past the desk and a little further into the restaurant, and indicated to her a need for a table for one. I had wanted to sit next to the window, but she motioned me over to the wall near the bar. The server gave off something of a dismissive, negative and a controlling attitude to me. So I sat down where she had motioned. There was no cutlery on the table, only a napkin. (3) The female server brought me a food and drinks menu a few moments later. She did not ask me if I wanted anything to drink - and so I asked her for water, with ice and lemon. She half-heartedly acknowledged my request but anyways went off to continue laying her white paper napkins. A few minutes passed, no water as requested had arrived, but two white women in their late 60s or 70s walked in. So a total of three customers were now in the restaurant. (4) The white female server literally rushed over to them, smiling at them, and with a positive, high-pitched voice. She handed them menus and immediately asked them if they wanted drinks. That after they had arrived some minutes after me. Meanwhile, my iced water had still not arrived. There was no cutlery on my table. Within seconds the female server brought the two white female customers their cutlery. Only afterwards did she bring to me my cutlery. (5) I asked her why she had asked the two women first whether they wanted drinks, and why had she delivered cutlery to them first when the two women had arrived after me? The female server gave me a very feeble excuse about “not wanting to get my cutlery wet with her hands.” The same hands that had just delivered cutlery to two ageing white women customers first. The female server then very feebly apologized, which I did not find at all sincere and which I suspect was only given because a man apparently from the Kallisto ownership/management team was standing close by to us and watching on. (6) I politely but firmly told the server and the man that although the restaurant offered good meals and that I would probably return, that I did not want to be “served” by the female server that night. I did not receive any credible reason or explanation for clearly being placed second after white ageing female customers who had arrived after I had. (7) I will not spend my good money where the “service” I receive is second-preferential to other customers, differential, prejudicial or actively discriminatory towards me. There are provincial Human Rights Codes that deal with such “service.” And even if I am not completely white by ethnicity, I am nobody’s fool. So while I cannot be completely sure whether the server’s reasons were gender-based, age-based, and/or skin colour-based, for whatever unjustifiable reason for the poor service, Kallisto’s lost a good C$60 of business tonight from me. And it earned a deservedly...

Kalliso Greek Restaurant: good food, good value Initial impressions: Easy parking in a non-descript strip mall at the south edge of the city. Nice neutral decor (not blue and white!). Friendly welcome. A full house on a Sunday evening. Good thing we had reservations. A tad noisy.

Two of us ordered lamb souvlaki the other Atlantic salmon. The mains came with a good greek salad with a very mild feta on top that didn't bother the feta haters! They both enjoyed it. The mains were well presented: The lamb was beautifully spiced and very tender and cooked precisely to our medium rare request. The meat had nice grill marks, but were perhaps a tad on the cool side by the time they reached us. The potatoes were tasty, not too salty and the rice was flavourful. The good selection of vegetables that rounded out the plate weren't over done -- just a little crisp -- exactly the way we like them. Unfortunately they were a little cool especially compared with the potatoes and rice. The salmon was properly cooked, was a full sized 8oz fillet but fairly unremarkable. Not one of their specialties perhaps...

We theorized that the uneven temperatures of the food might have been in response to the number of patrons. One half of the restaurant was a huge 60th birthday party. There was another table of perhaps 16 and a 50th wedding anniversary dinner all going on at the same time. I saw only two servers that were nevertheless very prompt and attentive. Ours even apologized for not visiting more with us when she learned that this was our first visit to Kallisto's. In compensation, or perhaps just because we didn't order coffee and desert, she brought out a plate full of baklava for us all to share. It was perfectly warmed, not too sweet and would have gone well with an espresso!

All-in-all a good meal and a good value. We'll be back again to see if the issues with temperature were just a fluke.

Total for 3, $65 before tip. We...

Wonderful service and one of my favourite Greek restaurants in the city. I love that they have expanded the menu (likely with the ownership change recently), as there are more offerings that I'm excited to try. I used to always get the moussaka (the Veggie one, even though I'm not a vegetarian), which is amazing; however, I thought I'd branch out and try something new.

On my recent visit, I had a chicken dish (Mediterranean) and it was delicious. Even though the rice here is good, I'm not a huge rice fan generally, so they allowed me to have extra salad. The portions are good, however, I was surprised there were only 4 small potatoes given with the meal. I have a small appetite, so that's not a huge deal for me, but I imagine others may think the portion of potatoes is pretty tiny, for what you're paying, anyway. But the chicken dish I had was excellent, and I love the salad that comes before the meals (the dressing is fantastic!!).

I'm actually surprised at a few of the reviews about bad service here. I've been a customer here for years, and everyone has always been super friendly. There used to be a wonderful older lady who used to serve us, and she was always cheery and friendly (you could tell she loved her job and people overall); however, I believe she moved on or retired, as I haven't seen her in a long while. One of their newer servers, Ranya, has served us the last couple of times we've been there, and she's amazing! She always has a friendly smile, chats with us, and makes sure we're taken care of. We were incredibly impressed with her service on our last couple of visits. Thank you, Ranya and also the rest of the staff at...