Esquire Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

Based on the very good reviews here I wanted to try a different Greek restaurant for pork souvlaki and gyros dinners on Mother's Day. I couldn't get through until the 3rd call, got put on hold twice and got disconnected twice. Finally I was able to place my dinner orders for pick up in an hour. When I arrived I still had to wait about 20+ minutes. I wished they would have told me what was a reasonable time to come. I was late for something else. I read a review below that they let regulars ahead in line, quite a few people were waiting at the same time. Anyways I ordered for one of my pork souvlaki dinners, to be substituted with fries instead of the rice and potatoes. While waiting and watching the staff get my order ready, I was shocked when I saw the staff use his hands to push the fries into the foam dinner box. This turned me off to see it, It was as if he wanted to make sure not too many fries got into the dinner. I wished he had proportioned it correctly in the handle before using his hands. Also I noticed that staff handling my orders were not wearing hand gloves and I saw the bread and pita being handled with their hands as well. Especially during this Pandemic period when sanitary and hygienic conditions are a Priority. We were disappointed that the pork souvlaki dinner meats were dry tasting, like overcooked and my son said his fries were not fresh, tasteless and salads were soggy. In addition, the brown packaging holding my dinner meal, all the juices leaked through all over my car trunk making a mess to clean up and the bags broke apart as I lifted it out. I wished the packaging were better packaged not altogether on top of each other. Also the plastic forks were without wrapping and thrown into the bag. Sorry I had to write this poor review it really bothered me about the hands touching the fries, handling of the bread pieces and pita bread, not hygienic and sanitary for consumption. Making all that I said here, not a nice experience for us on...

There are four categories that Esquire Restaurant needs to improve on! One, the Marinade on the Chicken Souvlaki is too light. The Marinade needs to be made much richer and thicker than the way it’s being made right now. Currently, the taste of the Chicken Souvlaki is too plain. It’s also too soft! The Chicken Souvlaki needs to be grilled for longer. Two, the Rice is too plain! Boiling the rice and steaming it with oil is not doing any justice to it. Three, the Potatoes are too plain! Simply boiling the Potatoes is not doing any justice to either. It’s not the Greek Way! The Potatoes need to be boiled half way and oven-roasted until it’s cooked. Four, the Tzatziki Sauce is watered down and too salty with very little garlic used in it! The Tzatziki Sauce needs to be made thicker with much more garlic added to it. The Salad was very fresh! I never had a Salad this fresh from a restaurant before. The Salad Dressing was good. This is the First Greek Salad Dressing that I’ve had at a Greek Restaurant that has Red Wine Vinegar in it! Finally, Esquire Restaurant is a Very Clean Restaurant! They take Food Safety very seriously. The Two Main Attractions at Esquire Restaurant are their Affordable Menu Prices and their Large Food Portions! While, most of the Greek Restaurants out there these days offer their Menu Items at Inflated Prices with Small Food Portions. If you guys down at Esquire Restaurant incorporate all of these improvements, you guys will dominate out there! I will be coming back for the Beef & Lamb Gyros. You guys ran...

Update: Just like other reviewers remarked, the COVID protocols here are very lax. The two staff preparing the food were not wearing their masks properly or even gloves. One had his under his nose and another's kept falling down below his month. When called out, he stated "we all have our vaccines" and that the health inspector said it is OK as the grill is very hot. While I realistically wasn't worried, the perception of not wearing masks properly or using gloves during a pandemic is very off-putting. The only people wearing masks properly were the cashier and the person preparing ingredients in the back. Please advise your staff that masks MUST be worn PROPERLY.

Tried this place for the first time yesterday as I was in the area. Upon walking in, it reminded me of another Greek restaurant I've been going to for many years near Pearson Airport. The food is good, the portions are large and the prices very reasonable. Everything is made-to-order which is a plus and the toppings are fresh. Unfortunately the kitchen is far to small for the amount of food this place puts out. This leads to long waits during peak times (20 minutes ++). If you call in ahead of time you'll save some time but not much. If they expanded the kitchen (perhaps added another grill and more staff) the waits...