The Village Taverna — Restaurant in Victoria

There is some interesting history to this place. For decades, Eugene's was an iconic Victoria institution, serving exceptionally high quality Greek food across several locations, in a relatively casual unpretentious atmosphere. When the father (Eugene) who founded the restaurant retired, his sons took over. The quality of the food generally remained good, but consistency suffered, as the sons were largely missing in action, with no real passion, grit, or business sense for running restaurants. At one point there were sticky tapes all over the menu, updating the prices. Staff shortages and turnovers. It just felt they couldn't be bothered anymore. For a time, they had anniversary specials, where they would lower the prices back to 1980s prices, and the restaurant became completely overwhelmed with customers, showing that people still did remember and love the food, but that the restaurants were just badly mismanaged. Eventually Eugene's became an unprofitable enterprise, with one location closing after the next, with the last Eugene's shutting its doors about ten years ago.

"Village Taverna" was opened not long after, about 7 years ago, initially as a way to revitalize and re-brand what was Eugene's, in a somewhat different form. Initially it was pretty decent, using Eugene's familiar recipes. It changed hands, and quality started to noticeably slide, but there were still a few remnants of what was great about Eugene's. I came recently, for the first time in a few years, and the food is now unrecognizable. The tsatsiki is runny, where it was once thick and flavourful. The pita is parched and thin, where it was once fluffy, elastic, and fresh. Similarly, the chicken is thin and dry, where it was once juicy and flavourful. The life of the food is gone, in favour of cutting corners, but not prices. It feels like if you let someone without any sense of English prose edit away Shakespeare until it was unrecognizable.

If you forget all the history, what is now Village Taverna is not terrible. It's mediocre to fair Greek food. It could be okay in a pinch, and not a lot worse than the typical run-of-the-mill Greek food served in this part of the world. The lady who served the food was really nice and sweet. Perhaps there are some items that are still like Eugene's was, but there's no evidence of that. The only thing that is clearly the same is menu listings, but when you order those items, you're brought something completely different, devoid of the life and magic that was...

I ordered the plater for 1- lamb.. oh boy, here we go. I honestly don't like giving out bad reviews but unfortunately this one is warranted. Portion sizes were embarrassingly tiny. I was still hungry when I finished the food! I can't believe I paid over $25 for what I got when it's almost half that price right across the road at greek on the street. When I asked the cook who was there if the order came with a gyro he said yes but it didn't. It came with some tiny pita triangles and everything else in separate containers so I had to do it myself.. Don't be fooled by the size of the salad either, it was almost entirely cucumber with some tomato and a bit of onion and green pepper. I didn't even get enough pita bread to use the hummus... I called to talk to them about it and they said they would give me a credit but to be honest I don't even want it because I don't plan on going back. I sure hope they're paying their employees well for charging that much. It tasted good but was nothing special.. the cheaper price across the street also tasted better just an fyi. To be quite honest the only positive thing about this entire experience was the person working the till who was exceptionally nice.

1.5 stars because of the great...

We went to the Village Taverna on Pendergast St., Victoria, around lunchtime on January 24th. The place is tidy and pleasant. It was quiet, as there was only one couple waiting for their food. The young lady at the tiller was attentive and friendly. We ordered takeout Moussaka and Spanakopita, both are accompanied of Greek salad, hummus, tzatziki and pita bread. The portions were rather small, the Greek salad was drenched in an unidentifiable oil, with just a tiny sprinkle of Feta, tomatoes were mushy, past their prime, the Moussaka was fatty, with an unwholesome smell, it was warm on the outside, cold inside, with layers of leathery zucchini and eggplant. The Spanakopita was shaped like a Danish pastry, with minimal amount of spinach, and no detectable Feta, it left a lot to be desired. The hummus was not fit to be eaten. However, I must say that the tzatziki was fine, and the pita bread was warm and good. The bottom line is the food is overpriced, and poorly prepared. We don’t recommend it and...