Village Taverna — Restaurant in East Hertfordshire

This place as soon as we sat down had a toxic atmosphere. Staff were stressed and overworked, they were frightened of the boss. I don't blame them for any of this, its the management.

We had food coming first followed by our drinks which we had to ask for more than once. The olives were spilt on the table by the waitress, she then asked do you want new ones or want to keep these? Well obviously if they've been dropped onto the table we want new ones. She then said don't say anything to the boss and that she told the kitchen we like olives and wanted more. That didn't go down well because the dropped olives looked good and the replacement ones we got were old and wrinkley. They didn't taste good at all.

When ordering a meze you should get a few selections at a time. Not here. We would get a slice of haloumi each only, then a slice of mushroom each only. Or calamari and octopuses came out one at a time also and not together. We were sat for ages waiting for our food to come out only to receive the odd piece here and there.

Two and a half hours later me and my partner finally got the bill and to justify the hassle we and the other tables who went through the same thing were offered a shot of ouzo. Sorry but a shot doesn't justify a lovely meal I was hoping to have that sadly didn't happen.

Oh and I was looking forward to the live entertainment that sadly didn't take place either. I'm half Greek Cypriot myself and was hoping for my meze to...

We have been wanting to try this place for a while - we were not disappointed.

The service was impeccable - so much so that we couldn't even describe it as 'service', more like visiting family. Meeting Tommy was a pleasure, the passion he has for his restaurant is evident in every facet of the experience. Roda was our server and the warmth we felt and genuine conversation we had elevated the experience entirely.

We sat outside and to me, a Cypriot who misses Cyprus, it felt like we were really there. On Friday and Saturday nights they host live music and we will definitely return for this!

Now, of course, the food. The menu is fairly extensive and this can be a red flag, but clearly they have my yiayia (grandma) and four of her friends there in the kitchen because everything we tried was cooked with love. You could taste the freshness of the ingredients, and with so many "Greek" restaurants out there, trying to strah from the tried and tested, this taste of the traditional was both welcome and refreshing. We could not have asked for anything more, incredible quality of food and very generous portions.

My search for a good Cypriot restaurant is over. My days of wondering the streets looking for a good souvlaki have come to an end.

Strongly recommend. We can not...

We went with another couple on a Saturday to have the mezedes for 2, which I believe was around £35 a head.

The Food: Amazing! Every course and dish cooked to perfection. Some things obviously weren't to my liking, but I still gave things a try etc.

The Service: The waitress staff were smart, friendly and polite. My only negative would be that they were a little rushed, but I assume that was only due to the amount of people who were dining last night. (it was absolutely rammed)

The Atmosphere: Electric! I believe there was 3 or 4 'parties' of people last night, 10+ people per group, plus quite a few of us small tables. The live music was great and set the scene perfectly. But when the tambourines came out, it was amazing! Probably not the level of noise an elderly couple on a romantic meal would like, but for us it was absolute heaven! 😂

To people worried about the noise, we were assured that it isn't normally that busy or loud there on a Saturday, but to be honest, it wasn't too bad at all. Just slightly difficult to have a conversation.

So a massive thanks to the Village Taverna team, to the chefs, waiting staff, owner etc for an amazing night out. We will...