Taverna Opa Orlando — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

We came here for Magical Dining Month this year; I know I'm behind in my reviews. The menu was solid, and the atmosphere, I hear, is unbeatable. So I decided to come give it a shot. The place was packed with long tables, so we were jammed in very close to our neighbors. Starting at a certain time, I think 7PM or 8PM, there starts unrelenting loud music that does not stop. So be prepared to yell at your server a lot.

Appetizers:

Falafel (Chickpea croquettes, tzatziki). Solid, crispy falafel, fresh tasting tzatziki. No complaints.

Saganaki (Vlahotiri cheese flamed tableside with brandy). This was a delight. Everyone that orders this gets a loud Opa! and their cheese flambeed right in front of them. Very fun, very good cheese.

Main Course:

Slow-Roasted Lamb (Garlic, herbs, lemon potatoes, vegetables). Mmmm. I loved this. The lamb was served pot roast style, which had a nice, flagrant flavor. Moist and soft. The potatoes added to the pot roast vibes. The vegetable was green beans with some slivered almonds in them, quite nice.

Filet Mignon (10oz. black angus filet medallions, lemon potatoes, vegetables). This was served in 2 five-ounce medallions, cooked well, seasoned well. The potatoes and the green beans made a return. While they both tasted good, there should be a little more originality here, I think.

Dessert:

Opa Ekmek (Shredded phyllo, custard, whipped topping, walnuts). This was bonkers good. The crust of this pie was shredded phyllo! I've never had anything like this. The custard was nice and sweet, and the walnuts gave you that great crunch.

Loukoumades (Greek style donuts, honey syrup, walnuts). These were also bonkers good. Like Italian zeppole, but crispier fried and slathered in honey. My goodness, this was the perfect dessert.

Overall, the food was three stars, sorry, the desserts were four stars, but the atmosphere was five stars. The dancers and the servers all throwing unlimited amounts of napkins in the air, along with the DJ that keeps it bumping literally all night long. I loved it. I'll definitely come back if their menu for next year's MDM can improve...

Pro: the food was very good however the entire experience was tainted by the blaring music ( 100+ decibels ) and almost nonexistent service. And that’s the only pro. I can only assume that this restaurant must have changed hands over the last year. We came here January 2022, just as this year, with a party of 14. Last year was great; the food, the atmosphere, the service. This year was a huge disappointment and miserable. Sadly we would not add this as a dinner location for the future. Cons: music was so loud you couldn’t even talk to the person next to you, the server barely came to our table other then to take our initial order, the food took forever, again the music was deafening, my husband had to get up to go try to find our server who spent 20+ minutes taking the order from the table behind us, the music is SOO loud, they really skimp on the Tzatziki sauce which they had forgotten to bring out in the first place, ( which would be like a hamburger restaurant skimping on ketchup ), the extremely loud music eliminates your ability to carry a conversation, drinks not refilled, the volume of the music was ridiculous loud keeping us from enjoying our meal and time at the restaurant, my husband asked 2 other servers for assistance and they said we have to talk to our server who we couldn’t find for 30 mins. They have a small bar section but seem to run the restaurant like it’s a club. And for dessert I got a headache. Really wish I could have given a better rating based on the taste of the food but when everything else went so badly I just can’t. The sad thing is I know someone from the restaurant reads and responds to these reviews and the unbearable level of the music and inability to carry on a conversation is mentioned repeatedly but they don’t make a change. If you want loud music and lousy service you go to a club, when you want to enjoy a delicious meal and converse with friends and family you go to a dining facility/restaurant. Sorry Opa, but you...

I LOVE this place!! We went for my company holiday party (in Feb as we are caterers and busy at holiday season producing holiday parties) and wow! Never imagined that we would have so much fun or that the food would be so good. The service was excellent, the place was packed and the kitchen did not miss a beat. The food came out in a timely fashion and we were able to watch the servers ready at the window as their orders came out everything was delivered quickly to our tables. Located on the touristy I drive I imagined that this could possibly be a tourist trap but the food was truly delicious. We started with the cold appetizer platter of tzatziki, hummus and what I believe was baba ganoush, along with stuffed grape leaves and a big side of Greek salad. Lots of Olives everything was delicious. The next course was platters of all of the hot appetizers. Blew us away everything was so flavorful and well done. We had a seafood dish that was in a garlic and tomato broth with lobster mussels calamari and some white fish that was absolutely delicious. We had an assorted meat platter that was amazing. Everything on it was gorgeous and the lamb was marinated for 36 hours with garlic and spices. This place is legit. The food was very very good but only go if you are interested in being in a party atmosphere because it was party from the minute we walked through the door and the party continued long after we left. The dancing on the tables and vibrant energy of the staff was so much fun. I was prepared for Greek music all night long but they had upbeat popular dance music that made me feel like I was in a nightclub. I absolutely loved this place and look forward to...