Souvlaki GR — Restaurant in Florida

Finally got around to trying this place. Made a reservation, a few days in advance via their affiliation with Resy and it was confirmed twice; once via text and once via email, with a follow up text re-confirming the day of the reservation. Since I don’t trust the Resy platform, I decided to call and ensure they had our reservation for that evening and of course they didn’t have it, no big deal as they gave me a reservation at the requested time for that evening (last night, April 9th). Upon arrival it’s a flurry of activity, bustling crowd, which is nice to see on a Tuesday night, but in all candor, the staff and perhaps who I believed to be the owner, were running around in a chaotic manner, like “no-one know’s what’s going on”. This environment of “Service” being out of sorts or confused permeated the evening and is very noticeable. With the exception of what I presume was the owners wife, who was calm, relaxed, conversational and brought us free desert at the end of our meal (not sure if that is routine, but very very nice and yummy too). Here’s the deal: every restaurant is busy, with sometimes large parties or groups(which was the case). This isn’t the first time they are experiencing this and it’s evident there’s no discipline around a process of responsibility and staying cool under pressure. Our waiter btw, was very good and the food came on time and was hot, but his attention was frequently diverted to others as a result of miscommunication amongst staff. Lastly, all three “special” requests had to be re-requested in order to get what we needed: flat bottled water, a vegan menu (which the entire one is online, so you must ask for it) and 1 second drink, a beer. The food:, Apps’s were very good, pita, hummus and garlic whip, Horiatiki salad and Souvlaki. The mains were, grilled octopus, Kritharoto Thalasinon Orzo seafood and Bifteki Gemisto, with two sides of lemon potatoes & fries. All dishes were very good, but both potato sides were “the Bomb”, as in probably the best lemon potatoes and fries I’ve had in south Florida. Standouts for me besides the potatoes were the Souvlaki and the Horiatiki salad, great ripe tomatoes and creamy feta, with crunchy cucumbers. We don’t normally eat desert, but when it came, we were glad that it did, both the Rizogalo and Bakalava were outstanding. I always ask myself the question; “ would I return “? Answer is yes, I would sit at the lovely looking bar and have lunch. My only regret is not trying the fresh fish, next time for lunch when it’s hopefully less chaotic. Lastly, there’s not a lot of private dining space, it’s more of a family style seating atmosphere. Hats off for them though for doing what they do,...

2 weeks before we actually ate here we tried a walk in. When we got to the desk we were ignored and everyone around us who was also waiting around the entrance seemed to have a reservation. We asked if they had any tables but were told “not for an hour”. We left and went to an Italian restaurant nearby. We thought okay it’s new we will give them another try. Fast forward 2 weeks. We made a reservation on a Saturday night at 7.30. We got to the front desk where a very pleasant young lady greeted us, far better than the first visit, and said our table would be delayed a little. No worries we thought we will sit at the bar and wait. The restaurant is very authentic looking and decorated in the colors of the Greek flag and is open on 2 sides to the street outside. There are tables available both inside and outside and the restaurant has a feel of being on a Greek Island not in a shopping plaza. Our reservation didn’t get called 20 minutes later so I informed the hostess we would eat at the bar as we had our drinks rather than wait. I got the feeling she was quite relieved we made that decision as there were quite a few other people who had reservations still waiting and looking more agitated than us about it. We got menus and ordered 4 smaller different dishes between the 2 of us. The prices are more reflective of beachside than close to a supermarket. It’s not cheap. They also do not sell domestic beers and they are not cheap either. The barman was very good and attentive, I got the feeling he had been brought in from another one of the owners restaurants as he knew the food and drinks menu well. The food was pretty good the portions somewhat small and sides often not included so the price kept going up. We didn’t go out with a budget in mind and the atmosphere appeared so nice when we first saw the place we just wanted to try it. I really like Greek food but some of the things I was looking for was not on the menu. Overall we enjoyed our evening out and the atmosphere and decor definitely contributed to that The food and drink choices were a little limited and if you are more adventurous and don’t mind trying beers you’ve probably never heard of or food you are less familiar with this is a place to try. However be aware these are more beachside prices not shopping plaza prices and the 2 of us got very little change...

I was not going to leave a review until they purposefully gave me an order that someone else drove off with when I asked nicely for a new one!!

This was my first time ordering from here. I ordered take out the 6 skewer platter and a regular 3 skewer platter both with French fries. I picked up the order, went to my car and opened it up to make sure everything was correct because the bag was pretty small. I then realized that this was not my order. I went back inside and told the lady at the front desk that this was not what I ordered. She told me no you ordered the platter. And I said yes but I also ordered the 6 skewers and both with French fries this one has the lemon potatoes. She was confused and realized my name was not on the receipt and the man that paid before me in line, I had his order and he had mine. She didn’t even say anything and just stepped out of the podium to call the other customer. What caught me off guard was how she scooted me out the way with out saying anything to step out and call the other customer. I over hear her say to the gentleman in the phone for him to come back to the restaurant and switch our orders. I thought that was very strange and thought the best way to fix YOUR mistake is to just re-fire the order in the kitchen. Simple. No she wanted me to wait for the gentleman who had my order and give that one to me. I questioned to her that how do we know he hasn’t opened it already. That’s a health hazard but she insisted that it was okay. She said 5 minutes he will be here. But it was more than 10 minutes already. I waited out side to meet the gentleman and saw him after 10-15 minutes has gone by. I asked him if he opened it and he said yes but not the foil one. I told her and she was still insisting for me to take it. None of it made sense and this is not how to accommodate for your mistake. I told her if they can cook a new one and she said okay 10 minutes. Well lady if it only took 10 minutes then you should have done that instead! Lol I get home and realized the food was really cold not even warm and I knew it was the same order that the gentleman had. I was furious. Horrible service from the lady upfront wearing a brown cheetah print long sun dress on Saturday evening on 4/15/23. I will not be coming back. That is so...