Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe - Greenville — Restaurant in Greer

Let me preface this by saying that I really like the food at this restaurant. With the exception of a bad onion I got on a salad a few years ago, I've never had a bad meal here. And usually the customer service is decent. Never overwhelmingly hospitable, aside from offering an instant beverage, but comfortably distant while attentive when necessary.

That said, tonight they had some of the worst customer service I've experienced in a while. I sincerely hope that it was due to being shorthanded coupled with a busy night (Mother's Day) and not because of a sudden lack of concern for customer satisfaction.

Knowing it was going to be a busy night for them, we ordered curbside instead of trying to dine in. We got our food and went home. As I was getting everything unpacked, I realized my husband's chicken kebobs were missing. I called the restaurant; someone answered—and they promptly hung up. I called again, and then a third time, and it was the same. It rang a few times, someone picked up and hung up. So, I decided to let my food go cold and head back to the restaurant and hope that it wouldn't take long to fix.

The first guy that approached me asked if I was picking up an order, but when I said I had already picked up my order and it was missing an item, he assured me he would be back to help make it right—and never came back. So, I joined the line and told the lady taking orders about our missing kebobs.

She assured me they were going to drop some on the grill for me.

I found a spot to wait, and I waited.

And I waited.

Now, I've been through culinary school. I worked in the food industry as a cater. I know how it feels to be in the weeds, so I remained calm. But I also know how long it takes to cook chicken, and I knew my chicken (if it had been dropped) should have been done for a few minutes by then. So, I asked a guy to check and he went back to the grill area and was back in a few seconds. He didn't put the foil packet of chicken in a bag or anything. Just handed me foil.

I expected it to be hot.

It wasn't even warm.

That wasn't fresh chicken that had been on the grill within the last half hour. I suspect it was my original missing chicken from the temperature.

Over an hour after we picked up our takeout, I'm finally home and eating my cold shrimp, my husband has eaten his cold chicken.

I'm not giving up on this restaurant...like I said, I hope this was just an off night. Any other night, I'd say this is a solid 4.5 star restaurant. Their tzatziki with soft pita is nothing short...

The WORST Greek “food” I’ve ever had. It is over priced for a gyro ($14.00+) and slightly larger than a snack wrap-type thing at Burger King for $2.99. It was watery, and only had a small piece of lamb (that was so over cooked and shriveled up that I will give the benefit of the doubt because that’s what I ordered, but I couldn’t tell).

The lemon chicken soup is not Greek. It’s like chicken broth with a bottle of lemon juice poured in. A real Greek chicken soup is creamy, with a HINT of lemon and orzo. I couldn’t even finish it. I was tempted to pour some in my iced tea because that was blah. I should mention it came with “pita” on the side. It was two tiny triangles the length of my ring finger.

Finally, my throat and tastebuds couldn’t handle anymore, was the basmati rice. Okay, at least it was cooked and soft. That’s all. It was infused with a chemical tasting cilantro and lemon (again, more lemon) flavoring that was so off putting that it didn’t even take a third bite.

As for the service: I received it through Uber eats and the styrofoam container wasn’t sealed, the inner bag wasn’t sealed and the outer bag wasn’t sealed. Come on, really? Everything was cold, which didn’t help when the food was terrible to begin with.

It’s a shame that I was looking forward to this. Some advice: open a restaurant ONLY if you know what you’re doing. Stop with the “it’s a family recipe”. Maybe the recipe was never good to begin with, but when that’s all you know, or nobody speaks up, then you never know anything better exists.

I should have gone to...

I generally give high marks to restaurants I review. This restaurant did not meet our standards in regard to meat. My spouse and I were passing through from an out-of-town trip and stopped to shop at EarthFare. It was awesome, but we did not see anything to eat there as the hot bar was not open Sundays. We checked out three other places in the shopping center, but nothing appealed to us. We decided to walk to the end of the center to try Tzaziki’s because we love lamb.

It was very crowded with a long line. There were no menus to hold and review—only a single poster. I chose a side order of lamb and my husband had lamb with a salad and rice. He said the rice was very good. However, the lamb both of us ate was as tough as shoe leather, overcooked to very, very, well done, a mere 1/8 inch thick, and copiously seasoned. We were not sure it was actually lamb.

We ate it because we had to get on home and it seemed the best they could do. Also the women’s room was a mess. Paper towels overflowed the waste basket and were strewn to the floor. The sink was dripping and would not turn off. The sink vanity had a layer of water on it, and the floor was wet. I reported that to the server who brought our food.

All in all, not recommended if you like lamb. I got some lamb steaks at Publix to make sure we still like lamb. I seasoned them lightly with gyro spice and broiled them to medium rare. They were an inch thick, and almost melted in my mouth and were juicy, tender, and fatty as grass-fed lamb should be. I...