Tantalus Restaurant — Restaurant in Issaquah

We went in for a late lunch around 3pm. There are ample parking spaces available around. Restaurant had plenty of tables available. We ordered Chicken pesto and Olympus plate combination with soups on side and a Greek coffee. Food: Chicken pesto was fine however the chicken seemed like not seasoned enough, it could have little salt. The chicken skewers from Olympus plate were little rubbery, huge scope of making them more soft/ tender and juicier. One of the dolmades from this plate had a human hair wrapped in! Loved the coffee , soups were little sour for my taste. We decided we are not going here again. Service: The server was easy going but he should know the food that he is serving. We talked if Greek coffee had the cardamom notes in it or if the less salt in chicken was intentional, his answer for these questions was : "Another couple asked me the same question. I have no idea. I didn't cook it." When I pointed out the hair in Olympus plate he was gracious enough to acknowledge that and said he would discount that plate but in reality it was not discounted. Later when I mentioned about it, he gave us $2 discount in the new cheque. This hairy situation has happened to me before a few times and I have been always asked if they can replace the dish with non-hairy one or it has been completely deducted from the cheque or compensated with a complementary dessert. No such efforts were made here to rectify that bad experience. Bummer! Ambience: We could have eaten at any restaurant from Gilman village but the reason that we went inside this restaurant was it's outside appearance. It has classic blue Greek look and cozy lights outside. The inside decor looks...

We had a really weird experience here, to the point that we wondered multiple times if we were on some kind of "Candid Camera" or "Punk'd" style TV show.

We were seated basically immediately, and then... Nothing. For around 15 minutes. We had direct line of sight with a server and I made eye contact several times, plus the little head motion that means "Hi I'm not demanding your attention right this second but we're ready to order please."

And not once did he, or anyone else, come over. Again, despite me locking eyes with him and even doing a little wave several times.

We started to think, maybe he's not our server and this place is super strict about that. But nope, 20 minutes later, he was finally ready to take our order.

And the place wasn't packed. It was so weird. It felt like the first night of service after someone decided to turn their home into a restaurant, and they grossly underestimated what juggling 5ish tables would be like.

We'd intended on ordering drinks and an appetizer, but the longer we sat there, the less we decided to order. We honestly didn't have time to sit there for another hour waiting on apps and main courses.

When we did finally get food, it was.... Fine. We drove about 20 minutes from Kirkland and it just isn't worth sitting in freeway traffic and whatnot. If you live nearby and have a couple hours to kill, then this spot might be good.

So, will we be back? No. We recognize the service might've just been off that night, but taking the risk of a repeat isn't worth another 40 minutes round-trip.

Bottom line - If you're in Redmond/Kirkland/Bothell and looking for a date night dinner that's worth the drive,...

When food looks good, it tastes good. Presentation is everything, and the presentation was bright and colorful. I had the gyro with vegetables on the side. The gyro was served open-faced with slices of tomato. The white onions were thinly sliced. The side vegetables were blanched and quick sautéed to maintain appearance, texture, crispness, and taste. Very well presented. The potatoes were cooked in chicken stock, which gave them a warm yellow appearance and a delicious flavor. My SO had the dolmades lunch. The handmade and cooked in tomato sauce. Served with the same side vegetables as the gyro. She also had the lentil soup when she consumed completely and did not share even a taste. Almost forgot, we shared the combination appetizer platter. It came with feta cheese, olives, skordalia, hummus, pita, and something else, the name of which I can not remember. All done very colorful and very tasty. The service was very good. The waiter was polite, and the service was quick. They even gave us an extra pita for our appetizer. All in all I wouldvery much recommend this restaurant. One thing to add, we went after lunch rush and before dinner. If you go during peak times of the day, they...