Eleni's Greek Taverna — Restaurant in Springfield

I’ve been here 3 times already and service was always subpar. On the third visit, the service was particularly subpar when the waiter made mostly eye contact with my boyfriend who was with me at the time. He also directed his questions and comments towards him too. During the meal, the waiter, Elton, never bothered to ask us even once if everything was alright as most good waiters and waitresses tend to do. Towards the end of the meal, when we got our check, he slid it towards my boyfriend until I stopped him. That’s when he realized that I was paying for the meal. When he realized that, he started finally paying attention to me, making eye contact and being courteous and attentive. This is especially the case, when he came back to the table with my credit card receipt to sign. Needless to say, he did not get a lot of tips. For the crappy service, Elton was lucky to get even 10% of tips. In the end, I ended giving him nearly 15%, just to be nice. I think the waiter, Elton, recognized me from my 2nd visit there and decided to avoid speaking to me at all costs. I asked him many questions before and he was not able to answer them completely or fulfill my alternative food requests, so I ended up being dissatisfied with the service and meal. So, quite possibly, he found me irritating because of my questions. On the third visit, he showed a distinct lack of enthusiasm and attentiveness. I personally think it was because of my ethnic background with racial profiling. It makes sense since this is a Greek restaurant with mainly white customers. My boyfriend, on the other hand, is Caucasian and probably, in the restaurant’s eyes, only one at that table deserving of proper attention. Also, the fact that our food ended up being between lukewarm and cool, suggests that the food has been sitting around in the kitchen for a while before being picked up. I ordered a meat omelet with potatoes and the potatoes and even a part of the eggs were slightly overdone. It was not a good feeling. Additionally, the restaurant owner, an older woman in maybe her 60’s+, has seen me personally at least 3 different times and she never once bothered to greet me or say anything of a welcoming nature. I’ve seen her do it with her regular patrons. In fact, she greeted the people sitting at the table behind us and even took away their dirty plates and personally attended to them. However, with us, she treated us like ghosts. That’s really no way to treat potential repeat customers. After the third visit, I’ve decided, enough is enough. I will not go there anymore, even if it was the last restaurant on the face of the planet. Food and service have always been dissatisfactory. Please do yourself a favor and avoid this place – you’ll find much better service and food at other places like Bob & Edith’s. It also doesn’t deserve multiple repeat visits...

Once again wonderful friends have introduced us to an excellent Springfield restaurant! Eleni's Greek Taverna is literally a hidden gem. We had the Cheese Saganani (fried cheese) that was served flambé at the table! The cheese was served with pita. The Greek Garden side salad of course has the mandatory feta cheese, fresh and crisp greens and an herbed creamy dressing. The Mousaka [sic] was the best in the region! Eleni's Mousaka is a huge portion of this classic Greek casserole dish. As described in the menu it is made with layers of potatoes, eggplant, seasoned ground beef and topped with a creamy bechamel sauce baked to golden perfection. I'd go back for that for done in or carry out! Other dishes enjoyed by our party were the gyros platter with lots of crispy fries and a Greek omelette, both of which were devoured and obviously enjoyed! Did I mention that Eleni's serves all day breakfast? We will need to go back soon to explore more of that part of the extensive menu. The atmosphere was very family! Our waitress is the mother of Eleni's and is familiar with our friends. She was glad to see them and asked about happenings in their lives, and our friends reciprocated the conversation. Where were introduced as friends and were addressed by our first names during the meal, true to a Greek family gathering. We had an amazing time and enjoyed the white and blue themed paint surrounding the Greek decor that lent a special ambiance. Prices for these very large portions of very well made Greek food were very reasonable, making our meals a high value for the dollar. We must return to try all of our Greek favorites and Eleni's specialties! I'm sure it will become a...

Greek diner style food. Food was "OK".

It was not remarkable but it wasn't bad. Mini pancakes were the highlight. The souvlaki was ok, if only mildly seasoned, but I think Spartans/Olympus does Greek diner style better.

One thing of annoyance is that we were with a party 6 (3 adults, 3 kids) and the kids started saying they wanted pancakes instead of french fries, and we tried to talk the kids out of it but the waitress said "We can do it"...

Food came and we had 3 orders of mini pancakes along with their burgers AND fries.. (rather than in lieu of)...

I would have expected and been ok with a surcharge but instead I had 3 orders of pancakes @ 7.95 PLUS 3 orders of kids burgers and fries @ 5.95...

Now the pancakes were pretty damn good (I tried one) but...

I wish the waitress was clear/upfront that this was not an upcharge or a replacement but a separate item... So that annoyed me. I was more annoyed with myself for not asking (but, again, I was with a group and did not want to be "that guy"). So... I didn't get angry. I should not have assumed, based on one sentence of "We can do it"... Which also added $25 to the bill.

Once we were done with our meal, I had to walk over to the waitress for the check (she never checked on us and we were the only table in the entire restaurant).

Overall, I was unimpressed by the food and the service and somewhat disappointed, since I had been wanting to try this place for a long time.

Sadly, I can't give it the "Seal of Approval"... But like I said, the food wasn't bad... It just wasn't great.

Maybe others have had better experiences. I probably...