Greek Belly — Restaurant in Springfield

We arrived at 4pm, it wasn't very busy, and we didn't expect it to take long for our food but we were very wrong, and even with the food being very freshly cooked, we were pretty let down. Let's start with the food... Everything was so dry. We tried the falafel meze, and normally I'm a huge fan of falafel. However, this falafel was so dry and overcooked that we couldn't eat it without some sort of dip. I tapped the falafel pucks on our plate and it legitimately sounded like I was tapping a hockey puck on the plate. How they don't serve it with a dip is beyond me. We asked for a side of tzatziki to help make this edible, which we later found out from the bill was an extra $1.25! After waiting over half an hour, our food finally arrived and we were very disappointed with the results. I ordered the chicken gyro plate which was not great...the meat was COLD and very dry. It should never be that way based on the way the meat is cooked on the spit. My husband ordered the Kraken which he enjoyed more than I enjoyed my dish, but he still ended up opting to eat everything out of the pita since the ratio caused the dish to be really dry as well. Next is the service...nobody ever asked us how the food was so we never got an opportunity to ask them to correct the issues we had. Even after the waitress saw we were finished eating pretty quickly, there were no questions about how we liked the food, only up selling for dessert. If I didn't bother finishing my food, why would I want dessert? As for the atmosphere, I would love it more if they would repair and repaint the walls that have multiple holes covered by decor, and the paint on the walls looks like there is grease dripping down the walls. The seating is extremely...

Update: I added another two stars simply because the owner not only took the time to respond within 24 hours but because the response was so genuine. It's been six months and I still think about it sometimes. My first experience here was not good, but I am willing to give every experience two tries in the event that it was just a fluke. I'm sure I'll be back at some point. ..........

Original review:

My folks were in town and we were all eager to try this restaurant together after reviewing the website. EVERYTHING LOOKED SO GOOD! Unfortunately, the first three items my mom tried to order weren't available because "he only makes them at random" as the cashier said. I assume "he" is the owner and/or chef. My suggestion is to put such menu items on a rotation and post a calendar of what's available when rather than a general menu that allows patrons to infer all items are available.

Moreover, every single thing all four of us ordered was just so salty. My tongue and stomach began to hurt, and my dad had to take a baby aspirin to control his blood pressure after the amount of salt ingested from his small meal.

For $56, we felt obligated to eat what we ordered. Sadly, we didn't really get to eat together. Each item was brought out as it was prepared which in theory is nice, but by the time my mom's had come out, the majority of us were done eating. It wasn't like a typical restaurant experience where the table's entrees come out together. As a newer restaurant, I hope to see some improvement because the diversity to restaurant options this place brings downtown is nice to see.

The atmosphere was cute though, and the staff seemed friendly. The food just wasn't anything like we're used to as far as Greek cuisine...

I have eaten here quite a bit since they opened up and the start was rough but it got way better and I would carryout here regularly as it's on my street. The food quality is great 80 percent of the time. Sometimes it's so-so but I usually give it another shot and they come through. I ordered takeout here for my last visit and it said to pick up my items for me and gf around 25 mins from then. We just ordered a salad, gyro wrap, and fries. I got to the restaurant 30 minutes later and when I arrived I came up to a blonde lady and told her I was there for a pickup, she saw no one had made my order at all and told me to wait and started helping other people. I went and sat down at a table with gf and waited around 25-30 mins and then got tired of it and went back up to the server and asked her what was going on. She said it would be out soon and was out a couple mins later. There was like 0 value on my time and no acknowledgement that they just flat out didn't make the order I placed until I got there and she helped out the whole room first. This experience was awful and if I didn't live down the street would have asked for my money back 15 mins into waiting. The food, restaurant itself, location, and owner are great. I simply just don't want to go through what happened again so I'm hesitant to order from here for a bit.

Edit: Reached out to owner and worked things out. My review is on a bad experience that was recent as opposed to my normal experience which is amazing and would be 5 stars. I am giving this place another shot here this next month and...