Olympia Kebob House and Taverna — Restaurant in St. Louis

I've been going to Olympia since I was a kid in the 80s. With that being said, I am somewhat disappointed after not being here for a few years due to relocating out of state. I moved back and I was excited to try one of my old favorites.

Let me start with the spanakopita. You used to get a large square and now it's a couple of small triangles. It's a completely different meal. It was still good, but the expectation did not meet the reality. Way overpriced for what it is now.

The saganaki.. the same as I remember and still very good. Last night was the best I had, it seemed to have more "crust" to it.

The deluxe gyro platter. Downsized the meat. Still relatively inexpensive and tasty.

The best thing anyone ordered was the lamb kabobs and the deluxe lamb Kabob. The same platter..the deluxe has more vegetables, which my husband enjoyed. My friend also really enjoyed the lamb.

The baklava. It was s00000 TINY for $6. The baklava was for sure downsized...apparently from even the reviews 4 days ago!! The other pictures on here look nothing like the 3 baklavas we got to go. Next time, hard pass and irritating since I came here for the baklava and spanakopita which were both drastically changed. I get inflation, but raise the price and cut it the portions too...c'mon.

The atmosphere: I was 1 ft from the front door and had to wear a coat the entire time during 30-degree weather. We had 8 people packed into the front window table. The thin people had to squeeze around to get back there. I can't complain too much since I requested they change our reservation from 6 to 8 in the afternoon the same day, which they obliged.I had the worse seat in the entire restaurant though.

Service: Well, one thing I can say is that the service was very European. If you have been to Europe then you know. Understandably, they were initially busy. But, also seemed to be understaffed. The appetizer plates came out a couple of minutes after the saganaki. It took a long time to get an order, salads, and drink refills. We probably would have had an even larger bill if we could get refills on our alcoholic beverages. Initially, the waiter told us they could not split the checks being that it was too busy. We thought he was joking. We needed it split 3 ways. After we got the bill, the server offered to split the checks which took no time at all.

Overall, I would go back, but I...

Amazing food in an eclectic, cozy, friendly setting! My boyfriend and I were really impressed on our first visit here, and will definitely be back soon!

We had the flaming cheese as an appetizer to start things off. I've had it before at a different restaurant years ago, and wanted to have it again. I found it here! When is it not great to order a dish the waitress sets on fire that's then extinguished with a swear of fresh lemon right in front of your table? We got 3 good-sized triangle shaped pieces of the kasseri cheese in our order which was too much for both of us to eat and still have room for our main courses. The taste of the cheese is pretty mild, but the lemon that is used to put the flaming brandy out and deglaze the dish adds a wonderful acidity and tangy twist. The brandy pretty much burns off entirely, but adds just a hint of more mellow flavor to it all.

I had the spinach pie at the waitresses suggestion out of 3 options I couldn't decide between. She definitely didn't lead me wrong. It was the best version of this I've ever had, and I've tried it many many times, many places. The dough was flaky, but not overly so. It was also the perfect amount of dough wrapping it all up, and didn't overwhelm all the other ingredients like some versions of this dish I've had. The spinach and Greek Cheese filling was also just perfect for proportion of ingredients in it, and compared to the amount of dough. The flavor was just awesome. The portion size was on the large side for me, but I finished it all because it was soooo good! If you like this kind of dish, definitely try it here!

My boyfriend had the lamb Souvlaki on Pita as his main dish. I tried a piece of the lamb from his plate, and it was so tender and flavorful it was just incredible. He was really really happy with his order too. The portion size was definitely not lacking, and he's a big eater.

The interior of the restaurant is really cozy, intimate, and eclectic. They have integrated repurposed pieces from all kinds of old buildings for furniture, lighting, decor, etc. But they have somehow put it all together so it forms a cohesive overall interior that functions well, and somehow avoids feeling forced or tacky.

My only issue with this restaurant is deciding what I'll...

I was born and raised on Michael's Bar and Grill, but I saw Olympia had a vegetarian section on their menu and decided to give it a shot. Our table of three went on a Monday. There was room on the patio (for once) but we opted to sit inside because of the weather. We sat in the room where the bar is and waited an extremely long time to even have our drink orders taken. While waiting for our drinks to come back, there was an obnoxious patron at the bar and we asked to move to the other side of the restaurant. We continued to wait for a long time to even have our order taken. Maybe 20-30 minutes?

Our wait time from when we got there before the food actually arrived at the table was probably an hour (although, I want to point out that once we ordered, food came pretty quickly - 15-20 minutes max). I do not blame the servers or the bartender - they were struggling to keep up with the tables and I know they were stressed out. I want to say our server was very sweet and apologetic. My frustration is with the staffing situation in general - I've never seen this place not busy, so I would expect that staffing would be adequate to cover a slow night.

The food was good - I ordered a vegetarian platter and it was full of fresh vegetables. Saganaki was also good. I wanted to try dessert but I was so frustrated after waiting so long that I wanted to leave. I'm sad it was like this because I know there are lots of happy customers and maybe my experience was just a one-off. I am hoping that's the case because I would like to come back again and try the spanakopita (and, of...