We went over to the Little Greek on Linebaugh for lunch today.  It’s almost identical to the one over at Boot Ranch.  We both got Greek salads and Loren also got some dolmades.

I always forget that the mini-Greek is plenty of food.  Loren had ordered the mini with chicken and I got the regular with gyro meat.  I think the main difference is that there’s two scoops of potato salad and some more lettuce in the regular one.  The gyro meat was very fresh and tasty today.  Total bill with a drink was $24.

Little Greek
12117 W Linebaugh Ave
Tampa, FL
813-852-9898

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We went for a quick lunch at Athen’s in downtown Safety Harbor today.  Luckily, we got there before the crowd because it was standing room only by the time we left.  Loren got a Greek Salad with chicken and I got a gyro.

He said the chicken was flavorful and tender.  My gyro was good, but I think I would have liked a little lettuce on it.  It needed a little crunch since I get it without the onions.  Total bill with a drink was $17.

Athens Restaurant
226 Main St
Safety Harbor, FL
727-726-3471

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We went over to Little Greek to get some salads for lunch.  Loren got a mini Greek with chicken and I got a regular sized Greek with gyro.

I really should have gotten a mini salad as well.  Luckily Loren helped eat some of it.  The gyro meat was really flavorful and tasty today.  We both like the salads here.  I just have to make one comment about the floors here though.  They are so slippery.  I don’t know what they use to clean them, but whatever it is, it’s leaving a slick residue.  You can pretty much slide your way to your seat.  Total bill with a drink was $21.

Little Greek
320 East Lake Road
Palm Harbor, FL
727-785-7782

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After going to a movie this morning, we went over to the Marathon Grill for lunch. We got there around 1:30pm and the place was packed.  We both decided to order off of the Sunday menu.  His came with a house salad and mine came with a Greek salad plus bread.

Loren liked his prime rib.

He said it was very tender.  Our waitress didn’t bring out any horseradish or au jus with the meal, even though it was listed on the menu, so he had to ask for some when she came back to the table to check on us.  She wasn’t the most attentive waitress.  Loren’s iced tea never got refilled.  As for the veggies, he liked the potatoes, but the frozen and/or canned mixed vegetables weren’t great.  My Greek combo platter had pastitsio, moussaka, spinach pie, and a domalde plus some rice.

I liked the pastitsio more than any of the other things on the plate.  It just had a better flavor profile than the rest.  I’d order it separately, but I won’t order the combo again.   Total bill with a drink was $29.

Marathon Grille
33675 US Highway 19N
Palm Harbor, FL
727-787-4246

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We’ve lived in Florida long enough that hunger wins out over rain any day.  We had just gotten out of a movie and even though it was pouring out, we braved the weather and ended up at the Marathon Grille for lunch.  Loren tried the chicken keftedes (at least I think that’s what it was) which came with a Greek salad and potatoes.

They were little chicken patties of tastiness.  Lots of Mediterranean type spices in a flavorful little package.  He really liked them along with the salad.  I got a gyro with Greek salad.

It was very good.  There were cucumbers & tomatoes on it (I had them hold the onions) and the tzatziki sauce was tasty.  Most of the places that I get gyros from have lettuce on them, but I kinda liked the cucumbers.  My only complaint was having the Greek salad served on the same plate.  The dressing just went everywhere and I had to save my gyro was getting soggy.  Since the rain decided to whip up to a frenzy about the time we were finished, we decided to try some dessert.

It was a tasty chocolate cake which we ate slowly to savour every bite and avoid getting drenched by Tropical Storm Debby.  Total bill with a drink was $26.

Marathon Grille
33675 US Highway 19N
Palm Harbor, FL
727-787-4246

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We were actually heading to Nauti-Nancy’s for lunch, but they still weren’t open at 12:30pm, so we headed into Clearwater and ended up at Angie’s Restaurant.  It’s a little diner and had a pretty good lunch crowd today.

I was going to get their lasagne special, but they were already out of it.  Must not have been a very big batch to be out of it by 12:30pm.  Instead I went for a gyro platter.

My first thought was that there was very little gyro meat on the plate, but with the Greek salad, fries & pita, there was more than enough food on the plate.  The gyro was tasty and I enjoyed the dressing on the salad as well as the tzatziki sauce.  Loren went for a chicken pita with a regular salad.

He also had plenty of food on his plate and it was amusing watching him try to pick this up to eat it.  He said the chicken was tender.  Total bill with a drink was $18.

Angie’s Restaurant
725 Cleveland St
Clearwater, FL
727-461-2880

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Our plan tonight was to eat at Marley’s Monster Grill, only to discover they’re closed on Sundays.  Luckily, we had driven by Marathon Grille the other night & noticed they were open, so that’s where we ended up.  For some reason, I always thought they were a breakfast & lunch only place.

They started us off with some bread.

The bread was buried under a bunch of crackers & butter, but once we got down to it, we were happy campers.  I prefer my bread to be warmed, but even though this wasn’t, it was really tasty.  I actually think Loren ate more of it than I did.  A little plate of oil to dip it in would have been a nice touch rather than the butter.

We started off with some stuffed mushrooms.

The crab stuffing was very flavorful and we could have easily eaten a few more of these.  They were yummy.  My entree came with a Greek salad that I ate half of before I remembered to take a photo.  You’d think by now, I wouldn’t forget.

I liked their Greek dressing.  Loren went for a Marathon salad for his entree which came with a side of pita bread.

He said the chicken was very tender and the salad had a nice variety of veggies and greens.  He enjoyed it. I ended up taking the pita bread home with my leftovers because I definitely had leftovers.

Pastitsio, that wonderful Greek lasagne that so many restaurants don’t get quite right.  This was a very tasty version of it though.  It wasn’t dry, the seasoning was just right, and the bechamel layer wasn’t too thick.  I’d order it again here.   Total bill with a drink was $28.  Compared to the $28 we spent for lunch today, this was the much better deal.

Marathon Grille
33675 US Highway 19N
Palm Harbor, FL
727-787-4246

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We drove into Tarpon Springs tonight and ended up at Chloe’s Family Restaurant for dinner.  There were quite a few people in the restaurant and we quickly found out why… the food was really good.

I started off with a Greek salad which came with my entree.

It had a nice, tangy dressing on it.  Then they brought out fresh bread.

This just oozed awesomeness.  Fresh and hot out of the oven covered in a buttery garlic sauce.  It was so soft and delicious.  I’d go back just for the bread.  Loren got the Greek Keftedakia which came with a salad and fries.

The salad didn’t have any lettuce and when we asked about it, our waitress said it was called a village salad.  Who knew?  But, she was nice enough to bring out a side dish of lettuce for us non-Greeks.  The meatballs were flavorful and there was enough for leftovers.  I ordered the Greek combo plate since I like to try out lots of things when we go to a new restaurant.

It came with pastitsio, moussaka, gyro, chicken and spinach pie.  I really liked the pastitsio.  Normally, that’s what I would have ordered and I’d have been happy with a big ol’ plate of it.  It was moist with just the right Greek flavors.  The moussaka was also really flavorful & tasty.  The spinach pie was also pretty good.  Flaky with a nice filling.   I tried both the gyro & chicken and ended up taking most of it home for leftovers.   The gyro was good, but the chicken was dry.

And then as a nice surprise at the end of the meal, the waitress brought out complimentary bowls of ice cream.

A perfect finish to an awesome dinner.  Everything was fresh and homemade.  Service was really good and everyone was very friendly.  Definitely putting on our list to try again.  We’ve been having some really good luck with restaurants in Tarpon Springs lately.   Total bill with a drink was $32.

Chloe’s Family Restaurant
1722 S. Pinellas Ave
Tarpon Springs, FL
727-943-2999

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We were headed to a matinee show at Ruth Eckerd Hall and figured we could get a quick to bite to eat at Athens Restaurant in Safety Harbor before the show.  Loren went for a Greek salad and I opted for breakfast.

He said his salad was ok (especially after adding my bacon) and I liked the French toast.  I asked for cheese in my eggs and would have liked for it to have been mixed in instead of just on top, but otherwise they were ok.  For $15, it was a quick, decent meal.

Athens Restaurant
226 Main St
Safety Harbor, FL
727-726-3471

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Loren wanted a salad for dinner, so we stopped at Kostas Family Restaurant in Dillsboro.  They were pretty busy for a Monday evening.  Guess there are a lot of other tourists like us in town to see the fall colors.

Loren ordered a small Greek salad and one came with my meal.

It’s funny, I’m so used to Greek food around the Tarpon Springs, Florida area that it was odd not to see potato salad in the Greek salad.  The dressing was tasty though.  The yeast rolls were soft and yummy.

We ordered the spinach artichoke dip for an appetizer and Loren also got some hummus.

The spinach artichoke dip was really good.  The pita bread served with it was warm and soft.  This is one of those dishes you can’t stop eating.   Loren liked the hummus as well.  As usual, I had to try the pastitsio.

This one had all the right flavors.  The bechemel sauce was very creamy and yummy.  The only issue I had with it was that the edges & bottom were a bit overcooked.  Crunchy is not a texture I want in a pasta dish.  I don’t like green beans, but Loren tasted them and said they were good.  I think he said something to the effect of, “Mmmm… cooked in bacon”.  We also got some desserts to take back to the B&B for later.

I got the French Silk Pie, which tasted exactly like the ones you get at Village Inn and Loren got the baklava.  He said it was tasty.  Total bill with a drink was $35. 

Kosta Family Restaurant
489 Haywood Rd
Dillsboro, NC
828-631-0777

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We ate dinner at Jimmy Ike’s Restaurant & Pizzeria tonight.  It’s on SR 580 just past Countryside Mall.  We both had things we liked and disliked about this experience and feel that a few tweaks would really make a difference.

Loren’s first complaint was that his iced tea was a little on the bitter side.  Not undrinkable, but just not quite where it should have been.  We ordered calamari for an appetizer.

The restaurant wasn’t all that busy, so we were surprised at how long it took for it to come out of the kitchen.  The calamari was very tender; however, the breading had very little flavor and wasn’t crispy at all.  It definitely needed both salt and lemon added to it.  Although the dipping tomato sauce that came with it was flavorful, it was very thin so it didn’t adhere to the food and you dripped it on the table all the way to your mouth.

Our entrees came with soup or salad and we got one of each.  Loren got the mini Greek salad.

He had to take about half the cheese off the salad.  It was buried in feta. The Greek dressing was pretty good.  I ordered the mushroom bisque soup which came with a roll.

The soup was the best thing I ate all night.  I even joked that I should just stop there because I’ve been disappointed by entrees before.  It was very creamy and had a wonderful delicate flavor to it.  I really enjoyed it.  The roll was a little dense, but it was warm and tasty.

Loren ordered the chicken souvlaki which came with fries and pita bread.

This was a huge plate of food and he ended up with leftovers.  The chicken was very tender and he said it was peppery.  A little heavy on the feta again too.  Though he liked the fries, he said they were cut a bit too long and they weren’t crispy, so you almost had to eat them with a knife and fork.  They were too floppy to just pick up with your fingers.  He thought the dish would have been better if it had came with some tzatziki sauce as well.

I ordered the pastitsio.

I knew before I even tasted it that it was going to be dry.  The splatters of grease on the plate didn’t give me confidence at all that this would be a dish I liked.  It did have some good flavors to it, but the overall dish was just too dense and dry to eat.  I told the waitress it was dry and asked for a side of tomato sauce.  She was very apologetic and brought me the sauce and took the entree off our check.  Unfortunately, the sauce didn’t really fix the dish. I don’t know how to describe it, but when I combined the sauce with the dish, I got a spiciness in my mouth that I just didn’t like.

Our waitress was very nice, but at one point she took away my drink to refill it and forgot to bring it back.  She also comped us a dessert and we got the Baklava cheesecake to go.

It was really good.  Very creamy with pieces of baklava in it.  Loren thought it could have used a little drizzle of honey over the top.  Total bill after my entree was removed was $24.

I’m not sure why, but even after all the things that weren’t right about this meal, I think we’d go back again.  I wouldn’t order the pastitsio, but I’d give this place another try.  I don’t know if it’s because they tried to make things right or that with just a few tweaks, the food had real promise.

Jimmy Ikes Restaurant & Pizzeria
2340 State Road 580 (Main Street) Unit H
Clearwater, FL
727-408-5189

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We ate dinner at the Olympia Greek Restaurant over by Fresh Market on US 19 in Clearwater tonight.  There are so many of these little Greek places in the area and they all seem very generic.  It’s pretty much Greek fast food. 

I’m a sucker for pastitsio, so I had to try that.  It came with a Greek salad.

The salad had a little bit of everything in it and the dressing was tangy and tasty.  The pastitsio was ok, but both it and the sauce lacked in flavor.

The sauce really tasted like it had just come out of a can.  It was tart and definitely needed to simmer a lot longer to give it any depth of flavor.  The pastitsio had a decent texture, but just didn’t have enough spices in it.  Unfortunately, the rice was a bit overcooked as well.

Loren ordered the gyro platter.

There’s a mound of rice under the gyro meat, but out of everything we had here, the gyro was the best.  It had a nice flavor and texture and tasted very fresh.   Both meals came with pita bread & tzatziki sauce and I also ordered a side of potato salad, forgetting that there’d be some on the salad.

I like the pita and tzatziki.  It was creamy and had a good flavor without being overpowering with garlic.  The side of potato salad was way more than we could eat.  I was expecting one scoop, not four, so this is definitely a side to share.  I also ordered a cannoli to go.

It was disappointing.  The shell was too thick and not crunchy at all and the the filling was also too thick.  It had the consistency of cookie dough.   After the $5 coupon from their website, the total bill with a drink was $23.  If I was in the area and wanted a quick gyro, I’d try it again, but otherwise, there wasn’t much that would draw me back in.

Olympia Greek Restaurant
25821 US 19 Hwy N
Clearwater, FL
727-724-0099

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Tzatziki sauce is a wonderful thing as long as you’re not planning on being in close quarters with anyone later in the day.  It’s so garlicy, yet so good and my gyro from Little Greek had plenty on it today.

The gyros here are packed full of meat, lettuce and tomato and rather messy to eat.  Half of it inevitably ends up on my plate.  They make a really good pita here as well and it just wouldn’t be the same without a side of potato salad. 

Loren got a Greek salad with chicken.

He said he should have ordered a half salad, and yet, he still managed to eat the entire thing.  With a drink, the total for lunch was $19.  It’s fast, tasty food with a lingering taste of garlic.

Little Greek
320 East Lake Road
Palm Harbor, FL
727-785-7782

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We ate dinner at Louis Pappas on McMullen Booth tonight.  We’d eaten at the one in Oldsmar before it closed, but had never been to this one before.

I went for the pastitsio and lemon Greek potatoes.

The pastitsio was ok.  It had a decent flavor, but the bottom of it was hard.  It was either overcooked or just left in the pan too long.  The lemon potatoes were a little too strong on the flavor spectrum and just didn’t complement the pasta.

Loren ordered the chicken platter with a salad.

I had to laugh at the huge chunk of cucumber in the salad.  You can see it on the lower left.  It was just half of a cucumber in one big piece.  I didn’t think there was enough dressing on the salad.  He said the chicken was ok.

Overall, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.  Greek food fast food style.   Total bill was $21. 

Louis Pappas Market Cafe
2560 McMullen Booth Rd
Clearwater, FL
727-797-3700

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We had a Restaurant.com coupon for Greektown Grille and headed over there for dinner tonight.   Loren’s son Alex moved back in temporarily and he joined us for dinner tonight.

We started off with some calamari which came with a lemon sauce for dipping.

The calamari was very tender.  Even the tentacle pieces were surprisingly tender.  The lemon dipping sauce didn’t really have a lot of lemon flavor and had the consistency of mayonnaise.

I ordered the Moussaka which came with a Greek salad.

Their Greek salad dressing was very weak and there wasn’t a lot of it on the salad.  I’m used to very flavorful Greek salad dressings and this was more like just a splash of oil and vinegar which is odd since the last time we were here the dressing was very good.

The Moussaka had some really nice flavors in it though.  Layers of eggplant, zucchini, beef and potatoes topped with a bechemal sauce and a flavorful tomato sauce.  The lemon potatoes on the side weren’t cooked long enough, but I didn’t have room to eat them anyway.

Alex and Loren ordered the Souvlaki and Gyro platters.

The gyro meat was very tasty and not greasy at all.  It was probably some of the best we’ve tasted.  Plus there was enough on the plate for at least two meals.  The souvlaki pork could have been a little more tender, but otherwise it was pretty good.

We decided to try some desserts tonight.  Loren ordered the baklava and I ordered the galaktobouriko which is a custard dessert inside phyllo dough layers.

The baklava was very dense and chock full of walnuts.  Loren liked it. 

I found the galaktobouriko to be inedible.  The custard had the consistency of old, overcooked jello.  It wasn’t creamy at all, just very rubbery. 

After the $25 coupon, the bill came to $37 and we had lots of leftovers.

Greektown Grille
1230 Cleveland St
Clearwater, FL
727-447-7800

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We ate lunch at the Farmer Boy Restaurant in Clearwater today.  I’ve bought their dressing at the grocery store before and it’s pretty tasty, so figured we should check out the food as well.

Fresh baked yeast rolls are one of my all time favorite things and these did not disappoint.

I even asked for a second basket of them.  They were sooooo good.  Light, fluffy and delicious.  Loren ordered the mini Greek salad with chicken.

He said it was ok.  There was no feta cheese on the salad which was listed on the menu, but missing from the dish.  Somehow without it, it just seemed like a regular house salad with chicken on top.  He thought the dressing was a little too sweet and that it was just missing that overall Greek flavor.

I ordered the Moussaka, which came with a Greek salad.

Again, without the feta, it just didn’t taste like a Greek salad.

This was definitely not a pretty plate of food.  The moussaka had a genuine Greek flavor to it, but it was pretty mushy.  The meat sauce that came with it was very good.   Total bill was $20.  I do have to mention one item on the menu that made me giggle.  They offer a vegetable lasagne… but it’s served with meat sauce.  Sort of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?? 

Farmer Boy Restaurant
2129 Drew Street
Clearwater, FL
(727) 447-1733

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Had lunch at Little Greek in Palm Harbor today.  Normally I get a gyro, but decided to try something different so I ordered the moussaka which came with soup or salad.  I opted for the lemon soup.

I’ve tried the Greek lemon soup at several places, and this one’s pretty good.  It’s not so tart that you pucker when you eat it.  It has just the right amount of lemon flavor and the rice was cooked to a good texture as well.

The moussaka had great flavor, but not a lot of curb appeal.

The bechamel sauce had a grey tinge to it.  It just didn’t look good, but it tasted great.  I liked that they served the sauce on the side, so the dish didn’t get buried in it.  The rice wasn’t cooked enough for me. 

Loren ordered the lite chicken souvlaki with Greek salad.

He really enjoyed it.  The chicken was tender and had good flavors.  We really got a lot of food for $20. 

Little Greek
320 East Lake Road
Palm Harbor, FL
727-785-7782

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The first thing we noticed when we sat down in a booth at Athenian Garden was that the table height was not quite right.  Either Greek folks are way taller than we are or someone just wanted lots of room to be able to clean under the booths.  It was funny because another customer came in after us and sat down at a booth and said she felt like a little kid getting to sit at the grown up table. 

I started out with some shrimp bisque and bread.

The bread was fresh and had a great texture, the only thing that would have improved it is if it had been warm.  The bisque was very tasty.  Not a lot of shrimp in it, but it had a unique blend of flavors.  We ended up dipping the bread in the soup and it was awesome.  I did feel as though the soup needed to be served at a higher temperature.  It was luke warm at best.

Greek salads came with both our entrees.

I would definitely recommend the salad.  The dressing was tangy, but not overwhelming.  I really liked the potato salad on it and it had lots of feta and veggies as well.

Then came the entrees.  Loren ordered the stuffed tomato and pepper.

Unfortunately, the entrees didn’t live up to our expectations based on the salad and soup.  It was pretty bland.  He said the stuffed tomato was better than the pepper.  The sauce didn’t have a lot of flavor and the mixture inside just wasn’t very flavorful.

I ordered the pastitsio and it also didn’t impress.

Again, the meat mixture inside was just very bland.  Most pastitsio dishes I’ve had usually have a hint of nutmeg in them, something to differentiate it from just plain ol’ pasta and cheese.  This had nothing.  The sauce was fairly bland and the dish was just lacking.  I think there was just so much flavor in the Greek Salad that we expected everything to have that burst of flavors.

For $27, we definitely got plenty of food.  If we go back again, we’ll try some other dishes, but we’d definitely get the salad again.

Athenian Garden
12670 Starkey Rd
Largo, FL
(727) 518-8888

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My sister and I meet up every year in Orlando in July to exchange birthday gifts since our birthdays are only a few days apart (8 years & a few days) and we usually try to find a play or something to do.  This year, she chose “The Little Red Riding Hood Show” at the Shakespeare theater.  Yeah, it was a kid’s show and we were probably the only ones there without kids, but it was still pretty funny.  The kids in the audience were hilarious.

Before the show, we ate lunch at the Greek Corner on Orange Ave.  It was a quaint little restaurant that had a nice patio as well as seating inside.  It was too hot to be outside today, so we chose the dining room. 

My sister asked if they had sweet tea and our waiter said they didn’t, but he could make her some.  I don’t find it often that a waiter will go through the trouble of making something special, but he did and she said the tea was good.

We started off with the spinach artichoke dip.

This was a very unique take on this dish.  Any place else I’ve had it, it’s usually chunky, but this was completely smooth as if it had been through the blender.  It had a lemon-garlic taste to it more than spinach artichoke.  It was tasty and the pita bread that came with it was fresh and yummy.

We both ordered gyros, mine with rice and hers with a Greek salad.

The rice was bland, but the gyro was very flavorful.  The tzatziki sauce was creamy and garlicy, but not overwhelming.  There was a lot of meat on the pita, so much so, that I was only able to eat half of it.  My sister ended up taking the salad home since it was just too much food.   Total bill was about $30.  Based on all the other plates I saw served, I don’t think anyone leaves here hungry.

Greek Corner
1600 N Orange Ave
Orlando, FL
(407) 228-0303

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Went to the movies this morning and saw “Knight and Day”.  It was entertaining, better than “Killers”.  We were out of there around noon and headed up Hillsborough to find some lunch.  We ended up at the Garden Grille Cafe.

We’d eaten here once before but neither of us could remember much about it.   Loren got the grilled chicken and Greek salad.

He liked it.  The chicken was tender, the Greek dressing was tasty, and the pitas were fresh.  What else could you ask for?

I ordered a gyro with a side of potato salad.

This was also very good.  The tzatziki sauce was pretty mild, but I like it when it’s not overwhelmingly garlicy.  The potato salad had a nice flavor to it too.   I didn’t think of this as a Greek restaurant, but both of our Greek dishes were pretty good.  Another $20 lunch and we both left with happy tasty buds and full stomachs.

Garden Grille Cafe
8425 Hillsborough Ave
Tampa, FL

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