Sherman's Food Adventures: Stepho`s Greek Taverna

Stepho`s Greek Taverna

We had an educational conference at the Wall Centre today and since we were in the Davie Street area, there were many restaurants to choose for lunch. In reality, there was only one restaurant on our radar from the beginning - Stepho's. When I used to live in downtown, I would frequent Stepho's every now and then. I would brave either the heat or cold and line up for an hour to eat there. Now you ask why on earth would I do that? Simple, Stepho's offers decent food at a great price and humongous portions. I cannot understand why other restaurants do not use this formula for success more often. Some restaurants are so cheap, you'd think they ran out of food when they present you with a dish where you can see more of the dish than the food. You won't have that problem at Stepho's. From the pictures, you can see that the dish is completely filled. Now portion size is not important if the food ain't good. Of course there are better Greek restaurants to be found in the GVRD; but the food here at Stepho's is more than acceptable for the price. After all, we always have to go into a meal with reasonable expectations that coincide with how much we are paying.

My esteemed colleague and I shared the calamari as an appetizer. Not sure what possessed us to do that, since we knew our entrees were going to be large. Anyways, the calamari was tender and fried perfectly, being light and crispy; yet not oily. However, the batter was a bit too salty and even dipping in the tzatziki didn't help. For my entree, I choose the roast lamb, which was excellent. The lamb was tender and moist with plenty of garlic flavour. The vegetable briami and rice were pretty standard, nothing much to say about them. However, the potato was a bit hard and lacked lemon flavour. I substituted my Greek salad for a Caesar salad and it was pretty good since the romaine was still crunchy and it was not slathered in too much dressing.

Another person at the table had Spanakopita for her appetizer and it was the size of an entree. It was very good being flaky and filled with plenty of spinach and cheese. For her entree, she had the Mousaka and it was the largest portion of Mousaka we've ever seen, it was packed with meat, zucchini, eggplant, potatoes and a hefty layer of Bechamel on top. The service at Stepho's is average, you can get lucky and it's pretty good, or otherwise it's a bit indifferent. It's not excellent service, but it's not as bad as some other people have remarked. On past visits, we have never been disappointed with the food or service. It may not be the best Greek food in town, but it's definitely the best combination of taste, portion size, and price. The only downside to Stepho's would be the lineups and lack of parking. You can avoid the lineups if you show up for lunch right when it opens at 11:30 and arrive for dinner before 5pm.

The Good:
- Food is good for the price, since some items are definitely average
- Portions are large
- Prices are reasonable

The Bad:
- Huge lineups
- Hard to find parking on Davie Street
- The dining room is cramped

Stepho's
1124 Davie Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604-683-2555

Stepho's Greek Taverna on Urbanspoon

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never knew Vancouver had so many nice places to eat, esp the dim sum (been reading your last few posts) ... and now greek too :D

Unknown said...

A bad experience, very poor management skills of the business manager ...

We went for dinner on Friday night to Stepho's at Davie St.
We ordered alcohol, appetizers and entrees, and the bill was around $ 100 CAD.
At the end of the evening, we have many leftovers (1 full plate of mousaka, a lot of rice and salad), which I asked to bring home.
We paid the bill and were handed the bags with the food inside of closed containers, and we returned confident home.
When at home, I kept the container in the refrigerator and I will save it for lunch on Sunday, since the day Saturday we would be away from home.

Today, Sunday, I had a really bad surprise.
When removing the containers from the paper bags, I found only rice and salad,
mousaka was not inside ....
I called to the restaurant, I explained the situation and asked to speak to the manager. John (who identified himself as the manager), he tells me that he can not do anything, because today was Sunday, and that he was not on duty on Friday for dinner; and that was no one else to whom direct the claim. To which I answered, that if I had realized the day Friday night, which will be the difference in the solution of my complain?, besides the restaurant maybe was already closed.

Next John asked me if I had the detailed consumption, to speak to the manager on site on Friday, ... without ensuring he could do anything more than ask.
When looking at my wallet, I found the receipt of the transaction, as we paid by credit card. John told me that he can not accept it. I replied that I do not have the detail, but we took photos of the food, and also I identified the waiter who took our order that day. John told me that was not enough, and he could not do anything about the bad service of the restaurant ...

In summary, they made me pay an extra dish on the bill, which I did not consume or have the change to home. After to explain the situation to the manager, he was unwilling to help or solve the problem. Which in my point of view is surprising, as it was easy as to return the amount paid for the not delivered dish, or provide me with the plate missing.

Again, a really bad experience. Is unbelievable that the manager of the restaurant is unwilling to fix the error of the waiter. Lousy and shocking disposition of the manager for the costumer care.

Anonymous said...

We were at Stepho’s with a group of friends for dinner tonight. We ordered appetizer and the main course. We waited for a long time and when asked the waitress for the appetizer, she said it’s getting ready and would bring it soon. She brought the appetizer with the main food so we couldn’t really enjoy the appetizer.
After the dinner, we asked for tea. When my wife opened the tea pot, she noticed a 2 inch long fly in the pot! It was totally disgusting. My daughter wanted to puke
And started crying!
I want to the waitress and her manager. They said they are sorry but asked us to pay for the food!
We asked her to call the owner. The owner told them that w shave tonpy for the dinner.
I paid for the dinner and left the disgusting place. Will never return again. Don’t go there. You will sick. They are so unprofessional and the place is really dirty.

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