Here we go. I'd been waiting to go to Ouzo for quite some time now. We went on Saturday night at 7:30pm. First, my boyfriend tried to call before hand to possibly make a reservation for 4. He said he tried a couple of times and no one answered. At 7:30, three of the four of us arrived. The place was empty. The restaurant next door was packed. Wary, we walked in.
I thought the decor was pretty cool. Nice, unassuming, and yet trendy tables and chairs, awesome fans, and 3 gigantic greek sculptures along the walls. Clearly a sit down place, but the back of this small walk in restaurant was an ordering counter with a large printed menu hung on the wall. As not a single other person was in sight, we yelled "hello?" and eventually a man (somewhere between 20 and 30) sauntered out and asked us if we were ordering out. We said no, we wanted to sit down. He said sit anywhere. We sat and he gave us menus and walked away. He was not particularly friendly.
A few minutes later, a group of 6 people, probably in their 40s or 50s walked in. The waiter (for lack of a more descriptive term) told them to sit down, he brought them menus. By the time we looked back up, they'd received drinks already. Our 4th person was running a bit late. When she arrived, he came back to our table. I asked for a cocktail menu. We decided on drinks and the flaming cheese and ordered. We saw the other table get their appetizer. I ordered a specialty cocktail - the waiter consulted a person who was likely the cook about how to make this cocktail.
We ordered our food. We got a round of ouzo (I liked it, licorice flavor) We got the flaming cheese (pretty cool!). Waiter lit it table side. I asked what kind of cheese it was (I didn't recall from the menu). He said he didn't know. And he didn't go find out. We grabbed a menu and found out for ourselves. We had to ask for water refills multiple times. He took 3 glasses at a time, filled them up, brought them back and declared "I kept them in the same order as I took them". Wow, really, no pitchers then?
And now, the food: I ordered the Greek salad. Basically, big chunks of tomato, onion, cucumber, and feta in oil and lemon juice (I ordered no anchovies). The feta was in big, hard chunks - which signals that it is not fresh cheese, as a soft whey cheese like feta should be crumbly when fresh. Overall was okay, the tomatoes and cucumber were fresh. I ordered a side of fries to satisfy a craving. My fries took an extra 5 minutes, but came right out of the fryer. Fine fries, definitely using frozen prepacked premade fries.
My boyfriend and brother both had the gyro. Both agreed to 2.5 stars, neither would order again. Very spicy and very salty.
My friend had the pastitso (pasta, beef, cheese casserole). She also said 2.5 stars, would not order again.
In conclusion, this place fell far short of its potential. The atmosphere and décor were so awesome. The service, in one word, sucked. The food did not live up to expectations.
This place could make a serious killing if they improved their food and service. It's such a cool concept! read more