Since I've gone to the Souvlaki Bar somewhat close to where I work in Central Station Downtown Montreal and enjoyed the food, when a friend mentioned that we should meet up for lunch, I suggested going to this place since it was close to where he worked and I was in the area.
I've gone to a few Greek restaurants because where I used to work, we used to have group lunches to various Greek restaurants in the general area like Marathon Souvlaki, Panama, Tripolis, etc. since the organizer was Greek so I'm not a stranger to Greek food and I don't dislike Greek food ;-)
During lunch, Souvlaki Bar was crowded. However, when I went in, I was seated almost immediately. My friend joined me shortly after. We sat in the "bar" room (although not at the bar). My friend asked me what I wanted and I looked at the menu and decided to go for the pork gyro. This came with "souvlaki bar" salad, fries, and rice.
The server came back to our table and asked if we decided. My friend ordered first and he decided to also have the pork gyro plate. He asked the server about the salad and she mentioned the "souvlaki bar" salad and pointed at another portion of the menu to indicate what that was. My friend asked her if it was possible to have a Greek salad (they called it "village salad") instead and the server said it wasn't an issue. He then asked about fries and rice but she mentioned that it came with both. I decided to order the same thing. She asked us if water is fine for our table and we mentioned that it was.
The gyro plate was delivered to our tables relatively fast. My friend asked for mayonnaise and ketchup for his fries but our server never returned with the mayonnaise and my friend had to ask for the ketchup from another server who brought it. In terms of the gyro, it was tasty. There was a lot of tzisiki but not very much meat. There also wasn't a lot of fries. The fries tasted good (not the best I've tasted but not bad either). I'm not a fan of salad but the salad wasn't the best that I've had and rice were okay.
When my friend asked for the bill and mentioned that it would be one bill, he noticed that we were charged an extra $3 each for our salads. When the server returned, he questioned her about it since it wasn't mentioned on the menu that there would be an upcharge for substitution. She apologized but indicated that the gyro plate indicates that it came with a "souvlaki bar" salad and not the "village salad". She asked if it was a problem and my friend mentioned that it was fine but it should have been mentioned since there wasn't any indication of this on the menu. She mentioned that she thought that we knew about the upcharge for the substitution.
I would rank the experience as 2 stars based on both the service issues mentioned as well as the food taste/quality/quantity for the price paid. Between this Souvlaki Bar and the Souvlaki Bar in Montreal's Central Station, I think I will stick to the Souvlaki Bar at Montreal's Central Station. read more