greek Archives - Curiously Carmen

Taverna Greka

September 30, 2021

The theme of this summer was weddings, weddings, weddings! In early August, a week shy of ours, we attended the outdoor ceremony of our friends wedding in New Westminster at a local neighborhood park. After the ceremony, the husband and I decided to see what was in this area and came across Taverna Greka, which looked like a nice spot for date night.

The restaurant had great reviews about their view, and it did not disappoint! We made reservations just incase it was busy, and I’m glad we did.

Calamari: We started off with a calamari. The calamari was fresh, hot and crunchy. The tzatziki sauce that it came with did not disappoint either. This was a delicious dish to start our dinner with.

Pita bread: The pita bread was served piping hot and fresh. The bread was fluffy and pillowy.

Chicken souvlaki: I was pleasantly surprised to see the cheaper price of chicken souvlaki here. Most chicken souvlaki costs $20+ at other restaurants, but the chicken souvlaki here was just under $20. I love ordering chicken souvlaki because I always have enough for leftovers the next day, so it’s akin to prolonging a delicious meal.

The chicken skewer was flavourful and juicy. The Greek potatoes were perfectly lemon-y, although I found it to be wet? It seems like maybe I got the bottom of the bowl of potatoes but I still enjoyed it. I didn’t have too much of the rice because it was cooked with dairy. The veggies in the Greek salad were fresh and crunchy, and I also requested for no feta cheese.

Moussaka: The husband ordered the moussaka, which is a baked dish with ground beef, zucchini, eggplant, tomato, potatoes, and bechamel sauce. He enjoyed it a lot, and couldn’t stop raving about it! I had a bite and also agreed that it was really good.

Overall, we enjoyed our dinner at Taverna Greka. We left feeling stuffed, and had leftovers for the next day too. Taverna Greka is a nice gem in New Westminster, and has a great view too. The service was also friendly. We were glad that we tried it, and would come back again even if we weren’t in the area.

Olympia Pizza

June 25, 2021

Originally, Cola, the fiance and I had plans to go to Pho Tan but while we were in this area, Cola saw Greek food and started to crave it so we came to Olympia Pizza instead. This area of West Broadway is also known as Greektown!

Personally, I love these types of family run, Greek-Italian restaurants that have been around for decades. Olympia Pizza has been around for a long time but renovated the inside so it was modern and nice. I really liked the decor in here, with the old family photos on the walls and the tiled floors.

While writing this review, I also found out there is a location on Denman Street, and an express shop on Granville Street.

Sagnaki: Cola has tried this in the past and enjoyed it, so we ordered it here. Sagnaki is a big piece of pan fried cheese, served with freshly squeezed lemon juice on top. I’m not sure how they pan fry the cheese to perfection but this was good. The outside was crispy while the inside was cheesy and stringy.

Chicken souvlaki: The chicken souvlaki here was delicious and did not disappoint. The chicken skewers were grilled perfectly and full of flavour.

The vegetables in the Greek salad were fresh and crunchy. The rice pilaf and potatoes were tasty as well.

Lamb souvlaki: Cola ordered a lamb souvlaki. She had no complaints about her souvlaki either.

Meat lovers pizza: The fiance decided to go the Italian route and ordered a pizza instead. I had a bite and found it to be underwhelming. There is definitely better pizza elsewhere. However, the fiance liked it.

Overall, we had a good meal at Olympia Pizza! The service was friendly too. If you’re craving Greek food and in the area, I would recommend coming here.

Argo Greek Restaurant

March 16, 2021

Greek food isn’t something I have regularly, but I do enjoy it a lot. I was looking for a Greek restaurant to order from on UberEats, and originally we wanted to try Trocadero. However, Uber kept saying they were unavailable but when I called the restaurant to check, they said their system was up and working. Since we were both getting hungry, we gave up and decided to try Argo as the second choice.

Argo is located on Canada Way by Boundary Road. It seems like there are a handful of good restaurants in this intersection, such as Simba’s Grill, Agra Indian, Charlie’s Chocolate Factory, Big Star Sandwich, and of course, Argo.

Chicken souvlaki: I love my chicken souvlaki, and that’s what I ordered that night! There was so much that I had half for dinner the next day as well. The chicken skewer was big, and seasoned well with a nice grilled flavour to it. It was sliiiiightly on the dry side, but not extremely dry. The rice was fluffy and seasoned well too.

I really enjoyed the Greek potatoes. They were extremely lemony and delicious. I’ve had Greek potatoes where it wasn’t marinated enough, so the middle of the potato didn’t have any lemon flavour. However, Argo’s potatoes were delicious and what stood out to me the most.

I asked for the Greek salad to have no feta cheese in it, but it was still good. The vegetables were fresh and crunchy. Overall, I was satisfied with my chicken souvlaki plate and would get it again.

Lasagna: This isn’t really a Greek dish, but they had it on the menu. The fiance absolutely loved the lasagna. The lasagna was extremely cheesy and full of beef and tomato sauce. The garlic bread on the side was very garlicky and soft too.

We both enjoyed our delivery from Argo and would get it again. The portion sizes were big (we had enough for 2 dinners) and the food was tasty.

Amorosa Pasta House

January 21, 2020

For our family Christmas dinner, my aunt suggested Amorosa Pasta House to try something different. I remember coming here probably 7-8 years ago, but don’t remember much of it.

Amorosa Pasta House is located in a random and not very convenient area in South Burnaby. It is your typical, neighbourhood restaurant that has probably been around for at least 20-30 years serving a large portions of Italian and Greek food. They don’t open these types of restaurants anymore!

The restaurant was quite clean and tidy. It had a warm, comforting atmosphere and seating was comfortable. Since there were 13 of us, we were given a section of the restaurant separated by a wall ledge.

Garlic bread: The garlic bread was an excellent choice from my uncle’s end. It was very garlicky, buttery, fluffy, and full of carby goodness. We ended up ordering another plate because everyone enjoyed it a lot, especially the monkeys (my two little cousins).

Pita bread: We had sooo much bread that night. Some of our orders came with a side of pita bread, so the server just gave it to us on one large plate.

House salad: Their house salad was a Greek salad but with a lot of romaine lettuce, probably because it’s cheaper. The salad came with a red wine vinaigrette sauce. The veggies were fresh and crunchy, but a few of us including myself didn’t really like the vinaigrette.

Caprese salad: Cola ordered a caprese salad, but it was disappointing. They poured way too much of the red wine vinaigrette over the salad, to the point where that was all you could taste.

Pescatore pasta: My parents split a pescatore pasta aka their seafood pasta. Unfortunately the noodles were overcooked and the sauce was very bland and watery. The portion was large, but the taste was not good.

Calamari entree: My uncle ordered the calamari entree, which came with rice, potatoes, veggies, and pita bread. The calamari was crunchy but I didn’t find it to have much flavour.

Chicken souvlaki: My chicken souvlaki was so disappointing and bad. The chicken was really bland and lacked any sort of grilled flavour… felt like I was eating boiled chicken on a skewer. I would not order this again. Ugh!

Carbonara pasta: The fiance ordered the carbonara pasta. It was quite strange because it was very saucy… almost like a carbonara pasta soup as you can see. Taste wise, it was meh…

Rack of lamb: My uncle’s rack of lamb, probably the best dinner dish that night considering the rest of ours were disappointing. The rack of lamb was very tender and flavourful. The meat fell off the bone as well.

Braised lamb: My parents also split a braised lamb, which was thankfully better than their awful watery, overcooked seafood pasta. It seems like the only dishes Amorosa does well is their lamb.

Tiramisu cake: For dessert, some of us split the tiramisu cake. Usually tiramisu is made with coffee, but they only made it with chocolate… whether that is a good or bad thing, I’m not sure. Anyways, the cake was sweet and chocolate-y.

Creme brulee: My uncle ordered the creme brulee. I wasn’t a fan of this as it didn’t taste fresh. The top sugar layer was not hardened and did not crack.

It seems like they just pre make it and take it out, but it would be nice if they freshly torched the top. The creme brulee tasted just like a custard instead.

The food was quite disappointing except for the lamb and garlic bread. The good thing about this place was that service was really friendly, attentive, and managed our large group well. I would not recommend coming here unless you like lamb.

Little Billy’s Steakhouse

June 24, 2019

During the holidays last year, my parents and relatives went to Little Billy’s Steakhouse on Hastings to celebrate. My mom said good things about it, so I suggested we go for Father’s Day dinner because I wanted to try it too! We’ve also been going to The Keg practically every special occasion so it was nice to change it up.

I made a reservation but unfortunately we still had to wait a bit. The restaurant seemed bigger on the outside, it was actually smaller than I expected due to the layout. We were surprised that the restaurant was completely full on a Tuesday night!

Four course set menu: My parents both decided to get the 4 course set menu for $22, which was a pretty good deal. The offer is only available Monday-Thursday.

Soup: The first course was a creamy chicken soup with risotto. They both noted that it was pretty salty. The soup ended with some sour lemon notes so they probably squeezed some lemon into the soup too.

Salad: The second course was a simple mixed green salad… Almost a bit too simple! It would have been nice to include some nuts or cranberries. The salad came mixed with some olive oil as the dressing.

Lobster and steak: The third course, and main entree! For $22, this was a really good deal. The lobster was fresh and delicious. The steak was good too, although my mom ordered a medium rare and was cooked more to a medium. My dad ordered a medium and his steak was cooked to a medium rare instead… So they ended up just switching their steaks.

Dessert: They finished off with a lacklustre dessert. On the menu, it was described as a “sundae” but it was more like a scoop of cheap, grocery store ice cream with some cheap syrup on top. But the rest of the food was good so they still left satisfied!

Paidaika ribs: The boyfriend was having a tough time deciding between the ribs and moussaka. It was quite funny how indecisive he was being. In the end, he went with the paidaika ribs and it was an excellent choice with no regrets!

The ribs were melt in your mouth tender. They had some sort of “Chef’s seasoning” which were delicious. All of the herbs went well together. To top it off, the fluffy rice pilaf was delicious too. The only thing he didn’t like was the broccoli because it had a strong vinegar taste.

Chicken souvlaki: I absolutely LOVE my chicken souvlaki. The two skewers were so delicious. The chicken breast was grilled perfectly and succulent. The herbs and slightly smoky flavour elevated the skewers. I savoured every bite!

My Greek potatoes were delicious too. I was overloaded on carbs that night! My only small complaint would be that the potato was not fully marinated, as the middle of the potato did not have any of the lemon juice flavour.

We were also given some pita bread, which was delicious. They came nice and hot. The outside was a bit crunchy while the inside was fluffy.

Needless to say, we all left very satisfied with our meal. At some points in the night our server seemed like she was just throwing the dishes down and running away… but I understand because she was also bartending that evening. She seemed very rushed that night but was friendly enough, and we were able to get her attention when needed so it did not sour our visit much.

Little Billy’s is a good option in the area, and has a nice neighborhood vibe to it. It isn’t as upscale as The Keg, more of a family owned-cozy vibe but still delicious! I can see us coming back in the future.