Veranda Greek Taverna
By Tim Altork and John Breech / STAFF
Because Tim spent his honeymoon in Greece and because John saw “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” twice, the dining duo decided to go Greek this week. Their stop? The Veranda Greek Taverna in Roswell.
Service
John: From the moment I walked in, I kept thinking one thing: authentic. People don’t get more Greek then our server Stelios, which was a good thing, since I could only pronounce about half the items on the menu. Any time I became tongue tied, Stelios was there to save me. Not to mention, when I couldn’t decide what I wanted to drink, Stelios decided I would like an Ouzo martini. Stelios was right.
 The cucumber and tomato salad |
The drink menu offered an interesting array of choices, including Greek beers and a cucumber martini. I think I should note that the only reason I drink martinis and/or wine is because Tim refuses to drink anything except beer. +
Tim: Stelios never gave us a chance to order anything. He just kept bringing food to our table in an effort to ensure that we got a good variety of what the restaurant has to offer. And to ensure that we got fat.
It was a delightfully effortless night because we weren’t f
orced to choose among the vast selection of delectable foods.
Plus I never had to ask for another beer. He kept bringing those, too.
Service Grade: A
Appetizers
John: As soon as we sat down, we were blitzed with food. First up was the Horiatiki, which if you can’t tell by its name, is a salad. Only it’s a salad with no lettuce. It consisted of very fresh, very ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, kalamatta olives and imported feta cheese.
I don’t want to exaggerate, but I think the Horiatiki may have been the tastiest thing that I have ever eaten that’s also healthy. I was also a big fan of the Horiatiko loukaniko. This traditional village sausage was served with pita bread and tasted amazing. If you like pita bread and you like sausage, then you had better start trying to pronounce Horiatiko loukaniko.
Tim: Please keep in mind that we’re dividing this meal into categories for the purposes of the continuity of the review. But there were no courses during the meal. It was a constant flow of food and drink, so differentiating between “Appetizers” and the “Main Course” was like Breech trying to differentiate between fine wine and Three-buck Chuck in a blind taste test – very hard to do.
As for some of the early dishes, there was a salad that featured fried eggplant and mushrooms, so I didn’t even bother with that. But everything else, including the tomato-cucumber salad and the fried cheeses – Saganaki and Halloumi – were fresh, flavorful and easy to eat.
Appetizer Grade: B+
Main Course
John: The highlight here was the octopus. Besides on the National Geographic Channel, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen an octopus. And now I was eating one for dinner.
Having read up on the most recent restaurant literature, I knew coming in that if octopus tastes bad, it’s usually because it’s rubbery. Well Oscar (I named my octopus. I know, I’m embarrassed for myself) was the opposite of rubbery. The tentacles were tender and I found myself eating a lot more of Oscar then I thought I would.
Since one of our entrée’s came from the sea, it only seemed logical to get something that flew and something that lived on land. So we went with the grilled quail and roasted tender lamb, or as the Veranda calls it kleftiko. Both dishes were excellent, and I refused the urge to name my quail. On a negative note, I wasn’t a big fan of the chicken skewers with pearl pasta mainly because the chicken was too dry. And I hate when my chicken is dry.
Tim: The chicken was admittedly a bit on the dry side, but it was redeemed by the pearl pasta, which was excellently flavored with a combination of Greek herbs and spices. And I raved about the Gyro platter at Peachtree Diner in last week’s review, but I can’t help but do the same for Veranda’s version of the Greek staple.
If you go to an American restaurant they should be able to give you a good burger. And if you go to a Greek restaurant they should be able to give you a good gyro. Veranda did not disappoint in this respect.
I wouldn’t exactly say that the octopus was the highlight. It was good, but I still had a hard time getting over the creepy fact that I was eating an octopus. If you’re sophisticated enough to set that fact aside (and refrain from naming it Oscar), then you’ll find that it’s a very tasty dish.
Entrée Grade: A
Dessert
John: The baklava was fantastic. However, I should point out that I don’t think I have ever had bad baklava. Veranda drizzled some honey on theirs and then topped that with crushed walnuts, a nice touch I might add. We also tried a galaktoburiko, which is a custard with phyllo layers on the top and bottom. This dessert looked like a pie, smelled like a pie, but tasted like French toast. And no, everything does not taste like French toast to me.
Tim: Greek desserts tend to be light and flaky and these two were no different. Since there’s very little to add in terms of the desserts, I will say that Stelios proffered a tasty dessert wine for us to enjoy with the sugary finale to our meal. I highly recommend dessert wine if you’re looking for an after-dinner drink and don’t want the strong burn of a cognac. It was light and sweet and provided a solid finish to the meal.
Dessert grade: B
Summary
If you have the urge to go Greek, and you want a full Greek experience, go to Veranda. If you make it on the weekend they even have belly dancers that make their way around the dining room, and the tables are built nice and sturdy in case you get the urge to jump on top of yours and cut a jig (no joke). Veranda has only been open since January, so the word is just starting to get out. Once it does, you can bet the place will be packed every day of the week.
Overall grade: A-