Reservation and Web

When left the restaurant, the waiter advised us to reserve next time if we are more than one person – however, this didn’t seem to be absolutely necessary in view of the two other guests – maybe it depended to the time (21:30).

Reservations can be made via the website of Taverna Ellada – why this is done with by using a WebDE e-mail address – while they have their own domain – is not really clear to us.

The website is kept quite simple and the pictures differ considerably from the appearance of the food in the restaurant – the menu is not optimally integrated and in particular not searchable – that disturbed us.

Ambience

The Taverna Ellada has a quite large ground-floor guest room and a smaller part that is a few steps higher – in total around 12-14 tables of various sizes. The restaurant is bright and with a few “columns” a little bit decorated in Greek style.

The “Business Card”

The toilets were not frequented during our visit – should it come to a further visit we will surely make up for it.

Service

We already visited the Taverna Ellada more than two years ago and already there the lived disinterest of the Indian owner was a special attraction for us.

The waiter at that time, when we said we still had to drive, was very adept at a Greek mocha instead of an ouzo – a compliment for that. But when he brought it to the table, he suddenly told us that his boss want him to charge for it – there only alcohol was on the house – we thankfully refused.

This is exactly the mood the owner unfortunately radiates and apparently slows down his partly service-oriented staff – little up to date and by no means cosmopolitan – the nice waiter of that time was no longer there.

Also today an Ouzo was put ad hoc & unasked on the table when the word came on the “in love” salted lamb chops – surely nicely meant, it was also sorry to reject here, but by the Ouzo the salt does not disappear either, there would have been half a litre of water more meaningful…

The waiter was adept and it was obvious to him that as a Greek he knew what was not really Greek here. If you have Greek staff as a non-Greek, you should at least have an open ear for their life experience and culture in order to get the necessary authenticity to successfully run a Greek restaurant.

Starters

The “greeting from the kitchen” consisted of a small bowl of Tzatziki and some bread. It was freshly sliced toast-like white bread – cold and floppy – really a shame for a Greek. But at the second attempt the waiter could be convinced to let it at least “bbq” a bit – afterwards it wasn’t good, but much better.

The ordered starters were on the one hand a portion of Greek sheep cheese with onions and on the other hand octopus in vinegar and oil (Xtapodi xidato).

The sheep’s cheese was a bit loveless and quite dry – here a few olives, some salt and fresh pepper (on request there was also a pepper mill) and some more oil would have worked wonders. Fortunately, there was a freshly tapped Duckstein, which helped with the dry sheep cheese…

 

On the website of the restaurant, the olives were not used as sparingly and the bread seems to be much tastier.

The octopus is actually the mainstay of many Greek restaurants worldwide, but it should be made with love and should not have refrigerator temperature – in our case this was unfortunately so and also the consistency did not speak for the fact that it goes fresh daily over the counter – a pity.

Perhaps another starter from the menu of the day would have tasted better – unfortunately it was mentioned after the order and only on demand.

At the same time as the starters, the salad was added to the main course, which was pleasant because it also gave the sheep’s cheese some freshness and momentum.

The salad was well seasoned and almost the most Greek of the whole evening – had it not been for the special garnish. In the salad there was a piece of paper napkin – probably from cleaning the borders of the plate – well that can happen – funny was only that my reference to the paper in the salad was acknowledged with a check of my napkin… since I was not sure if the paper was already in the salad, I then looked at the pictures of the salad I had taken before when it came to the table… the “ingredient” was unfortunately really already included in the serving of the salad….but there were no more than disbelieving looks for this.

Main Course

The lamb plate was ordered as the main course. Two lamb chops, a lamb fillet & a lamb souvlaki with some tzatziki and French fries.

The lamb fillet was beautifully grilled, pink inside and carefully seasoned. Also, the lamb souvlaki was very tasty and the meat cooked to the point – nice and juicy.

The only outliers at the main course were the two “salt crystals” in the form of lamb chops – it would hardly have been possible to get them down without several strong sips of Duckstein – the cook must have found his great love…

Desserts

We did not have any desserts during this visit – but we weren’t offered any either.

Conclusion

The food wasn’t bad throughout, the cook seems to have potential, but as far as the lamb chops are concerned, he is quite freshly in love. Unfortunately, the service was inattentive although the boss – an Indian – like so often in restaurants of the Lange Reihe direction to the main station – was present and three real guests should not be a challenge.

Those who come for the good Greek cuisine, i.e. tasty olives & fresh bread and not only for the “spent” ouzos, would probably be disappointed by a visit – not least because of the difference to the nice photos on the website.

The prices in the Taverna Ellada are reasonable and surprisingly not as excessive as those of the other restorations in the upper part of the Lange Reihe.

Unfortunately, in this case we can only give a half-hearted recommendation for a visit in the Taverna Ellada – here the feeling of the authentic Greek hospitality as well as the genuine appreciation and respect for the guest is missing.