we had lunch at a greek restaurant today to celebrate one of our friend’s birthday. the ambiance of the place was remarkable. the design of the walls and ceilings matched with the background music made you feel like you’re having lunch in greece.

for appetizers, we had hot italian bread with butter and olive oil on the side, flaming saganaki cheese and fried calamari with squeezed lemon. the bread was good and complemented very well with the flaming cheese and fried calamari. the flaming cheese tasted better than the one i first tasted in “dimitri’s greek restaurant” since it was saltier than the one we had today. the calamari was very soft and tasty even without dipping it to the sauce.

i ordered greek pikilia, an assorted sampler of roast lamb, meatball pastichio (greek lasagna), dolmades avgolemona dinner (stuffed grapevine leaves with ground lam and rice), spanakotiropita (baked phyllo stuffed with spinach, leeks and feta cheese), rice and potatoes. that’s quite a lot right?! i wasn’t able to finish them all. by order of preference, i like the dolmades avgolemona the most. its taste was a nice surprise to my palate. the roast lamb would follow. the meat was tender, juicy and tasty. i was not very fond of the spanakotiropita. it had an odd taste for me or probably not used to such taste. i enjoyed the rice and potatoes with the roast lamb and dolmades. i barely touched the meatball pastichio. it tasted like ordinary lasagna to me.

we had baklava (baked phyllo with honey and crushed almonds) for dessert eventhough we were already full. it was very good because it wasn’t too sweet.

Verdict: 4.75/5 [-0.25 for the pastichio and spanakotiropita]

Greek Village Taverna
795 E Golf Rd
Schaumburg, IL