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John's Greek Taverna is a small - medium size restaurant with many tables, but little space between them.
It serves mostly Greek dishes and pastas, such as spaghetti and lasagna, also pizza.
I went to John's Greek Taverna last Saturday and was welcomed by friendly staff and prompt service. I ended up ordering the Chicken Souvlaki dinner which was very exceptional. The chicken was cooked perfectly and tasted wonderful, the Greek salad was definitely authentic with greek dressing and plenty of feta cheese. The dinner came with rice and roasted potato and a side of fresh pita bread. The portions were very generous and I managed to eat all that was on my plate, pure delicious! The service was very kind and was sure my dinner was satisfactory. I will definitely be back again!
John's Greek Taverna is no more. This place is under new management and is now "JONNY'S Greek Taverna". Apparently the old owners come in once in a while to help out, but I for sure was not there on that night.
Ah, where to start, the BAD
The chicken was bland, the rice was bland, the potato was undercooked and bland. The greek salad was fair and the mousaka was okay. The tiropita was overcooked so much that you could not cut through half of it no matter how hard you tried. I jammed my fork in it and ate what was edible.
The service was embarrassingly bad. The waitress needed to refer a cheat sheet twice in order to explain what the dishes were, although, I did enjoy her pronunciation of Keftedes as Kef-titties. I should have ordered those in retrospect. "Are you done?" was her idea of service. Even the coffee was disappointing as it was served with milk without asking if it was okay that they didn't have cream. The sugar packets, rock hard, are sadly the only things that remain from the old John's Greek Taverna.
The GOOD
The pita was amazing and the water was ice cold!
This felt like breaking up with a girlfriend at her house and just looking around, sadly, thinking "I'll never be here again".
I used to live in this area and I have dined in and ordered take out from here a handful of times. When you walk in you know with out even seeing the sign outside that it is a Greek restaurant. Their menu has plenty of items to choose from but I personally really like the pasta with Alfredo sauce. You can just taste that the sauce is made from scratch and the cheese they bake on top is just icing on the cake. Sometimes the service can be lacking when it comes to bringing you water or taking drink orders. They do have some excellent cocktails in their drink menu as well but be warned they use real cream in all of their milky cocktails like the paralyzer. Another warning their hummus can be really intense. The first time me and my boyfriend went there we ordered it. We knew it had an intense garlic flavour because it was burning our tongues a bit but at about 3am (7hrs after our meal) we ended up having to go the local corner store to pick up milk and ice cream in order to get some sort of relief from the intense garlic burps. But that humus definitely tasted good and was worth the garlic burps, just have some dairy at home just in case.
Bubu and I went to John's Greek Taverna today around 4/5 pm. It was almost empty, except for one other couple there. The place had a nice warm feel to it, it was old looking but personally I think it added some character to the venue. They played Greek music, and the laminated place mats had pictures and information on Greece. They were definitely ancient looking, but I didn't mind.
Their menu had so much selection. Other than Greek food, there was pasta, and pizza as well. But the majority of the menu had items $14+. We didn't want to spend that much so we decided to order the Calamari Seafood Special and split it. To split a meal you have to pay $3.95 more, this is because they will put the meal on two separate plates add more food to feed two people.
The calamari was nice and crispy, but I found it hard to taste the squid. The sauce that accompanies the calamari had a nice taste, but then you could not taste the squid at all. The rice was okay to me, but the potato was good. But then again it was just a potato. The meal also came with a Greek salad, nothing wrong there. The pita bread however, I could not say was pita bread. The colour and texture were very off. It was more like a soft airy flattened breakfast bun to me.
Overall our early dinner went well. We both felt full after eating everything and had a decent Greek meal too. Our waitress, Gloria was very polite and friendly the whole time. Every so often she would ask us how our food was. When we got the bill we were given some candies and also some pens that advertise their restaurant. That was nice. One thing I have to add is that the other staff was also present at the time. We were seated next to their 'staff area'? But they didn't so much as smile at us. When we left it was only Gloria who said bye and thank you as well. Oh well? I might be back if I'm craving Greek food in Newton. =)
A friend and I were driving around Surrey and Langley last week, and we happened to pass by this restaurant. This was the second time I had been to this restaurant. I ordered PLAIN spaghetti and a Calamari appetizer. We came about half an hour to closing, so my friend and I were the only patrons in the restaurant, which made the service really good. Though I didn't find the Spaghetti to be tasty (given that I ordered it plain) I was IMPRESSED with the Calamari, seasoned well, really tasty (I couldn't believe it) I never had Calamari taste so good. My friend had the same thing (except no spaghetti) and if I remember correctly, I think she enjoyed it as well. I live in Vancouver, but I definatly plan to return to this restaurant.
We went for a Birthday Dinner with a few friends. After such a long time we had excellent greek food. It was a very cozy atmosphere and great service. We recommend this restaurant to all our friends. We had pizza,which was excellent for a great price(2 for large pizzas for $27.99). Really good calimari and souvlaki. Since it was our friends birthday, they gave him a complimentary shooter and Ek Mek. We were very impressed with the food and service so we will surely come back.
So sunday afternoon rolls around and I deciede that im going to take my mother out for dinner, so we deciede on greek food. I wish we had choosen mc donalds instead! When we got to Johns thre were a few tables aleady there. We were seated at a table right at the front of the house a seat where it was impossible to move your arm. I asked to be moved and the server did so. It took forever to recieve the glass of water we had orderd. One server working and she had baout 6 tables so i do sympathize for her. So we start with spanakopita. it was alright but hard to share between two as it was one large piece. I deciede to have a ceasar. I recieve a drink which contains Sriracha sauce. For all who dont know what that is its the squeeze bottle that has a rooster on it with a green cap. This completely threw the taste off of the ceasar so I had to return it, they insisted to make me another one but the didn't realize that they couldnt cause they didnt have tobassco. I ordered the chicken souvlaki and my mom had the vegeterian one. about half an hour had passed since we had been at the restaurant and on the left of me you could see there had been a party of atleast 15 because the table still hadn't been cleared. It was gross!! I decieded to order my mom a virgin chi-chi. and finally the food had come out. took a bite of my rice good, potato good, pita bread alright once i get to the salad and the fork is going to my mouth smell something rancid! im not sure if its the vinagrette or the cheese. The cheese was old and gross. To make matters worse it wasn't even feta!! greek salad feta go hand in hand. Feta is a soft crumbly cheese PARMASEAN is a hard and small shreds. I told the waitress and she talked tot he kitchen the kitchen said nothing is wrong even though i cold smell this horrible food. The management came out and then said nothing wrong with the cheesei asked for the bill and to have my meals returned! The cheese must have been left out or something it was hot that week here in surrey. I was upset that these people took me fora fool i can tell the difference between parm cheese and feta. I know what smells rancid and what smells tantalizing. I paid for my appetizer and tipped the waitress more than my bill cause i felt bad that she had to work at place that served such HORRIBLE food. I will never go again, nor let anyone i know go again.
I think the person who reviewed this restaurant from Delta and said it tasted like reheated food and had small portions must be from a competing Greek restaurant.
The portions are substantial. I went with 5 people to this restaurant last night. Three women did not finish their food, a fourth pregnant woman did, and I was quite full after my meal.
We all described our food from decent to excellent. Pizza was decent, pastas were good, and souvlaki was excellent.
We enjoyed our meals and would come back again.
My only downside is that I know I can get the same meal for half price somewhere on Davie Street Vancouver but I don't have that option in Surrey.
I've been to John's few times.. and each time I was impressed with the food. The food is really good. It tastes fresh and hearty. I like the ambiance of this small place... it's nice and cozy. Definately give it a try, if you like greek food or are looking to try something new. I have recommended it to my friends, you get what you pay for. I haven't had any complaints about it. I sometimes order a few pitas for pick up with Tzatziki their sauce!
We notice that the restaurant was fairly new, so decided to give it a try. Both of us had roast lamb. We found the meat to be very dry and not tender. Also there was some strange sauce on the rice, some sort of gravy maybe? We found the decor to be beautiful, but the service somewhat awkward and not approachable. Most places when they serve you the food, they will then follow by "enjoy, if you need anything just let me know" It's common politeness. But there was none of that here. It didn't really seem like a friendly environment to us as compared to other Greek restaurant. Aside from that everything else is fine. If we return next time, we'll order something different, maybe it would be more worth it than the roast lamb.
My wife and I along with a friend dined here recently because I was using a gift certificate. My wife and I both ordered the Greek style ribs. Our friend loves Roast lamb and remembered form a previous visit how small the lamb portion was. The waitress assured him there were 2 large pieces one was a shank and the other shoulder. "Our portions are huge" she declared. When it showed up it was absolutely tiny. Maybe 5-6 ounces of meat and lots of bone. Our friend is a big eater and said it was OK but was still hungry afterward. The ribs, where do I start. YUK. These things were obviously boiled to death sometime last week left in the fridge and reheated (microwave?) and plopped on our plate. Nothing on top. No oregano, no lemon no chopped onion. They were grey and unappetizing. It looks like a full rack but it must be cut in half lengthwise as the ribs are very short. Neither of us finished them and our friend had one bite and even though he was still quite hungry he wouldn't eat them either. What's with the rice anyway. Horrible. It was full of fennel and was WAY overcooked. I will never set foot in this place again. They get away with those ribs because I'm sure most people order them with BBQ sauce. There is lots of competition for Greek food and most of them are very good. Maybe Gordon Ramsey needs to come by for a visit. Save your money and go elsewhere.
After being disappointed with a few other Greek restaurants i was hesitant to try this one but i am glad i did. I found the price was a bit high for the portion that you get but the food is still worth it. One of my favorite things is that they remove the chicken off the skewers, its not a big deal but makes eating much easier :D. The food tastes very fresh and I will continue to go here on a regular basis. (I have had the chicken souvlaki multiple times and a the lasagna once both were great) calamari was also great.
I have been a waitress for over 25 years and have worked in several Greek restaurants. My family , friends and I enjoy trying different places and I had heard through the grapevine that it would be very good. Boy , I have no idea what planet they are from! This has got to be the worst food I have ever had ! Period! The cucumbers in my salad were TRANSPARENT! The rice had some strange spices added to it. (gross)The sauce on the dolmathes was like lumpy soup! Almost every dish had dill added to it! Over priced! I returned my food and still had to pay for it! He told me it was because I ate some of it! Duh...of course I did...I had to taste it! He was extremely rude and never even offered me anything else. I paid my bill and left , never to return again! This place doesn't even deserve one star!
Extremely dissatisfied customer!
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