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The Main on Main is a funky neighborhood spot that specializes in Greek and Mediterranean. The Main also does double duty as a live music venue, with shows almost everynight.
I was a little bit surprised. When I walked in, I was a little skeptical and not sure what I had gotten myself into But I was pleasant suprised by the their Roast Lamb Sandwich, which was pretty incredible. Apparently, it hit the spot quite well.
I had the chicken quesadilla. I wasn't as heavy as most that I have had. A lot of avacado, so it was really good.
Service was quick good. We had a window seat, so looking out the window in the early afternoon on a sunny day was quick refreshing.
I enjoyed eating here... the food was acceptable Greek fare and the value was good. 16-17 gets you a meal with Greek rice, potatoes and salad along with your choice of chicken, prawn, beef, etc. Pizzas are about 14, and although I went with the chicken souvlakai, the pizza a couple tables over looked pretty good. Overall, the meal came out to just over 40 after tip without any drinks tagged on.
The setting itself is ok... it's smaller, but well-lit and homey. The service is lackadasical and dismissive, but overall the place puts out fairly good Greek food while at the same time injecting a bit of flair and originality. The pototoes, for example, aren't exactly standard Greek potatoes, but are seasoned and cooked slightly different. They're really good. The rice also stands out, and the meat is tasty. Nothing spectacular, but definitely worth the trip if you're in the area craving Greek.
Came here recently with a group for lunch. Upon entering I was searching for an excuse to leave the group I was with. It has a musty smell and grimey feel to the place. A notch above McDonalds would probably accurately describe the place.....in that they bring you the food. They have a very small brunch/Lunch menu. I ordered the chicken souvlaki pita with fries. Not sure how a place could screw up fries but these barely saw the hot oil and the souvlaki was tasteless rubbish. Four or five small pieces of chicken and a few tiny bits of tomato. It was supposed to come with tzatziki. If it was there it wasn't noticeable. Someone else had a Greek salad and said it was more like an onion salad. Out of the eight of us I didnt see a meal I would come back for. Perhaps some things are good but I have my doubts so cannot figure out WHY the four stars..
We dined here on the 20th of November and contacted the owner and he advised us the chef was on vacation that week which explains why the food was not up to their usual standards. As an update the owner offered to send a gift certificate to try their restaurant again. Certainly this restaurant deserves a 4 out of 5 for service.
Came here with my buddy for dinner. We both had the roast lamb and a couple of beers. The lamb was pretty good. We sat at the bar and the bartender was pretty cool. The place itself was pretty dark but other than that everything was pretty good. If i was in the area I'm sure I would come back.
The Main is one of the best and most reliably good restaurants in the city. My husband, extended family and friends dine here weekly. I live on Main Street and this place is our first choice. The waitresses are REAL, and not fake friendly because it's a restaurant policy. The previous owner Harry had a fantastic and meticulous eye for everything. Ingredients, ambiance, drinks menu, - all fantastic! The restaurant changed hands in 2010 and some things aren't quite as good but overall the place is still amazing. There is a different dinner feature every night and unlike some restaurants, this one is actually on sale! My favorite dishes are the roast chicken, roast lamb, calamari and any of the pizzas. I think I've been to this place at least 50 times.
I go the Main 'cuz it's open after 9pm, and not a lot is.
I've had only a few things - Fasoulada Soup - excellent.
Roast Lamb? Pretty darned good I have to say. Saganaki? Better than at other places. I like their 4 dips and pita, too.
Pitchers of reasonable beer at 10.95 and drinkable reds at $20? I'll go for that.
The Main's not the best place in town. But it serves food late, and it's nourishing and delicious, that's all I can say.
One thing to note... my friends who've had the calamari say it's TERRIBLE... and this is different friends on different occasions. Just lettin' ya know.
We dined here last night:
My wife and I walked in right at opening on a Tuesday at 5pm. Sat at the bar and had a wine and beer in our hands with in 5 minutes. Having never been here before we started off with an appy - if it was good we would order another. The garlic prawns came out and they were very good! So we order the Spanokopita next... it came out - homemade and better than any we had ever eaten before including the ones we made at home.
We had stopped in to jusy try and appy, have adrink and split ...but the appys were so good we decided to stay and share the Lamb Shoulder dinner - WOW...the lamb was falling off the bone very tasty along with melt in your mouth potatoes and a very fresh greek salad with some of the best feta I have ever tasted. My wife made a good point as we were eating - this is not salted down greek food which you some times find out there - it was fresh and very well prepared all of the items you could actually taste their individual flavours!!
We actualy liked the Greek salad so much we ordered a full order of it to go which we will be enjoying tonight at home with our dinner.
Now here is the best part. We had 1 beer, 2 glasses of white wine, a great bottle of red Cabernet - 2 appys and a main along with a togo salad all for????...even with our new wonderfull HST tax for ......ready???
$100 -Really?? - REALLY!!!
They do need to put Blaze's Beans in their Caesar drink as I don't like Asparagus...but I think the bar manager there is thinking of doing it now.
Can't wait to go back and try some of the other items on the menu. Go try it!!
Ive been going to The Main for years, and its still fantastic. I was there twice last week. Monday for $10 pizza and cheap beer and Friday for music. Looks like they have redecorated and its a cool room. Food was solid and service by Main Street girls- down to earth and attentive. A must go!
I ordered the Chicken Souvlaki and my girlfriend got the Kalamari dinner. Both were prepared very well with decent portion sizes. Actually, her Kalamari was some of the best I’ve ever had. I could have used a bit more chicken, but that’s only a minor complaint. The service was very good. The waitress was polite and attentive. The ambiance was great. Even though the bar was crowded and there was a band playing, we still felt we were able to enjoy an intimate meal looking onto Main Street. Plus, the band covered “Chocolate Jesus” by Tom Waits, which was a nice surprise.
My friend and I came to The Main last Sunday afternoon for a lunch. After standing at the front door (where there was no "wait to be seated" sign) and with no one showing us to a table, we sat ourselves, which seemed completely acceptable given the casual atmosphere. My friend and I then waited for 10 minutes before anyone acknowledged us, so I asked one of the staff members for our server. She rolled her eyes at me and rudely said "uh, yeah" and then came back 5 minutes later with menus. She then asked us "do you want drinks?" and brought us a coffee and a water. We then waited another 10 or more minutes for her to come back to take our orders, meanwhile a table who had JUST sat down was being helped by another waitress, who promptly brought them drinks and took their food orders. Unfortunately for the Main, who lost our business that day and all future days, we left change on the table for the coffee and ventured on to somewhere else for our meal.
The Main is consistently one of my favorite restaurants along Main street. You get a good size portion of quality food for a decent price. My preferred meal is the Roast Lamb which is served with Greek salad, roast potato. My girlfriend ordered Kalmari dinner. After you order your meal they give you some pita bread with tzatziki sauce. Well tonight we got bread but no tzadziki? Then once we received our meals both of our meals had no dressing on the Greek Salad? When my gf asked if we could have some tzadziki sauce the waitress informed us that there would be an additional 1.50 charge. Ok well fine? I have have been to the main probably 5 tines, this being the only time i felt a bit upset by my experience. Overall worth going back.
I stopped in last evening for a meal and a few drinks, and thought about leaving before ordering based on the poor service. We waited for a while once entering the establishment with numerous servers walking past without acknowledging us. When we got to the table, the waitress walked past two or three times without taking our order, despite us trying to flag her down. The drink specials were a decent value, but the ones advertised on the board outside (which is what attracted me) were not available. The food was solid, but again when the server came back she asked my friend if she wanted another drink, and left without even casting a glance at me (???). It was very strange.
My friend was visiting from Montreal, and so we shopped all along Main for the day till we needed a drink and some food. We popped into The Main, our first time for both of us. It was a Friday night, and the place was bouncing! There was a live band, the bar was busy, and people were animated, happy, eating, talking, the vibe was fantastic. My friend and I got a table right away. Our waitress was very cute, and very fun right off the bat.
Food wise, we started with the Keftethes, which were so good, also the Saganaki and the trio of dips. The food tasted so authentically greek, no shorting out on quality. My friend had the Roast Lamb dinner, he was amazed at the size of the portion and was happy to eat it all---he claims the meat was so tender and falling of the bone.
I had the Main Burger which I was very happy with too. We had a couple of bottles of wine and enjoyed the music, caught up. I would highly recommend THE MAIN, what a great experience and so glad I picked a good spot to take my friend from out of town.
The Main has a stage that features live acts and stand up comedy. Been here a couple of times for dinner as well as just for drinks. They do have quite a few Greek food items on the menu. IMHO, I would not go here for dinner as you really dont know what you are going to get. I had some dry chicken. Although dinner was not gross, there are just so many better choices for a diiner at this price range. Would go if there were some interesting performances and grab a bevie and an appy. But this place is not for me.
Went with a buddy to “The Main” for some grub and felt like having some lamb chops. We weren’t disappointed. Five, nice, center cut, grilled medium rare chops done to perfection. There was plenty of rice, Greek salad and a whole roasted potato added to the plate.
Descent setting and smiling waitress made it an enjoyable experience.
Walked down to Five Points for some beers and my friend and I had a great time retelling our (more than) twice-told tales!
Based on the great reviews from others, we decided to try the place out...but our experience was totally underwhelming. With all the restaurant choices in the area, I can't figure out why this place is still running.
The calamari appetizer was bland and was served with a tiny bit of sauce which ran out a third of the way through. The shrimp souvlaki was made with real shrimps, that's to say, they were the little ones rather than the usual jumbo ones so they were dry. The roast lamb was totally over-salted, I could feel my blood vessels constrict as I ate; someone must have double salted the thing.
The waitress was pleasant but after our meals arrived, she was nowhere to be seen for the longest time. Trying to get the bill was also a challenge as the staff appeared to be more concerned counting the day's receipts than serving customers. They were sifting through stacks of what appeared to be customer bills; probably calculating their share of the tips or something.
I guess by now you've probably figured out we won't be back...you're right !!
Great night out at The Main, yet again. The food is always fantastic - the kalimari dinner, souvlaki (chicken, prawn, lamb whaterver), roast lamb - are always good. Service is sometimes a bit slow, but I've been coming to this restaurant since it opened, and it's always been a fantastic place to bring friends and family for a great dinner out. Thanks!
I've been going to the Main at least once a week for almost five years now. After reading the other reviews I feel, with my wealth of experience at this place, that I should clarify a few things.
First of all, to the person who considers themself to be a regular; that doesn't mean you should expect to get things for free. Expecting the waitress to give me extra satziki for free just because I frequent the place often is rediculous. Plus, it kinda makes things a bit awkward don't you think - "hey, do you think you can steal from your employer 'cause I'm in here a lot?" She's just doing her job and that shouldn't reflect poorly on her service. Talk to the owner if you have a serious issue with the pricing. Besides, it's really nice to go to a place where they aren't brainwashed to upsell you on the extras - that's real nickle and diming.
Also, there is only music three nights a week, they used to have music all the time, but that stopped at least three years ago. I have noticed that recently there is an increase in quality of the non-regular bands being booked- and there is no cover charge!
To the not-so-observant-chef-of-12-years; there is no Creole Penne on the menu - it's Chorizo Penne, and no salad with the ingredients lettuce, tomato, and carrots either. Perhaps you should start writing things down before you make a review - you wouldn't be so happy to see a review about your place of employment with such mistakes would you?
Finally, to all those who have been to the Main just the one time or are thinking about it; overall it's a good place to go. The food is consistant, the drinks are cheap, and the service is great too, although I'm willing to admit that it depends on who you get for a server. Let's face it, some people are just better at their job than others. The bartender is the owner's son, and hates his job. It's definitely better to go on a week night when the other bartender works (she's kinda cute).
Go see for yourself.
I went to the Main during a relaxed Thursday evening while on a first date. Fortunately for me, my date didn't judge me on the choice. The service was lacking to say the least, The food while not bad, wasn't something to write home about. As someone who has worked in the food industry, as a chef, for the past 12 years I find it depressing to see restaurants like these last, where as ones who have good service and food can't get their foot in the door. From what I am told, this restaurant used to be alot better, wish I would have tried it then.. The reason I had to give this restaurant an overall rating of 1 is the combination of poor service and rude server, with the mediocraty of the actual food.
I had the Creole Penne with Sausage, the pasta was over cooked and the only thing noticable in it besides that was the heat, not really flavour just a lets see how hot we can make this. My date went with a salad with grilled chicken, she said the chicken tasted ok, but the salad lacked anything original in it as it was just lettuce tomato, carrot and dressing.
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