Dine Out Vancouver just announced their list of participating restaurants for 2025, inviting diners to once again head out and support local restaurants through their patronage.
One such restaurant and all its location is The Greek, popular for their fresh approach to Greek cuisine. Large portions, great family style share dining, and plenty of bold flavours.
We gathered at their Gastown location for a sneak peek of what they will be offering for both their Dine Out lunch and dinner menus, a week prior to.
Not part of Dine Out, but something to indulge in when at their Gastown location is their cocktail program. They offer unique Greek influenced cocktails apart from their other 3 locations.
The Athenian Fig Sidecar is a mediterranean take on the classic, combining Metaxa, Maker’s Mark bourbon, and fig syrup. I was looking for and definitely got the sweetness of the fig to set this one apart.
The Espresso Martini is a classic. A fusion of bold espresso, Cloudhouse espresso infused rum, and Northern Keep vodka made it a great post work pick me up.
The Dress to Empress was a fun play on words. Described as a regal cocktail featuring the vibrant hue of Empress gin, elevated by bright lemon and floral notes of lavender.
The Vasiliko Sour featured chilli spice to balance out its tart lemon. A vibrant mix of Gray Whale gin, fresh basil, and citrus, with the gentle heat of sichuan pepper. This one paired well with our meal to come thanks to its more savoury tone and an effervescent zest of citrus.
As mentioned above, The Greek is offering two different menus for Dine Out 2025. Their Lunch menu is $35 per person with a choice of one appetizer, entree, and dessert. Whereas dinner is $48 per person, which also comes with a choice of one appetizer, entree, and dessert. The difference between the two is soup and dips for lunch, plus fresh salads instead of roasted potatoes and vegetables for dinner.
For lunch you have a choice between four appetizers: either one of two soups, or between two dips.
For soup it is either a cup of avgolemono or fasolada. The former is chicken and rice with an extra squeeze of lemon for zest. It was a vibrant start that jolts your appetite. It is served with pita, but I didn’t fancy dipping it into the already complete soup with plenty of rice for starch.
In contrast the fasolada was more homey and comforting with a tangy tomato base. This, the pita did pair well with, although there was more hearty and gritty beans than soup to sip. We would end up saving all this extra pita to enjoy with the dips below, and it was necessary, considering how much did you actually get versus how much you actually need to enjoy with the pita.
Your Greek Dip & Pita choices are between homous or tzatziki, served with more fresh grilled pita triangle. Both were made in house and tasty. However, I would recommend the homous, as tzatziki comes as a side with the entrees below, and this way you get both.
Lunch entree options are either the keftedes platter or souvlaki.
The Keftedes are four pan-fried pork and beef meatballs served on bed of rice with housemade tomato sauce, and topped with shredded saganaki cheese. It comes with long grain rice, lemon potatoes, greek salad, fresh grilled pita, and tzatziki. A fulsome plate there was plenty of variety and mounds of food to fill to have you packing up the leftovers for the next. This is basically meatballs with rice, and I prefer the chicken below as its texture better contrasted the grains for firm rice for better mouth enjoyment.
Their Souvlaki is available in either chicken or beyond meat with vegan sides, and having tried both, it is a toss up.
Either two chicken thigh skewers or a kabob of beyond meat with roasted peppers, zucchini, and mushrooms; served with long grain rice, greek salad, fresh grilled pita and tzatziki. And you can a substitute the tzatziki with homous for $2 more to make it vegan.
The chicken had a lovely grilled roast to it, but could have been more moist. A little under seasoned, I easily relied on the sides to inject some flavour. There was plenty of seasoning in the mixed vegetable and spice rice pilaf to carry. And the Greek salad offered plenty of breaths of freshness in an otherwise consuming plate.
For dessert your options are the same for both the lunch or dinner Dine Out menu. The classic Baklava with layers of filo, nuts, and spices or Ekmek.
The latter is vanilla custard with a shredded kataifi crust, topped with whipped cream and pistachio crumble. I prefer the former with its crispy bites, over the latter with its soggier finish.
For the $48 per person dinner menu your appetizers are either the keftedes as is, Greek Salad, or Calamari. I would skip on salad as you will get plenty of vegetables in the platters above, but all cooked.
Greek salad with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, capers, olives, and feta. The latter most is a large brick imported from Greece, it is a milder feta so that you can make out its flavour and not just its saltiness. Worth mentioning is that you can also get this with a vegan feta instead.
The Keftedes is exactly the same as above, but without the rice and sides, and made into a quasi taco instead. Two pan-fried pork and beef meatballs served on a fresh grilled pita topped with tomatoes, onions, lemon, and tzatziki.
My pick is the Calamari served in the largest chunks and rings I have seen. A crispy classic and crowd pleaser paired with tzatziki for dipping. This is a calamari that I would crave and order again.
For dinner entrees it was more Chicken Souvlaki, two grilled chicken thigh skewers, served with long grain rice, lemon potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and tzatziki. Same tender chunks of chicken and plenty of roasted and charred vegetables to match. This was as comforting as it is filling.
I found the vegan Beyond Souvlaki option better during dinner than lunch with the inclusion of homous instead of tzatziki at no extra charge. Plus the unique miso dip to have with the two grilled beyond meat skewers, long grain rice, lemon potatoes, and seasonal vegetables. The smokey dip had a great char and a good amount of salt to add levels to the already well rounded platter, it definitely made this a stand out.
Although my top pick is the Lamb Youvetsi, a five hour braised lamb shoulder on a bed of orzo with housemade tomato sauce, topped with shredded saganaki cheese. This is served with greek salad and tzatziki on the side. The lamb was so tender that its meat was easy to remove from bone, and there was plenty of it to go around. Although, out of personal preference I would have liked it over rice instead of the tomato based orzo pasta with its bountiful warming herbs. This was a heavier plate and not one you finish in one sitting, so pack it up to relive later.
And once again the dessert options are the same as above. A considerately smaller serving considering that there is so much more food above.
In short, two great options and ways to enjoy fresh Greek cuisine at the discounted prices of Dine Out; not that you need another reason to visit. They are still my go to spot for Greek cuisine because I don’t walk away feeling bloated or greasy from the food.
The Greek Gastown
221 Carrall St, Vancouver, BC V6B 4K7
(604) 423-3360
thegreekbyanatoli.com