Panos Greek Taverna

So, Marv has a favourite Greek restaurant and so far, each and every other one has failed to please him.  I was very determined for him to change his top pick, so when my friend Belinda recommended Panos Greek Restaurant, I had my fingers crossed! 🙂

Panos Greek Taverna
654 SE Marine Drive, Vancouver BC
Tel#: (604) 322-7117

I thought this place was pretty well hidden since it’s in the corner of a strip mall.  Honestly I’ve been driving along marine drive for years and have never noticed this place till I had to search for it!   The evening started out eventful, Marv was a bit upset about an incident that happened in the parking lot….I was hoping it wouldn’t affect his decision :p

We were greeted warmly and guided to a quiet corner of the restaurant.  The restaurant is dimly lit, and gives off a cozy essence.

We arrived around 5:30pm, and there was only about 4 tables occupied.  As we started to get our food, more and more tables quickly filled up.

The waitress suggested we start with the Saganaki.

This was kefalograviera cheese pan fried served with pita bread.  We both agreed that if you’re a cheese lover, you would love this dish.  It was a bit oily and super salty.  It’s best eaten with the pita to take away from the saltiness.

We also ordered the Kalamari to start.

This was cooked exactly the way it should be.  It was crispy on the outside, yet soft and chewy on the inside.  It was also in big pieces unlike other places which are smaller and crunchier.  Marv thoroughly enjoyed this dish…. looks like we’re on the way to changing his top pick! 😀

Both our meals came with the Greek Salad.

The salad portions was pretty generous with big chunks of tomatoes and cucumbers.  There was also a generous helping of feta cheese sprinkled on top.  The cucumbers were still crisp and quite crunchy.

For his meal, he ordered the Roast Lamb.

This was served on a bed of rice with 1/2 a potato and tzatziki sauce.  I don’t normally jump to eat lamb, but this was so tender and flavourful.  They are quite generous with their food portions.  The lamb was quite big.  The rice was a bit bland, but it’s nothing a bit of tzakziki sauce couldn’t help fix.

Since Marv chose the dish I was originally going to get, I decided on the Chicken and Ribs(Greek spiced).

This was also served on a bed of rice, 1/2 a potato and tzakziki sauce.  Both entrees came with more pita bread too.  The roasted chicken was very tasty and not dry.  The dry ribs were well executed.  The meat fell off the bones effortlessly.  They give you a choice between Greek spiced or BBQ sauce, I think next time I’ll try the BBQ sauce since I personally like my food with more sauce than dry rubbed.  The pita bread came to our table piping hot!  We both managed to almost finish the entire basket leaving only 1 piece…and that’s after cleaning off both appys and entrees!   Haha okay, maybe I gave Marv my chicken..and 1/2 my ribs.. but I was too focused on the rice, potato and bread!

Overall, the food here is pretty spot on, the prices are decent and.. the best part of this dinner was that I got Marv to admit this place is BETTER than his all time favourite!!   Woo!  Chalk 1 up for Pano’s! 😀

Post by Colleen