Panos Greek Taverna

BBQ Baby Back Rib Dinner

Restaurant: Panos Greek Taverna
Cuisine: Greek/Mediterranean
Last visited: September 22, 09

Area: Vancouver, BC
654 SE Marine Drive
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4 (Based on what we had. I didn't try enough though so the rating could be unfair)
Service: 3
Ambiance: 1.5
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Hole in the wall shady location
  
• Greek family owned and operated
• Authentic and really homemade
• Good reliable Greek food that's cheaper than average
  
• Hummus made in house
• Good portions, poor plating
• Very casual small restaurant, casual service
• Fills up at around 7pm

**Recommendation: BBQ Baby Back Rib dinner, Souvlaki (moussaka is supposed to be good, but I didn't try it)

This restaurant is super shady. It's in a strip mall that looks abandoned. We were the third group in there at 6pm on a Tuesday...which isn't bad. It also filled up decently by 7pm, mostly by locals living around the area. I really hesitated when I saw this place from the outside, but it does have positive word of mouth. Panos is really your reliable go-to hole in the wall Greek restaurant. It's authentic homestyle Greek cooking and I could even see the Greek men in the back peeling away at potatoes on their little stools in the kitchen. It's family owned and operated and it really feels like it to from the moment you walk in. It's almost like a Greek diner more than a restaurant. It is a bang for your buck though - big portions and it's cheaper than average. Souvlaki dinners are around $12 and the most expensive thing is I think $15, maybe $17 for the fish/seafood plates.

Focusing on just the food, it's hard for me to say how good everything really was since I only tried 2 things on the menu. I will go back to try more items since I hear lots of good stuff about it and that way I can also give a fair and complete review.


On the table:

• Greek Salad 2/6
• Greek Salad is Greek Salad most of the time. Fresh ingredients and pretty generous with the shredded Feta. Only one olive though. I prefer the crumbled or cubed Feta - but that's more expensive and I didn't expect it at this restaurant anyways.
  
• They serve it to you first so you can eat it as an appetizer and you almost get more this way because it's not squished onto your plate. That being said the spot for salad on your plate is filled with a generous amount of rice.
• Chicken Souvlaki 3.5/6
  
• I know - the plating/presentation looks really poor and the portion looks poor too. When I saw it I thought the same thing. It's a lot more than it looks though. It looks really plain and it's probably because the salad was served on a seperate plate. Don't let how it looks discourage you though because it was good.
• 
  
• The chicken souvlaki is good, but as good as any other chicken souvlaki. The marinade was nice and flavourful and the chicken was tasty throughout. They grilled it nicely and the meat was still juicy and moist inside.
• 
  
• The potato was good too, but I've had better. It was soft and well marinated with lemons...not too sour though.
• 
  
• The rice could be better. It was kind of bland and maybe a little dry. Kind of boring...so I don't have much else to say about it. It was kind of "buffet rice" - you know when the rice just sits under a heat lamp in the back?
• **BBQ Baby Back Rib Dinner 5/6
  
• This was really good and it's only $15 or something. The meat literally fell off the bone with the touch of the fork. So tender, so flaky and so good. The bones were totally bare at the end of the meal.
• 
  
• I'm not sure if the bbq sauce is homemade or not (I doubt it was homemade), but I can't complain because it did the job fine. It was sweet, sticky and savoury with a slight tang and kick. I think we got around 12-14 ribs...talk about a bargain at $15!
  
• Drool these were good too.