Authentic Greek food with wonderful, friendly service. My wife loves this kind of food, and she absolutely loved it here. We had a great meal from start to finish, with everything tasting fresh, flavorful, and well prepared. We were very happy with our meal and would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting the area. read more

Had the loveliest server, Emily, who was warm and charming and helpful with directing our choices. Hubby had lemon chicken Souvlaki- very moist and tender, in a reasonable portion and I had the Greek bowl which had plenty of hummus buried under one side and a little bit of toubouli (wish there'd been a bit more of that). Felt like a huge salad, couldn't even finish it. All very fresh. Clean bathrooms. All staff seemed to work together and were all friendly and interested. Great option for lunch or dinner. read more

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My fave meal I had while in Banff! Dined here for a business meal with four other ladies and we had a great time. The food was delicious, atmosphere was lively and our servers were great. We ordered a dip platter to share for the table and I chose the Alberta beef souvlaki for my main - so tasty and everything was super fresh. I also enjoyed a non alcoholic cocktail called the Balkan 65 which was wonderful. Definitely recommend booking a reso in advance if you visit during peak times. read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - Dip platter - delicious - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

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Absolutely great good, great vibes, great serving staff. We had the warm olives to get started and they were awesome, exceeded expectations. We all tried something different and all were pleased with the flavor profiles. Another very important topic was the easy accommodations for our party of 7. Totally recommend if you are interested in some good quality Greek-Med food. read more

I accidentally left my purse at the restaurant. The manager opened early and returned it to us to make our flight home. My husband and I had an incredible dinner here. Everything was absolutely delicious, and you can tell a lot of care goes into the food. The portion sizes are generous, and the quality of the ingredients is top-notch. Prices are reasonable, too. It was a bit hard to have a conversation since we were seated in the bar area, and the restaurant was quite crowded. I recommend making reservations in advance. read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - LAMB KOFTA - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

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Great food, but a little pricey! The portions are reasonable, we did have some leftovers. We had the falafel and spiced lamb. We also had the spicy feta and zucchini hummus dip. read more

Absolutely loved this experience! Strongly recommended by a friend and we checked it out and were beyond impressed and would love to have had another meal there! The saganaki, the flam-y cocktails, the entrees. All were so so so good. Warm and welcoming service and ambiance! read more

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Heard some good things about this place when researching for my trip to Banff so I decided to give it a try, but the experience was pretty disappointing. Right away, the person who seated us told us that he had a large party coming in with a reservation so we would only be able to dine for an hour tops. It wasn't a good start, I understand I guess but it is what it is. If the food was great it would've made it up for it but....it wasn't. The beef and lamb skewers were the best offering and was good. Everything else we had, which included the pork gyro, salads, humus, tzatziki sauce etc was bland and lackluster. The only pro was that the food was fresh, but there was little to no flavor in everything and the default salad especially was not good. It kind of felt like the waiters were also just trying to get us to upgrade the dishes. Why should we need to upgrade for your "good" salad when we just spent $30+ CAD for a dish? Ridiculous. I wouldn't recommend this place at all. The food is decent and fresh but you can definitely get much better tasting food for cheaper in Banff. read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - Pork Gyro - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

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Went there for dinner after all the hike this place is a must very good food and drinks, nice ambience, great service with friendly staff specially Vilte, they had belly dancing, music, plate breaking, name it was ton of fun read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

Servers and waitress were friendly and checked in with us frequently. I loved the rustic but sophisticated feel with the stone and statues. The lamb kofta wrap was so tasty, perfectly spiced, and everything tasted so fresh. Highly recommend! read more

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I've always raved about this place in the past. This is one of those spots that I always make sure to visit in Banff or recommend to others, however, after my last 2 visits I'll no longer be doing so. The staff was great and so was the service. Unfortunately the food quality has fallen short. My pork gyro and calamari which I always look forward to was quite bland. I also noticed that they no longer offer rice and veggies as a side, instead it was some kind of Mediterranean salad. The salad was fresh so I won't complain about that. The pork was quite crunchy/hard and not tender as I once remember, especially given that it's supposed to be slow roasted. read more

Food was ok though several notable exceptions. First the good: Hummus is homemade. Souvlaki lamb and chicken V good and come w Greek salad, hummus and pita. Greek fries interesting and hand cut fries. Baklava good but weird presentation. The waitress literally stabbed it w a steak knife in front of us. Less good: I pita (does not seem homemade) w hummus. Extra pita is $4!!!!! No potatoes or rice w souvlaki. The bad: soft serve w olive oil and salt. Flavour profile so weird it is repulsive. Tasted twice to be sure. Had husband taste - same verdict and he loves soft serve. Have had soft serve W olive and sea salt in many different restaurants. Done properly, it is a delicate blend of dairy and high quality olive oil w a touch of salt that brings it all together. This is not it. All in $125 no alcohol. No offer to take soft serve off the bill. When the server asked was everything wonderful? I said the dessert was awful. She said "sorry" then comes w a card and says "don't forget to review us". Really? OK! read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - Death by baklava - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

My girlfriend and I stopped in this wonderful Greek restaurant after a long day of hiking. We ordered a delicious hummus appetizer and I ordered the lemon chicken, which was absolutely fabulous! The service was remarkable and we had a lovely time that afternoon. I would highly recommend this restaurant! read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - Lemon chicken - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

If you're looking for a fun atmosphere and in the mood for some dancing, plate smashing fun, then make your reservation today! We had a really good time here joining in on the fun. We stood on our chairs, danced around the restaurant and threw our plates on the floor in old fashioned tradition. Food was great, sadly, our service was a bit slow. We understand the restaurant was busy, but an hour from ordering to receiving was a bit long. Our waitress was friendly and the belly dancer was great. Overall, the experience was one we both had never experienced before so it was definitely something we will never forget. We highly recommend Balkan on one of their Greek night's. Enjoy! read more

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Loved this place! Truly enjoyed every minute of it. We're early eaters, so no need to make any reservations at 5! It was quite empty on a Friday evening and we had the loveliest waitress. Ambiance was a bit dark for the intimate setting, but it felt extra dark for me since the sun sets so early! We were recommended the Beet Hummus as a starter, so we went with that! It definitely cure our hunger while waiting for the main dishes. The hummus had a pretty violet hue and and whipped feta (I think) topped with walnuts. The naan and the beet hummus hit the spot and could've easily feast on another as an entrée. As we're snacking on our appetizer, more and more people started to show up. At that time was when I realized we went in super early lol. I thought it was just the slow season hehe. I wasn't super hungry, so I ordered the Halloumi salad and him the grilled chicken Wrap. I loved everything about the salad and of course, the Halloumi! It was a nice combination of greens and grilled vegetables and herbs topped with almonds and walnuts in a lemon vinaigrette. OPA! The grilled chicken wrap, it was great at first, but I believe it became too saucy and messy for him. The layer of tzatziki masked the true flavor of the grilled chicken wrap and his upgraded Greek Fries didn't help. He didn't know what he got himself into when he ordered it - oopsie. It was topped with feta, lemon sauce, and garlic mayo. Overall, we both loved it. He's simple, but knows better for next time! Would totally return!!! read more

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Beautiful place and stellar service. Our server- I believe her name was belle- was excellent. She was friendly and very informative about the menu/history. We got the: Street fries - 9/10 super lemony and fresh! Loved the flavor just wished it was a bit crispier Grilled Chicken pita wrap - 8/10 really great flavor Halloumi Greek bowl - 9/10 AWESOME flavor and super fresh. Got this with the spicy feta on the side highly recommend. Edamame falafel wrap - 10/10 SO light and crispy! HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND Frozen yogurt with baklava and honey - 8/10 I wished there were more topping choices but sooo good! Also wished it was a bit tarter flavor This place is high quality especially for veg and gluten free. Will be coming back. read more

The ambiance and service here is nice, but the value for what you get felt lacking. We ordered a chicken souvlaki plate, harissa carrots, and hummus with lamb. While the chicken was good, the portion size of the accompanying hummus and salad was tiny. On the hummus with lamb, the meat is finely diced and also a small portion. The harissa carrots were delicious, but the labneh was a thin smear on the bottom of the dish. Anyway, we ended up getting a second dinner elsewhere because we were still hungry. read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - Menu - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

Really enjoyed our dinner at Balkan...great food and service. While visiting Banff, read the reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor and figured we had to try it and so glad we did. We shared the meat platter for two, and it was phenomenal, and loved the Lamb Shank as well. The meats were delicious, tender, flavorful, and perfectly cooked. Everything on the platter was awesome. Overall great 4-star experience and reasonably priced. Great service from Adam and would highly recommend trying. read more

I made reservations to celebrate my birthday with my husband. This fell on a Sunday night and their live Greek show. We arrived a bit early to find the majority of the restaurant was taken up by a large wedding party and separate large birthday party. We were eventually seated at a table in the bar area and not the main dining room. Unfortunately because of this, we didn't get to truly experience the show due to the layout and separation of the dining room and bar. The belly dancer came around to the bar area, but the energy wasn't the same. The bar area didn't feel as included. The MC was pouring shots of ouzo for guests celebrating something and was mainly working the dining room because of how busy it was. My sweet husband flagged her down to tell her we were celebrating my birthday too. Ouzo tastes like licorice. They asked for volunteers to dance and smash plates, but this was mainly taken up by the wedding party. The food was pretty good, but pricey for what it was. The small salad was very small, but fresh. The lamb wrap was good. The linguini was also good, but the noodles were round and not linguine. They gave me a complimentary baklava for my birthday. It was way too sweet for me and made my teeth hurt. The service was lacking because of how busy they were so that was a bit disappointing. read more

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nice ambiance, exquisite menu, great tasting cuisine & outstanding customer service! thank you!

I had read about Balkan from blog-type "best of Banff" sources, but this place exceeded expectations. The staff, led by bartender Zac and Irishman Ruan (I think), were enthusiastic about the food and super friendly and informative. The lamb dishes were out of this world, down to the vegetables accompanying them. In particular, recommend the lamb riblets and the Balkan's signature dish that was a roast veg and lamb shank off the bone (which has apparently been on the menu for 42 years and still outperforms). Highly recommend. read more

The food here is fresh, colorful, and very well done. We loved everything we tried - beet hummus (bright pink/purple), salad, gyros, spanakopita, and beef souvlaki. The building was charming and had a Byzantine layout with small spots for a unique experience. Our waiter was very welcoming and attentive. Great service!! read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - Exterior - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

Fresh food, good service. Looking for a healthier option to all of Banff's pubs. Found their Greek bowl and grilled chicken pita sandwich just the right thing. Waiter Jeremy was very friendly. Prices were right. Would definitely recommend for a lighter, healthier option. read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - Greek bowl with grilled chicken - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

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Ambiance was very nice, food was excellent! Service was also excellent! Highly recommend.

Balkan the Greek Restaurant Review Visiting Banff for the first time, we decided to try Balkan the Greek Restaurant, and it did not disappoint! We arrived around 7 PM without a reservation and were seated easily, but by 8 PM, the place was packed--clearly a popular spot. We ordered the meat platter for two, and it was phenomenal. The meats were tender, flavorful, and perfectly cooked. Everything on the platter was a delight. While the tzatziki could use a touch more garlic for my taste and the lemon potatoes were a bit undercooked for my preference, these are small details that may suit others just fine. Overall, this was an amazing dining experience, and I'd highly recommend stopping by. Great food, vibrant atmosphere--definitely worth a visit! read more

We had such a wonderful experience here. Very nice seating area. We happen to go on Greek night where they had performances and dancing, a nice surprise. Although The food was our favorite part. We started with the greek street fries, Fun twist of flavors. It was a bit saltier than I prefer but still delicious! Definitely get the fries. We also had two lamb dishes, which were absolutely delicious. Cooked perfectly! Sauce was super tasty. I was pleasantly surprised to learn they had a few Halal options (like the lamb). We also tried a few of their mock tails, which were nice and refreshing. Definitely recommend visiting his place during your trip to Banff! I recommend making a reservation in advance. Excellent service. read more

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Service was fine. Your average restaurant ambiance. Food was good :) Pistachio ice cream was underwhelming Overall average experience :) Thanks! read more

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What fun evening with good food, tasty and cocktails, great service (Thanks Elise), fiery desserts and fun, participative entertainment! We had cocktails, appetizers, a main course and dessert. This was our favorite meal of the trip and I hope we get a chance to go again someday. Make reservations in advance for evenings with entertainment. read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - A fiery dessert! - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

5 star lunch at this gem of a restaurant on Banff Ave. you wouldn't expect it to be casually elegant and so quiet inside but it was. We wanted something healthy for lunch so popped in here and are so glad we did! We shared the zucchini pistachio hummus (), Mediterranean salad and roasted carrots. We also each had a mocktail. Everything was so delicious and the portion sizes were perfect for lunch. It also was less expensive than a lot of other places on Banff Ave. Service was very friendly too. Highly recommend! read more

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The best Greek food we ever had in our lives!!! The place was beautifully decorated. Location in downtown Banff. At first I was skeptical since usually if the place is beautiful, the food is bad. But this resto proves me wrong!!! Food was very delicious!!! Food was cooked fast. Our sever was awesome read more

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We had the most wonderful night at the Balkan Restaurant. The food was great, we enjoyed the chicken and beef souvlaki the most! On Fridays, the restaurant hosts a belly dancer - hala Jamal - who does an excellent job at energizing the atmosphere. And the service was too notch. Scott, our server, was incredible, kind, and was always on top of our orders. Definitely recommending this restaurant to Banff visitors read more

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Greek night at Balkan is fantastic! We had the ultimate Greek feast shared for the table with the braised lamb hummus to start and paired with the fig & thyme margarita. Our best meal in Banff! read more

Balkan the Greek is a high quality Greek restaurant in the downtown area of Banff. It is highly recommended to make reservations if you plan to eat during prime dinner hours as the restaurant can get busy quickly. On this visit, I ordered the Greek Street fries, hummus, and pork gyro. All of the food was satisfactory and the price was decent. If you're in the Downtown Banff area and Greek is on your list, give Balkan a look! read more

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This turned out to be a great venue to meet up with one of our longtime friends from Calgary and indeed both the ambiance and service are stellar. We were seated in a nice, roomy booth perfect for extended conversation. We started off with a Mediterranean Salad, which arrived promptly and was perfect in every respect. Having been deprived of spicy food essentially since we arrived in Canada, I was yearning for a Gyro; based on our server's advice I chose the Balkan Donair pita wrap. Alas, despite looking much like a (very dry) traditional Gyro, this facsimile was totally devoid of the authentic flavor I craved; it seemed more like something you'd get as a patient in a hospital. I quickly summoned our server, hoping to resuscitate it with a supplemental infusion of Tzatziki sauce, but my efforts were futile. My wife was similarly disappointed with her Falafel wrap--she noted the Falafel itself was very dry--but after looking at the picture I wonder if that's what she actually got. At any rate, we said nothing because our primary purpose there was not dinner but rather catching up with our friend, and for that, this restaurant is perfect. read more

Balkan The Greek Restaurant - This was supposed to be a Falafel Pita Wrap; looks more like Calamari. - Greek Near Me - Banff, Alberta

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Great food. Such a fun environment for the belly dancing that takes place. Service was very good.

This place was 10/10. We went on two different nights, and had Jeremy and Carson as our servers - both were excellent! We learned all about the restaurant's long history in the area, and how it's a family-owned establishment that takes great pride in its food. Speaking of food: it was delicious. I had the halloumi souvlaki, and it was incredibly flavorful and had a great selection of items (come hungry!) My partner had the lamb shank one night, and said it blew him away with texture and flavor. This is a rare gem where kind service meets culinary excellence - make sure to give it a try when you're in Banff. read more

We went to this place looking for something different than the Asian fare we get in San Francisco area. The restaurant has very little natural sunlight but well lit and cozy. The staff gave us excellent service. We ordered warm olives and Mediterranean salad to start with. Both of the dishes were good. The feta cheese on the salad was very mild and I really liked it. For main course we ordered chicken souvlaki and lamb chops. The chicken dish was ok with lots of roasted potatoes and red bell pepper as fillers. The fillers were pretty oily but very nicely spiced. The lamb chops were awesome! Perfectly seasoned and cooked. Lots of filler in that plate too. All in all a very good experience. Not sure if we will ever make it back to Banff -- too much of the world to see and experience-- but if we do we will revisit. One side comment: we believe they forgot to serve us bread. We didn't ask. In retrospect we should have. read more

Good service and atmosphere. My rating for three stars was due to the meat being dry and the rice not being fully cooked and checked other than that really good place read more

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We came for the Greek night and enjoyed the entertainment (it starts at around 7:30. The belly dancer was talented and made sure everyone had a good time. Wish our waitress (dark hair and lots of tats) had a similar attitude. She was brusque almost to the point of being rude. Only did a flyby check on us. No water refills, etc. Food was decent. Enjoyed the arni, it was tender and had good flavor and the moussaka was very well prepared. The Aphrodite drink was all juice, seemed to have little alcohol in it. Limited dessert options and we skipped them. read more

Stopped in for lunch. Split the spicy feta, calamari and a horiatiki salad to start our meal. They were solid but nothing to rave about. The feta wasn't spicy at all-- just a tiny little bit of sprinkle on top of probably paprika or something similar (couldn't really taste it). Calamari pieces were large and lightly breaded. Horiatiki vegetables were really fresh. Went with the balkan donair and lamb shank for our mains. The lamb didn't have too much flavor to it but was very tender-- fell right off the bone. The donair doesn't come with feta on it (feta is pretty standard where I come from), so we had to add it from our appetizer. The texture of the meat was off a bit; it kind of broke in pieces easily. A little crispier on the meat would be nice too. However, it was spiced up right and still delicious. The best part of the meal were the potato wedges. It had a great amount of seasoning on it and they were crispy. -Baklava was scrumptious-- definitely more on the sweeter side read more

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