Iama Critic Rating - Greektown Grille - 3 Stars
400 East Mcbee Avenue, Suite 101, Greenville, SC
Our Experience:
Greektown Grill is definitely a step or two up from almost all the Upstate Greek establishments. And they are not afraid of spices and that is a very rare and good thing. Almost all of the food we ordered was of superb quality and presentation. But we had a problem with being overcharged and that always costs one star, so our four star food came with a three star experience, and then there was that horrid service, which we rate separately and does not affect our overall rating.
The Service - 2 Stars (14% tip)
Our Greektown Grille guest check suggested tips starting at 18% and going up to 22%. But our waitress was not deserving of any of those lofty percentages. The service we received was below average, and with average service being so poor now days, that is pretty hard to do. Our waitress did little more than fill our glasses. She was not attentive, helpful or social and spent the majority of her time hiding somewhere. What is it with young people today? They seem to have no social ability or interaction skills. And then they complain when they do not earn top dollar. For her poor skills and effort we left an undeserved 13% $8.52 tip.
We typically provide 20% or more for 5 star service on the pre-tax portion of the bill, 18% for 4, 15% for 3, 12% for 2 and 0% for 1 star service.
The Food:
$9.45 Pan Fried Calamari - 3 Stars
Wow, this price is almost as much as they charge at Carraba's which serves incredible four star calamari. However the portion at Greektown is smaller and the preparation is not nearly as nice. Don't get me wrong, it is good, but I would order the Horiatiki Salad instead.
$9.85 Large Horiatiki Salad - 4 Stars
This is my kind of dinner salad! It comes with tomatoes, red onions, imported feta cheese, cucumbers, Kalamata olives, pepperoncini, and green bell peppers, all the good stuff without any horrid iceberg lettuce. At almost $10 this salad is a real money maker for Greektown.
$14.25 Gyro Dinner - 5 stars
This price matches the price at Gyro Express in Chicago, which serves the best and most monumental gyro I have ever tasted. So how does this gyro match up? It is like comparing Marilyn Monroe to Twiggy! To compare, Greektown Grille would have to add a pound of gyro meat. However Greektown Grille is not in Chicago, it is in Greenville, SC, and nobody in town comes close to matching this fabulous gyro. Five Stars! Now if they would just stop cutting their pitas into tiny pieces, I HATE that!
$24.95 Combination Platter - 4 Stars
This platter costs more than I sometimes spend for entire meals for two people at other restaurants, but sometimes quality is simply worth the price. This combination platter comes with mousaka, pastitsio, spanakotiropita, a gyro, dolmades, pita and tzatziki, and your choice of soup or salad and one side item. God only knows which item was which, but Greektown Grille did not have one of the items so they gave me more of another. I wish I had wrote down which item was which, and the Greektown Grille menu or website was no help, but it was all very tasty and flavorful. Except for my side of Greek oven potatoes. The lemon flavor was overwhelming making the potatoes inedible. It was the only item on our table that was not great.
Total Bill:
$79.00 for TWO adults including tax, an over-generous tip, and THREE $2.25 soda fountain drinks. This is significantly more than you are likely to spend per person.
Final Thoughts:
While doing our cost analysis and comparison for this review, we discovered that our Greektown Grille check indicated five customers and we were charged for three soda fountain drinks despite the fact that only Chef Iama Critic and his guest critic were at the table. Sadly this sort of error always cost a star. read more