Delicious authentic Greek cuisine! Even though it was packed, the service was excellent and my server was super nice, great guy! Love Tantalus, I'll definitely be back for more dolmadakias and tzatziki!! read more

My family wandered around Gilman Village and found this restaurant and decided to stop in. This was a very good choice. The owner was friendly, the food was exactly what I was looking for, and my kids loved their food. We will be returning. read more

Tantalus has great food. My wife and I always over order so we have leftovers. But when we are making the decision on where to go eat we choose Tantalus for the service. I would say the best server I have experienced at any restaurant. I believe his name is Abul. He applies a personal touch and makes us feel so welcome. I thought he owned the restaurant due to his level of care. He doesn't, he is just amazing at his craft. I look forward to the next time. Bill read more

Good food. Parking can be challenging as a disabled person. The staff sometimes is busy or distracted and service is slower. My favorite is the hummus and pita !!! Yummy! read more

Gosh I hate to do this because I really wanted to like the place ! I work nearby and people come in raving about the food . Friday night I get a break from work and head over around 5pm - 2 other couples there . I sit and was promptly served water and the menu ... I saw this chicken spaghetti thing with feta that sounded interesting but I was craving a gyro - I asked the waiter which one he would recommend - he said the gyro is fantastic!!! Well ok then - gyro It came with a soup I chose the lentil soup - which after reading the review about a cockroach in their lentil soup I just about barfed bc I actually loved it !!! Simple but good lentil soup and it was hot ! Burnt my mouth a little actually ! Haha Out comes the gyro - had alot of meat on it which was nice , 3 huge slices of tomato , onions and the sauce on the side and was also served with steamed veggies which I actually enjoyed too!! But kinda like the rest of the reviews ...my gyro meat wasn't all that hot or seemingly fresh :/ it's almost like the cook just seasons and cooks fresh veggies for the side to dress up the gyro that very well could have been frozen ! I ate the gyro with my fork and knife ya know you be a lady and yea.. that's it - service was great ! Food was ok , I've had better gyros out of a food truck ! Maybe if I was well versed in Greek food I would've tried and loved something else ... it's ok.. oh and kinda expensive ... Food truck gyro $7 or this with potentially cockroach soup for $18 with tip ... Hmm read more

Delicious food and friendly atmosphere. Had the filet mignon kabob and it was very tasty! It came with a tasty lentil soup too.

This place is pretty good. Found them through the Entertainment Book. Their food is reliably good. Their lemon soup is quite tasty. read more

Is this place still operating? God help us all. The only torment worse than what the original Tantalus faced (stuck in Hades with food and water always just out of reach) would be to spend eternity eating here. I ate there last year. The service was fine, but in order to get the taste of the food out of my mouth, I required an emergency chocolate malt at XXX Root Beer just down the road. read more

Yech! I went to Tantalus tonight with a friend who clearly loves Greek food. That was a mistake. We started with Saganaki, a flaming cheese sort of thing. It tasted okay (but not exciting) to me. My knowledgable friend said it was so-so. Our entres came with soup. He had lentil, I had a lemon-rice-curdy sort of thing. We each had about 3 spoonfuls. My soup was just plain weird, and he said the lentil soup was just plain bad. His spanakopita was burning hot at one part, cold on another. He said it was what he would expect from a frozen dinner. I had Lemonato. On the menu: "TENDER PORK MEDALLIONS PAN FRIED WITH PARMESAN CHEESE, MUSHROOMS, LEMON & WHITE WINE, ALMONDS ON THE TOP, SERVED WITH POTATOES & VEGETABLES" I rarely eat pork, but from what I recall, it isn't supposed to be difficult to chew. It was a pretty tasteless, and like my friend's spanakopita, I kept picturing it coming out of a frozen package. The vegetables were about as bland as could be, except for two small, delicious button mushrooms. These were the only moist and flavorful part of this dining experience. I felt badly about leaving two bowls of soup, part of the spanakopita and 1/2 of my meal behind, so I asked for a to-go bag. I threw it out as soon as I was around the corner (and I'm a big fan of leftovers). No drinks, no dessert, but this came to $48 with tax and tip. Stay away. Stay far, far away. read more

Overall: Food was relatively ok but not great, service was also ok - however, will NOT be revisiting. We were seated promptly on arriving, which was good. I had a real craving for Greek food that day! When we were seated, we decided to go for a big Greek salad, an entree and dessert with greek coffee. The salad arrived but it was not BIG at all. The entree came with a lentil soup, very very bland. The entree was served luke warm and was very very mediocre. The baklava was ok, but not as I am used to (especially from a Greek restaurant), it had hints of cinnamon and was a tad unusual. It wasn't bad, but not great. We had the baklava with a greek coffee - again this was somewhat very very unusual. It was weak and had hints of chocolate and cinnamon. It was far from the usual thick slurry of Greek coffee deliciousness. This place was unfortunately a sad dissappointment. read more

Really delicious place, very satisfying and fantastic service! I brought my family here on a Thursday evening. It was pretty empty so I was a bit nervous. I have been here before but for some reason, many years had passed in between visits. But I was craving Greek food, and man did this place hit the spot. We were greeted immediately by the nicest man. I wish I had caught his name but he was from Morocco. He kept our drinks filled, answered all of our questions, made fantastic recommendations, patiently took our picky complicated orders (correctly, I might add), and overall made our experience perfect. We started off with Saganaki, which is pan fried, flaming cheese. It was delicious, although slightly greasy. Still it is fun when they light the cheese at your table. We also ordered the melitzano (aka the Greek equivalent of baba ghanoush). I loved how darn flavorful it was, and refreshing as it came with cucumber and tomato slices. They also served warm, tasty pita along side each appetizer, but for our party of 6, we added an extra pita. Pro-tip: one side of pita is much larger than you might think! Just get one and go from there. They can always bring you more. Soup is included with all entrees. You can try the lemon rice or lentil. Both were served burn-your-mouth hot. I favored the lentil ever so slightly over the lemon rice (mostly because the rice was almost nonexistent), but they were both delicious. For entrees, we tried the Greek salad (no lettuce, which the waiter warned about but happily added romaine at our request), the moussaka (yummy Greek style lasagna), and the souvlaki (grilled meat skewers). Our server suggested getting one chicken skewer and one lamb, which worked out perfectly. Of everything I tried, the souvlaki was my favorite. The meat was tender, juicy and had a fantastic charbroiled flavor. We were also able to substitute rice for potatoes as a side dish. Hidden in the back of Gilman Village, this location has lots of parking. Warning tho, it is in an older building with no apparent a/c. Maybe don't go during a heat wave. Otherwise, opa! Enjoy! read more

Simply put, great great food. Not a big place so you may want to get a reservation of you come on a weekend night. I don't remember ever having better Greek food. read more

Tantalus Restaurant - Greek Near Me - Issaquah, Washington

The service was great here, and I enjoyed the food for the most part. One of the things (and I will comment a lot on this subject) I did not like was the potatoes they served with my lamb dish. They were overcooked and had no soul to them. It was like they were cooked with lemon and water and then maybe run through a quick bath of saffron? Anyhoo, it was not a great potato experience. The rest was ok however. A good greek place if you are in the mood. read more

Tantalus supposedly opens for lunch everyday from 11am-3pm but when we arrived close to 11:30am, the doors were locked and the lights were off. I knocked on the door and there was no answer. My friend called the place and a woman actually answered saying that they did indeed open at 11am. So we waited for about 5 more minutes, we saw the lights go on inside, and then someone finally came to the door. It was so weird! How do you run a business if you don't actually open your restaurant when you are supposed to? Food-wise, the only thing that I can rave about is the appetizers, which I give 4 out of 5 stars. We ordered Saganaki (pan-fried Kasseri cheese served on a sizzling platter, doused with brandy, and then flamed with a match... pretty cool), which was really tasty. However, the cheese is really oily on the bottom but maybe that is how they prevent it from sticking on the pan. We also got Houmos (hummus) with pita bread. It is delicious. They give you a HUGE plate of it, and the pita bread is the best I have ever tasted. It is slightly crispy on the outside, but still warm and MOIST on the inside. Too many restaurants serve those nasty, tasteless, thin and dry pitas--this place does it right. However, I give probably 1 out of 5 stars to the entrees. We ordered Lemonato (pan-fried breaded pork served with veggies), and Mousaka (similar to a Greek lasagna and served with veggies and Uncle Ben type rice). The breading was way too salty on the Lemonato, and the Mousaka had a strange bitter taste to it. I know eggplant has a slightly bitter taste to it, but this bitter taste wasn't coming from the eggplant. (Besides, I lovelovelove eggplant.) I know I've had similar complaints before, and I am not at all an expert, but is Greek food supposed to taste bitter?? Maybe I just shouldn't be eating anymore Greek food. If you do decide to eat here, I would just come for the flaming cheese and hummus appetziers, maybe try a salad or soup as well. For two people, that should be enough food to make you full. But if you aren't in the area, I wouldn't drive all the way here for this restaurant. read more

re: Dinner One of THE best Greek Places I have ever been to. My wife and I had the GYRO Entree's. Never had it with vegetables cooked on the side. The only negative was, the male host greeted us and opened us to sit wherever we wanted in the restaurant. We sat at a table for four, then he conveniently told us that the two seat table was much better. We initially declined, but he insisted, so we just accommodated, because we didn't want to cause any problems. My wife was a little upset, because the restaurant only had two other tables occupied, three dirty tables, and the rest empty. We would have also been upset, but not as bad if he said to only sit in two seat tables. But to tell us we can sit anywhere, and then tell us to sit at a particular table is not cool. read more

My wife and I visited on a Sunday afternoon. We were the only ones there at first but soon there were a few other groups. The restaurant looks quite nice inside, and we were happy with our window seats on a beautiful day. I got a gyro and my wife got the vegetarian combo. We both LOVED our food. My gyro was meat on a pita with tzatziki on the side (instead of all rolled up) which suited me just fine. The meat was so tender and flavorful! The pita was also quite good. I also liked the potatoes that came on the side. My wife really liked her spanakopita and moussaka on her veggie combo plate. Our server was also really nice and we didn't have to wait very long for the food at all. Overall great experience! We both decided we are definitely going back. read more

I really wanted to like this place. I didn't HATE it, but I wasn't amazed either. Definitely, "Meh. I've experienced better." The service here is great. We had a fantastic waiter, which is why I wanted to give this place a better review. We ordered the flaming cheese appetizer. It was good, but not amazing. I got the avglomeno soup (lemon and rice). It was definitely good. I saw that another reviewer thought it was weird, which I suppose you might think that if you'd never had it before. It tasted as it should. My dolmathes were okay, but not the best I'd ever had. My veggies were a little overcooked, and the potatoes were just okay. Flavorful, but over cooked. read more

Much better than expected! Service is very attentive, and the food satisfying. We'll sure be back.

I had Tantalus cater a work party of 125 people and they were AWESOME! The food was fantastic all the guests enjoyed all the options provided and there was so much food provided! Great people and will defiantly use them again for catering in the future! read more

Great service and we were happy to see many vegetarian and gluten-free (even grain-free) and dairy free options on the menu. One of the easier places to please a crowd in Issaquah... Food was hearty and flavorful and a good value - def give this place a try. Need more gluten-free restaurant recommendations? Check out my blog for favorites in Kauai, Vancouver, Singapore, Malacca, Bali, Bangkok , Krabi, Perth, and more! Www.EngineeringRadiance.com/raeraegoesreal read more

My whole family loves Tantalus, even my mother who doesn't really like to eat out much anymore. We have been going there for years, and the food is always consistent. Some favorites are the lemon rice soup, the gyro, and the dolmas. One fun thing to do is to get the saganaki cheese appetizer. They bring it over to the table and light it on fire with a loud "OPA!" Their wine list is not huge, but there are a few good ones to choose from. On our last visit, after having the 14 Hands Cab, our server suggested a Greek wine. I can't remember the name of it. It was good, but not as good as the cab. The only thing about the place that I don't love is that it can get really warm in there. I mean REALLY warm. I'm not sure they have air conditioning, and once the hot food is on your table, there is no escaping it. I do enjoy sitting outside when the weather allows. If you are craving authentic Greek fare and good service, give this place a try! read more

This is a must try for delicious Greek cuisine! The service was great and the food was even better!

We love this restaurant! The food is delicious and the portions are generous. The Greek combinations are a great way to try a variety of menu options at once and include soup too. I recommend the lentil soup - it's fantastic! We tried the GALACTOBOUREKO for dessert this time and I wished we'd ordered two so I could have my very own. ;) So good! read more

I wish I could give this 3.5 stars. Not quite 4 yet but mire than 3... We ate here 10 days after returning home from Greece. So with authenticity fresh on our palettes, the bar was set high. I had the chicken gyros and my husband had a sampler plate which had mousaka, stuffed grape leaves and lamb gyro. We both enjoyed the food - good but nothing like we had in Santorini and Athens. Service was great but on a Friday night, we were the only people there. Lots of personal attention from our waiter who incidentally was from Morrocco and got us thinking about a trip there! read more

I recently reviewed this restaurant, but my review is missing. So, I will post another. My family recently ate here. We are experienced with Greek cuisine and were excited to find some so close to home. Our excitement didn't last long, however. The servers were very attentive, which couldn't have been too difficult since the place was practically deserted on a Friday night. We had the calamari, and you could smell it before they set it on the table - stinky! It smelled of ammonia and had a rubbery texture. We sent it back. The lemon rice soup was too acidic and just plain strange. The lentil soup was better, but bland. The lamb chops were overcooked and the vegetarian combo meal was disgusting. The veggies served on the side were way overcooked. The dessert was only mediocre. They did have a pretty nice wine selection though. I feel we gave this place a fair chance. We will not go back and would not recommend this restaurant to anybody else. read more

Great healthy Greek food. This restaurant is the recomendation of Greek friends, absolutely tasty. Specially the kebob

I wish I could give 3.5 stars. It was good but not amazing and a little more than I wanted to spend but we had a nice time and I'll be back again. I had the Dionysus Plate:: GYROS, MOUSAKA, SPANAKOPETA & DOLMADES, SERVED WITH POTATOES & VEGETABLES . The Gyro meat with tsatziki was great. The mousaka was pretty good. I didn't care for the spanakopeta....the spinach was too watery and unseasoned, not enough cheese. The dolmades were really delicious and the veggies were bland and a little over cooked but thought they went well with everything. $16.99 for the combo plate which included soup. I got the Avgolemono which was unusual but really good. I loved the lemon eggy goo but it might be a little strange for some people. We took our time eating and finished off with Greek coffee and shared a Galactoboureko. That was totally worth it and a great finish to the meal. The Greek coffee is ground really fine and boiled in a small copper ladle that they leave on the table with a small ceramic cup. Service was a little slow at times as the place filled up but our two waiters were really nice and doing their best to keep everyone happy. read more

First of all, I want to say the service here gets 5 stars even though the overall score doesn't. We ordered the 2 skewer meal and the salad with a skewer. The food took a really long time to come (about 20 minutes) and my meat was pretty cold. I had one lamb and one chicken skewer, and both were super dry. The lamb chunks were tough.. way tougher than any lamb I've ever tasted before. Don't know what cut it was. The ambiance is nice. The restaurant was super clean. read more

We should have checked other Yelp reviews first. The owner/main waiter is extremely rude and very defensive. Not to everyone, but selectively. May be he was nice to the people leaving positive reviews, but why take a chance. Please pay attention to other yelpers complaining about rude service, not just the ones praising the food. The owner's rude attitude can ruin your evening. His staff/assistants are super nice, but that doesn't make up for his mercurial defensive crude attitude. You don't know what you do to tick him off, but why take a chance and why encourage this business that yells at his customers? When he came to take our order, we pointed to the other people at the other table that were seated ahead of us and didn't have their order taken. That ticked him off. He was yelling at us, among other things, "I know what I'm doing." He softened at the end. We should have left right then. He throws food and runs away. He doesn't check back. He's always frantic and running around in this small restaurant, putting others on the edge, very unlike his assistants that are calm and serve politely. If he is so stressed out, may be he should delegate more of his tasks to his polite assistants. Mousaka and soups are under seasoned and lack flavor. Food is passable. But the main waiter is deplorable. read more

This is one of those places that I've always wanted to try because I like Greek food and it's close to home. I would probably actually give this place 3.5 stars, but decided to round it up. The first thing we got here was the saganaki as an appetizer. This was a recommendation from the hostess, she said it was her absolute favorite dish there. This is basically a slice of cheese that is flamed at your table served with pita bread. I am a huge cheese lover so of course I loved this! Each of the entrees comes with a soup, so we got both the avgolemono and the faki soups. The avgolemono was basically like congee but with lemon juice in it which I thought was interesting. The faki is a lentil soup that I didn't like as much. We talked to the server a little bit about the menu and he recommended the kotapolo spaghetti because it was very "Greek" according to him. I listened to his recommendation and got this, but it tasted exactly like spaghetti but with some chicken, bell peppers, and some other things instead of ground beef. The chicken and spaghetti were also slightly overcooked. We also got the dionysus plate, which comes with gyros, mousaka, spanakopeta, and dolmades. The gyros was pretty good, but not the best I've ever had. The mousaka was baked eggplant with parmesan cheese and it was also pretty good. The dolmades was a ground beef mixture wrapped in grape leaves which was very interesting and good. The only thing I didn't like on this plate was the spanakopeta, which consisted of spinach mixed with other things, but was really not that good. We used an Entertainment coupon here, which saved us $13.00, but we each had to buy a drink that was $2.00 each. Overall, I thought this place was pretty good and I'd probably come here again, but would order individual entrees instead of the combo plate now that I know what's good here. read more

I work in the same area as the Tantalus. I usually just eat the food from my work for lack of people to watch the bar while I go searching for a different lunch. This last Sunday, though, I actually had a chance to go grab some food. It was between Greek, Italian, and Chinese... I impulsively went to the Greek. I needed a gyro. Online sadly it doesnt have any prices, or any possible market prices. So I just walked over and looked at the menu on the door as well... Still no prices. Oh well. As I went inside, I saw one older couple. That was it! I was feeling badly for this resaurant. It seemed as if only 3 other tables had been used. The cute guy who was the host/server ased if i want to look at a menu. I probably should have but as I said earlier i wanted a gyro. He told me to give him 5 min because I told him i worked in the Gilman Village. Maybe he was planning on delivering it? I asked if i could sit and wait. "Of course!", he said. We talked for a little bit and sure enough 5 min and my food was ready. I got back to my work and popped open the togo container and my mouth instantly watered. It smelled SOO GOOD! Sadly, while i was gone I accumulated a couple new tables. TOok me a couple minutes before I could dig in. And boy when I did! It was soo good. The potatoes and veggies needed a little salt. but that was it! Oh also I wish i could have gotten more onions on my gyro. To be honest I haven't ever had a gyro before..i have nothing to compare it to. So I give this place 4 stars! I'll have to look around to see what else is out there. But until then... This place holds my heart! read more

This is a great Greek restaurant. Dolmades and Saganaki are delicious. I think the Saganaki alone is worth coming for. Prices are very reasonable for the area and the owner is very polite and nice. Kid friendly although other folks mostly were kid-free. Definitely recommend. read more

Hands-down the best restaurant in Issaquah. My husband and I always go here on special occasions or when friends are visiting from out of town. Now my parents beg to go here whenever they are in town! Love the owners/ servers! Love the authentic food! I always have a hard time deciding between the Souvlaki or the Mousaka, my husband always orders the Paidakia. The Saganaki (flaming cheese) is delicious and a crowd-pleaser! And if you're a coffee lover, be sure to try their Greek Coffee! It's strong, but oh-so-good! read more

This is a great little Greek restaurant located in Gilman Village in Issaquah. Excellent food and a nice quiet relaxing restaurant. Highly recommend! read more

Great food - reasonably priced. The service may be slow at dinner time. Pretty authentic tasting and well portioned. Not sure why some here are negative, life is too short. If you crave Greek food, try it. read more

Had the souvlaki dinner with the lemon rice soup. Awesome!!!! The lemony soup was really good! All of the seasonings were amazing but delicate. Also had the dolmakadia appy. 5 pieces is a nice size for an appetizer. Definitely coming back. read more

So happy to have a Greek restaurant in town. I love the dolmas lunch. I like Retsina wine but you might want a sample first. If I have time and go with a friend, I'll get the galactoboureko dessert and a greek coffee. read more

Best restaurant in Issaquah area. Amazing service and good food. Always recommend people in this area to go here.

We got there about 7:50 pm, their kitchen is open until 8:45pm, on a Thursday. We ordered the dolmas, scordalia and the dessert: galactoboureko.. The dolmas were not like what I usually get, there was beef and a spicy tomato sauce in them. The tzatziki was delicious. The scordalia was basically a potato salad. With potatoes and garlic, we were expecting something hot, not cold, and savory.. Flavor was good, just not what we wanted. The galactoboureko was ok. The pastry was nice and flaky, but the custard was dry. The entire dish tasted very floral, too floral. It was ok, but I won't order it again. Would I return? No read more

I was shocked to see a couple of not so positive reviews of Tantalus at Gilman Village in Issaquah. We have eaten there numerous times and love the food. The flavors are delicious, portions plentiful, and the prices reasonable. Selections for the meat/chicken eaters as well as vegetarian. The service was very friendly and courteous. We enjoyed the Pikilia appetizer plate YUM! and the Olympic combo plate with the moussaka and chicken on skewer was wonderful. The Greek coffee alone is reason enough to go there. Everything is homemade, down to the pita bread that comes with the appetizer. read more