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Astera's Greek Taverna
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
7 reviews for Astera's Greek Taverna
7 reviews in English
-
Review from Greg B.
1/9/2012
Best Greek food I have ever had and I have been to Greece. Ambiance, food and service are all 5 star. Wife and I split the moussaka and it was more than enough.
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Review from jordan s.
Victoria, BC
7/9/2011
I'm writing this and I haven't even received my food yet. I ordered the half chicken, and the first thing the waitress said was " it will take 25 minutes". Then when our food came, she gave us plates and left. 2 minutes later she took away our plates and gave them to another table...I had already taken a bite from the salad and eaten the olive. Make sure you check your food before eating here...
Edit: They did try and make up for there less than stellar performance; but fell short. A small dessert for free is not quite enough. -
Review from Patrick R.
Victoria, BC
9/5/2010
I went here for dinner with my family on the recommendation of a friend and we were all very impressed with the place.
It is situated in a heritage style house where the residential neighbourhood meets the old retail district. The decor inside is lovely, with the chosen lights and lemon yellow paint giving the impression of a space lit with gas lanterns.
The servers were very friendly, with extremely attentive table service keeping up with our needs.
The food was very good. We started with grilled calamari, which was very good, and the house hummous, which was absolutely incredible!
I had the roasted lamb (I'm a sucker for greek lamb) which was huge, but so good. The sides (rice, greek salad, tzatziki and vegetables) were also very good. In particular, the tomatoes in the salad, which can often be bland, were really good and flavourful. The other members of my family all had the night's special, scallop and prawn souvlaki, which were perfectly cooked and very cleverly plated. They raved about it for most of the night.
We shared an ekmek for dessert, which was also delicious. The evening was concluded with complimentary glasses of ouzo for the table. While I can't speak to its quality as I was driving and could not have any, it was a very nice touch to finish off the evening.
I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a nice lunch or dinner in Nanaimo. -
Review from Brian S.
Richmond, BC
5/28/2011
This is probably about as good as it gets in Nanaimo which really has no fine dining. It's a typical Greek restaurant in a nice old house. Good service, limited wines and beers, typical Greek starters and entrees at Vancouver prices which is OK with me but may be a little high for Nanaimo. Everyone enjoyed everything and my lamb was tasty, moist and plentiful. Only complaint was that when I asked for mint sauce, they had none and justified that by saying it was Greek style lamb. Ahhh-I've had about 100 plates of lamb in Greek restaurants and this is the only one that used that excuse. Get some mint sauce!! A comped dessert was a nice touch.
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Review from Larry M.
5/28/2011
We LOVED this place! It's an old house converted into a restaurant with bright colors, a warm and gracious staff and excellent food. We shared the Assorted Mezethes, some homous and a large Greek Salad and we completely stuffed. Here's their website: http://www.asteras.ca/ Check it out and GO!
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Review from Catherine K.
Nanaimo, BC
10/15/2010
My husband and I have staying in a hotel for the last couple of weeks as we've been waiting to move into a new house, and because of that, we've been eating out in Nanaimo a lot. Astera's is, hands down, the best restaurant we've eaten in to date, and could very well be the best Greek food we've ever eaten.
On our first visit, we ordered a platter which had calamari, dolmades, spanakopita, moussaka, and lamb, which was accompanied by a fantastic Greek salad, rice, potatoes, carrots, and really great tzatziki. I'm not normally a fan of moussaka, but I LOVED Astera's - by far my favorite item on the platter, and on our return visit, I ordered just the moussaka. The spiced meat was wonderful and the bechamel? Light and fluffy and wonderful. Plus, the helping was so generous that I was able to take some home and have it for dinner the next day!
Service at Astera's was that great mix of attentive without being invasive, and the setting, in an older restored house, is lovely. The price is fantastic, especially considering we took so much food home (leftover! yay!) and I have a feeling this restaurant will be our go-to place in Nanaimo. -
Review from Miriam L.
9/2/2010
Excellent Greek food, and very nice service. I only deducted one star because our service seemed a bit rushed. There were some large groups in on the evening we went for dinner, and the waitresses seemed intent to get our food and drinks to us before the large groups got their orders in -- saving us waiting behind a very busy kitchen... but then the service stayed super fast and we felt a little rushed. On the other hand, the waitresses seemed to pick up on this at the end of the meal, and brought us a round of digestif of delicious cloudy ouzo on ice, on the house.
More importantly, the food was delicious. I had the roast lamb, and my portion was gigantic. My husband had the fried squid, which - unlike most places - was not breaded, just fried up nicely. Also ordered by our dining-mates were the chicken souvlaki, and the grilled squid - also said to be quite nice. Highly recommended.
