Taziki’s – Behold The Lamb

My granddaughter was home this weekend and wanted to go to dinner with me so we drove around for a while trying to find something different. I had seen Taziki’s downtown before but they had a new one on Gunbarrel Road. Since I hadn’t written a story on it, we decided to try the new location.

Natalie knows all about ‘designer food’ so I trust her judgment when we get out together. Taziki’s was Greek and though it was called a café, it looked a like a nice restaurant. There was a long table for a large party, pub tables against the window, plenty of booth seating and many nice tables. It looked like a place where you wait to be seated so Natalie and I waited at the entrance for the hostess.

When no one came Natalie spotted a sign at the far end of the restaurant that said, “Place order here”. Now, why didn’t they have a sign at the front end that said, “Order over yonder”? Not everyone has 20/20 vision when they first walk in from outside.

When we got up to the counter, there was not an overhead menu, just something taped to the counter. I couldn’t see that either. Natalie found folded paper menus and we were going to sit down at the bench, but someone was already sitting there. There was a set of tables near us that were lined against the far wall and it had a long cushioned bench extended, so we sat there while we looked the menu over.

They had appetizers that I couldn’t pronounce, but that was alright - we didn’t really want one anyway. They had soup, salad, gyros, deli items and entrees. Natalie chose the grilled beef tenderloin for $10.79 and I got the chargrilled lamb for $11.99. The entrees came with a Greek salad and a choice of rice or potatoes.

We got to choose where we sat, so we chose a booth by the window. It didn’t take long for our meals to arrive and everything was on one plate – even the salad. I actually liked that because that’s how I eat at home. I usually have a meat, a vegetable and a starch on my plate and that is enough. When restaurants offer bread or an appetizer, you tend to munch on that while you wait and then your salad comes in a large bowl and you are stuffed to the gills before you ever get your meal!

The potatoes were hidden under the meat, I took a bite of that first. They were flavored very well. I couldn’t figure out the spice, but I liked it. The lamb was also good. Natalie enjoyed her tenderloin and rice. They gave us two small cups on the side, one was the dressing for our salad and I guess the other one was a sauce for our meat.

It was white and pasty. When I tried it, I couldn’t really taste it, all I knew was I couldn’t taste the wonderful flavor of the lamb either. I had already tried a bite of the lamb without the sauce and it was delicious.

Natalie said she liked the sauce, so I tried it once again and I still couldn’t taste anything. It was as though I was eating flour and water on my lamb.

Lamb is a bit tougher than steak depending on how it is cooked, but it was still pretty tender. As I cut the meat, I figured out why other restaurants will put the salad in a bowl. Just as I cut into the lamb, my fork bent and my meat skidded which made my salad slide off my plate and into my lap!

It was a small portion anyway, but it was embarrassing. Natalie tried not to laugh and I think she felt sorry for me. I told her, “This didn’t happen because I am old and feeble, it happened because their forks are cheap!” Then she let out a laugh. I laughed too, but I felt there had to be a better way to hold onto the lamb!

We were given a small crispy triangle of some sort of pita bread with cracked pepper. It was so crispy that when I took a bite, it snapped into and the pepper flew in my eye! This was just not my day. It wasn’t Natalie’s either - she got a message on her phone about a friend who had some bad news and it made her sad. When the waitress came to ask if we liked our meal, Natalie looked sad and I was in tears from the pepper. I just knew she didn’t believe us when we said everything was wonderful, but it was.

I enjoyed my lamb and Natalie liked her meal too. The potatoes were out of this world. I would prefer my salad in a bowl next time, but other than the flimsy fork and the peppered-pita, Taziki’s was terrific!

Hours:

Mon - Sat

11 to 9

Sunday

11 to 8