Meze By Koutouki

I have visited Meze a few times now. First a couple of times immediately after they opened up, then I re-​visited with a couple of friends this past weekend. The food is alright — not great. Given the fairly high prices, I expect better than alright. I had the lamb souvlaki, my typical choice when I eat at Greek restaurants. Two things had changed since last time I was at Meze and had the same dish. First, the portions have become smaller. I still got enough food, but given the price level, I didn’t feel that the amount nor the quality of food I got was worth the price. In addition, the grilled tomato was gone. I love grilled tomatoes with my souvlaki, so please bring it back!
In terms of service, our waiter was sweet and polite, yet there were certainly room for improvement. Mostly due to ignorance. For example, there were three of us, and one chose to make a meal out of two starters instead of having a main course. Although we clarified this when placing the order, they served the two starters to this one person quite some time before the rest of us got our food. This resulting in one of us having to eat much earlier than the other two, otherwise the food would get cold. At some point in between the two times when they served food, they brought in a basket containing one piece of bread. I assume it came with one of the dishes we ordered, because it was certainly not much for the three of us. Why not bring bread for everyone instead of just one? We didn’t even know for whom or what food the bread was intended.
Despite the mediocre food and service, the biggest negative of the evening was the loud and very annoying music. I go to restaurants to eat and to socialize over food. It really bugs me when a restaurant puts on music that is so loud that it is difficult to chat with the other people at the table. At Meza the music was not too disturbing at first, but as the evening progressed they gradually turned up the volume. At some point a belly dancer came into the room at which point the music was so loud that it was impossible to talk. The idea of having a belly dancer roam around between the tables in a restaurant is nothing but tacky and in combination with the loud music, very annoying. If I want to dance, I will go to a dance place. If I want to see belly dancing, I will go to a belly dancing show. And from now on, if I feel like eating Greek food, I will avoid Meze — particularly on weekends due to the risk of belly dancing and loud music.

This is the first Greek restaurant that I’ve been to since moving to Alberta, but I have to say that I was surprised by the high prices. The food was only alright. I had the garlic prawn plate. Prawns were tasty, but the amount of fried garlic on top was a tad much. If I were only rating the prawns I’d be inclined to offer more stars. However, my rice was mostly uncooked and crunchy and the veggies had been cooked in a tomato sauce they came in tasted like it was from a can. The potatoes were fine, nothing special. Honestly, I have to say I felt like this was a huge waste of money and would not recommend going here. Visit Opa’s in a food court or the Oil Lamp instead.
Pros: good service, beautiful atmosphere (there are plants growing in trellises on the ceiling with lights in them).
Cons: For the high prices, I expected the food to be of better quality and taste.

We went there on a Tuesday night and had an awesome experience. First, Tuesday night is student night, so they give 30% discount on entire bill which was fantastic.
We ordered the house white wine from Greece which was okay. We decided to order a lot of Meze to share. Calamari, eggplant spread and tzatziki were great. The saganaki was the best that I had in Edmonton. We also ordered moussaka, which was good but nothing special.
Our server was fantastic and he was very helpful. I will for sure go back there to try rest of the menu specially some of the lamb dishes. I liked the atmosphere and the vibe of the restaurant. They also have outside sitting which will be open probably in May.
With 30% discount. the price was very good. Three us with one bottle of wine, ended up paying 75 $ (Including tip and tax).

Authentic atmosphere on the sidewAlk patio on a summer eve. And reasonably authentic, tasty, nicely spiced food. Cooking the meat on a rotisserie outside was a nice touch. Service was prompt and friendly. We will be back when we have more time to sit and relax.

Unbelievably good. We usually head in with a group and order a lot of appetizers. Between the different dips (Kopanisti, Homous, Tzatziki), pita, salads, Keftedes (meatballs), Spanakopita (Spinach & feta wrapped in a phyllo pastry), Dolmades (Grapevine leaves stuffed with ground beef and rice), Loukaniko (sausage), Saganaki (fried cheese), Ouzo Prawns and other Greek staples, everyone samples a wide variety of dishes and thoroughly enjoys the experience. This is by far the nicest location Yanni has opened and currently the one you’ll see him singing and dancing about. If Greek is on your mind, head here. It’s by far the best Edmonton has to offer.

We all came in here for lunch yesterday, and what a great place. First of all I’ll start with the staff, they are truly excellent and were very attentive to our every need. (including some of our really stupid questions)… Second is the décor, they have dimly lit lights with vine plants on the ceiling, it was such a nice feeling of the outdoors, when it was so cold outside. Third the food was really good. We all never had that much of an appetite, so we ordered alot of little things. We started off with the Lemon Chicken soup… I know that sounds a little off, but the soup was actually really good, you could really taste the lemon and with all the shredded chicken and rice in it, it was quite unique in taste. We had this with the fresh pitas. Then we ordered the spankopitas and this was just delicious. I could eat alot of these given the opportunity. We also had the dolmades, which are very good as well, these went well with our pitas that we had left over from our soup. We soaked up all the olive oil and it was so good. I even noticed people eating donairs, they looked so good. I wish I had the appetitie for it, I would have ordered it. I would love to come in here for the evening and have a try at the dinner menu. It looks like it would be a great choice for an evening on Valentines Day. A Very Romantic Restaraunt. :))

This place recently opened maybe a month or so ago and it’s in a very convenient location by the UofA. When my girlfriend and I went, I had made reservations for a Friday evening, but it was funny when we go there becasue the place was nearly empty! I personally enjoy Greek food a lot so the food here was also very good. The Greek salad was excellent, and it introduced me to Greek salad without lettuce which was still quite good. The portions were huge! My lamb entrée was in two plates because there wasn’t enough room to fit it on one plate. The service was excellent, very prompt and friendly. In the back of the resto is a fruit display case and what I thought was a chef’s table but turns out it was just for the family owners, but it was still a curious piece of eye candy. Overall was very good, and I’d definitely go back. I’d even go back by myself since it’s just downstairs from where I live. I recommend it. I don’t think you’ll need reservations though as there should be plenty of seating!