Taverna Khione

We were a group, there for several hours. our waitress was attentive and helpful. think she was the only waitress on a weeknight… ordered the bread/spreads.sorry do not remember the greek name… all were excellent. not enuff bread… we had couple of orders of the sesame studded fried feta… stuffed grape leaves… excellent… wines/​beers kept flowing. but we were there for the food, and company… two of us had spanakopita and a white bean salad … delicious… my birthday boy’s goat ‘was OK’. swordfish and lamb dinners came with potatoes and some cooked greens… the latter two were waaaay too salty to eat… we asked for replacement veggies… 2^nd batch. as salty as the first. 3^rd try was better… but a bit of a pall over dinner… so we moved onto desserts/​coffee/​ouzo… all were good. lots of jokes about «hope the ouzo isn’t salty»… he he he… will we go back? don’t know… lots of excellent choices in Shelburne.

Excellent food. Great service. Owner and chef has wonderful knowledge. Try it if your in the Burlington area!

A simple, pleasant atmosphere with an easy-​going (and attentive) staff. Very amiable people; I think our waiter spent all his down time chatting with an older couple around the corner from the bar.
I don’t often order sea food around VT, but the fellow at the bar recommended the special and it was delicious! A grilled platter of mackerel, sardines and razor clams. Simply prepared, but so good. The mackerel was fresh, mild and buttery (pretty impressive for such an oily fish). We enjoyed the house red and the bread & variety of spreads too (a walnut bread and garlic spread, a tziki spread, a red pepper and feta, & a fava bean spread). Looking forward to trying more of their dishes & seeing if they become a favorite.

Enjoyed a tasty and intimate meal here. Our food was delicious, especially the pasta, and our waiter was friendly and personable.

We were excited to try this place as we love Greek food and have been to Greece. We got off to a bad start when my sister-​in-​law nicely asked for some pita bread and got a condescending lesson from the waiter about pita bread not being authentically Greek. We were then served a half baguette of what looked and tasted suspiciously and exactly the same as the Red Hen bread that we routinely buy at Shaw’s. We love it, but no explanation as to why it was authentically Greek! Everyone liked the spreads, but paying extra for more bread to eat a cup of spread was ridiculous on an already expensive dinner. Main dish portions were small. Veal stew was tasty, but pasta dish was oily and had little taste and no salt or pepper on table. Menu was red meat or no meat. The only fish (non-shellfish)entrée was a cured salmon that wasn’t ready yet at 6:30 pm and there was no chicken option. The waiter never asked any of us if we were enjoying our food. Finally, a restaurant response to another review here blamed the diner for not sharing the concerns with the waiter. When your experience starts with a lecture and then your questions and requests are met with resistance and condescension, why would a diner then inform staff about other shortcomings? Why should a diner expect a good outcome at that point? We tipped well as one never knows why a person is having a bad night. My advice to management is to consider the criticism rather than blame reviewers. A bad review with specific information as to what went wrong in a customer’s experience is a gift of free research to you directly (not through staff who may or may not convey it to you) and far better than doing nothing and never returning.

Don’t waste your money. With a large group of people (including small children) it was immediately evident we weren’t exactly welcome in the completely empty restaurant. We first ordered 2 platters of spreads and bread. We received about ¼ of a Red Hen seeded baguette for each platter of four spreads – clearly not enough bread to even make a dent in the spreads. The family liked the yogurt dip but didn’t care for the rest.
I ordered the soup which had a good flavor with the orzo, lemon, and olive oil; however, it was nearly impossible to finish because the amount of lemon juice. The waiter should have mentioned to the small children and other diners that the soup is a particularly acidic Greek soup before ordering. For my entrée, I ordered the octopus. The meal was minuscule when it was listed along with other full sized plates. Again, a warning that this is a smaller portion would have been appreciated.
In conclusion, I agree with a previous reviewer that even if the staff does care, it is not conveyed to the patrons. It’s disheartening to see the response from the restaurant above which essentially blames the customers for their disappointing dining experience. The experience IS why people go out to eat. Interestingly enough, we were never asked how our meals were and our other requests were met with disdain (i.e. more bread and separate checks). All in all, a very expensive meal that left the whole group unsatisfied with both the service and food. The menu descriptions were not especially helpful and the menu had no fish or chicken entrée options for this month.

Our dinner last night at Taverna Khione ranked among the top three worst meals our group of four diners had ever eaten. It wasn’t the gritty sand in the leek phylo pie appetizer, it wasn’t the leaden bullets of pasta served snarled with slimy tasteless greens, it wasn’t the chilly dining room (one diner touched the radiators and found them to be stone cold), it wasn’t the lackluster service or even the sullen waiter. What really made this dinner so awful was the utter lack of care or attention or thought – from the making and plating of the food (a special holiday prix fixe menu at $ 30 a person) to the unceremonious serving of it. They just didn’t care. It was actually shocking how bad it was. We will not return.

Taverna Khione is a great addition to the greater Burlington restaurant scene. My family and I have been multiple times and have always had a great experience. TK doesn’t try to be all things to all people. Rather, It does one thing and does it right: it delivers authentic Greek cuisine in a varied and tasty menu, offers a wine list of Greek offerings sure to satisfy the oenophile, and has attentive service in a pleasant setting. What else could you ask for? I can’t thinking of anything. That’s why we’re going back tomorrow. Opa!

Excellent dinner Friday ¹⁰⁄₂₃. Pumpkin fritters and calamari grilled with chickpeas and beets for appetizer, along with yogurt and eggplant spreads. Lamb shanks for entrée over pasta wonderfully tender fell off the bone. Other guests had moussaka (eggplant and beef with cinnamon spice and tomato). Nice Greek red wine Hedgehog full bodied was a nice compliment. Desserts and coffee excellent. Service was very friendly, attentive without being intrusive.

Wonderful staff, great atmosphere and authentic Greek food! As a Greek American I was so excited to find a place like this!