The Greek Taverna

Was so disappointed about this place. Wasted my time, money, and appetite. Rice pilaf was orange and mushy it looked worse than baby food. Also got a gyro which looked like a few slices of meat with un-​uniform cut vegetables. It looked like a 10 year old made it. Terrible.

Although I have heard numerous thumbs down from middle eastern friends who have told me the food is awful and that the trip across town to Fronimo’s is worth the trouble to avoid Fat Greek 2 I decided to give it a shot and boy was I disappointed. Inedible calamari, gyros comparable to the ones at Papoule’s in the park place mall (ie fast food quality) and a rude server at the front to top things off.
Now I know why I never see anyone in this restaurant; bad food with bad service

What happened to this place???
We have always loved the Fat Greek for their take out but this night we tried it dinner, and it quite disappointment.
Deco — Boring cafeteria style décor
Service — The bight spot of the night… extremely friendly and professional
Food — Wow… ask my wife and you will know no matter how bad the food I almost always will eat it. Not this night. I had the Shrimp Mykonos, and after two gross bites refused to eat any more. The shrimp was rubbery, the rice pilaf was mush and the green beans were canned. I can’t even remember having such a terrible dish. However my wife had a Chicken Gyro which was decent and that will account for the extra star

I work in the same plaza where this restaurant is located so me and 2 other coworkers went for lunch. The service was not bad, but it was not good either. The waitress was talking bad about her other table with us which I though was a little unprofessional. The food was just OK, also. Not the best Greek food in town that’s for sure! So if your in the area and craving Greek its worth a try!

This could be a great restaurant. We walked in tonight and were seated right away. The server was very attentive but the place was nearly empty and she didn’t have too many people to attend to.
The wine I ordered she quickly talked me out of, was probably out of stock as was the salmon which is on the menu in more than one dish. I had the Greek salad with Gyro meat which was very good and just enough for a meal on it’s own. Don’t make it any smaller.
My son had what he called a «Greek Taco» which was a Gyro with fries. He at the Gyro completely and took the fries home. The wine the server decided for me was the Cabernet and was fine at 7.50. When you order a drink (beer and wine only) you get pita and eggplant dip which was nice and garlic-​spicy.
On the way out I saw a big board about their cheeses being home made which I wish I saw on the way in! It was facing inward instead of outward toward the customers entering. TURN THE BOARD AROUND! Home made cheeses are a big draw to your restaurant and I would have ordered the cheese saganaki appetizer if I had known.
Lastly, the Greek music wasn’t very uplifting and they had poker on the tv. A piano would fit nicely in front of the window (my son’s idea) and would draw a nice crowd. A liquor license wouldn’t hurt either.
All in all a nice place which we want to re-​visit. Like one reviewer said, «Get in there people!».

A delicious Greek experience without leaving Tucson. Once inside, I felt that I was in a Greek village tarvena. The traditional dishes were prepared with fresh, high quality, ingredients, some of which are grown on the owner’s ranch. The menu offers Greek fare that is authentic, and not usually found on the standard menu of local Greek dinning establishments

I’ve only been here once, and I try not to write reviews after only one visit but I think it’s worth saying a few things:
This is for the Fat Greek 2 on Swan, not the one by the UofA.
I was dismayed that, in spite of the high quality of the food and the reasonable price, there weren’t many customers. Get in there people!
We started with the cheese Saganaki which I love no matter how it comes so I’m not a good reviewer for that.
I had the vegetable special that was on that night. It was eggplant and zucchini in olive oil and spices, with rice and green beans on the side. It was really good. Excellent even. All for around $ 8. I hear that the vegetables are locally grown and this is to be commended.
A few very minor reasons why they don’t get 5 stars:
The beer I ordered wasn’t in stock. Not a huge deal, the others are good.
There didn’t seem to be quite enough wait staff. A few tables more here or there would make it difficult for a few servers to manage it all effectively. More customers would bring more staff and this problem would be solved!
Don’t hesitate to try this place. It’s definitely worth it even if you haven’t had greek before. Check the menu online, I’m sure you can find something you’ll like. Talk to the waiter if you’re not sure, the people who served us were very knowledgeable.

tried fat greek with my sister-​in-​law and friend after going swimming.
they’re big, big, big fans of greek food.
i think that it’s definitely an acquired taste. i had the chicken gyro. pretty big portion and nice presentation.
i wasn’t too big on the taste, though. but like i said, i think that greek food definitely has an acquired taste!
the atmosphere was nice and so was the service.

after just coming off a month in europe which, for all intents and purposes, could have been christened Hannah’s Falafel and Hummus Tour of Europe 2011, this seemed like a natural and pretty much habitual choice for lunch today. i had the Create Your Own Salad with cucumbers, tomatoes (chose to upgrade to the organic tomatoes for an extra 50 cents… definitely the right decision. like little bursts of happiness in your mouth.), hummus, falafel, feta, babaganoush (or some variation thereof that was vaguely pesto-​y but if i’m being honest anything that is even remotely pesto-​related gets my approval. one of my favorite flavor profiles ever.) and of course the house pita on the side which, as already reviewed by many other people, are downright, positively luscious little slivers of carbohydrate heaven. also, the hummus is tremendous. i would bathe in it if possible.
i give the restaurant four stars only because of my little gastronomic odyssey that just took place– once you’ve had l’as du falafel in france, or really any of the falafel on rue de rosiers, coupled with a couple solid trips to any maoz, you really can’t look at american falafel (and accompanying food) the same way. the falafels there are smaller, lighter, and airier, so the kind of hulking, overly spiced falafels here were a shocker to my now falafelly-​refined tastebuds. i should probably say ‘falafel’ one more time, just for good measure.
k, so, think i got the food part covered. i should mention the fact that i’ve been abusing this restaurant’s better wares since my days on campus (like they were that long ago… i just graduated. #postgradnostalgia) at their teeny little university location. it’s also always such a pleasure too when a local purveyor is able to translate both the ambience and the nutritional magic when they create a new location, and they’ve definitely done it here. although slightly bigger and a little less local feeling (the campus version has the unnerving quality of feeling like a stand on the side of the road in greece if you go in during lunch which can, or can not be, kind of exhilarating depending on your level of hunger), the waitstaff is still just as friendly and helpful and the décor and environment is still just as quirky, kitschy and appropriately tasteful for a greek tucson restaurant.
and i didn’t have their baklava on this visit but let it be known, that shit is amazing.

This is one of my favorite lunch options and Ive taken my entire family here before. I always start with an order of pita and hummus, because their hummus is soo nice and creamy and well-​seasoned, but the pita… oh the pita… is the best pita of any pita Ive pita’d. Im like a pitafile… no wait, that sounds wrong. Scratch that.
But anyway, the pita here, all around is fantastic.
Greek salad is fantastic, great dressing nice feta cheese, really enjoyable.
My favourite is the chicken souvlaki plate which comes with the Pita filled with delectable moist and juicy and flavorful chicken with a solid hand full of well-​mixed greek salad right on top. Then there is the tzatziki, which is like a little creamy cloud that adds deliciousness to this sandwich in exponential quantities. I get mine with a side of french fries and that sends it over the tops. The greek fries come out all seaseoned with greek oregano and lemon or something like that… whatever it is, its delicious.
Not the cheapest place, but good for lunch. the food, once in your mouth will make you rediscover your greek heritage.

Quite good. Fresh ingredients and friendly staff. And affordable!

I sure wasn’t expecting the décor (not tame) but we were fortunate it was a beautiful day and sat on the patio. I had the lunch veggie plate-​I loved it!
Unlike the other reviewer, my green beans were FANTASTIC! Our server was very perky and pleasant. I can’t vouch for dinner service, but it was lovely for lunch, it’s a nice break from MEXICAN, MEXICAN, MEXICAN.

I love Greek Food. That being said, I’ve been to probably at least 30 – 40 Greek restaurants in my life so far and this restaurant is a solid 2-​star.
First, we’ll start with the good. The location is good, the restaurant is HUGE (Bobo’s needs a place this big!), nicely decorated, good ambiance, open kitchen you’ll see when you walk in. While we weren’t greeted by any of the kitchen staff that saw us walk into the restaurant, the woman that was our waitress was very friendly and honest about the food.
Unfortunately the food was the most unappealing part. The lemon chicken soup was pretty good, basically Chicken & Rice soup. The Dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) were also decent as well as the pita/​hummus and tzaziki sauce. My lamb gyro was ‘meh’, about comparable with a mall-​Greek gyro and my Dad’s lamb shank didn’t have much meat and was cooked in a weird cinnamony sauce, not the normal fresh lemon/​thyme/​tomato you can usually get with lamb. The green beans that came with the lamb shank were canned, with feta sprinkled on top… overall not impressed.
Maybe it’s just not my week for Greek food, after Shish Kebab House of Tucson and then this place… at least Fat Greek was the better of the two.
Lastly​.It was 7 pm on a Saturday night and there were only two other tables of people. In the 45 minutes we were there, only two other parties showed up. We asked the waitress if that’s average for the restaurant and she said yes… the quality of the food was accurately reflected by the busyness (or lack of) in this restaurant.

My wife and I ate there and found the restaurant to be a welcome addition to the area! The food and service were excellent. The restaurant was uncrowded and we were seated right away on the patio. They have a very wide selection of typical Greek dishes. We found the prices very reasonable and the food portions very generous. We will definitely be returning and recommend it to others!

Oh my goodness… I love this place! It’s pleasant to eat dine-​in, with a clean and nice interior. Patio dining is available. But I really get takeout more often than anything– and an Ultimate Sampler with gyro meat is hard to beat! It’s like the most killer salad you can get, with feta, peperoncinis, dolmathes, and iirc artichoke hearts among other tastiness. The styrofoam to-​go box is heavy and often has a hard time closing. Save the (pita?) bread, which is served warm, for last and just drizzle some honey on it for a great dessert. That is, if you manage to maintain self-​control enough to not buy the baklava.

This is the second time I’ve been to Fat Greek 2 and I ordered the Greek salad on both occasions. First time, it was good but not great. Second time, not good at all!
What’s up with the blob of lettuce without any of the yummy fixings? Seriously I think there were a total of two tomatoes, a small slice of onion, a teeny tiny spoonful of feta cheese, a sliver of cucumber, and a few pieces of gyro meat that were extremely dry — like it’s been sitting outside in this Arizona heat for ages. I had to ask for more feta cheese on the side… anything to give it more flavor… and with a little salt (which I never do) and pepper it was to some extent better.
The restaurant is definitely spacious and there are decent seating options such as booths or tables for two or more. Décor is warm and inviting — There were cool faux water colors of Greek columns painted on the walls throughout the restaurant.
I do have to say, the service was excellent. We were greeted by our nice server and informed we could sit anywhere. After reviewing the menu of typical Greek cuisine we ordered and within five minutes our food arrived. So, YAY to the service.
Overall, not my cup of tea!

Rating: 3.5 stars
This chain just opened at this location. There is one on the UofA campus. The exterior and interior is fancier than the UofA location. The interior is clean and more welcoming. The layout is nice. There are several booths and plenty of seating areas. The service is wonderful.
You have to order and pay up in front at the cashier; however, they bring the food to you.
I got the Fat Greek Sampler ($ 8.99) and my sister got the Special for that day (George’s Special — $ 8.95). My dish came with falafel (you get to pick from gyro, chicken, falafel or pork) served atop of Greek Salad, dolmathes, tomatoes, onions, tzatziki sauce, grilled pita, feta, and Kalamata olives. The George’s Special included tomato rice, gyro, salad, pita, and tzatziki sauce. The food was good. The rice was definitely different, but good. The salad was drenched too much in olive oil, which isn’t a bad thing; however, at time the salad dressing would get all over my mouth as i’m eating. The dolmathes and gyro were delicious.
I would have given this place a 4 — 4.5 stars. but the reason it got 3.5 stars is because my falafel was ROCK HARD. I literally was able to drum on it to the point where it produced a sound. It was so hard that I had to stab it with my fork in order to break it open. Also, the tzatziki was okay. not the best that I’ve tried.
Overall, the food was good. Greek food is always good. I just hope that the next time I go, the falafel isn’t too hard; however, I still recommend this place.