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| - Coming from Chicago, I may have a bit of a bias when it comes to judging Greek restaurants, but I was just unimpressed by Plaka Taverna. Unfortunately, it's about the best (maybe only?) authentic Greek food you can get in Madison (unless you're just looking for gyros, in which case I recommend the Parthenon on State St).
The place is small and it has a cozy and intimate feel. I always love a Greek restaurant that plays Greek instrumental music in the background--they do that here. The staff is friendly and attentive.
For an appetizer, we ordered the combo plate with taramasalata, skordalia, and tzatsiki sauce. Skordalia was decent but a little bland and definitely not as garlicky as I've had at other places. The tzatsiki was refreshing and well-seasoned, and it had a big ol' kick of dill that usually doesn't come through so much; we really enjoyed that. The taramasalata, however, was not very good. The color was not too pink, so it was apparent that the tarama they used was of good quality, but the taste was off. We couldn't decide if it was too salty or not salty enough, and it was not nearly as creamy as we would've liked. In fact, it could hardly even be described as smooth. Furthermore, the portion of the appetizer was very small, especially in comparison to the 30 pita triangles that were served with it! We had enough spread for maybe 10 pieces of pita--the rest were wasted.
My husband had the gyro and I had the souvlaki platter. The gyro had the right seasoning, but the meat was extremely dry (perhaps overcooked?). The souvlaki was decent; it had the proper seasoning as well, but it wasn't ground as fine as other souvlaki that I've had. I found myself biting down on pieces of fat and grizzel and having to spit them out.
As the saying goes, "you get what you pay for" .... this definitely held true here. Since the prices were relatively inexpensive, I didn't feel like I got cheated on the mediocre food that we received.
I really wish I would've liked this place more. Still on the hunt for good, quality Greek fare in Madison......
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