Galveston Restaurant Review – Olympia Grille
Let's start with the basic concept that I love Greek food and so I am probably a little pickier than many people are about this.
Galveston, being a coastal town, has several restaurants which have some form of Greek food although most are just simple Gyros type places.
The Olympia Grille has two locations, one on the Seawall and one in the Strand. We've eaten at the Seawall location a couple of times, so I thought I'd put a review on here for those who might be in the area.
First the bad, the OG is pricey for Greek food. Three of us had the Gyros combo plates, a half order of the Zeus Appetizer platter, and an order of Sagnaki (Opa!) the flaming Greek cheese. The tab also included one glass of Retsina wine, one iced tea, and one dessert, and the tab came to $76.00 (or thereabouts). Don't get me wrong, I pay lots more than that for meals with no complaints, but I think this is a little on the high side. Not ridiculously "I'll never eat there again" high, and not high if we had ordered the lamb kabobs or something a little fancier, but pricey for the meal we got.
That's the only bad thing I have to say about the restaurant, other than the fact that they don't have hard liquor or mixed drinks, just beer and wine.
The Olympia is a nice, quiet place to eat. There are a couple of televisions running Greek channels, plenty of seating, and you aren't crowded in by too many tables.
The waiters and waitresses, both the ones we've had and the ones at the other tables I have overheard, are very nice and polite and very, bit not overly, attentive.
The food is good. Not my absolute favorite Greek restaurant I've eaten at, that would be Zorba's in Dallas/Plano or Niko Nikos in Houston, but the food is better than average. The portions (pictured below) are more than ample, and the food is tasty. The pita is very, very good, the Gyros meat tasted fresh and was cooked just right, and the Tzatziki was as good as I've had anywhere. The Zeus sampler came with a multitude of dips, including a green one which I presume was the Melitzano Salata. It looked like Guacamole but as apparently made with eggplant, although it wasn't like any I'd ever seen. None of us cared for it and we would likely ask for double Hummus or the Garlic dip next time.
I will definitely eat there again as I am willing to pay for the convenience of being on the seawall and the variety of foods available on the menu. It is a "thumbs up" for Olympia Grille.
A NOTE: Their house Retsina, a Greek white wine that has a slight piney taste due to the barrels in which it is aged, is pretty good. The menu indicates it is only available by the bottle, but I ordered it by the glass and saw several others doing so as well.
