Restaurants
The Healthy Greek
While other similarly named Greek restaurants are busy passing off hot dog buns as bread, Queen Street newbie, The Healthy Greek, is serving up fast, top quality fare for very reasonable prices.
Now, while the origins of their recipes for goodness have come under fire recently, one thing still holds true: This food is good.
I stopped in with a friend on a weekday afternoon while in search of a healthy meal, and refuge from the mob of teenagers outside the CHUM building.
Once inside, I was taken aback by all the fresh food spread out along the long chrome counter. Colourful fresh veggies, meats of all kinds, big loaves of Ace bread and, the ultimate mouthwatering treat, spinach and feta pie from Athens Bakery on the Danforth.
I would never have to return to the East end again!
(kidding!)
Though the salad bar (pictured above) was tempting, we decide to order up one Spanikopita (spinach pie) ($3.99) and one custom grilled sandwich with side salad ($6.48).
The grilled sandwich order involves choosing your bread, several ingredients and a spread.
Behind a pane of glass on the counter sit a long line of fresh loaves of Ace Bakery bread. We keep things Greek and go with a soft dark olive loaf and smother it in porcini mushroom spread. For the space between the slices, we go with grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, zucchini and havarti cheese.
Taking a seat in the back while the sandwich is being grilled, I dig right into the delicious phyllo layers of the spanikopita.
It always amazes me how Athen's Bakery can consistently create such a flavourful pie that is never, ever, greasy or heavy. You just have to taste it to believe it.
In moments, the sandwich is toasted to perfection and served hot. The flavours blend well and the fresh bread really seals the deal.
I can't say enough good things about the option of darker sliced breads as opposed to the usual thick buns that grilled sandwiches come served in. It brings out the flavour of the sandwich and leaves you feeling satisfied without having to adjust any belt notches.
I'll definitely be back for more healthy Greek.
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The Healthy Greek
247 Queen Street West
(Between Duncan & Simcoe)
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I LOVE Greek food. Fortunately, we have a couple here in Rochester that are good, but nothing compares to the ones up there or on Danforth.
mmmm, Spanakopita
Apparently you can switch the mixed greens to ROMAINE lettuce and have that instead. But, seriously...what a fuss when we tried to order a GREEK salad! It wasn't like we were asking for BUTTER CHICKEN!!
Did not enjoy it at all. Totally tasteless and I can't see what's "Healthy" about it. The meal was completely boring. Even the best condiments wouldn't have saved it... and you have to pay an extra buck for Tzatziki.
You do get a lot of food, though. I'll try a different meal next time.
Dine in was the chicken breast dinner. Food was tasty, and there were healthy portions of starch and salad, but I couldn't help feel that the chicken breast portion was quite minimal, almost as if they had served me half a chicken breast. Plate was just over $12.00.
Take-out was for a chicken breast salad. Firstly, I wanted a Greek Salad, from a place that had GREEK in it's name. But no dice, they don't even feature that on the menu, only a "build-a-salad" option, that maxes out your price to approximately $10 for a salad, meat, and 3 or 4 toppings of your choice.
Once again, I was extremely disappointed at the portioned size for the chicken breast, which almost seemed smaller than the one I had received with the dinner.
Overall, the food is fresh, and it tastes great, but for the price point, I feel it's a rip off when it comes to the meat, as you can pay 10-12 dollars for a dinner plate or salad, and get WAY more for what you pay.
A horrible experience.
the chicken breast plate I had was topped with small potatoes, garden salad, olives, rice and pita. The chicken was tender and meal came within 5 minutes. Loved the potatoes and rice. The owner was kind enough to give us directions around the area.
Will definately come back for more healthy Greek!