Yanni's A Greek Taverna Inc

10/22/07

Best Greek food in town

by cj_sparrow at Citysearch

Originally from Atlanta, my wife and I enjoyed good Greek food there, and we missed having the same quality restaurants here in Denver. At least until we found Yanni's. This is not Americanized Greek food, but good traditional cuisine. The eating environment is not plush, but fine surroundings don't mean good food for the money.

From the time you arrive, especially if you have been there several times, the staff makes you feel like part of the family. The service is very good and prompt, and the food outstanding. My wife and I particularly like sitting out front at one of the sidewalk tables people watching. They have an outdoor grill for cooking lamb, so these dishes are as fresh as possible.

Neither my wife nor I are big fans of ouzo, but when you sit down at your table, you are offered a free sample. Who knows, over time, we might even develop a liking for this drink.

We think the specials are a bit over priced, but the normal menu meals are fairly priced for what you get. Stick to these and you can't go wrong. For the other commentor, good drinks cost a lot, anywhere you go.

The atmosphere at Yanni's is one of the best in town. Unlike most restaurants, my wife and I can talk to each other during dinner. We love kids, just not crying, screaming and running around during dinner. There's no loud music either. Just being able to talk over dinner is wonderful.

My wife and I now drive up from south of Denver to have dinner at Yanni's at least once a month. It's an opportunity to enjoy an excellent meal in a great setting with fine people. Something that is very rare these days.

If you enjoy good Greek food, we highly recommend Yanni's.

• Pros: Excellent food, great atmosphere, quality staff and service, ample parking
• Cons: Specials are a bit over priced

11/10/09

Eww this is not Greek Food its slop

by Elefterios at Citysearch

First of all. Yanni is not Greek he was born in America. He is a rude piece of sh## and his food is garbage. This is not traditional Greek food trust me I am Greek. He boils his lamb meat that is a no no.

11/04/09

What the Hell??

by gsyr at Citysearch

I have no idea what these people are talking about who say this is the best 'food' in town, let along the 'best Greek food'! I would not even call this food. Being Greek, it is obvious that the people who gave rave reviews have never eaten at any Greek restaurants in other cities, because there are none here in Denver for sure. You need to go somewhere like Chicago, New York, Boston, i have even been to a few really good authentic places in LA - innovative Greek food that Yanni has never heard of. His menu has not changed in 30 years. the service is a joke, even if they know you. Wow, alot of ignorant people out there . . . sorry.

• Pros: non-food

09/22/09

Worst greek food ...EVER!

by carrington at Citysearch

This is the worst greek food we have ever ate. I would dive 20-minutes more to find another Greek Restaurant. We choose Yanni's because it is going into Landmark soon, which is near to our house. We ordered take out and it looked awful the moment we opened the containers. I have to say when I think about Greek food I think about "fresh". There was not one single cucumber or tomato in two dinners. One dinner had soggy fries, and the other had a "canned" bean side that was to salty. The Calamari was bland and soggy. I usually read reviews but do not write them. I wanted to tell other people to save their money and skip Yanni's.

05/04/09

It was good 6 years ago anyway :)

by HannahHandpainted at Citysearch

My memories of going to Yannis (I've been several times, since I used to live in the apartment complex not too far behind it) have been primarily positive. I enjoyed all of the dishes I tried, especially the lamb dishes, the lemon avgolemono soup. Yum. It isn't the BEST restaurant in town but it's tasty and worth a trip.

• Pros: delicious selection of greek food
• Cons: a little pricey

10/03/08

Hair in the food

by mourlamou at Citysearch

I have dined at Yanni's several times and usually enjoy the meals. The food is overpriced for "Greek Food" yet we continue to go because of the lack of descent greek establishments in town. We noticed hair in one of our meals, notified the waiter, and to our surprise, nothing was said or done.

We were not sure if the owner was aware of this, but that basically turned us off to coming back! Not so much of an OPA that night. Oh well.... next!

• Pros: Descent food
• Cons: service and price of what you get

05/25/08

Best Greek Food in Denver

by weiker at Citysearch

I usually do not post reviews, but I had to post one for Yanni's after reading a few recent bad reviews.

My wife and I had gone to Yanni's a couple of years ago and loved it. My in-laws were coming in town and we were eager to take them to Yanni's (my wife and her parents are Greek). Then I read some bad reviews on CitySearch and got nervous, thinking, "Did something change?".

Pleasantly, nothing had changed. It was as good as we remembered. Yanni himself greeted us at the door, seated us and was very nice. Our waitress (who we found out from conversation was Yanni's cousin) was prompt to our table and pleasant. Water and bread arrived at our table quickly. Soon Yanni was back at our table with 4 shots of Ouzo (on the house of course, Opa!)

From appetizer (we got the sampler..so good) to entree (we had pastisio, gyro platter, and lamb from the bbq-spit) everything was great and delicious. The atmosphere was lively for a restaurant in a sleeply little strip mall. The staff was attentive and friendly. My in-laws (again Greek) were very impressed by the food and service. As we left, Yanni waved to us farewell from behind the bar.

For a great Greek meal from a family own restaurant, you have to go out of your way to Yanni's. It is the best we have found in Denver. My wife and I will be back again for sure.

• Pros: Food is delicious and authentic. Service is great.
• Cons: Slightly expensive. Not bad though.

05/12/08

what customer service?

by ruba3 at Citysearch

I go out to dinner often and this dining experience was the worst experience I have ever had. The food was good but way over priced and is not worth coming back for. The service was horrible; we were completely ignored and had a waitress who rolled her eyes at us as if we were inconveniencing her. Once the food was delivered to the table the waitress tossed the plates on the table and never even returned to see if everything was ok or if we needed anything else. We actually had to grab anther server to get anther over priced drink. Then to top off the evening and end our night out we were asked to hurry it up because there were other guest waiting. With all of the other excellent dinning choices in Denver, I will never return and will make sure to let others know about my bad experence.

05/12/08

The worst dining experience EVER!!!

by DMI at Citysearch

This was the worst dining experience I have ever had. The food is not worth coming back for. The food and drinks are overpriced. The service was horrible. We felt completely ignored. When we finally asked the waitress if she could take our drink order she rolled her eyes as those we were inconveniencing her. We then got another roll of the eyes when we wanted to place our food order. Once the food was delivered to the table the waitress all but threw the plates on the table in which the sauce almost landed in my lap. The dinner evening turned into a very long and unpleasant experience. When we finally got our bill which we also had to ask for and received another roll of the eyes and deep sigh, we were asked to leave because they had people waiting to be seated. My eight year old could have provided better service.

05/12/08

WORST SERVICE EVER

by tpierce10 at Citysearch

This was the worst restaurant experience ever because we had the waitress from HELL!! I think she was part of the family. She rolled her eyes, huffed and puffed if we dared asked for another drink and pretty much tried to ignore us. The food wasn't that great either!! To top it all off the owner actually kicked us out! I think he just wanted us to hurry up and leave so he could keep the money rollin' in and he didn't care about the terrible service. We would have spent more money but they didn't want us to stay. I think Greeks are very hospitable but Yanni's greed will surely be the downfall of this restaurant. I do not recommend this restaurant to anyone! So much for OPA!

• Pros: We got to drink water.
• Cons: Terrible service

11/01/07

Delicious food

by pokerplayer1234 at Citysearch

I came here with a party of four on a Friday night. Although Friday nights are notoriously busy restaurant nights, I wasn't expecting the place to be so packed with people given its location in a strip mall with no major traffic. I think the crowd was a testament to the great food. The calamari appetizer was good. I ordered the lamb shank which was absolutely delicious and very moist. My friend ordered the lamb chops based on the recommendation of the waiter, and she was not disappointed. The lamb chops were also very moist and delicious. Another friend ordered the gyro platter, which she said was dry. And another friend ordered some kind of seafood platter, which she said was pretty average. Although the food overall was great, the service left a little to be desired. The waiter brought the wrong glass of wine for me--he asked if anyone else at the table wanted it since he was bringing me a replacement. One of my friends said yes, thinking that the alternative was that it was going to be dumped, so she thought it would be free. No, the waiter charged us both for my correct glass of wine and the wrong glass of wine. One positive as far as service is that they left a couple carafes of water at our table so we didn't run out. However, by the time we paid our bill, the restaurant was half empty, so we weren't hogging up a table. So we stayed and chatted for at least another half hour at our table, and the waiter never once came by again to see if we would like more water or drinks. We were very thirsty when we left the restaurant, which was a shame because it kind of sealed the deal as far as my impression of the bad service. So overall, I'd highly recommend this place for the food, as long as you've got thick skin and are willing to put up with the service.

• Pros: Great food, especially the lamb shank and lamb chops
• Cons: poor service