Santali Souvlaki House

Calamari was fresh! Asked for the Mousaka but due to the previous holidays, the waitress claims that the kitchen did not receive the ingredients. OK. Ordered the Lamb Souvlaki instead with the Greek style salad. Lamb was tender, rice was perfect and veggies were not overcooked. Could have been given more than 2 pieces of vegetable but overall delicious. Greek potato great! With the meal I had the house white greek wine which was a great compliment. For dessert had a piece of Baklava with coffee. Great! Overall great experience.

This. Was. Bizarre. My girlfriend was «allowed» to pick the restaurant on our last day in Vancouver and appropriately searched for the closest one to our hotel. She found two, but which cuisine, Italian or Greek. Which restaurant, Amorosa or Santali? Turns out, it didn’t matter – they’re the same restaurant. And I don’t mean they’re spiritually the same because of shared owners or have matching decors or similar menus. They are literally the same restaurant. Different signs, different entrances, hell even different addresses, all leading to the same building, like budget saving on a movie set. Zomato lists an Amorosa Santali house AND a Santali Souvlaki House. They combined the names on one entry but forgot to delete the other.
I thought this was a joke, like if I pass through the Amorosa door, do they hand me the Italian menu, and the reverse if I enter through the Santali door. Do the accents of the server’s change? Nope, doesn’t matter; they plant you down anywhere and hand you both menus. Why don’t they go for broke, list six different restaurants outside, and turn it all into a food court? Alternatively, maybe just put up a curtain or something. I felt like this was a scene in a sitcom – Jerry Seinfeld must have gotten a few zingers out of this one. I would love it if someone got enraged at the service, stormed out of the restaurant, promising to seek competition, and then re-​entered next door back into the same establishment. The idea is funny just thinking about it.
So, after an unnecessary 260 words later, we’ve established Amorosa and Santali are one in the same, meaning the chefs on staff now must commit double duty preparing twice the variety of dishes (and you have to know there are fewer chefs on staff now than when the restaurants were separate). It would be expected that food quality would be compromised as result. And you’d be right. It was an afternoon when we arrived, the only patrons in both restaurants. Since we had previously decided on Italian (my girlfriend select Amorosa), we passed through the appropriate doors and asked for the corresponding menu. On it revealed the customary options seen in every clichéd (see boring) Italian restaurant… as well as every Boston Pizza. One page of the menu is reserved for appetizers, soups, and salads, and the second is all pasta – where you can either pick a premade plate or match a pasta with a sauce and topping. Given that, this one page boasted… running the numbers, 20 + (10×5 x [12×2])…1220 different combinations. (Wait, is that right?)
We both ordered tomato with Italian sausage but with different pastas, her’s rotini while mine gnocchi. The plates arrived quickly, assuring that nothing was made to order. They were also enormous, carrying enough sustenance for that afternoon and for the next meal. Well, I say the next, but in truth, it kept so well in take-​away, we were able to enjoy the leftovers a half-​week later. I pride myself having a voracious appetite, and even I admit being unable to clean my plate. This was a full pound of starch, not including the fringed garlic bread the size of my forearm. It became clear early on they are supplanting quality with quantity, which, if you follow that formula must mean the food was substandard. I rated it on par if not maybe slightly below Boston Pizza, which I know sounds harsh. The gnocchi was clearly pulled from a factory-​processed bag and the parmesan shakers were identical to those found at the aforementioned chain (and I do mean identical).
It wasn’t bad, and a $ 13 price tag for a plate that immense was astounding. There were no Boston Pizzas nearby, so if stuck in the area, I imagine you could do a lot worse. It’s not an ugly restaurant either – at least it’s not covered floor to ceiling in shades of brown. Just… yellow. The Amoroso half looks better than the Santali half, bringing up the observation discovered later that we had been seated on the wrong half. Santali chairs had no cushions. In the end, all I can say is that Amorosa – er, Santali is suitable for people unwilling to drive five minutes further and find something better. Overall, I’d rather be in Boston Pizza. And I hate Boston Pizza.
Food: 2.5÷5
Service: ³⁄₅
Presentation: ³⁄₅
Value: ⁴⁄₅
Recommendation: ³⁄₅

I don’t understand, are they two restaurants in one? I came because I saw my friends pictures for Amarosa Pasta and it looked delicious. I ordered a white sauce which was super bland. Definitely looked prettier than it tasted.
Service was ok. The wasn’t rude but she wasn’t too attentive either. For the amount we paid, we might as well go to Antons. But that’s just me.

The food is great — my favourite is the curry pasta. I’d give this place 5 stars but just had a slightly negative service experience so it gets knocked down one. I called in a bit too early and asked if I could place an order for pick up and was told in a bit of a breathy tone to call back in 12 minutes when they are open. Don’t answer if you are not open or rather try the customer-​centric approach and answer, happily take my order and say ‘I will be be happy to put it in to the kitchen when we are open in 12 minutes’. Service is everything in my book and sadly many establishments are not training their staff anymore to be all about the customer. It’s not just about the quality of the food.

I have been eating here since it opened and rarely have any issues. I really don’t understand how someone as picky as myself can love this restaurant, yet it seems like it’s not doing as well as it should? They brought the Amarosa menu over to their side and connected the restaurants.
I LOVE the Lamb shoulder, and think it’s one of the most tender pieces of meat you can find! It stands head and shoulders above any other greek restaurant in the city! I have the lamb every time I go there and don’t even think about ordering anything else. It’s on special on Thursdays, so it’s even better!
The rice, veggies and souvlaki I find to be very similar across all greek restaurants. There’s only so many ways to make rice pilaf, roasted veggies and lemon potatoes. The price and portions are what to be expected, and slightly cheaper then other greek restaurants in burnaby.
All in all, I will recommend this restaurant to anyone looking to eat Greek food and really hope they don’t turn it into one big Amarosa. I understand they need to make money to survive, but I would be heart broken to lose out on that lamb!

I have been going to the restaurant for a few years now. I LOVE IT!
I have introduced it to many, many friends and family and none of them have anything bad to say about this place.
I always find my food is consistent, cooked perfectly and just the best greek food I have ever had. The service is pretty decent and consistent as well they are friendly and always attentive.
When you order from this restaurant, please be very aware that the large portion of pasta they have is in fact VERY large. You will most likely be taking more than half of it home. A small sized pasta is a decent portion for one person. I recommend any of the souvlaki and the create your own pasta. It is priced right for the quality and portion of food you get.

Based on the previous review I was expecting a good solid Greek meal in the local South Burnaby neighborhood. My all time favorite Greek restaurant is Kalamata Taverna in Vancouver but we didn’t want to venture too far.
Plus:
We were able to make a reservation for Saturday night for our table of 3.
Service was still pleasant despite, an overflowing full house although we didn’t receive our water until half way into the meal. Appetizers did take over 20 minutes with a long delay with the pita bread even (3 out of 5)
Ambiance was nice enough with warm colors and updated furnishings and décor however the room noise was almost unbearable as there was quite an echo of everybody speaking in the room. We almost had to shout to each other to be heard. (3)
Portion sizes were generous so it seemed every table was taking home leftovers (if you wanted to take home)
Negative:
Food quality and presentation. We ordered the Calamari appetizer which was sadly very greasy that you could see the glistening of the oil and lacked seasoning and had a hint of seafood aftertaste (which in my books is not fresh), garlic prawn appetizer with a portion size of about 8 was okay with the flavor heavily garlicy which is good but we weren’t able to enjoy the hot garlic oil as we didn’t receive any pita bread until much later. Roasted lamb shoulder with sauce was fairly tasty and tender, beef souvlaki was sadly chewy and tasted sour (too much vineagar in the marinade?), linguine with pesto was lackluster in flavour and the rice on both entrees was underdone. (2.)
The entire meal took almost 2 hours which for a casual bite was a bit frustrating.
Parking was available in the back of restaurant but you could not enter from the back and had to walk a ways to get back to the front which in the dark and wet wintry night was not pleasant… definitely try street parking.
Overall, I think there must be another better Greek restaurant to try.

I love Santali Souvlaki House, solid Greek, Italian and general European food, large portions, even better since they changed the veggies that come with many dishes. I’ve never had better Souvlaki, they also do a bakes lamb shoulder which is unbelievably delicious in a mushroom sauce that is fabulous with the large portion if rice and vegetables. The atmosphere is good and the live music is fun.
The hummus is way too yummy and I loved the Taziki. Definitely worth a stop in when you’re in the area. The owners are SO nice and welcoming!

Santali is a little place in the neighbourhood that is well know by the locals… it’s next door to the Amorosa Pasta House (last I heard both were owned by the same owners).
The restaurant is right on the curve of where Edmonds becomes 6^th St… there are 3 street parking spots up front and you have to drive around the block and manœuvre your way down an alley to (hopefully) find a parking spot.
It’s a cute little place that is not overtly done up by the usual in-​your-​face white and blue color flag waving. It’s a bit some stylist than that. Atmosphere is nice but if you are with a group, boy does sound carry in this place!
The Tzatziki here is pretty garlicky (I love it) and the Greek salad is a nice blend, not too oily and the right amount of feta and olives. The Saganaki is not overly-​oily like most places and the Garlic Prawns and cooked just right — not rubbery.
I’ve found the Spanakopita a little to flaky and usually end up finding a few pieces of it on me when I get home. The Calamari is good, not too greasy and good batter.
The Lamb is sometimes a hit or miss… not sure if that depends on who is in the kitchen that night, but lost of the time it is fall offer the bone tender. The Moussaka is ok but I have only had it once.
Like I said, a good place to go in the neighbourhood but there are some other Greek restaurants out there I will head out to first before this one.

This is a modern fusion of Greek food. The owner is the chef and creator of the food and my goodness is it unique!
Now having a sister in law who is Greek, I am quite picky with my Greek food after tasting many of her Mom’s yummy dishes.
But Santali is nothing tradition but the twist is fresh and unique.
They have spanakopita that looks and has the crunch of a spring roll, nice presentation with the angled cut and served with a chili sauce.
When ordering a main, you are served your choice of greek or ceasar salad as a starter (compared to the usual Greek restaurant that adds it to your main plate)
My usual dish is the hot spicy chili calamari ceasar salad.
nice combination of hot with the cold salad, and spicy with the cooling ceasar dressing.
Their souvlaki’s are typical and come with the rice and lemon potatoes, although I wish they had the option for a mixed meat souvlaki, kind of get sick of the chicken after awhile.
Moussaka has a nice hint of nutmeg, and is not sloppy like most I’ve seen, hearty meal.
They have attached this restaurant with their Italian sister restaurant Amorosa’s pasta house next door-​it is always booming!
**BONUS You can order from both menus! This is perfect for those picky dinner friends of yours.
if you’re looking for a last minute table for a larger party, or good for business lunches or groups.
Good food and service, and they have daily lunch specials too!
Also they have a parking lot in the back of the restaurant for free

Went to Santali’s last week for a staff Christmas Dinner. I had a veggie dish — spinach spanokapita, which was quite tasty. (Extra points because it was bite size and nicely presented!). Not everyone was so enthusiastic about their meal, but the entire restaurant was rented out to our party and one other, which was nice.
Service was okay/​good, food was okay/​good, prices were good, so overall I give them a ‘good’…average!
Worth a try if you’re in the area for some reason and are hungry.