Yiannis Taverna Greek Restaurant

I went here on a Monday night. Needless to say, whyte was pretty bare– walked into Yiannis and there were only about 3 other tables in the restaurant. We didn’t mind at all, had our pick of the tables. We sat at the front of the restaurant where we could people watch the stragglers passing by. We felt like we were off the beaten path in a truly unique restaurant. They paid authentic Greek music in the background, had brick interior with a clean, rustic ambiance.
We decided to share two appetizer and 1 main dish. Starting with a trio platter of hummus, tzatziki and eggplant. Usually, you end up with too much dip and not enough break… But we had a healthy amount of both. Dips were delicious and garlicky! Next, we shared the meatballs. I was expecting three or 4 large ones, but I think we got 6 smaller sized ones. They went great with the tzatziki. Lastly, we had one order of the ribs. The kindly slit the dish into 2 for us and we and we both had decent sized portions (veggies, 1 large potatoe and half rack of ribs) the ribs fell off the bone and seasoning was a box between bbq and butter chicken :)
These three dishes was more than enough to fill two people. Although I usually find Greek restaurants quite pricey, Yiannis was extra $$ was worth it for the quality food!

The greatest asset this place has is its location off Whyte which gives it a lively atmosphere on a Saturday night, belly dancers and all! I had the beef souvlaki and my fiancé had the salmon, both dishes were pretty basic, not bad but pretty standard Greek salad, rice and meat. We also had the hummus to start which I would recommend. The downfall of the whole experience was the service! Our waitress was pleasant enough but we waited almost an hour for our very simple food. It was also very loud in there with the belly dancers music so if your looking to communicate with your dinner date, ensure the belly dancers are not performing. All in all the food is mediocre and the service left a bad taste in our mouths.

Great service, amazing traditional Greek food! My favourite!

This was such an amazing dinner! The food was amazing and the atmosphere was fun. The lounge downstairs was a cool place to chill and have a drink afterwards.

Yiannis is fortunate enough to be located in an ideal spot on Whyte Ave. The open concept with a patio gives this restaurant the Greek feel with such beautiful décor and outdoor atmosphere. The Tiger Prawns appetizer was less than appealing. The taste was delicious. However, it only came with 2 slices of bread which does not proportionately match with the amount of tiger prawns and tomato sauce that it comes with. Service was great and a definite stop to experience at least once.

We went with family members to celebrate an anniversary. We chose it because husband remembered going to this restaurant as a young man with his family and having very fond memories. But this time, everyone was so disappointed, they swore they would never go again and lamented the pile of money spent.
To start with, the service was quite dismal. I ordered my six-​year-​old child a glass of apple juice and asked for a child-​friendly glass. It came in a large fancy goblet made for adults which she had trouble using and eventually spilled all over the table. Service was also slow and fairly unremarkable.
The food was atrocious. The Greek salad came with fairly plain lettuce and vegetables with NO dressing on it. There was a bowl of dressing on the side, and the server explained we had to pour the dressing on ourselves. I had never seen that before and it didn’t taste good.
My husband’s roasted lamb came with mashed potatoes that tasted like instant mashed potatoes to everyone at the table. Usually in Greek restaurants, you get roasted Greek potatoes, and I have never been served mashed potatoes, let alone instant mashed, in a Greek restaurant before. We all thought it was quite odd.
The Greek rice was very overlooked and mushy. It was quite disgusting and we could hardly eat any.
I ordered Greek prawns that were a little stinky and tough, maybe overlooked and old.
My husband received an au jus dip for his lamb which, after visiting many Greek places in Canada and Europe, we have never before received. He thought it was quite plain and used it on his yucky instant potatoes in order to swallow a bite.
Never again!

My wife and I arrived for an anniversary dinner on a pleasant summer evening on Whyte Avenue. We sat on the patio — a bit cramped, but enjoyable given the location.
I opted for the beef souvlaki, my wife for the chicken. It’s not clear on the menu that you can order the souvlaki as part of a meal, but you can — they have roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, and Greek salad to choose from. I went with the roast potatoes and Greek salad. If my wife weren’t so partial to little baby sheep, I would have tried the lamb. Eating an adult cow meant that the anniversary dinner was free of tension.
The beef was marinated and tender. The tzaziki sauce was a bit too acidic, but added a kick. The Greek salad wasn’t that special — the tomatoes were underripe. Roast potatoes were ok.
Given the price, it was a decent meal. I think the location is a better selling point than the food. It could be a good place for a date night.

A group of six of us tried this place, and none of us will ever go back. The mousaka was simply a shepherd’s pie, the slow roasted lamb was a small bowl of tough tiny pieces of meat. The ribs and chicken were good, but the lamb chops were also tough.
The service was acceptable, but they didn’t clear away plates as we were done with them. When the belly dancer began, the music was turned up to torturous volume, and it went on and on. It basically drove us from the restaurant with throbbing ears. Oh, and my wife had been looking forward to baklava, but it was tough and old and came with berries & whipped cream? The most greek thing about the restaurant was the bill, which only listed the greek names of dishes, so that it was then hard to divvy up the costs, because we didn’t remember the dishes by those names. At over $ 70 per couple, we certainly expected a better experience than this.

Edmonton was a pit stop for my coworkers and I so on our way there, we were deciding where to have dinner. After deciding we wanted Greek, I used by trusty Unilocal App and found Yiannis.
We started with olives, tzatizki and pitas and the saganaki. I’d never had saganaki before and I’m so glad my coworker ordered it. They brought it out and lit it at the table so the aroma of fried melting cheese engulfed us. I went with the chicken supreme for my main, and my coworkers got the lamb chops, ribs and beef.
My chicken was accompanied with rice and a hearty serving of veggies. Luckily my coworkers know that sharing is caring so I got to try each of their dishes. My favourite would have to be the lamb chops (which is surprising since I’m not a fan of lamb)
Thank you Unilocalers, your great reviews helped us find an awesome meal!

I have to admit I had expectations going into Yiannis. I hadn’t been for quite a while and thought that the fact that it lasted for so many years in the same location meant that the food was consistently good. That was not the case…
We were a group of five and folks in general thought their meals were just okay… from lamb chops and rack of lamb, to prawns, all were just okay. My meal however, the roast lamb, was far from okay. Set in a small bowl within a place, the lamb sat in a pool of more oil then juice. The lamb were in terribly small pieces with no piece of lamb larger then a loonie… I suspect that I got a bunch of remnants rather than slices of roasted lamb. Huge disppointment… only made worst by the price.
Service was attentive but yet forgetful. Our server was training someone (on a Saturday night) and was more forgetful then the trainee. Was good to see the trainee more often then the waiter.
It terrible to have a bad meal experience, and worst when you share it with 4 other friends whom all were local. I am more inclined to try the other greek alternatives next time.

We supped at Yanni’s in honor of a wedding rehearsal dinner and were pleasantly surprised.
The hummus, baba ganoush, skewers and moussaka were very tasty and are recommended.
Give it a go if you’re in the mood for Greek cuisine when next in Edmonton.

I came for a late dinner arriving about 10 pm, as it was a Saturday the kitchen was still open. I decided on the chicken, lemon soup for 7.00 called the Avgolmono, and for y ail had the basis chicken dish for 24.00 called the Kotopoulo. Food service was fast and I tipped well because they let me sample the wine options before ordering a full glass.
The place was not very busy, but the outside temp was pure winter frost at minus 20’s-so it may have had more customers earlier in the day.

This was my first time eating at a Greek restaurant, and I was a bit concerned that there would be a limited number of vegetarian options, however, I was pleasantly surprised, there were many dishes to choose from.
I had the vegetable Ratatouille, and it was fantastic. The portion was big (I ended up taking half of it home), and the flavour was great, absolutely no complaints. Same goes for the baklava we had for dessert, it was very good.
The service was great, the waitress was very friendly, and I will definitely be coming here again.

The only reason I am giving Yiannis two stars is because the food was AWESOME! Unfortunately, the service was so bad that I just cannot justify giving it any more than that. There was a group of about 10 of us there for a bachelorette party. We did not all arrive at the exact same time, so we were okay to wait for the rest of our party to arrive before ordering. HOWEVER, even after we had all arrived, the server walked around with a dazed (a bit of an understatement) look on her face, serving other tables and ignoring us.
She finally took our order, and then the waiting continued. I can’t even say exactly how long we waited, but it was WAY longer than acceptable. We asked the server what was taking so long (our appetizers should come out first, no?), and she said it was because all the food needs to come out together (wow…). When our food finally came, all the orders were correct (I was actually surprised), and it was delicious.
The next annoyance was the server hovering over us and grabbing each plate the instant it was empty. After waiting so long to even take our order, this was a bit of a switch! She literally tapped on our shoulders, interrupted us, and shoved her arm through to take our plates. Rude much?
After finishing our meal and waiting some more, she finally comes over to ask us if we want our bill together or separate. We say separate, thinking this is easy enough to do as most restaurants have no problem with it. She comes back some time later and announces that she has to ask each one of us what we ate so that she can split up the bill. ??? Why we agreed to this, I don’t know, but we obliged.
More waiting. After she returns this time, she says that there is one misplaced sangria and asks several of us again what we ate (what does that have to do with sangria?). I believe they were on special for $ 4. Just put it on someone’s bill and move on…
Anyway… after more waiting (yep), she comes back with our bills and who I assume is the manager to help process our payments. (The manager was VERY nice. I think she knew how annoyed we were.)
The next hurdle for this poor dazed and confused girl was making change for a $ 20. The woman helping her had to tell her how it worked (No, don’t give her the $ 20 back, you keep that. you already gave her the change).
Through all of this, our drinks remained empty most of the time. And the place was not even half full. Worst. Service. Ever. They are lucky our bill automatically had 18% gratuity added on to it because of our party size. Otherwise, we would have not given that much.
I have been to this restaurant many times and it is usually fine, but this time was particularly bad. Luckily, my friend didn’t let it phase her and she still enjoyed her bachelorette party, even considering the fiasco that was dinner.
I should mention that we held our work Christmas party downstairs here a few years ago, and the owners were quite rude to us, basically treating us like we were a nuisance. Quite an attitude considering a large group of people is taking up half of the room and ordering tons of food and drinks.

My family and I have been eating at Yiannis for all special occasions since the 90s, but after my experience on June 29^th we will never return.
We arrived Saturday night at 7:10 and the music was so loud you would have thought you were in a booming dance club. We (shouted) asked if the belly dancer «show» was almost over because you literally couldn’t talk to your dinner mates. We were told it was almost over so we decided to stay. At that time another patron approached the owner and passed along his mother’s concerns that the music volume was «embarrassingly loud.» He said his mom was embarrassed to be sitting there with the restaurant more than ½ empty and crowds from Whyte Ave strolling past thinking it’s a dance club. When the belly dancer was finished the owner came over to his table beside ours and rudely stated «are you less embarrassed now?» To top it off, she walked away from his table and stated to herself «bah, annoying people.» It was extremely rude.
I have ordered the chicken souvlaki for years! Suddenly, this is no longer on the menu except as skewers in the appetizer section. Instead they have replaced it with something they are calling Chicken Supreme. It was ½ a chicken breast with a drummette, 1 large potato and side veggies. No rice. No bread. $ 26. Absolutely ridiculous. My plate was swimming in oil and my friend complained on my behalf because there is no way I was going to confront that nasty owner. The waitress was lovely, but clearly had to deal with a cranky owner at all times. Every other waitress /​hostess /​busser in the joint had huge frowns on. Not one person smiled the entire evening and they made patrons feel as if they were in the way all the time.
The owner came over and stated that she can’t sell souvlaki anymore because «every place on Whyte Ave sells it now so it’s off the menu.» This makes no sense and will drive customers away. The restaurant was ½ full whereas it was always lined up out the door. The only way Yiannis will stay in business is because they will continue to get the people who actually want to eat at Julios Barrio next door, but the wait is so long that they’ll come to Yiannis instead.
This long-​time Yiannis fan will never be back. The owner needs to hire a proper hostess who isn’t rude and smiles occassionally. Clearly she is no longer capable of doing this job well herself.

Pretty solid. The portions were unnecessarily huge, though.

After hearing all about this place from friends, it was time to give this place a go.
Parking is available around the side streets, if you can’t find spots along Whyte.
The inside is definitely on the classy side. There is a mural on the wall depicting a Greek village. The ambience is there for sure. Towards the back of the restaurant, the dining area is raised, which gives a nicer view of. the inside of the restaurant. The front windows open up when the weather is nicer, turning the entire restaurant into a patio.
Service is very good. The waitress even offered some suggestions when I told her I had no idea what was good.
So why only 3 stars? The food here is ridiculously salty. This I must say was was a major disappointment. My tongue started to go numb halfway through the meal.
Prawns youvetsi ($ 14) — 6 nice large prawns, in tomato sauce with some cheese on top. Super salty. I had to chug water while eating this.
Roast lamb ($ 24) — served with an interesting «Greek» salad consisting of beans and onions, with some potatoes and rice. The lamb was sliced up which made it really easy to eat, but the sauce was (again) ridiculously salty. I polished off my glass of water trying to eat the thing.
Maybe the chef mixed up his proportions, but because of this I simply cannot recommend the food here. It’s a real shame because the restaurant is decent in all other aspects.

Coming from the Mediterranean, I always had something for that region’s food. I tried Yiannis for the first time ever, and I’m not really an expert on Greek food, but everything was tasty and fresh. Went for the Greek Salad and a main dish, everything was a delight!
Staff are really friendly, the restaurant is highly recommended for a casual dinner on Whyte Ave.

I wouldn’t expect a restaurant whose web address is
to have decent vegetarian options, but Yiannis Taverna surprised me. Most Greek restaurants in North America (unlike Greek restaurants in Europe, in countries say, like Greece), rarely offer much in terms of vegetarian fare. But it’s nice to see a place like Yiannis, while still appealing to Alberta’s carnivores, can offer an authentic touch with some really nice vegetarian dishes.
Probably the best way to enjoy Yiannis is to order like you would in Greece: load up on lots of appetizers (Mezethes) and then share an entrée or two, depending on the size of your group. The spanakopita (spinach pie), melitsano (eggplant dip), tzatziki, and humous are all excellent appies, though I did find the pita served with them to be a little dry. I have heard good things about the calamari and dolmades. I just wish they would make the dolmades vegetarian as they are served in Greece (in the time I spent in Greece, I never saw or heard of meat in dolmades, only in North America). They do have an appetizer platter, but sadly, it’s not vegetarian and they don’t allow substitutions. I wish they’d change that as it looks like an ideal way to try many different dishes.
For entrees, I would suggest the vegetarian mousaka. Delicious! And the Briam Ratatouille sounds greats, too. Maybe I’ll try that one of these days, if I don’t keep going back for the mousaka.
The dessert menu looks amazing. Sadly, I’m often too full to really explore that menu, though I can say that the Bougatsa, a lemon, cinnamon, custard dessert in phyllo pastry is outstanding! I think I need to go there just for dessert sometime.
Overall, Yiannis is my favourite Greek restaurant in town. They are the most vegetarian friendly, and could be even more so if they’d only allow vegetarians to make some substitutions on the mezethes platter. Alas.

I found this place mediocre at best. Most of the food was fairly bland and generic. Food was good, and the portions were large so we were well fed. It wasn’t the best and it wasn’t the worst restaurant I’ve ever been too. Greek specific it was well prepared. Nice location (on whyte), as it’s easy to access however being on whyte and having the windows open in the summer it is fairly loud as there is a bar next door. Great family restaurant, I wouldn’t say it’s date material though.