Zorba’s Pizzeria Tavern

This used to be one of our favorite restaurants, but it has really gone downhill. The last three times we went there, the salad was wilted, the lamb was gristly, and the fish was dry. What surprised me the most is that the owner came over to our table, as she knows my dad. When she asked how it was, my dad said «the fish was dry.» She kept smiling, ignored the comment, and never offered to replace it or offer a refund or even a free dessert. We were both surprised. We have not been back since then (a year and a half ago) and we used to go every two months or so.

I had my bridal shower here in June 2015 and they let us down. My mom worked with someone (perhaps an owner?) over the phone for weeks, she really wanted it to be nice. Unfortunately it rained and was cold the day of my shower, but we still had to have it outside under the covered patio as they couldn’t accommodate a move inside. Okay… my mom gets there an hour before guests are to arrive and everything and I mean everything was soaked. One would think the staff would wipe down the cheap gross plastic patio furniture before a party arrived (we spent quite a bit!) but nope! She wiped everything down herself with my bridesmaids and no one from the restaurant even offered to help or apologized! The food was sub par. Another problem — they charged everyone’s drinks to my mom! There were 70ish people there — they didn’t clear doing this with my mom — most places unless told otherwise charge people for their drinks! Overall, while I enjoyed my shower, I would not recommend this place for an event. I have dined there for dinner a few times and it’s fine, but I always get the tuna melt and I don’t really branch out.

Tried the pastichio, Greek salad, and avgolemono soup. Everything tastes good and the salad was quite fresh. I ordered it there for takeout and it came out in a rather quick manner. The reasons being that the salads were ready to go in their individual containers, soup is obviously just in a vat, and the pastichio was a cut section of a larger dish (can’t expect them to bake to order). My only gripe was that the pastichio could of been heated a bit more to loosen the bechamel a bit more.
Overall, it lived up to its recommendations as a flavorful restaurant with good prices.

Ewww, just eww. I used to love to come here, the calamari is my favorite. Everything over the past couple years has gone downhill. Went to the one in Worcester and my brother got the mousaaka. It looked great, I had such food envy. Ordered it in Charlton and it tasted like it was a year old. I’m very sad to write this, I was a big fan when you opened.

The pizza and sandwiches are pretty good. The service is avg and prices are fare. Nice local place to go with no waits.

Zorba’s catered an event for us in the summer of 2014 that was flawless! Every one of our guests enjoyed their meal. The manager went out of her way to help us as well. Our meal on the night of 1÷12÷15 was enjoyed by the both of us and we will return. Besides having a decent beer selection that included BBC’s Limbo, a hoppy beer with a grapefruit aroma given by the hops, the fish and the meal that my mate had was flawless. We will continue to eat here.

We went here for lunch on a quiet Saturday afternoon. We placed our order to have the server return to inform us that the restaurant was out of gluten free pizza dough — the entire reason we went (one in our party is vegan and gluten free — not easy to accommodate). The one star is primarily the way our situation was handled. We informed our server that we would pay for our drinks (three sodas and a milk) and leave. Rather than comp us the non-​alcoholic drinks, she actually charged us — $ 10+ for drinks we did not even have a chance to drink. As we were leaving, the hostess just smiled at us and said «leave us already?» No one asked what the issue was or offered any sort of effort to make up for the huge inconvenience. Can’t offer any opinion on the food but the restaurant needs to take a serious look at how staff is trained.

Consistently good food! I don’t know if it’s authentic Greek fare, but the menu is extensive. There’s something for everyone!

Food was terrible tonight! Pasta was very overcooked. Service was the only good thing.

If you advertise a kids menu on your website that doesn’t have an age stipulation, you should honor it. I wasn’t very hungry so a kid sized option would have been perfect, and it came with a small drink and dessert, score!
Wrong.
When I ordered it I was told it was supposed to be for kids 12 and under only — I said «really? It doesn’t say an age on the website menu.» I was then told that I could order from it if I wanted to, but it would be without the drink and dessert.
Lame. You’re telling me that I’m «allowed» to pay full price and get essentially ¹⁄₃^rd of the items listed. Noted for next time I am in the area and looking for a bite.
But, whatever, I was hungry and it was convenient so I ordered the kids chicken tenders meal. Three chicken tenders and a couple handfuls of fries were given to me in a to-​go box with my sauce of choice (honey mustard) in a container on top. I asked if there were any «to go» style cups where I could get water or something and was told they had kid cups, and did I want one. My reply was «yes, please, since I’m not getting the drink or desert with my meal, I would at least like something to wash it down with.»
The only reason I’m not giving this 1-​star is because the fry on the food was actually good. The chicken tenders had a nice breading, they were crunchy, and moist on the inside. The fries had a nice golden color, good flavor, and none were «soggy fries.» Everything was hot and fresh too, actually a little too hot, I burnt the roof of my mouth.

We are regulars in the Worcester restaurant and decided to try Sturbridge for lunch on the day before Mother’s Day. We had pork stir fry, ones of the specials. I would describe the meal as salty soy and rice soup. It was so salty that it was impossible to eat. The rice was floating in the sauce and veggies and pork ere undercooked. Service was mediocre at best I would not recommend this location to anyone.

Gave two stars. Average place, average fare, average service. Greasy spoon without the diner counter. At least there is a bar to wash out the mediocrity from the palette.
Consider this place as a drive-​by. I should have…

A Greek restaurant that has a good amount of options. Their chili/​soups are really good. The portions are plentiful, so you shouldn’t leave hungry.

I had to write a follow up to my last review. I still frequent Zorba’s. I love the Chicken Souvlaki (my latest favorite). I want to love this place but unfortunately, on at least 5 – 6 occasions ordering take-​out, I have gotten home to have something missing from/​wrong with my order.
The manager on duty has been apologetic and offered me the missing item (s) (the times I’ve felt like driving back to get it). However, I am so frustrated with the frequency in missing items and the negative interactions I’ve endured with the «to-​go» employees; that I am pretty much done ordering take-​out.
In closing, I enjoy eating here but will continue to eat in!

I went here on a Saturday night @ the Worcester Location for dinner to go. Immediately I was assisted by a new and clueless hostess.
I had some questions for the hostess about the gyro sandwich. Inquired about a non starch side option. She was not willing to budge.
I ended up the the greek salad with gyro strips on top. I asked the hostess if I could get some tzatziki sauce on the side. She responded, «o yea yea, its coming with gyro strips so yes» …No it didn’t. I was in the car and gone before realizing it didn’t and did not feel like going back.
Not much feta going on and the salad dressing tasted and looked to be right out of a ken’s salad dressing bottle. Ive gotten a better Greek salad from Capones Pizza in Marshfield! They are an Italian restaurant! sad really.
The gyro strips were good… tasted just like the gyro strips right now the road from the oak street grill in Pembroke or cedars café in Hanover.
If i ever did go back i would dine in… hopefully with better service.

Way too expensive for average everything.

First time here, the last time here. It took forever for five sodas to be brought to the table. It took forever to have food brought to the table. Keep in mind, there were only a few other people there. The waitress never once asked us how everything was and we had to wait, once again, forever to get the check and she never bothered to come back and pick it up.
The menus were from the jurassic period. So old and so greasy. I felt diseased just touching them. You know there is a ton of bacteria all over it. The décor was corny and needs a major overhaul, very outdated — -yuk.
Some people were happy with their food, others, like myself were not. Hubs liked the wings, the fries were thin and dry. he didn’t eat them. Two people seem to like the grapeleaf thing. Another had spinach and artichokes and pasta? He didn’t eat it. My fish sandwich was dry and tasteless. For nine dollars, gotta love that cheap little bag of potato chips. Little man had the kids pizza. It was five bucks and the size of an english muffin. He almost started crying.
Seriously, if you kind of like food, stay away from this place.

I went here several years ago up until recently for a mini-​birthday surprise for a relative of mine, arriving at about 3:30 and taking a seat at the bar. I did visit here in the past and could not remember what I had or what it was like (the place has changed hands alot and so have the names) Casual attire is the order of the day for inquiring minds.
The bar service was fine, but hey, at 3:30−4 or so I would kinda expect it to be because… nobody else was there. They have some Greek items along with sandwiches, paninis, pot roasts, pizzas, the works really, and a decent bar selection from the looks. For the main course I split a pizza with another member of my party, I can’t remember the name, but it had ham, pepperoni, hamburg and other meats. It was okay but it was really thick and pretty greasy, and for a guy with a relatively decent appetite I was full after about two or three slices.
The bill was not too shabby. About $ 50 – 60 or so for beers and soft drinks and regular courses. And if you do not drink alcohol, they do serve fine Coca-​Cola products. I would probably not recommend sitting at the bar for a long time because after two and a half hours of people reminiscing about events I was not present for, lets just say I felt better than ever after standing up. At the end of the day, if you are looking for a decent meal and drink, this place should suffice.
S.O.

I’m not sure what to think about Zorba. On one hand, the food was forgettable and kind of bland. On the other, I didn’t order anything Greek. But then again, I would expect a restaurant confident enough to put paninis, burgers, and tzatziki all in the same menu to be able to place a tasty meal in front of me no matter what the cuisine… Also, I don’t think there’s anything quite like Zorba anywhere in its vicinity, so points for originiality. Stil though, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the sweet potatoes from the cheese in my panini on a blind taste test if my life depended on it, so two stars is my final answer.
I did like the wide array of choices, especially vegetarian ones, BUT I think that it would’ve maybe been a smarter idea to make the menu more focused and less convoluted, and focus on quality rather than variety. Maybe the saving grace would’ve been the hummus, I don’t know… I wish I had tried it.
What I ended up trying was the portobella panini with the sweet potato fries. The fries were crispy enough, but again, taste lacked. Maybe a little sauce, GREEK sauce even, to give it some personality? At $ 6.79 for a pretty big plate of food, I suppose the price was right though.
I’d come back, but next time I would definitely stay on the Greek side of the menu.

Our first visit there was less than impressive. We are big fans of Greek food, usually. We did NOT have the pizza though. If a place serves Gyros, chances are, it won’t make great pizza. Go Italian for a great Pizza.
PROS: Our waitress was wonderful, I believe her name was Angela. She was very perky and extremely nice. The food arrived promptly and was hot (or cold when appropriate). The interior is very nice and feels very comfortable. It has a family atmosphere and looks very clean and well maintained. The menu variety is very good as well.
CONS: The grilled chicken was VERY bland. The salad didn’t taste as fresh as it could be, and the Feta was diner-​quality (not great). We got a kid’s cheeseburger for our child, which we wanted well-​done, but come out burnt. You can cook meat all the way through without burning it. Our Tzatziki appetizer was filled with Olive Oil, making a soupy, oily mess in what I traditionally want to be smooth, creamy yogurt based dip.
SUMMARY: The food was sub-​par. Everything we ate could have been prepared at home, and done better. Though the prices were average, I did not feel I got my money’s worth. This place is out-​of-​the-​way, but certainly doesn’t warrant a drive to go there, unless you’re looking for friendly service. We were disapppointed in the food.
For better Greek food, I might suggest Aegean in Framingham, MA and Watertown, MA. Though they are quite a distance from Charlton, MA, they are the only option I see for Greek in MA.