Evvia Estiatorio

Came here to celebrate my boyfriends birthday.
First of all, glad I made a reservation. It is very important because I heard someone wanted to walk in and they fail. It was a wonderful sunny afternoon and eating at Evvia makes everything looks so nice.
We ordered Gigantes — baked organic Gigante beans with tomatoes, leeks & herbed feta as appetizer, I love how big the bean was and the herbed feta and a hint of lemon juice change the tone of bake bean
I ordered Arnisia Paidakia and my boyfriend ordered Kokinisto me Manestra. When I came into Evvia I had the expectation it was a pricy meal, the Arnisia Paidakia was most expensive entrée on the menu, I hesitated if I should order it. Let me tell you. YOU REALLY SHOULD!!! I asked my lamb to be medium rare, the chef slightly pan friend lamb and made the skin slighty crunchy, and the meal was slightly seasoned by oregano and other spices and olive oil. When you squeeze the lemon juice over the lamb and you cut a piece of lamb with fat, THAT WAS FANTASTIC AWWWW. My boyfriend’s Koknisto me manestra was good as well but I think I like mine dish so much better :)
I also ordered wine, waiter is very knowledgbale and Evvia has a good selection of wine.
Dessert was even better, I ordered Galaktoboureko — I love how the phllo wrapped the custard, they usually come with two pices and the waiter nicely spilt them into two dishes, one bit of warm dessert and another bite of nice cold pistachio ice cream. Fantastic.
What can I say? I will come back again.

The manager never did respond to my typed letter or this review. I think that says it all !

Judging strictly by the look and vibe of University Avenue, you’d certain think Palo Alto is a nice little city, but would you suspect that that some of the most affluent people in CA are dining around you?
That’s the feeling I get when I eat at places like Evvia. It’s not a pretentious place by any means. The service was good and people were friendly. You just get the sense that this is one of the select dining spots for PA families. Either that, or it’s the preferred water hole for Angel investors and every VC that works on Sand Hill Road or in downtown PA.
In terms of ambiance, I wouldn’t mind going back, but just make sure you’re at least business casual so you don’t look too out of place.
My overall experience was good but I didn’t think the food was that amazing.
We tried the Souvlaki and lamb for entrees. The lamb was good. Tender meat but the flavoring was a bit bland. Souvlaki is a kebab that sits on top of some rice. The meat was extremely tender and the rice had a lemon flavoring, which wasn’t bad. There was good texture to the dish.
We had Lamb chops and shrimps for appetizers. The Lamb was good and the meat was very tender. The shrimp was too salty IMHO.
I’ll probably come back to give this place another chance. It’s a nice place but I need to find a dish that’s worth coming back for.

Incredible restaurant. Excellent food. Great ambiance. Service is great though it could be a little more attentive.
Parking is always tough on Emerson. Try the garage on Bryant.

We had dinner reservations set for Mother’s Day and have been dying to try this place out due to all the amazing Unilocal reviews. And boy, it does not disappoint. The ambiance of this restaurant is so charming and the service is absolutely amazing.
We came in for a later dinner and our server was Bilant from Turkey. He was so helpful with recommendations and made the experience all the greater. We ordered the zucchini cakes and Bilant’s recommendation of the grilled octopus. The zucchini cakes tasted so fresh, and even though fried, felt very lite. The grilled octopus was also delicious and had a great texture. They even have a full bar, which was took advantage of and had excellently prepared Moscow mules. For dinner, I had the lamp chops which were heaven. Seriously, one of the best lamp chops I have ever had. It was like butter and the potatoes that came with it were amazing. My boyfriend had the rib eye and it was huge. Also, so flavorful and cooked perfectly.
Bilant was such an excellent server. He stopped by several times to our table to ensure we were enjoying our experience and even shared some jokes and stories with us. We never had to turn or wave him down. All in all, Evvia was an excellent restaurant and an amazing experience. We will be definitely be back.

It was delicious but an unexpected dead bug made its final journey onto my food and my appetite promptly disappeared.
We came to Evvia on a busy Sunday after making a reservation a few weeks in advance. We arrived on time and seated without fuss; I was taken aback immediately by the ambiance of the place with its earthy sophistication and coziness. It’s definitely one of those places that makes you happy the moment you enter! The servers greeted us politely and then started us off with drinks and bread which were quite enjoyable.
We ordered and shared:
* Grilled octopus: simple, fresh, light tasting and great texture — sincerely had zero complaint towards this dish.
* Lamb chops: we had to have this since this is Evvia’s specialty. It comes with three tiny cuts of lamb chops, taste wise it was okay but I do like the seasoning. Sadly, the chop arrived cold and it was well-​done instead of our medium request
* Whole fish: supposedly this is one of their star dishes along with the lamb. It tasted pretty good, but I found a DEAD BUG buried underneath the vegetables. Yes, a bug that decided to leaf Earth on my veggies! I couldn’t tell if it’s a baby roach or a beetle bug as I told my waiter and immediately he whisked my plate away while downplaying and dismissing the situation by stating that «this happens from time to time as they washed the vegetables and it could also be the bugs that drop from the ceiling». Ugh, needless to say, we all stop eating.
They did comped the fish but we ended up with a disappointing experience at Evvia. I love Greek food, but sadly I will be taking this off the list.

The service here is absolutely impeccable. My gal pal and I overstayed by about, oh THREE HOURS chattin it up over appetizers and water. They should have probably kicked us out before WE realized that we were being table whores and didn’t even order alcohol. Instead, on the way out, everyone and I mean EVERYONE acknowledged us and thanked us warmly for our patronage. Really? Yes really.
A few notes on the food, (after all, we are reviewing a restaurant):
Meatballs ⁴⁄₅
Who doesn’t love meatballs? Okay, vegetarians. These were succulent but I’m just not a big fan of lamb. Baaaa!
Octopus: ⁵⁄₅
OHMIGOD this was insanely delicious. Fresh, crisp, and not at all chewy. Lightly dressed, grilled, and just perfect. Would get this again.
Zucchini cakes: ³⁄₅
I looooove zucchini but this tasted a bit strange. Mushed up and then pan fried. Flavor was a bit off for my taste but it might be totally authentic, I really don’t know. Greece is on my travel list.
I will have to return again for a full meal including entrees and alcohol. My BF loves Greek food so that shouldn’t be a problem! GO!

After years of going to Kokkari we finally checked this place out. Similar flavors but a smaller space than its sister restaurant. Our reservation was really early which I think affected how much food we ordered and ate but what we had was pretty delicious.
Grilled octopus. Yes. So good. Dressed with lemon and olive oil it was tender and very tasty. Would definitely order again.
Fried cheese. This is good but not great. They don’t light it on fire at the table so there isn’t that wow factor that you get at other places, and i thought the cheese actually had a charred/​burnt taste to it. So although we ate a good portion of it I don’t know if I would order it again. I might go for some other items instead.
Braised Lamb Shank. Delicious. The bone-​in shank comes with orzo and literally falls off the bone. It was tender and the portion was really hearty. I brought half of it home for a later meal.
Lastly birthday dessert: galakaboureko it was a little different than what I’m used to having at the festivals but it was a rolled version that came with a tiny scoop of pistachio ice cream. The ice cream was tasty and seemed to have some crushed up filo dough in it. That was a pleasant surprise.
We had great service and a fabulous dinner. I would definitely return.

I came to this place on my husband’s bday and it was the perfect setting for celebrating a bday romantically yet not in very formal setting. They have amazing wine selection, very courageous waiters and I must say perfect chefs. From appetizer to main course to dessert, everything tasted very delicious. My husband loves lamb on other hand m not much fan of it, but the lamb chops here was fantastic (it named armesia pa…) .i ordered chicken skewer platter which was balanced, well seasoned and tasted good, and my husband ordered grilled fish. Fish was great (one of the very few places I liked fish in USA) I will say fish preparation was fusion of Italian n Mediterranean grill. They gave us a bday dessert which was some vanilla role with ice cream — it was good as well. I will love to come back to this place any day

I’ve been here once many many years ago. And I remember really enjoying the meal so I decided to come back again this past weekend.
It was my father’s birthday, so my husband and I decided to treat him to a nice night out here. We had late reservations for 8:45. I booked a week in advance and that was the only time slot they had available so keep that in mind when wanting to dine here– plan ahead!
We brought our own bottle of wine and handed it to the hostess when we got in since we were a bit early for our reservation. When our table was ready, our wine was waiting for us at the table.
I wish I would’ve remembered our servers name, but he was absolutely amazing. He greeted us right away and opened our wine. He gave my husband a taste and offered to have it decanted for us. We gladly accepted.
Given it was a nice night out, we wanted to take our time and enjoy the food and each other’s’ company. We decided to start with appetizers and work our way to the entrees. (I definitely recommend that you do the same!)
For appetizers we ordered:
— Dolmathes (grape leaves stuffed with rice, mint, dill, lemon & olive oil) ⁵⁄₅
— Kolokithokeftethes (crispy zucchini cakes with cucmber & mint yogurt) ⁵⁄₅
— Melitzanosalata (eggplant spread served with pita bread) ⁵⁄₅
— Octapodaki tou Yiorgou (traditional grilled octopus with lemon, oregano, and olive oil) ⁵⁄₅
For entrees we ordered:
— Kokinisto me Manestra (lamb shank braised in aromatic spices with orzo and myzithra cheese) ⁵⁄₅
— Arnisia Paidakia (rib-​cut, mesquite-​grilled lamb chops with olive oil lemon roasted potatoes) ⁵⁄₅
— Kotopoulo Souvlas (lemon-​oregano rotisserie chicken with fasolakia & Evvia potatoes) ⁵⁄₅
For desserts we ordered:
— Galaktoboureko (traditional phyllo wrapped vanilla bean semolina custard with pistachio ice cream) They actually brought this dessert out for my dad since it was his birthday. So good! ⁵⁄₅
— Sokolatina — warm chocolate cake with sour cherry ice cream & chocolate sauce ⁴⁄₅. Reason being that I wasn’t a fan of the sour cherry ice cream, but the cake was amazing!
We all ordered dessert drinks, I had a great port while the men had a really food whiskey.
From start to finish, everything was superb. I would highly recommend ordering any of the dishes listed above. Definitely on the list of places to try. You won’t be disappointed.

My wife and I tried Evvia for my birthday on a recommendation from some friends of ours and it was fantastic! The grilled octopus appetizer was the best I’ve ever had — very tender and not at all chewy as a lot of other octopus dishes I’ve tasted tend to be. My wife had a grilled white fish, and I had the steak and both cooked perfectly and tasted great.
Our server too — didn’t catch his name — deserves a mention as he was very attentive and good at explaining the options as we were getting ready to order.
We will definitely go back to Evvia and bring friends.

One of the best Friday nights to spend in Palo Alto. The food was amazing, fresh, local, and most importantly, very delicious. I had the lamb shank and it was so good. And the best part is, you can see them cook it right there! The kitchen is open and you can see the chefs prepare the food. The grill they use isn’t run on propane, but on coal, it’s quite cool to see all the sparks fly and the fire cook the food.
The entire restaurant has a nice ambiance to it. It gets to a comfortable noise level, not too loud or too silent.
Bathrooms were kept clean and was up to date.
However, there is one thing, or person, who stood out the most during this entire meal. The server Lucas. Lucas is the nicest, most sincere server i have ever met. He even taught my younger brother how to properly cut his steak. Further, he taught us a lot of interesting things about Greece and its culture. To top it all, when he brought out the desserts to our table and found out my brother was allergic to nuts, which always incorporated into all of the desserts, he went to the back and made him a massive sundae, on the house! Great service Lucas. Look forward to seeing you again soon.
Great location and just enough parking make this a great dinner if you find yourself in the Palo Alto area. 5 Stars!

I was on a business trip at the area and I’m so glad that my friend recommended me this restaurant. I am Turkish and it is very difficult to find authentic Mediterranean cuisine in the US. This restaurant is definitely an exception. I loved it so much that I went back for another great experience.
I tried their octopus as an appetizer. On par with the ones that I had in Santorini! For mains, I tried lamb chops, mousakka and grilled whole branzino. They’re all delicious! Grilled branzino is great if you’re looking for a dish to share.
For dessert, I had their famed galaktoboureko. It is definitely worth all the raving. It is a crispy pastry filled with delicious cream.
Also if you’re ever on the search for authentic Turkish/​Greek coffee. You found the perfect place for it!

We came for dinner on Thursday evening with a reservation. Over the summer, we had dined at its sister restaurant Kokkari in the city, which we really enjoyed! The interior will remind you of Kokkari, but is also somewhat different with the fire pit placed away from dining tables. The open kitchen was beautiful. I loved the barrels placed along the walls and copper pots hanging by the kitchen.
For appetizers, we got the zucchini cakes, which are shredded zucchini fried in ball-​form. These were great. The yogurt went along with it well. We also got a plate of fried calamari, which were done well and the accompanying sauces were nice. However, I’d order another appetizer next time to try, since these were not very unique.
We shared the dry-​aged rib eye steak medium rare (even though our waiter recommended medium). I like my meat more pink! It was delicious and seasoned well. While eating, we looked up how the dry-​aging process is supposed to affect meat and learned it’s supposed to intensify flavor and tenderize it. While it wasn’t quite melt in your mouth tender, this was a great steak.
We had eaten the lamb shank dish at Kokkari before and can vouch it is quite excellent as well. The guy at the table next to us took a picture of his plate and savored his lamb shank happily in peace.

The time has come for my review, which I’ve been postponing for awhile, only because I didn’t want to go against the mainstream here by giving Evvia Estiatorio less than 4 – 5 stars. Yes, the ambience is definitely there and the hype about this place is through the roof. Their rustic stone fireplace and large polished wood table bring old-​world charm. It can get real loud and real cramped though, especially if you’re seated near the fire. Better secure your reservations in advance though. In all honesty, I’ve had varying experiences here.
With large group, on multiple occasions, we ordered apps like Kolokithokeftethes — crispy zucchini cakes, Dolmathes, grilled octopus, crispy calamari, Saghanaki (pan fried kefalograviera). Nothing Wowed me, or tasted extra delicious or that special. I’d happily give a 5-​star rating if at least one dish was amazingly fantastic… but it wasn’t. It’s typical Mediterranean flare, with many dishes found on the menus of many Greek restaurants. Nothing wrong with that, though main courses for dinner are priced really high here. I generally love lamb shank and lamb chops (anything lamb, really) but these here are just a few bucks too much. Some dishes at times tasted greasy, some of the apps as well. All in all, this restaurant is solid, but not my first choice in Greek/​Mediterranean nor in downtown PA.

Can’t complain about this place. It’s impossible to.
The wait staff are very, very professional. Obviously ambience here is fantastic – the inside feels like someone’s cozy home in a vineyard, blended with modern professional kitchen-​ry and nice bottles of wine. The food is fantastic, although the portions were a little much for me. Of course, the food tasted delicious – even the complementary bread/​olive-​oil tasted very good.
Overall, a good place to go when you want to impress someone.

Service is exceptional every time we dine here. The food is as good as I always remembered it to be. We usually start with the rice wrapped in grape leaves then get the sea bass (branzino) and have tried it grilled and oven roasted and prefer the fish grilled. The hubby loves the lamb here. My favorite dessert is the Galaktoubreko (custard filled pastries with pistachio ice cream) — Delicious!
Can’t wait to come back! Thanks for the exceptional service and food! Can’t believe this restaurant isn’t a Michelin rated restaurant.
Remember to book your reservation in advance. Valet parking is available.

I came here with a large group, so we did family style and shared a bunch of dishes. For appetizers we ordered: octopus, prawns, lamb meatballs, Taramosalata Tzatziki and Melitzanosalata with pita bread, and mushrooms. We also ordered: grilled fish (Psari Psito, Psari sto Fournou, Lavraki Plaki), and grilled lamb.
My favorite was the octopus, which was flavorful and lemon-​y and had a chewy pleasant texture. I also liked the lamb meatballs. They were flavorful, tasted great, and went well with the bread. Also, the pita bread that came on the platter with the sauces was so delicious, we ordered more! All of the grilled fish that we ordered as mains were delicious. The skin is well seasoned and the fish isn’t dry or overcooked. It was delicious.
Service was wonderful. Our waitress handled all of our orders and requests flawlessly. They were friendly and never made us feel like we had too many requests.
Also, there is a bar area, where we had a few drinks before dinner. The bartender was friendly and made us drinks based on our drink preferences. He made me a drink with cucumber and another one with champaign. Both were delicious and refreshing! We loved this guy!
Finally, for dessert I ordered pumpkin cake with pumpkin ice cream and iced coffee. The pumpkin dessert was good, not fantastic. It was average compared to the extensive other pumpkin desserts I’ve been having this season. But the coffee was amazing. The iced coffee comes with milk and a spoonful of sugar, which I originally thought was a little much. But when I tasted it, I loved it!
If you’re willing to splurge a little and you love greek food, I’d definitely recommend this place!

Two years after the hubby and I eloped, we decided to take a proper honeymoon and chose Greece as our destination. The hubby is part Greek after all, so it was a «homecoming» of sorts for him. We traveled for a month in Greece, exploring Athens, Milos, Santorini, Crete, Thessaloniki, and the Meteora, and the little towns that surround such places. We fell hard for Greece – its food, people, beaches, historical places, and lifestyle!
Evvia transported us to back to Greece with its delicious food. My husband and I couldn’t help but look back to our wonderful experiences in Greece when we were dining. Greek cuisine is simple (much like Italian and other Mediterranean cuisines), but when the ingredients are the best and the execution is perfect, then the food just shines.
We started off with a half bottle of the Robert Sinsky Pinot Noir ($ 40). Great wine! My husband, whose birthday we were celebrating, really enjoyed this wine. It would go really well with all the food we had.
We ordered quite a lot of food for two people, but we wanted to sample a lot of things. We’ve been to Kokkari before in SF, their sister restaurant, and we loved the food there, but we haven’t been back since celebrating our 1^st wedding anniversary there. So here’s what we ordered:
Fig, Feta and Arugula appetizer ($ 10) — this was on special that night. So simple, yet so delicious. The drizzle of balsamic vinegar provided a nice contrast to the sweetness of the fig, saltiness of the cheese and the pepperiness of the arugula.
Marithes Tiganites or Crispy Smelts ($ 10.50) — I seldom see Crispy Smelts on the menu and when I do, I order it. Their smelts were cooked perfectly, lightly battered, not greasy and nicely seasoned. So good!
Evvia Salata ($ 10) — a very hearty salad that should be shared! Great combination of textures and flavors. It has chopped romaine hearts, radicchio, pine nuts with an olives and feta dressing. This would definitely be a good option for a lunch entrée.
Kokinisto me Manestra or Braised Lamb Shanks with Orzo ($ 32) — the hubby loved this when he had it at Kokkari, so he decided to order it here too. The lamb was fork-​tender and flavorful. He could only finish half this dish as we had eaten so much already at that point. It made for great leftovers the next day.
Spit-​Roasted Suckling Pig ($ 33) — this was a special that evening and I just had to order this for myself! It was presented nicely, with chunks of tender meat piled on top of each other and topped with a rib bone and crispy skin. Underneath all that were tasty golden brown potato wedges and braised greens. I savored half of it and enjoyed the rest the next day. So delicious! If they happen to have this on their specials, get it!
Galaktoboureko (complimentary bday dessert) — tender phyllo pastry, filled with Vanilla bean custard, and served with pistachio ice cream on the side. It was light and delicious.
Sokolatina ($ 8) — we really could have done without a second dessert, but how can you resist a warm chocolate cake and a scoop of sour cherry ice cream? We didn’t obviously and no regrets about it too! Order their sleep coffee with it and you’ll have a perfect ending to your meal.
After such wonderful and service, we will definitely be back! Oh and if you’re in the market for a great cookbook, purchase the Kokkari cookbook which is also sold here at Evvia. I own the cookbook and have made the Braised Lamb Shank dish and the Oranges with Rose Water, Cinnamon, Dates & Spiced Walnuts at home, and they were both excellent. The food photographs will entice you to cook or dine at Evvia or Kokkari!

Made a reservation for dinner via phone a week prior, and was able to secure a table, despite no availability on OpenTable.
Valet Parking is available for $ 8.
A very talented hostess provided a warm greeting upon arrival and brought me to the table.
Service throughout the entire meal was excellent, courteous, and efficient, on par with a Michelin-​rated restaurant. Speed of service has improved significantly.
Started off with the lamb meatballs and they were okay.
The lamb chops were also decent and came out medium rather than medium rare. The side of potato wedges were tasty.
Ended off the meal with the phyllo dough wrapped vanilla custard which was okay. …this dessert was much better before.
Dining room was comfortable and cozy.
~$ 61/​head after tax and tip for dinner

Es gehört sicherlich zu den besten Restaurants in Palo Alto. Ich habe mir bei meinem ersten Besuch die Lammkeulen gegönnt. Es stimmte alles, das Ambiente, der Service und die Qualität.