Greek Taverna

Myself, like a previous reviewer, was drawn in by the spit and was even given a sample cut fresh from it. However, my happiness was quickly dashed when I ordered my gyro and saw the meat being picked from a pan next to the spit, not cut fresh like the sample I was originally offered.
Overall, my gyro was not bad. Have had better; have had worse– thus middle of the road for me and why the rating.

I saw this place in an old news paper advertisement and decided to swing bye. Saturday afternoon and the place was filled with tourist (Food court) but this place was the only place that did not have a line… Hmmmm… I assumed that like all other Greek restaurants Kotopoulo Riganato would be offered… NOPE! This is the Greek version of Pollo a la Brasa. Just fresh herbs, garlic and lemon juice. Clean, plain and simple. the Taverna offered a grilled chicken breast instead.
I thought about the Moussaka and the decided against. It was 2pm and it was pre-​sliced. The pan that it was being held in was bone dry and the pureed potatoes were cracking on the top… I opted for the standard «YEER-​ro» platter. I started to drool when I saw the two HUGE towers of beef/​lamb! I placed an order, via Scoutmob 50% off deal, and drooled a little more!!! Whoa. wha. what are you doing??? Maaaaan… Dude just reached into a drawer and pulled out some pre-​sliced meat… Woooow… It was placed over crisp shredded lettuce, red onions, feta cheese, tzatziki sauce and tomatoes… The tomatoes had seen better days. Translucent… The thing that I did like about it was that it was placed on a thick slab of warm pita vs a Pita pocket! The Tzatziki sauce of yougart, cucumbers, lemon juice and dill was thick tasty but it was texture-​less. The Gyro was placed into the funnel formed pita slab and it seemed that all of the sauce was on one side… the side that I had to hold to eat the sandwich. no worries. after two bites of this large sandwich, I bailed and went knife and fork.
No french fries!!! For some reason, everything served as a platter came with a side Greek salad and… RICE??? The salads were pre made and naked!!! (of dressing) fresh romaine, tomato, red onions, feta, pepperncinis, kalamata olives and a Dolmades! Grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs! A standard herb loaded vinaigrette was offered on the side… RICE!!! The rice scared me at first but when it was spooned onto the plate, individual pieces as opposed to large clumps of rice fell to the plate! It was lightly seasoned and tossed in a bit of oil. The counter person asked me if I wanted sauce… SAUCE??? it was a ragout of roasted vegetables in a simple stock with herbs. Potatoes, zucchini and carrots… Needs salt but good! Hidden gem (Cubic Zurconia)

I really like the Greek Combo Platter. For $ 8.95, it’s a great deal. The lamb/​beef is sliced straight from the spit, which makes the gyro one of the best I’ve tried in the city. If the other reviewers had the gyro, they might have rated higher. (I get there right at 11:30A to beat the crowd.)
Although I really don’t care about the ethnicity of anyone, just that they do a good job, I believe the owners are of Greek descent. That’s reflected in the satisfying food.

I have just finished eating day-​2 of the Spanakopita Platter ($ 7.95). Whoa. Enough for two days is not even the word. I went to Greek Taverna on a ScoutMob deal: 50% off up to $ 10. Well here are some tips for this place:
1. if you plan to use the scoutmob deal, download the app and pull up the offer prior to entering the Old Post Office Pavilion (which houses this lil food court eatery) because it is in a dead zone. (They might not have to worry about this in the future because I’m sure it’ll be replaced by some high-​end establishment complete with free-​hi-​speed-​wi-​fi once construction on Trump Towers DC begins…).
2. If you have to return to the office and have a 2:00pm meeting after dining here, do not, I repeat, do not get the briami on your platter. Briami is zucchini, tomato, onion, peppers, and POTATOES. Jesus. Who needs potatoes on a spanakopita platter? You already get a titanic portion of spanakopita (spinach, feta, and onion layered between some of the flakiest (not on day-​2 though) phyllo this side of the Mediterrannean) (yes, the spanakopita is good!) PLUS a heaping side of rice. Who needs a potato dish, too? What are we carbo-​loading for a marathon? Dam!
3. Get there prior to the 12:30 pm busload of tourist kids who are extremely annoying and have food court vouchers. Arrrrrrgh! I almost threw a couple of these irritants under the bus! I have to believe I was much better behaved than that as an adolescent.
4. The baklava ($ 1.55) is good.
5. This is the most important thing to remember: You will be eating Greek food prepared by Hispanic workers and paying your money to the Asian cashier in a food court. This is not five star fine dining we’re talking about here. Caveat emptor.

i have tried Gyro’s two or three times before & was never impress but this place has DELICIOUS GYRO’s! from a tourist perspective this is a sorry LOOKING Food Court. there were 6 people in my party and we all ate from different vendors. i BET that most of the places are Owner /​Operated a plus in my book!

Of all the restaurants in the dreary Food Court of the Old Post Office building (near Federal Triangle), Greek Taverna is the one that beckoned me for a quick bite. As a weary and sweaty tourist waiting for a shuttle bus pick-​up, anything would have sufficed and the employee at the Greek counter at least had a smile on her face. A mid-​afternoon stroll through the slow row of eateries is a journey back in time when food courts were the most depressing jobs a person could endure.
A quick Gyro wrap seemed like a simple choice. It was. The Meat and Tzatziki Sauce wrapped in Pita Bread with Tomato, Onions, and Lettuce was quick and much heftier than I expected. It’s not spectacular, but I downed the wrap and was on my way in no time. The food is probably only worthy of 2 stars, but it still seems better than most other choices at the Old Post Office. Because of the service, speed, and competition, Greek Taverna turns out to be a good choice when in the area.
Also, note that you must go through a security check-​point to get in the building.

I am sorry, but I ate the Moussaka at this place and it was gross. I ended up just tossing it out — and that is rare for me. And the old post office food court is so sad. It’s like no one even tries anymore.

Greek Taverna is located on the Old Post Office Food Court. As you enter from 12^th Street it’s directly on your right.
I work within walking distance of the Old Post Office but I don’t go there very often for lunch. While I’ve had some good meals there, especially when I was in a pinch for time and couldn’t bear to eat the slop my building’s cafeteria serves, there wasn’t anything too special about it (lots of places selling hot dogs and burgers, etc). I decided to give it another shot though. I ran over a little before noon to beat the crowds (huge lines form to get through security– but if you’re a fed like me with an ID you can bypass security! Bonus!) although the heat seems to have kept all the tourists inside the museums. I walked in and the place was pretty quiet, for once! I immediately saw Greek Taverna and walked over, a gyro was sounding like a good option for lunch… A nice woman appeared and directed my attention to their «Specials» board. They serve burgers, gyros, and other items. Unfortunately I didn’t grab a menu but I will and I’ll try to get some photos too. Soon a gentleman appeared and asked what I would like. I looked down at the hot entrée items and asked what one of the dishes was, he told me it was Moussaka. I’ve never tried it before but it looked good. I wasn’t even sure if it was an entrée or a side but he told me it’s normally eaten with rice. I decided to give it a go. I’m not usually adventurous with Greek food because I don’t like eggplant and that seems to make an appearance in a lot of Greek cuisine. I also got a salad with my meal. The gentleman serving my food let me pick and choose my salad ingredients and was nice and heavy handed with the Feta cheese, yum! This hearty meal plus a large Diet Coke cost $ 7.74. I don’t believe the salad is normally a part of the meal so that may have been an additional expense.
I get back to my office and have thoughts of looking up the ingredients of Moussaka before I tuck into my meal but decide against it. I figured it’s just Greek lasagna and couldn’t be bad. The aroma drifting out from the container was too much to hold back from. I took my first bite of the moussaka and immediately detected the potato, it had absorbed juices and flavors of the other ingredients just like in a stew. Then I tasted the ground beef, lightly flavored but not too much to overpower the other ingredients. I picked up on the bechamel topping, it was rich and creamy and had a slightly darkened skin on it from baking in the oven. Then, I saw it… eggplant skin. Well, let me be honest, the moussaka was so good I was tearing it up pretty quickly and was about halfway through it by the time I noticed the eggplant skin. Well I guess I must have been wrong about eggplant! I’ve definitely now learned not to rule out a dish just because it has eggplant in it! I really enjoyed the moussaka, I can’t vouch for it’s authenticity, but I’ll be back for more– especially this winter. It’s the perfect cold weather dish!
The salad was also a winner. It came with a delicious olive oil and herb (mostly oregano) dressing. It went really well with the rice and moussaka.
The only part of the dish I didn’t absolutely love was the rice. It was well cooked, but pretty bland. It goes well with the moussaka but I added quite a bit salt and pepper to it for extra flavor. The bites of it I had that intermingled with pieces of onion and feta from the salad were delicious– that might be an idea for a new side dish!
I’m looking forward to my next trip to Greek Taverna, which won’t be long from now. I’m excited to try their gyros. The rotating slabs of gyro meat I saw while I was there smelled amazing. An update will follow!