An old favourite from a time in Victoria's dining history when
there were very few decent restaurants to choose from. It's definitely
time for an update, but the food remains tasty and family friendly.
San Remo's used to be famous for only hiring boobilicious blond and
female servers. While that has seemingly come to an end, the quality of
service staff remains in the ditsy category. Our server was pretty and
young, but she knew nothing about the food, wine or beer and was
painfully forgetful. Even the men at the table, usually easily
distracted by attractive young ladies, lost their patience after Patty
asked what Greek beer they had - she answered, "we have Warsteiner and
Isenbeck on tap, one of them must by Greek." Of course, neither is
Greek. She later made a similar mistake when my brother Hew asked for a
refill on his Warsteiner and she brought him an Isenbeck. For those of
you who aren't familiar with these beer - they look completely
different. She was a nice person, but the level at which she
was struggling, suggested she should go back to bussing for awhile.
We ordered the 'import' house red win. For $25 a litre, I thought it
was pretty good. I asked what it was, but could only get that it was
Boutari - one of the biggest wine makers and distributors in Greece, so
not really helpful. The wine list itself, is surprisingly good for a
family restaurant. A good selection and well paired - even some
interesting vintage selections.
We started with saganaki ($9.95), calamari ($9.5) and a warm olive
and artichoke appetizer ($9.95). Saganaki is warm goat cheese, flambéed
tableside. I love table side service and I always love the indulgence of
cheese and booze mixed together. The calamari, was well portioned and
served in big chunks, making me think it could have been hand-cut. It
was hot and crispy, which is rarely the case when you order it in a pub.
The artichoke and olive dish was ok, but I wasn't thrilled. I thought
the olives at least needed to be pitted, if they were going to served
hot.
For our main Patty and Krista had the 'special' braised lamb
shoulder($20.95), Hew had the lamb souvlaki ($15.50) and I had Prawns
San Remo ($17.95). We all enjoyed our food, but we were unanimous in
agreeing that the side dishes need work. They've been the same for the
twenty years I've been eating there and it's time for at least a small
change. Patty and Krista enjoyed their braised lamb, but were
hard-pressed to eat even half the food on their plates. A large portion
of meat, served with three lemony potatoes and overcooked broccoli and
carrots. The both agreed that one potato and some grilled veg would have
been preferable. Hew skipped the starch and veg in favour of the Greek
salad. A good call, but they forgot to dress it...oops. His souvlaki
otherwise was tasty and much more tender than the fast food variety. My
Prawns San Remo were a winner. Prawns baked in a tomato, wine and onion
sauce. I like this dish a lot, but I would have liked a couple more
prawns (there were six and I think there should be eight in an main
course). It was however, served with pilaf and overcooked broccoli. It
was fine, but I would have been a lot happier with something grilled.
We were all happy with the food but overwhelmingly agreed that there
was room for improvement. The large serving of starch and overcooked veg
is way out of style, for good reason and is easy enough to change. I
like the menu, but they could thin it out and omit some of the less
'Greek' selections, opening up some room for specials and less
mainstream Greek dishes. Despite that, if I'm in the mood for a hearty
comfort food in an unpretentious atmosphere, San Remo is a good pick.
Reviewed September 26. 06
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