Philoxenia Greek Cuisine

1 Reviews on “Philoxenia Greek Cuisine”

• Lunny

  2018/12/22Fine Greek dining has arrived in Thornhill in the form of Philoxenia Greek Cuisine. We noticed the now open sign and decided to give it a try. It is a medium-sized restaurant that seats about 70. Lots of white decor (walls, columns, ceilings, tables, tablecloths, chairs) with a few shades of light brown/taupe accents (floors, seats). There was only one table occupied when we arrived before 6 pm, and there were several more tables in use as we had our meal. As we looked at the menu, we realized that this would be a pricey meal, with entrees ranging from $22 to $48. I found the menu a bit confusing. The section headings were not very prominent, some of the prices were difficult to see because they were partially obscured by the picture of the background statue, and some items did not appear where I thought they should. Our server told us that their specialty was fresh fish. They did bring a large platter of a variety of whole, uncooked fish to our table, to describe the different choices. Although they looked interesting, we had already made our choices from the regular menu. After we made our choices a server brought a bread basket. He then snipped a few pieces of dry Greek oregano on a plate, and then poured some olive oil. There was also a small plate of tasty hummus to go along with the bread. We started out the meal by sharing some Spanakopita ($12). The filling inside the traditional Greek spinach pie was almost creamy, balanced by the crisp and flaky phyllo pastry. There was also a smear of smooth, creamy tzatziki on the plate. The combination was really tasty. This was one of the better spanakopitas that we have had. SWBMO picked the Astakomakaronada/Lobster Pasta ($40). The presentation was interesting: the lobster tail and head at each end of the plate, just as decoration, with a large portion of pasta and sauce in the middle. The sauce was tomato-based, with a rich cream added, and there were lots of pieces of lobster in the sauce. The menu did say whole lobster, but Im not sure that an entire lobster was in the sauce. It was a tasty filling meal, but I do think that some of the lobster was a bit overcooked. My choice was the Moussaka ($24). It was a fairly large portion, with nicely seasoned beef, sweet/savoury eggplant, and potato, topped with a rich and smooth bchamel that was lightly caramelized. One of the better moussakas that I have had. Service was very good, and perhaps almost too good. In the first five minutes we were attended by the host, a water server, the bread server, the sommelier, and our main server. Then later someone brought out the fresh fish display, even though we had already ordered our other dishes. After each course, someone came by to scrape any crumbs of the table. Every few minutes someone came by to top up our water glasses. The restaurant was mostly empty, so we think that had something to do with all the attention. I suppose more attention is better than not enough. To recap: Very good service, mostly very good food, high prices. This is not your place if you are looking for souvlaki.

  March 24, 2019, 11:33 pm

  Log in to Reply