CONTENTS

DINAKIS MEDITERRANEAN GRILL

Pash Brar

Ilet my friend make the restaurant selection on an evening out. He chose Dinakis. When I asked what I should wear, he said pants. Ok. So I grabbed some pants and a sweater and we headed to Port Coquitlam. We of course had reservations, which is almost mandatory during Covid. There was plenty of free parking and lots of social distancing. I know in some restaurants I haven’t felt safe, but I felt fine going in. We were sat at a booth and it had high barriers blocking us from other patrons. We used the QR code on the table to access the menu, because they didn’t give any menus. We started with calamari and some saganaki. My friend said the saganaki was the best he had ever had. I enjoyed it too, but my only complaint was the portion was half the size of any other Greek type restaurant, yet they charged the full price. The calamari was good too. The best part was no tentacles! I hate tentacles because they repulse me and I actually push them off the plate away from my food, so I loved that I could eat the full plate. It was served with some tzatziki dip that was great. A lot of places do not do calamari well (like the Keg for example), so we really enjoyed it and used the extra pita bread that was served with the saganaki cheese to polish off all the tzatziki. Next we both ordered chicken souvlaki. I tried to convince my friend to get the chicken marsala, (because I wanted to taste it) but he refused and said “get it yourself and stop trying to change my mind!” When our souvlaki arrived, we had 2 skewers of chicken. Some places only serve one skewer, so I appreciate a two skewer restaurant. The chicken was very flavorful. No one had asked prior if I wanted Greek or Ceasar Salad, or other options like garlic bread which most places do, so I was given Greek salad and pita bread which I didn’t mind. The salad dressing was great. The rice and the potato were not great. There were two pieces of potato and I love a two potato place, but it had no flavor. We squeezed on some lemon, but it didn’t help much and the rice was bland. But starches don’t make or break a meal. We ate so much pita with our appetizers prior, that neither of us touched the pita bread that came with our dinner. The dinner portion was large, so we both ended up packing about half to take home. Next I ordered dessert. It was a New York cheesecake slice. It was just a GFS cake (Gordon Food Service). It was not home made. GFS cakes aren’t too bad, but it’s nice when restaurants make some effort with dessert. But kids do get a free sundae with their meal, so I think that makes up for it! I liked that they offer a Happy hour, a kids menu, a seniors menu, a vegetarian section on the menu and platter options for two. Some of the links on the website didn’t work, so they need to have that corrected especially when not using actual menus. All in all it wasn’t a bad place. I would go back. I like a place that does a steak with lasagna, rib combos and a souvlaki and salad option for those who like to eat healthy. When we got the bill, it was paid and then we noticed it seemed a bit high. We checked it over and we had been charged for an extra chicken souvlaki. We of course requested a refund and got it. So, if you do go to Dinakis or anywhere for that matter, double check your receipt to make sure its totalled correctly. My sister loves a good Happy Hour and she is also vegetarian, so I will definitely suggest it to her and her drinking buddies.

#101-2020 Oxford Connector, Port Coquitlam BC