Thasos of Ft Lauderdale: good Greek food confounded by service so bad they knew it was bad!

We love Greek food. And Thasos of Ft Lauderdale, Florida has good food, but the service was so appallingly bad we would not recommend anyone going. What was most egregious, was the entire staff seemed to know they had lousy service and just accepted it.

We visit Ft Lauderdale more than any other place in Florida. I have written several reviews — and make no mistake, it is definitely a foodie city. (La Dolce Vita run by Fabio being the best by far).

Near where we stay are several Greek restaurants — not sure why — and having lived 8 years in the Greek enclave, Astoria, Queens, I know Greek food. One, the most popular if you judge by crowds was Greek Islands Taverna– we have tried to eat there several times, but always been thwarted by long waits and chaotic parking. It may have good food, but the overly long lines, no reservations and the ornery attitude of the host and hostess just turned us off; I think it is tremendous hubris that the owners assume their popularity outweighs their poor service. Restaurants are service companies, as in we serve you. Not the other way around.

That same issue — service — became also the core of the problem with Thasos.

Thasos, nearby on West Oakland Parkway, has a unique facade resembling inset candles — very memorable and perhaps promising an extraordinary meal. Exactly the opposite occurred.

First, we got an early reservation for 6 pm — it was a Friday night and very busy. In hind site, this saved us from the unfortunate fate of tables on either side of us who came later. Let me explain later.

But let’s go over the food. For appetizers, we had a good Greek salad and ground lamb spiced with mint — both very good. Promptly served. But the restaurant was still only half full.

As it filled up, the wait began for our entrees — grilled sword fish on yellow Spanish rice and fried smelts (tiny fish in case you don’t know).

Sitting near the kitchen told the tale. It was pure chaos, badly run, everyone seemed in a panic and even worse, it was like all the servers, wait staff, hostess were in on the joke — they simply were poorly run. And accepted it! It was good food, delivered with poor service with a non caring shrug.

We waited. And waited. The table to our left, having arrived later, waited over 30 minutes for their salads. They kept asking the waitress and she would make excuses, say she’d check and then moved on to the next aggravated client.

Watching the kitchen, it was evident from all the wait staff hovering near the delivery station, that something was very wrong; each crowded the other like baby chicks waiting for their food, jockeying for position as if any plate would be the right one to grab.

When our food came, we enjoyed it thoroughly — the swordfish, which can easily be served too dry, was done quite well, pink on the inside with a slight glaze I could not define; The smelts, which though larger than usual, were also really delicate and very tasty. Even if you had never had smelts, this would be a good moment to experiment. Unfortunately the wrong restaurant.

In the end, the good food made us sad because the service was just so bad, we knew we would never come back. To personify that, the couple to our right, who arrived an hour after we did, were also repeatedly asking for their appetizer and the waitress told them as they ordered, “You know your food is going to take 40 minutes.” Before they could react, off she went. Chaos in her wake.

#ftlauderdale #greekfood

#florida

#thasosofftlauderdale

I added the map to the restaurant jsut in case you mistakenly find it; don’t go!