I would have expected help from
the waitress when I accidentally set a napkin on fire, but not at Yanni’s
Restaurant and Café. I guess I could say the service was a little flat, but
I’ll explain that later on.
Yanni’s
Restaurant and Café is located on Main Street but it is such a small place that
it is really easy to miss. The building itself is painted white and blue, which
are the colors of Greece’s flag. The restaurant actually looks as if it came
straight from Greece. The inside appears even smaller than the outside. The lighting
at dinnertime is kept dim which, personally, set a relaxing mood. Each table
had a small tea light candle to add to the laid back atmosphere. Diners have
the option to sit at the counter or to sit down at tables located throughout
the restaurant.
My
three friends and I decided to go out to eat one Sunday night, and we all decided
on Yanni’s since none of us had ever been there before. Upon walking in, we
were informed, by the only waitress working, that we could pick the table at
which we wanted to sit. There were only two other parties seated so we picked a
table toward the front of the restaurant. Ironically, the table we sat at did
not have a tea light like all other tables, so my friend Chrissy turned around
and took one from the table behind her.
The
first unexpected part of the service, was that we as customers had to ask our
waitress to take our drink order. Our waitress did not come over to our table
until she was already asking for our food order. Almost every other time I have
eaten out, my waitress or waiter has asked for the drinks order while everyone
looked at the menu. But, we all have our off-days and we certainly were not
going to complain about ordering drinks.
We
decided to start our meal off with an appetizer, pita bread and hummus. The
hummus tasted fresh and our pita bread was warmed up to perfection. We ended up
having a lot of hummus left over so we asked our waitress for extra pita bread.
Little did we know, since our waitress failed to inform us, that two extra
circles of pita bread would cost us $2.00, and when we got the bill, we were
all shocked our waitress didn’t warn us of the extra charge.
As
for the main course, the food was delicious and actually arrived quite quickly.
I ordered a vegetarian gyro and had the gyro meat replaced with a vegan burger.
Now, if you’re not a vegetarian, this may sound unappetizing, but the vegan
burger compliments the added veggies and tzatziki sauce really well. The prices
were not high at all; especially for the portion size that is given.
Halfway
through dinner we had all finished our drinks, and to no one’s surprise, we
needed to get our waitress’s attention again. The entire time she gave off a
vibe of being annoyed that four young girls were dining alone without parents.
Our waitress never brought us extra napkins, another item we needed to ask for
toward the end of the meal. As we were finishing up dinner, I reached across my
friend to grab a napkin and suddenly realized my arm was over the tea light. As
a reaction I quickly dropped the napkin and jerked my arm back to avoid burning
myself. Well, in the process of staying safe I happened to drop the napkin over
the tea light. Before I knew it, the napkin was up in flames, which were about
the size of a basketball! My instincts told me to throw my newly filled glass
of water and douse the flames out. Meanwhile, the waitress stood behind the
counter casually overlooking the accident. Instead of coming over to help, or
at least to make sure the entire establishment did not go up in flames she commented,
“the fire still isn’t out” from behind the counter. Three more glasses of water
later and the fire was extinguished.
It’s
needless to say the service down at Yanni’s Restaurant and Café wasn’t top
notch. Our waitress wasn’t the least bit enthusiastic about serving us, and
couldn’t have cared less when I accidentally set a napkin on fire. Despite our
hostess, the food was absolutely delicious. So, if you were in the mood for
Greek food, I would definitely recommend ordering out from Yanni’s and enjoying
your meal…at home. The quality of the restaurant’s food is undeniable, but the
help on the other hand is a bit debatable.
