***½~ (3.5/5)

I think I tried to go to Porto Fino Mediterranean restaurant a few months ago, but got wrote down the wrong address. I found it this time. Porto Fino actually has a couple other Express locations – probably take out only and a limited menu.

The area is pretty sketchy looking, around the Scott Rd and 96th Ave area in Surrey. The building looks very old from the outside. Once we got in though, it got better. We were quickly seated. Luckily they had a few TVs in there so that I could watch the Vancouver Canucks game.

The menu is filled with your standard Greek food, with some Italian food like pastas and pizzas. We ordered the Eggplant Parmesan for our appetizer. For our entrees, I ordered the Regular sized Lasagna Al Forno with meat sauce (you can choose plain tomato sauce) ($13.99), and Beipas ordered the light Lamb Souvlaki ($15.99). I also ordered a 1/4 L of red wine which was really good. I can’t remember what it was called though. It was pretty light and fruity.

The food took a long time to come, but our waitress apologized. Seemed like their was only one chef/cook in the back, but it also wasn’t too busy. I think there were about 5-6 tables filled. I think it took about 30 minutes for our appetizer to come out. The eggplant was covered with tomato sauce and mozarella and edam cheese. I guess it was really the sauce and cheese that made me really liked it. I could taste the eggplant but it was pretty soggy. I couldn’t tell if it was breaded and fried before being baked. Anyways we both liked it. I think there were about 4 slices of eggplant, and was served with really good garlic bread.

Our main courses came a few minutes later. My lasagna looked really big, I literallly said “whoa” when our waitress brought it. It was a really big dish. But it was actually because the plate was really shallow. But it was good this way because there was a lot of yummy cheesy topping – you can have some with each bite. It was a lot of food though. I think I was only able to finish half. I liked it quite a bit. It wasn’t spectacular but it was good (mostly because there was so much topping!). I noticed later on though that there was a huge whole bay leaf baked on top of my lasagna…

The Lamb Souvlaki was good too. The light came with a skewer of Lamb, rice pilaf, roast potatoes, Greek salad, and tzatziki. Beipas said it was good. I tasted a bit of the lamb and it was cooked a little bit more than I like it, but I’m not that big of a fan of souvlaki. But the overall flavour was good.

One thing that was kind of annoying was that our waitress’ response to everything we said was “For sure!”. Can I have some water? – “For sure!” Can I order this and that? – “For sure!” Can we just get the bill? – “For sure!” I swear she said “For sure!” to us at least 10 times… but she was nice. So did I like the restaurant? For sure!

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Porto Fino
9493 120 St.
Delta, BC

(604) 581-7555

http://portofinorestaurants.ca

****½ (4.5/5)
I’ve been wanting some Greek food recently, and I have about 3-4 Greek restaurants on my To Try list. I went to Galini’s Greek Kouzina and Grill because it was fairly close and had some pretty good reviews. And I agree. I had a really great time here. Great food and great service, and pretty good decor for Surrey.

I ordered the Roast Lamb of course and they recommended the Tsantalis red wine to pair. I asked for something not so full bodied, and I got this red wine which I really enjoyed. It was fruity and had a cherry flavour to it.

My Roast Lamb cost $18.50 and also came with a bowl of soup and a salad. I got the cream of chicken for my soup (though I don’t think I had a choice), and it was pretty tasty. Not too salty, but it just had a few pieces of chicken and some carrot. I probably wouldn’t order it if it wasn’t free, but it was a good starter. When we were done, the salad came perfectly on time. The greek salad was pretty standard though. Cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, red onions, an olive, feta cheese and a light vinaigrette. It was pretty bland unless you had a piece of feta cheese with each bite. They gave us a choice of Caesar Salad, or Greek Salad.

My Roast lamb was amazing. It may be because I haven’t had it since May, but it was very good. It was so tender and it easily shredded with my fork. The meat just fell of the bone. It had a really nice flavour and a good amount of fat. It tasted even better when dipped with the tzatziki sauce, which tasted nice and garlicky. The lamb came with some greek rice, some steamed vegetables, a roasted potato, pita bread, and some tzatziki sauce. Everything on my dish was awesome, and definitely worth the $18.50. The rice had a nice flavour. It wasn’t plain at all. The vegetables were tender but still had a bit of crunch to it, and the potato was very well cooked.

For dessert I ordered the Caramel Banana Cheesecake Xango which is a cheesecake and banana wrapped in a tortilla like dough and deep fried, served with some vanilla ice cream. This was also amazing. It had a crispy outside with a bit of cinnamon. And on the inside was a warm, soft, rich banana cheese cake mixture. There was also some caramel sauce to decorate the plate. I wished there was more caramel. Our waitress actually forgot the ice cream, but we didn’t even notice. The ice cream was really good too.

My friend enjoyed his Chicken Souvlaki. But my other friend said the Calamari wasn’t up to par. He says the Keg’s is way better, and wished he ordered something else. I actually tried the Calamari and didn’t die =). He loved the molten chocolate lava cake and ice cream though.

As we left, each worker said have a good night. No snobs here. I’ll definitely be back here when I’m craving some lamb.

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Galini Greek Kouzina & Grill
101-19475 Fraser Highway
Surrey, BC V3S 6K7
(604) 530-2881

http://www.galini.ca

As a side note, for some reason the bathroom had some Vaseline hydrating lotion by the sink. Oh, and the menu though pretty traitional in the first few pages, also have some Italian, German, and French dishes near the back.