Vassili's Souviaki - Burnaby

Lived in the New West area about 25 years ago and went here often then.  Just moved back and returned for the first time.  The food is still the best Greek food around this area.  Any restaurant that can last for over 25 years must have something going for it and this one does.

PARKING:  Lots of free parking.  Look for the red ferrari upfront in plexi-glass housing.  Really.<br/ <br/ BUILDING:  Looks like an old house converted to open area space.  Lots of knick-knacks, live flowers, plants and vines, candles. lamps decorate.  Definitely not your cookie cutter ikea assembled restaurant setting.  A bit dark inside but some people like that.  <br/ <br/ OWNER:   Quite the character.  Curmudgeony is a good word.  He doesn't mingle with the patrons and keeps to himself mostly.  The white shirts!   But, if you can get past that and all the haters in this site, there is some good food to be had here.   Iolanthe (I had to look up the spelling) was our server.  Ask for her and you will okay.  <br/ <br/ BIG PARTIES:  Actually quite a big area with enough space to have  bigger parties in the back, enough to walk around and socialize.<br/ <br/ WHERE TO START:   Vassilis Platter is great introduction.  Includes keftedes (greek meatballs), spinach pie, chicken skewers, prawn skewer, lamb chops, roasted potatoes, greek salad, pita bread and tzatziki , all wonderful, not fond of the roasted zucchini.   Hummus is extra but definitely homemade and best in Burnaby (that you can buy get at a restaurant and not made by yaya)<br/ <br/ SOMETHING DIFFERENT:  Moussaka, think of it as Eggplant lasagna, really works!<br/ <br/ PRICE:  A bit pricey to be honest.  Careful when you order extra skewers and ask for the price first.<br/ <br/ BOTTOM LINE:  Writing this review to honour my late friend Bia who  mastered gastronomy and left behind a substantial cookbook collection duly annotated.  Vassilis is the only place she enjoyed eating Greek food around here.   She was selective with what she ordered but she really enjoyed it with gusto!

Amazing!. My boyfriend and I ate in and ordered a garlic bread, tandoori chicken pizza and lamb sovlaki pizza. The garlic bread came out first, which we tucked right into straight away. The bread was fresh, and garlic plentiful, making it so tasty and morish. Our pizzas came out soon after. When I took my first bite I was amazed. The pizza base is to die for! Crunchy, light and well seasoned. The pizzas were cooked over wood-fire, giving them a lot of flavour. I literally could have eaten the base alone as entree. Overall I was very satisfied with the quality of the dish and the service. I am very sad Melbourne does not have pizza of this style, I will definitely be coming back when I am in daylesford next!

Glad I Didn't Check Urbanspoon. Walked in earlier in the day, liked the look of the restaurant and made a reservation for later in the evening. At this point had not checked urbanspoon had I, my girlfriend and I probably wouldn't have tried it out because of its 52 rating. I am very glad we didn't check urbanspoon prior to booking, because my girlfriend and I had a wonderful experience.<br/ <br/ Pizza was well priced for portion size, and importantly, tasted better than anything I have eaten in and around Fitzroy in Melbourne. Base was clearly baked fresh and garlic bread was equally good.<br/ <br/ Can't speak for anything else on the menu, although I was well placed to peak on others meals presentation looked delicious for the burgers and fish chips.<br/ <br/ The wait staff were friendly to us and took care of us.

Nice lamb roast. I went here with my dad for dinner one night. My dad and I both ordered roast lamb.<br/ It was fork tender and delicious. The sides included a greek salad, some rice, a uh.. single roasted small-medium sized potato cut in half (really? and I think some bread. It's been awhile.<br/ The main focus was on that roast though. Man, that was tasty. It just fell apart as I ate it.<br/ The service was adequate, certainly nothing special. They seemed bored and their smiles were weak.<br/ The window we were seated next to was drafty. My legs got a bit cold but I was enjoying my dinner so much that it didn't really bug me much. It's a very old-fashioned style building. Kind of gave me a nostalgic feeling being in there.<br/ <br/ So yeah, we had a decent time and considered returning. However, after seeing the overwhelming response from these other reviewers I sincerely doubt I would support this place any further. Wow. I really had no idea.<br/ We saw the owner's Ferrari parked outside but we didn't see or hear a word from him in the restaurant itself. Just a couple of older women handling waitressing.<br/ I had a fine enough experience but I can't ignore all these other reviews. I've never seen this many negative reviews in a row before. God dang.<br/ <br/ Take away from this what you will. Be careful out there.