Hellas Restaurant
 

Once a month or so we drive 80 miles to Tarpon Springs Florida and eat at Hellas Restaurant… Delicious and totally authentic Greek. I ask by the tomatoes were so delicious in the salad and they reported that they bring them in with the cheese from Greece…worth the drive…. After you eat, drive through John Howard Park out to Sunset point and enjoy the ocean view!

After I saved this post, I tried to delete it. This restaurant while originally Greek, appears to have changed hands recently and now bills itself as Mediterranean.

I’ve never been to the Olive Tree Restaurant in Crystal River but relatives have raved about it. Olive Tree Restaurant | The Premiere Mediterranean Restaurant in Citrus County!

The map says about 40 miles from Wildwood, 44 W.
963 N Suncoast Blvd
Crystal River, FL 34429

Takis in Leesburg and near Bealls off 27/441 in Lady Lake. They serve several different dishes. Last week, the one in Lady Lake was closed.

hardly greek.

I am also, but I do want to be lazy and have it done for me

i already know what's in Tarpon, Orlando, Ormond, Brevard, Lauderdale...... the question was specifically about here and no where else.

thank you

RE: Takis Restaurant - DON'T ORDER GYROS HERE, you would be very disappointed. HOWEVER, outstanding calamari and baked penne entrees! Ate there a few weeks ago.

Drive to Tarpon Springs. Start with Hellas and don't miss several others. Great food/pastries at all. Traditional Greek Food with attention paid to quality...no rubber feta. It's worth the trip and a nice overnight if you are taking friends and/or family.

Greek
 

I
More than 30 minutes but Tarpon Springs is a good day Trip. Lot's of Greek restaurants to choose from.

Reality is very different from many people. Perhaps Twilight zone should be considered as far as great takies is the closest you're going to get within 90 MI

If you don't consider takies, then the answer is no
 

No no no no no no no. You keep asking and everyone keeps telling you no I just accept the fact there is no true Greek restaurant here Takis is the closest thing.

Takis is just awful. Spanikopita is soggy and not enough feta. Greek salad shouldn't have lettuce. Moussaka soggy. Pastistio ok. Avgolemeno meh.
Lamb shanks? Nope.
Jack of all trades master of none

yeah wish I never asked anything.

Oh no! I hadn’t heard. Thanks for letting me know.

Try Lakis Greek Restaurant in Ocala. The review in Yelp! suggest the they have an extensive menu. Here is the link: LAKIS GREEK RESTAURANT - 52 Photos & 55 Reviews - Italian - Colours Plaza 3405 Sw College Rd, Ocala, FL - Restaurant Reviews - Phone Number - Menu

Lakis Restaurant in Ocala
 

There is an authentic family run Greek restaurant in Ocala is located on route 200 behind Tony’s Sushi, the name is Lakis Calamari everyday, if you want Octopus, call for availability, all Greek dishes are in the menu, really good and reasonable, remember it is a small place. Call them for more information.

We went to a place north of Inverness on 44 pre-Covid. Tavernos Manos. Believe it's still open. Small, kind of hidden away. Worth the drive, we think.

TAVERNA Manos...........requires reservation after 5:00. Or if you go for lunch. Check hours, etc. by "Googlung" it.

In Dunnellon I believe. It's called Gyro king. Very authentic Greek food the grilled octopus was nice. They moved and I have not been since move.

It is the best around here.

We love Takis, great Greek salad too!

You back??

Skip,
How does one join the Gourmet Club in the Villages? My husband and I are very interested! Thanks, Joan

If ANYONE finds good grilled octopus around these parts, PLEASE share the info....I'll even buy you dinner for your efforts! I'd also be VERY grateful to find a place that makes a great shrimp cobb salad. Two of my FAVORITE foods

Make sure you check out St. Mark's Greek church festival when they have it...usually advertise the the Daily Sun- delicious greek food & pastries...they try to have it before Greek lent starts...church is in Belleview.

Joan:
I joined by attending a meeting. Next one is Sunday, October 3rd at Allamanda Rec. Center at 7 PM. Great club for dining out and dining in too. Leaders are a wealth of knowledge. Here's how the club runs: INFO
Their restaurant website has nearly every restaurant (950+) within 100 miles of The Villages. :eek:
And it's searchable too! Just search for Greek cuisine (or just Souvlaki, or Leg of Lamb) on their Search Page.
We've made many friends there.
Here's their homepage. Incredible amount of info on their website.

Skip

And we would choose Lakis on SR 200 in Ocala over either Takis here. It's about 25 miles up there, however. Been in business a long time.

Skip

I'm sad to see there aren't any Brazilian Barbeque restaurants on the list. Are there none in the area at all? Or maybe they call it something else?

Also, on that website if you mouse your cursor down the page in an attempt to type into the search buffer, the [Polk Area includes] list pops up. And so does every single area on the list that your cursor passes on the way to that search buffer. In order to minimize the list, you have to run the mouse over the little blue arrow next to each area's name. But then as soon as you move your cursor away from that arrow, it hits the arrow on another area, resulting in another popup.

I had 8 popups on my screen completely obscuring the search buffer before I finally just gave up and closed the page.

If you're talking about a Brazilian Churrascaria, I believe the closest one is on Rte 301 in Ocala. There are a few in Orlando too.

Ipanema Brazilian Steak House click here

Olympia Restaurant in Orlando.
Olympia Restaurant

Thanks! It's not something I'd do on a regular basis so being a little further from home is fine. Would probably go to the one in Ocala. Maybe an anniversary treat.

OBB:
I don't have that problem but I sent your comment to the club's webmaster.
He just replied:
"Unruly TOOL TIPS can be caused by 1. Slow internet connection, 2. Noise on the line causing data packet drops or 3. An old (slow) computer. I can fix that easily by preloading the TOOL TIP texts. Now the page loads a little slower but you get better TOOL TIP response. Have that poster go back and try the new page. (Might have to reload/refresh the page when you revisit.) I'll bet it works for him/her now with no "hangs". SEARCH PAGE
Enjoy. Thanks for the feedback."

I tried it and it looks a little different but it works fine. Give it another shot, OBB.

Skip

I just got back from Greece. You are right the only Greek food is fresh octopus, fresh lamb, maybe the freshest fish, and home made stuffed warm grape leaves.

$50 for that selection? I'd rather drive to Otown and go to Fogo

I'm going to end looking at this thread - Here's my take on all of this -

The best that can be offered "in the area" meaning not Tarpon, Tampa, Orlando etc. is nothing more than cheap to average Italian serving what they think is greek and taking on a greek name.

That being said, I doubt I'd live in this gourmet club either because what my experience has been here for the last 2 months doesn't rate above 3 stars out of 5 if they are lucky. I don't settle and yes I'm selective. I'd rather make it myself than to have it poorly done.

Thanks for all the responses.