"A lot of mixed feelings after our recent visit for a birthday. First off, our server was great. I felt bad that she had to memorize so many specials. They had about 7 specials going that she had to recite. She was very attentive and good about answering our questions. So the service was great, no complaints there. Now onto the food. We ordered the following : appetizers were saganaki with mushrooms, dolmades with tzatsiki, and a sample of the octopodi. The saganaki was bland and the few small pieces were lost in a sea of mushrooms. It came with pita-which was pillowy, soft and warm-but trying to top a pita with the scattered pieces was awkward. The dolmades were good and the tzatsiki was good but I have had better at other places in the city. I know that ordering octopus is risky, and I have liked it before so I thought I’d try it here, since they offer a sample. I’m sad to report that it was terrible. Drenched in olive oil and not much else, it tasted fishy and the texture was weird, kind of like a canned oyster. It needed lemon, salt, garlic. It just didn’t seem to be of good quality or well prepared. For our entrees we ordered the pastisio, and the cod which was on special. Comes with soup or salad for an extra $5 as opposed to being on its own, which seemed a bit odd. The pastitsio was good. Drier than I remember and the amount of meat was excessive. But it was probably the best thing we had. The salad came before the cod and it was really not good. Wilted lettuce, 2 pitted Kalamata olives, mealy tomatoes, a lot of cucumber and vinaigrette that tasted bottled. I dint even finish the tiny portion. The cod was cooked in lots of olive oil, onions and garlic. It was a decent portion and was cooked well enough, although a little chew in parts. The dominating flavor was roasted garlic. I liked it but didn’t love it. At the end, after we ordered two boughatsa to go, we were given a birthday baklava at the table. I can appreciate the gesture but…we just ordered two desserts to go because we were too full to eat more. We took a bite out of courtesy and found it dry and overwhelmingly seasoned with clove and/or cinnamon. I’m sad to give a mediocre review for a place with so much history in the neighborhood. Mpls sorely lacks good Greek places and I can’t recommend this either, as Gardens of Salonica does feel tired."
