Vasili's Greek Cuisine
 Akron, Ohio        Date of Visit  08/02/14         No Known Website 

A new place showed up on the local search and we headed into the valley for some Greek. The online reviewers appeared to either love or detest the place and we strolled into a moderately appointed dining room with a fairly large crowd, which died off rather quickly. The place seems family run, with both good and bad, there's a lot of bickering and cajoling on the floor.
 

The Three Cheese Tiropitas Were Reasonably Okay
 

At one point Steph heard the chef say he was going to close the place and go home.?.not sure if he was talking temporary vacation or the permanent kind.

We started with Tiropitas, a three cheese blend which is wrapped in flaky phyllo dough and baked crispy, but these fell a little more toward the mushy side. It was a simple but salty and crispy layered start. I wish all had gone as well. My platter came with a Greek salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber + feta, 3 olives (kalamata, not the vodka) and an herby vinaigrette. It was simple but it was fresh and tasty, we’ve had way worse.

To my surprise Steph ordered a gyro. She went with the supreme (less surprising) for the addition of feta. It was a perfectly functional sandwich, their tzatziki sauce is not quite as good as Steve’s but is tangy, cukey and has enough garlic and other additions to stand out on the menu. The veggies were fresh and crisp. The gyro meat was sliced thick but there is no way it came off of the spit, no crust, no crisp, no variation in brownitude. Perfectly average.
 

I ordered the pastitsio platter which started with the salad, followed by a round of a Greek lasagna. Layers of macaroni, shredded cheese, ground beef all topped with a cream sauce and served with triangles of pita. Oh, if only this tasted of anything at all, but sadly the only evidence of seasoning was the big chunk of bay leaf I had to pick out of my teeth. Seriously disappointing, stick with the average gyro.
 

We always try the baklava and Steph was also hoping we would find something akin to the kunefe she had missed out on at Café Istanbul. There was Kataifi on the menu, they both start with K, might as well try. The place had become very quiet by then, save for the bickering, and it was easy to hear Chef Mike preparing the desserts. You’ve heard of Chef Mike? Last name Ro’Wave?

The baklava was doused with honey and nuked to a warm but pleasant topography of crisp phyllo and the sweetened nut mixture. Not bad, Chef Mike did alright…At least until he go his waves on the Kataifi. The shredded dough didn’t have a chance when dealt the vicious combination of honey and radiation. I don’t know if the nut mixture inside was different from the baklava but instead of being layered between crisp layers is was wrapped up in something more like sweaty noodles. You could call it gross, dessert served in a wet mop. Some people loved the place, others hated it…I couldn’t find a reason for either, at least completely. There isn’t much reason to return regardless.
 

The Baklava Turned Out Nicely