Nikitas Ouzeri

Well, I was a bit reluctant when I put up the 'T Chow' and 'Not Coffee' posts, because these were my first lukewarm review. However, it seems I've quickly come round to the idea of brutal honesty, justified in the name of good vego food (and good food generally) because this post is less than lukewarm! Dining at Nikitas starkly highlighted the vast difference between meat-eaters' and vegos' dining experiences. The people I was with enjoyed their meals and I know other people who've been here and had good things to say about it.

However, my meal was actually inedible.

First things first, the dips platter. This was good, though the fact that the dips were fridge temperature was offputting and blunted the flavour, particularly of the eggplant salad. There were five dips, and as I'd told the waiter I was vegetarian, he pointed out that 4 of the 5 choices were okay for me to eat, which is a pretty good vego ratio, one is often our lot. The stand outs were the feta cheese and olive dip, which was salty and creamy, and the garlic dip, which was beautifully garlicky.

There wasn't a single vegetarian main dish offered. Greek food can be heavily meat-oriented, but there are also divine Greek vego dishes (I know, I love Greek food and eat it often, see post on Argo's below), so I don't think it's inauthentic to include vego dishes on a Greek menu. As an alternative, I asked for the spanakopita entree to come as a main meal, and the waiter was very accommodating. However, it had clearly been re-heated in the microwave, and then put under a grill or in an oven for a few minutes, because only the top thin layer of pastry was slightly crisp, the rest soggy and claggy. The spinach was overcooked until it was dark and tasteless, even before its stint in the microwave, and the bottom was nauseatingly oily. This type of cooking is how spinach gets such a bad name, I took a few bites and left the rest - thankfully I ate a lot of dip beforehand. The sides were chips (yes, seriously) and 'salad', of the shredded-lettuce-and-chunk-of-tasteless-tomato genre.

There were only three tea choices, and only one non-caffeinated (not even peppermint) - I chose chamomile to try and settle my stomach.

Unfortunately, I can't even say good things about the ambience and decor. The restaurant was cold and the cake cabinet dark, creating a sense of emptiness, though there were four tables full of people. As well as the clearly refridgerated dips and tomatoes, from my table I could see a freezer stuffed full of frozen seafood, further compounding my sense that the food at this restaurant lacks freshness and the chefs are not passionate about good ingredients. The space lacked a sense of warmth and conviviality, and clearly there was little joy in the food or cooking.

If you're eating on Henley Beach Road, there are much better options (like the Abyssinian, for example) so do avoid this one.