Restaurant Spotlight: Greek please! The best DeLand restaurant I've tried this week
This crowd-pleasing Greek restaurant is a downtown DeLand go-to, and for good reason.
With new and unique offerings around every corner, finding a sure-to-impress local spot to dine with friends and family can be a daunting task. Whether heading to Daytona Beach for a quick bite or New Smyrna Beach for a Flagler Avenue staple, the Volusia-Flagler restaurant scene never fails to amaze me with its vast array of new, timeless and tempting restaurant selections.
When trying a plethora of top-notch eateries, from hibachi kitchens and fast casual burger joints to fine-dining Italian and everything in between, it can become rather difficult finding a stand-alone favorite to captivate my taste buds more so than the rest, but that’s exactly what this local DeLand eatery did.
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Santorini Greek Cuisine, a beloved Woodland Boulevard restaurant, seems to have earned itself quite the royal reputation, praised online by customers new and returning for its consistent quality, authentic menu offerings and worth-the-wait dining experience.
“This restaurant is so good. It’s my overall favorite restaurant in Volusia County. Everything’s perfection,” one Facebook user said, with another noting “Best Greek food and owners in Florida. I’ve been there over 100 times. The food and service is always delicious and perfect. Definitely a must-try!”
Serving as a popular, family-friendly spot for over a decade, owners Manny and Agata Politis have diligently worked to create an unforgettably pleasant dining experience at the local Santorini Greek Cuisine, where customers can enjoy an authentic menu of freshly cooked, homemade selections — "a feast you won't soon forget," according to the eatery's website.
Manny, the chef, dedicated years to perfecting in his craft through culinary work in New York's restaurant scene, incorporating new skills into familiar family recipes that he brought here to the States from the island of Psara, the home he left at the age of just 16. Agata, a Slovakia native, will often be seen — as she was when I dined — conversing with customers, managing the front of house operations and providing timely, personable service to those already seated and those waiting to be.
The charming dinner spot radiated a casual and welcoming atmosphere, saturated by the smell of seasoned meats, greens and spices, only heightening my eagerness for a taste of the cuisine’s authentic, highly-praised menu.
Packed though it was on a bustling Saturday night downtown, a common occurrence given that the eatery is only open for dinner during the week, the waitstaff was more than accommodating when I arrived, pulling chairs from the eatery’s indoor dining room to create a seating space outside for me and others who were prepared to wait for a lucky table — a testament to the restaurant's high-quality service and hospitality.
Santorini Greek Cuisine restaurant menu
With several shareable plates and mouth-watering appetizers, the restaurant’s menu varied from the Pikilia three-spread sampler and spinach-and feta-stuffed Athenian chicken, to the charbroiled baby lamb chops and dolmades — seasoned ground beef and rice wrapped in grapevine leaves.
In addition, each of the eatery’s entrées, excluding pasta dishes, can be enjoyed alongside a serving of rice, lemon-roasted potatoes or the vegetable of the day, as well as a $3.50 addition of soup or salad.
An avid lover of anything I can dip, I started out with the tzatziki, a delicious yogurt, garlic and cucumber spread served alongside several pita slices. The creamy starter danced with flavor, making for a delightfully tangy selection of fresh, herbal goodness.
Following up with the gyro platter, my eyes were certainly bigger than my stomach, but the colorful dish was a perfectly light, yet filling dinner of aromatic meats and veggies. A robust plate of beef and lamb shavings seasoned to perfection with Greek herbs and spices, the tasty dinner was served with fresh sliced tomatoes, onions, tzatziki, pita wedges and a lemon-roasted potato side — a hearty, golden traditional Greek side that combines lemon juice, oregano, olive oil and other ingredients' savory and citrus flavors.
A perfect plate to share with another, the gyro dish is served do-it-yourself style, allowing you to personally prepare and customize each bite. In an almost taco-like fashion, I folded a pita slice, filling it to capacity with roasted meat, onions, tomato and a creamy tzatziki drizzling. The lamb and beef bits were tender and well-seasoned with notes of garlic and thyme filtering through each bite, creating a tasty plate I was not only eager to indulge in, but quick to fill up on.
Following in the delectable footsteps of its counterpart came the moussaka, a traditional casserole-like dish that I’m ashamed to say I’ve lived my whole life without — until now. The hot plate combined layers of eggplant, potato and a Bolognese-like minced meat tomato sauce, baked in a creamy béchamel sauce.
Traditionally, the eggplant addition is salted during preparation to rid it of excess moisture and bitterness, then layered, slightly absorbing the dish's tomato sauce flavors. The aromatic option is Greek comfort food classic, melting in my mouth with every soft, savored and easy-to-slice bite. Complex in both taste and texture, the savory, yet slightly sweet dish is a rich and juicy Santorini Greek Cuisine must-try.
Santorini Greek Cuisine is located at 136 N. Woodland Blvd. in DeLand and is open 3 – 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and closed Sunday and Monday. For information, call 386-736-7726 or visit santoriniindeland.com.
Helena Perray is the restaurant and dining writer for The Daytona Beach News-Journal. A New Jersey native and passionate storyteller, she can be contacted at hperray@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook. Support local journalism by subscribing
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Santorini Greek Cuisine in DeLand is a crowd-pleaser with a loyal following
