Mystery Diner: Take an Odyssey to Greece
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| Odyssey Authentic Greek Taverna is located at 3755 E. Main St. in St. Charles and is open seven days a week. (Kane County Chronicle photo) |
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Odyssey Authentic Greek Taverna
Address: 3755 E. Main St., St. Charles
Phone: 630-443-6600
Website: www.odysseygreektaverna.com
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday and noon-9 p.m. Sunday
ST. CHARLES – When you think of Odyssey Authentic Greek Taverna in St. Charles, an inexpensive and plentiful lunch may not come to mind. But it should.
Odyssey, with locations in St. Charles and Lombard, features expansive lunch and dinner menus while also giving its customers the option to order from an express lunch menu on weekdays from 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
After taking a gander at the menu online before heading out Tuesday, I noticed the first thing on the express lunch menu was a hamburger. Caught off guard, I kept reading and found a plethora of Greek-style dishes to choose from.
Each of the lunch options costs just $8.50 and includes soup. All sandwiches on the menu are served with a side order of french fries. Think about how much you spend on a typical lunch outing and this number should positively stand out.
The restaurant is located across the street from the Charlestowne Mall, next to a couple national chains. Once you step foot inside the establishment, you are greeted with a simple, but wonderful sign showcasing the restaurant’s name. To the right is a nice and cozy looking fireplace. Straight ahead, you’ll see a dining room with the perfect amount of lighting and decor.
After taking a seat in a comfortable booth toward the rear of the restaurant, I was quickly greeted with a dish of bread and a glass of water. After looking through the menu one last time, I decided on the Stuffed Peppers & Tomatoes – a green pepper and large vineripe tomato stuffed with ground beef, rice and herbs. Roasted potatoes with a tomato sauce were served on the side. On my particular day, I had the option of two soups. One, Avgolemono, is a chicken soup made with egg, lemon and rice and it is served every day. The other option changes daily with Chicken Rosa Marina being Tuesday’s special. I decided to go with the every day option to try something different – my waiter described the other as basically being a chicken noodle soup, one that I’m very familiar with.
The Avgolemono was fantastic. The broth had just the right amount of lemon so as to not overpower the egg, chicken and rice.
My waiter also said the items on the express lunch menu come out from the kitchen faster, hence the express. He was right on the money as within about 10-15 minute, a plate with the hot, stuffed pepper and tomato made its way to my table. I was immediately excited about how the plate looked and was impressed with the cheese topping on both the pepper and tomato. I dug in and found that both were delicious – with the stuffed tomato being my favorite of the two.
The beef was cooked to my liking and the herbs and rice rounded out the dish with an authentic Greek-style taste. The potatoes were huge and there was no way I was finishing both halves – despite how much I enjoyed the side as whole. The tomato sauce that was served on top of them was key to my enjoyment.
There are so many other options on the express lunch menu to try that I can definitely see myself coming back again and again for another tasty adventure. And for $8.50, it may be impossible to find another establishment that serves such a fantastic lunch while not lacking in portion sizes.
• The Mystery Diner is a newsroom employee at the Kane County Chronicle. The diner’s identity is not revealed to the restaurant staff before or during the meal. The Mystery Diner visits a different restaurant each week and then reports on the experience. If the Mystery Diner cannot recommend the establishment, we will not publish a review.
