Review: Taverna Bistro (Mediterranean Cuisine)

I just got back from lunch at Taverna Bistro. Justyn wanted me to pick out a place, but I was coming up empty. Since we had Japanese food for lunch yesterday, I decided that trying Kappo NamiNami probably wasn't a good idea despite all the good reviews I read.

I believe Taverna Bistro is a fairly new restaurant since the place looked like it was newly remodeled. The bar was set up almost like one of those old ice cream/fountain parlors which I thought was cute. The waitress wanted to seat us at the window, but Justyn walked to the table behind it instead. I didn't mind, though the booth was a little cramped. We ordered drinks (nothing special) and the waitress brought us the house bread. Wow! When she placed it on our table the smell of freshness wafted into my nose. Fresh bread... mmmm can't go wrong there. The dipping sauce was the typical balsamic vinegar with oil but they added oregano to it. To be honest, there was a little too much oil but the bread was the star here. It was perfectly fluffy albeit dense. The crust was flakey which almost made the bread seem like it was deep fried or something.



For our entrees I decided to get something called Lamb Guvec which they listed under Casseroles. Justyn ordered some beef and lamb dish with rice.

Our food came out fairly quickly which was a plus because I was starving. When I dug into the casserole I was initially disappointed because I didn't see any lamb. How can you call it Lamb Guvec and not have any lamb in it? Justyn gave me a sampling of lamb and beef which was good, but not spectacular. I would even dare to say it was on the dry side. Enough about his dish though. Did I find any lamb? Yes! It was buried under eggplant, red and green bell peppers. The lamb was tender and perfectly cooked but you know what was better than the lamb? The eggplant. Mushy delicious eggplant. Mmm...



After we were done eating, the waitress politely asked me if I would like a box for my leftovers and if there was anything else she could get for us. I wanted to save my food for later so I agreed to the box and asked for the check. Once she brought the check, she collected our plates along with some leftover bread that we didn't finish. In retrospect, I should have added that on top of my leftovers. (That's how good the bread was) She whisked away our bread bowl and to my shock and dismay, she put the bread we didn't eat, not in the trash, but in the same basket where the bread came from. Recycling bread? Zoinks! Hopefully I just imagined that because I really liked this restaurant, but if they're recycling bread... that's just a no-no in my book.

Anyway, if you like Mediterranean cuisine, give this place a try. You'll like their bread, but hopefully you don't get our leftovers! Hehe...

Taverna Bistro
133 S Murphy Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086