Village Taverna, Sandown
NB: The Village Taverna is now closed.
But we hear a new place is opening there (see comments below)
As regular readers to Matt and Cat's Isle of Wight eating out guide will know, M and C are big fans of tapas, El Toro Contento being one of their favourite venues. Therefore, it was not going to be long before they sampled the meze of Sandown's Village Taverna - particularly as there had been a request for a review via their 'suggest a venue' page. Not that the Village Taverna needs Matt and Cat to promote its business; people are queuing to try the food according to the County Press, which also makes the intriguingly cosmopolitan suggestion that the menu is half Greek and half Polish.
So, one evening Matt and Cat headed to Sandown to buy food. Meandering up the High Street they passed Sandown Kebab and Steak House. Matt mischievously suggested that they have pitta and a kebab, but Cat rejected his proposition and walked on to the next venue - the Taj Tandoori. However, this pleasant Indian restaurant was also snubbed as they had already visited it. Topographically next was the Village Taverna.
Review continues:
The first thing your reviewers noticed on entering the restaurant was the large, gleaming and spectacularly boastful plaque proclaiming its five star status bestowed by the council's environmental health inspectors. The Village Taverna is right to be proud of this accolade, fiercely guarded by a muscled Greek warrior, possibly Achilles.
An attentive waitress appeared from a back room and seated Matt and Cat in leather chairs. However, this is no generic restaurant; the tables were decorated with a vase of fresh tulips, customised terracotta goblets and a handwritten specials menu. Whilst Matt and Cat perused the bill of fare, a complementary basket of warmed pitta and a dish of succulent olives and tangy feta cheese was presented. This was particularly welcome and very tasty. Also, to save any argument, there was an equal number of olives, slices of pitta and chunks of feta!
Like El Toro Contento, there was a meaty bias to the dishes. Lamb, pork and chicken souvlaki, diced pork affelia, and skewered king prawns. For the vegetarians there was stuffed aubergines and vine leaves amongst other tasty-sounding dishes.
Cat, faced with this range of red meat, bucked the trend and chose chicken lemonato. Matt liked the sound of the seftalies, described as herbed pork mince, rolled in a thin goats fat and baked to a crisp. This prompted a discussion between Matt and Cat about how fat is a thin goat's fat...
Orders given, M and C tapped their toes to the Greek muzak - a pleasing mix of stringed instruments and whistling ocarinas - whilst idly watching a holidaying couple and their chubby child eat what looked like ice cream sundaes. The short wait for food was also spend griping about the Cogent-Telia disconnect and how this has slowed up Matt and Cat's server, leading to a backlog of reviews. However, after some obligatory geeky waffle Matt was able to report that this issue was now resolved, which meant some serious catching up for the duo when back at the Cat Cave.
Soon the dinners arrived. Both looked very similar; meat, lemon potato wedges and salad. Cat's lemon chicken was impaled on metal skewers and it steamed gently, giving off a delightful aroma of herbs and lemon. The meat was very tender and tasty.
Matt's seftalies closely resembled sausages and tasted like the butcher's best. Pleasant enough, but not the exotic treat he was hoping for. Both M and C really liked the lemoned potatoes, although the salad seemed to be mostly unadventurous lettuce and cucumber interrupted by a watery radish flower. None-the-less, Cat was particularly pleased with her dinner and ate the lot (apart from the raw onion).
Matt on the other hand, remarked that for nearly £12, three small sausages and a salad were a bit thin: he felt slightly short-changed on quantity and declared the need for a pudding to fill himself up. Funnily enough, Matt and Cat did not need to see the sweet menu as, somehow, the choices had entered their subconscious as if by magic. M was eager to try the Greek yoghurt and honey (which proved to be the dish that looked like ice cream sundae); the contrast between the cool yoghurt and the viscid bee-product was delightful. Cat chose capellini which was angel-hair pasta filled with nuts, drizzled with the sweetest honey and topped with a crushed pistachio nut. It was a bit too sweet for The Cat so Matthew offered a dollop of the yoghurt to temper the sweetness. Much better!
And then it was time to settle up. As they were leaving, Matt and Cat wondered if they had missed the Polish items on the menu - they only remembered the Greek food, Greek music and the statue of Achilles. Still, their experience of the Village Taverna was very favourable and, with a certain amount of smugness, Matt pointed out to Cat that she had eaten pitta bread and a kebab after all!
34 comments
as a regular visitor to the resturant,i learn more evrytime i visit it.
point one, you have to remeber we are on an island were things such as good fetta chesee,or good olives are hard to come by.
therefore you can imagine how expencive it can be to import such products from greece,im sure the owner of the village taverna goes the extra mile to import such fine things that we miss on our beutifull island and we have to agnore if its expencive or cheap....do we love it?thats the question...and we simply do.....
me and my partner went to the village taverna,and i can tell you that the sea bass was so big it just fitted on my plate...fresh and very tasty......
a souvlaki is a greek style souvlaki....on a plate with fresh salad,home made lemon potatoes,and pieces of lamb.chicken.or pork...all cooked with olive oil and oregano....try the difrence.......
Eating in the Village Taverna, you could easily be mistaken and think you are back on holiday with the lovely décor and the Greek music.
There was even a good selection of Greek wines to give the authentic ambience.
The food and service was excellent, not only did the Kolefteco taste good but the presentation was five star. We noticed on the bar, a sign awarding the restaurant a five star rating, which we both agreed was well deserved.
We will defiantly be returning to the village Taverna and recommending it to all our friends.
wedding anniversary. What an amazing night we had! The food exceeded our expectations
and the service was the best we have had. My wife couldn't get enough of the vine
leaves. I ordered the souvlaki and it was done to perection! The chef, Theo, who is quite
a character, even stopped by our table with a toast of Ouzo and well wishes for a long and happy
marriage. We hope to make it a tradition by going back every year.
Wish I had read this blog before my visit to the Island. Think that I would have loved this reataurant.
Finally, we have been to the Village Taverna four times since it openned and every time it has been very good and certainly scores at the top in our £ per pleasure ratio that we use to evaluate whether we enjoyed the experience and whether we feel it was over priced in respect to pleasure experienced (at the top means it was not overpriced). The food is good to excellent and well presented, the service attentive and friendly, the wine list well matched to the food although could do with a few more bottles. The atmosphere and setting relaxed and spacious. The added bonus of the Chef comming out to speak to the customers adds that extra something special that makes the restuarant shine, dont ever change that!!
i think a lot of the eating places should take notice of how things should be done right.need to check this place out? go for it!
We wanted to call there this Monday but found it closed without notice- no answer on the phone since then??? Since today the line seems cancelled???
After reading the country press article about him beeing assaulted in April one must be concerned something happened???
I hope this is not the end of one of the most pleasant eating places on the Isle of Wight.
Matt and Cat respond: drove past there tonight, looked very much open.
so we did,as we entered the taverna we all notice how clean and fresh the place was.we where approached by one of the front staff,and very polite asked us if we are eating.
yes i said,but we had made no booking.i was told that there would be a table ava/le in half an hour and could all sit at the bar for a drink.when we did get a table and had our dinner,we all agread that this was worth waiting for.very tasty food,best service i have seen since i arrived here.
and rightfully a 5 star.
i have the number for the village taverna,which is.400421.
M & C respond: gone for good, we understand. Proprietor back on the mainland, the word goes, but more than that we don't know.
UPDATE: No, he's back, it's open. See below.
The last time I tried again it seemed closed... also the hotel never openend????
M&C respond: oh my now we are confused. Is it open or not? Sounds like not. We'll go and look in ourselves soon.
M&C respond: Sorry for the confusion. It's an old review, as you can always tell by the date at the bottom. We'd heard the Taverna was open so changed the notice that said it wasn't. When the review was corrected it popped up to the top of the list. And hey! It turns out something is going on down in Sandown, although perhaps not what we thought. So we'll leave it here for now, suitably annotated. When the new place opens we will doubtless get around to reviewing it.
Comment feed for this post
Recent comments