Very good Mediterranean and Greek food.
July 24, 2011
Yanni’s is one of the first places that we ate in while we were on a house search from the east coast three years ago. We went there with a dear old friend, Dr Steve, who came here from our neighborhood in Maryland around twenty years ago. We all love Greek foo, and decided that after three years, is is time for a return visit.
Farina Encrusted Tilapia
Greek and Mediterranean food can often be heavy and calorie laden, so Jane and I opted for some lighter seafood. Jane had Farina Encrusted Tilapia with a butternut squash purée accompaniment, and we asked our server to hold the rice or potatos. Wise choice, and the butterflied filet had a delicate taste and a perfect texture. Beautiful plate.
Jumbo Scallops
I asked our server to have the kitchen make an entrée -sized portion of an appetizer—Jumbo Sea Scallops: seared and served with grilled tomato; finished with lemon-caper butter and bay shrimp, which I accompanied with a simple (but quite delicious Greek salad (without feta). The scallops (somewhat smaller that jumbo, in my book) were perfectly done and tasted as if that were in the sea that morning. Sweet and succulent.
Greek Hamburger
Steve had a Yanni’s Burger: Grilled with Greek spices and served with Greek salad.Grilled medium exactly as he requested, he pronounced it as good as he had remembered and possibly his favorite burger in the Duke City. It’s a treat to see a nive burger without green chile or cheese or any of the traditional condiments like ketchup (which should be banned in New Mexico).
Comp Appetizer Leftovers
Service was impeccable. Iced tea never got below half0full, water was replenished, and our server—Miranda worked with the kitchen to make the dishes for Jane and me as close to our current Dukan Diet requirements. Cheerful and pleasant, she added that little extra bit that turns a meal into a really enjoyable dining experience. Thanks, Miranda.
Nice place. Handsome room. Try it. We will probably be back well before three years elapses. And we’ll probably be off out diet by then. Yay.
Yanni’s Website proudly proclaims
“Voted Best Greek Restaurant by Albuquerque The Magazine and Best Albuquerque Restaurant by the Alibi, Yanni’s offers a truly unique dining experience that is a treat not only for the palate but for the eyes and ears as well.”
Urbanspoon, with 299 voters chiming in (79% of whom liked it) ranks Yanni’s somewhat differently. It certainly makes the Urbanspoon Top 100 List, but pretty far down. Moreover, even though I like Yanni’s (a lot), it will never crack my top lists.But so what.
Statistically speaking, none of these polls or rankings are to be believed (they make good ad copy, though). I suspect that Alibi and ATM readers may vote with their emotions, not their palates (they rate El Pinto very high, for example, and I think it is a terrible tourist trap). Go to Yanni’s yourself and make up your own mind. You might wind up having a sensational meal. Don’t send me an email.
Yanni’s Mediterranean Bar & Grill
(505) 268-9250
3109 Central Ave NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
www.yannisandopabar.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Yannis…
View the menu
Yanni’s Restaurant has seen the last of me, after the last two visits and over 12 years of patronage. Under new management, they have made it clear to my partner and I that our business is no longer welcome. Last trip we asked for a table, got seated at the bar and then jerked around about getting a table when the place was practically empty. And, we finally got shoved into a back table in the back of a 75% empty restaurant because “we didn’t make a reservation.” An African-American man and his girlfriend never got a table at all. They had to eat at the bar.
Now, on 7/1/12, all of a sudden, they can’t put the ice bucket with the bottle of white wine next to the table and bring me my usual scotch and soda, like they’ve done for the last 12 years. Mysteriously they’ve newly discovered a “law” prohibiting the practice. It’s actually a regulation and it doesn’t say what they say it does — it has a specific exemption for wine in a bottle served with a meal. They’ve served us like this for years and never blinked an eye. Now, it’s a problem. Could it be they’re trying to be more “discerning” regarding the “makeup” of their clientele? We walked out.
I don’t have Lexis access at home, so there may very well be a crazy case out there that interprets the reg differently than I have perceived to be its plain meaning and my knowledge of long standing business practice.
Regs below:
NMAC 15.10.51.11
C. The following practices are prohibited on a licensed premises:
(4) allowing any person to have more than two unconsumed alcoholic beverage drinks at any one time;
Notice the Reg states “any person” and not a total number of persons at any table in a restaurant. Then, later in the same reg:
NMAC 15.10.51.11
D. Nothing contained in this regulation shall prohibit a licensee from:
(2) selling wine by the bottle or carafe, or beer in a pitcher, when sold with a meal;