This review is actually the result of two visits over the period of a year. The Big Fat Greek Kuzina is a restaurant that we had been visiting on and off for a few years, one that at one time, we absolutely loved and visited regularly. I’d go way out of the way to get their dipping sauce and pita, Greek salad, and souvlaki as takeout. So when we visited last year and had a less than stellar experience, we chalked it up to possibly a bad day and decided to give it one more visit before writing a bad review.
The restaurant is nestled into a little strip mall near the border of Hilliard and Upper Arlington, at the corner of Fishinger Road and Riverside Drive. You kind of have to keep your eye out for it, since the sign is on the building rather than the road.
So some of these dishes are from last year, some are from this year – some we ordered one time only, others we had both times we went. In the case of the dishes we had twice, we’ll compare last year’s to this visit and let you know if (and how) things have changed.
Both times we visited we sat outside and dined al fresco. During dinner hours there’s just a loudness and busyness to the atmosphere inside that is just a bit too frenetic for our tastes. And both times, service suffered a little as a result, with our server sometimes forgetting we were out there as we were left waiting for refills on our drinks more than once.
One of the big draws, at least for us, is the dipping sauce and pita that they offer as bread service. The green sauce is a heady mix of basil, garlic, olive oil and a few other things, and was and still is absolutely delicious.
The saganaki doesn’t disappoint either – we slathered its browned, salty, melty goodness onto pita bread and chowed down. Consistently good both times we had it.
The dolmades, however, were a disappointment each time. The lemon sauce they were served with is flavored with an herb that just doesn’t work, and the sauce ruined the dish for us. Your mileage may vary.
Although the quality of the salad has declined in the past year (it was much fresher, more chock full of veggies the first time), we still do enjoy their Greek salad, because the creamy Greek dressing is a thing of beauty. There are very few places I’ll order Greek salad, because I’m very picky – this is one of the exceptions to that rule.
Although the serving size of their moussaka was substantial, but the flavor profile was off – there was the addition of dill or something else that doesn’t belong in moussaka, and it was too distracting for us to enjoy their version of it.
The Keftedes (along with the accompanying gravy) were quite good, but the potatoes were ruined by more of the overwhelming lemon sauce, this time dosed with a bunch of dill.
The Stuffed Mushrooms appetizer was a hot mess. The “stuffing”, which was supposed to include seafood, was 99.9% bread crumbs. If there was any crab in here, it was chased through, because even the essence of crab lacked presence.
The Grecian Chicken was a bit underwhelming – the sauce was basically marinara with some feta sprinkled on it, and the chicken was served with more of those potatoes with lemon sauce. It wasn’t quite what we were expecting, and didn’t live up to our expectations.
In closing, the dishes at Big Fat Greek Kuzina can be hit or miss – with careful choices you can get a good meal, but there are too many misses for me to recommend it. We’ll stop here in the future for takeout of the “safe” choices, but that’s about the extent of it. I’m huge on consistency, and there’s a lack of that here.
If you’d like to go: Big Fat Greek Kuzina, 2816 Fishinger Road, Upper Arlington, OH, 614-457-4733
More reviews by swampkitty can be found online at ColumbusFoodie.com.