Orlando, FL - Taverna Opa; Taverna Opa is one of the few restaurants on the strip that you won't recognize because its not a national chain. Finally you can look at a menu and see some unique items and flavors. They do have some other locations throughout Florida, if your interested.

I think you'll like how the dinner starts, tableside handmade hummus. They bring out the mortar and pistol, begin crushing chickpeas, garlic, and olive oil. Within a minute or two, you have delicious handmade hummus. It is not as smooth as some of the processed blends, but I will be happy to take a little chunky version and have it taste freshly made.

For our appetizer, we tried the Spanikopita. It's fresh and HUGE. I'm not sure if it is supposed to be an appetizer or an entree. It has a nice phyllo dough layer, nice and crispy. The spinach is fresh and served warm. Also a pretty good appetizer, they are doing well so far, two for two.

I think they don't understand what it means to have a proper sized entree. I had the Panstitio, minced meat, layered similar to lasagna with an enormous layer of cheese. It is pretty good, nice favors, but the texture is one note, all pretty soft. It would have been nice to have some texture change on the top or throughout. It's HUGE, really HUGE. I think I only ate 1/3 of it and had to take it to-go.

The atmospher is nice, but can be loud inside. We opted to sit outside on a nice evening, where it was a much more tolerable noise level.