Vasileio's Italian Kitchen

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CLOSED NOW - Opens at 11:00am

Okay, I'm being kind in giving this restaurant 2 stars. That's only because the staff were prompt and affable. The food is another matter entirely. First of all, Vasileious calls it's self an "Italian Kitchen" but the menu hints that they may be more Greek -- a little bit of an identity crisis. As a result, I think they try to pull off each of them and fail at both. On my first occasion to VIK with my wife and a friend, we were cheerfully greeted and showed to our seats. The hostess made a great pitch for the Greek Chiken plate on the "Specials Menu." After leaving the waitress came over and took drink orders. No wine or other alcoholic beverages are sold here (Really? At an Italian/Greek restaurant?) so we ordered tea and then put in an order for the fried Calamari as an appetizer. They were quick in getting the calamari out to us although they only thought to bring 2 plates for the 3 of us. We next placed our order: Myy wife asked for the shrimp scampi -- a usual favorite of hers -- with side salad and Itailian dressing. Since she raved about it so, I decide to try the Greek chicken special with green beans and a salad with balsamic vinigrette. Our friend opted for a usually safe standby -- spaghetti with meatballs and salad with Italian dressing. The meal came fairly quick but with no bread. My wife was the first to sample her dish. From the look on her face, it was obvious that she didn't like the scampi. When I asked what was wrong she said, "I don't know.This taste really sour like too much lemon was put in it or something. I had a taste and she was right, it was a strong flavor but more likely from the (obviously cheap) wine they cooked with. Also, we both noticed that the shrimp were too small -- barely large enough to bread and cook as pop-corn shrimp. My meal was equally bad. The green beans were soft and mushy not unlike the ones that are dumped out of a bulk can in the grade school cafeteria. The chicken, while tender, was very greasy -- more like poorly prepared duck. And the salads earned no prize either. They were rather plain, lettuce chopped too finely, with a few slices of red onion and tomato. The balsamic vinigrette was thin and watery, as if they had just diluted some plain balsamic vinegar. Greek or Italian either way, this really could have used some olives, a little anchovy, and feta or goat cheese. Our friend had made the best decision it seemed. Other than being somewhat bland and the HUGE size of the meat balls, she said the spaghetti was "Okay, I guess." The wife told the waitress about her dissatisfaction with the shrimp scampi and they were good enough to apologize and deduct half the cost. I suppose that took some of the bitterness out of this very disappointing meal but we will not be dining there again.