My girlfriend and I were in Vancouver BC for my birthday and we found this place late one night and decided to try it. The decor needs a facelift but the food was excellent. The hummus was wonderful. We had grilled prawns since we don't eat red meat. The meal came with a roasted potato that was probably the best potato I've ever had. LOL. The owner made our lemon drops and they were great. We... more

Excellent food, most of the time, sometimes too much of
seasoning or grease, though.

Started to be a regular customer until the female that works
there became rude and nasty - without any reason from
my side. She used to be so nice, but seems to have lost
her mind. Good way to lose business, but she doesn't seem to
consider that aspect.

She is the owner's wife so there is no one to really... more

Oh Characters. It has been a little while but I have been here on at least ten occasions. 'Weird' sums this place up pretty well.

I have to say I have had good food here. The calamari has always come out hot and crispy, and the grilled chicken breast was pretty good, although on the bland side.

Characters also gets cool points for being open sooooo late - 6am some nights!

They get weird... more

used to go here late night for after-hours drinks. ordered takeout once and (after being told there was no delivery charge) saw that a tip for the driver was included in the bill. the driver told me that he would not get the "tip" because the management kept it for themselves. when i called back to complain, the woman (who i think was either the owner or the owner's wife) began to yell and... more

Seriously? 20 min wait for water? I walked out!

Nice atmosphere and friendly staff but the service is no bueno!!!!

Mobile review

The owner is nice, there was only one other table in the restaurant at 12pm Friday. The food took over 30 mins to get to us. And the salad was bland but fries were ok... Chicken burger I could of made better at home. We had to get up and get the server/owner who was arguing with the chef the whole time and never bothered to look after us. Put coats on an stacked plates but he still didn't come... more

My feelings are a bit mixed on this one. We were going to go to a different greek restaraunt but the line up was too long so we went to this one. It was sooo empty. The decor looks really worn out - like it needs some renovating for sure.

Our server was super friendly - always refilled our water and very polite and smiling. The service was just really slow. Especially considering the amount of... more

Delicious Greek Food @ Great Value

This is by far one of the BEST Greek restaurants we've ever been to in the downtown.My fiance and I had a glass of wine and a pint of beer, calamari to start and we both shared a roast lamb plate and their chicken souvlaki dinner - all for under $50.Their calamari is lightly battered and very flavourful. The roast lamb was falling off the bone and came in a VERY generous portion. The chicken... more

Food was great and homemade, service was very friendly!

Wonderful Service, Tasty Dishes!

Why the cranky reviews, people?!I adore dining out, and have tried many places in the Lower Mainland - but this is the one and only restaurant that greets its customers - on the phone and in person, with such warm, care and respect - all geniune.The delivery time for food in the Westend is record - under half an hour - and the dishes are amazing. They have kindly customized my orders upon... more

Good Greek in Westend new greek chef

I've walked by here countless times but never thought to try it out until a few people recommended the place. The wife and I went the other night. The outside looks a little old, the inside is nice and has a relaxing feel to it. We shared the saganaki, it was good but I've had better. I ate the arni psito (roast lamb) and the lamb was excellent. The rice and other stuff was just ok. We has a... more

Down right bad. The smallest hummus i've ever seen and still had to ask for more pita (only came with 1!). Main dishes were even more disappointing. It was almost like the didn't add any seasoning at all and the tomato sauce tasted like it came straight from the can. No way I'll be coming back here. A real shame considering the location and patio.

Mobile review

Just not good. We ordered three dishes and each was more disappointing than the last.

Mobile review

Nice patio wasted on terrible "greek food" . Hummus came with 1 pita. Mussaka was tiny, bland, reheated and overpriced. Callimari was overcooked with old grease and was the smallest bits of octopus ever seen.

Mobile review

We love this place. The owner is so nice, and the food us reasonable and yummy.

Ok ok, I knew what I was in for. I walk by this place every day for over a year, the sandwich board out front almost always has a spelling error, and I had a ceasar on the patio once during Pride last summer. Now, it was 1:30am on a Sunday. Did I go in? You bet I did. Did I order food from their expansive menu? Yup! Was it good? Well, eh, not really but I was post-shift starving. Service was... more

There aren't that many places that I really don't like and promise to never go again. This is definitely one of those places that makes that list a little longer.

The service here is poor and we should have recognized how unpopular it was from the moment we walked by. The common sense approach would have been to avoid this place (no one inside) or, at the very least, look it up before we ever... more

nice owner

Though we haven't heard tremendously good things about this place, we decided to try it (albeit, with an entertainment coupon so at least if it was bad, we could feel better about not paying full price). We went right after dinner rush and were seated promptly. As soon as we walked it I thought...Restaurant Makeover! But... I didn't go there for a visual treat- I was just hungry!I'm never too... more

Trying to find a place for some good food that is open late late night on a week day in the west end is hard, until you come across characters taverna. its located in the heart of Davie street beside 24hour shoppers drug mart.

I was out on a hungrton and decided to pick up pals from work. after wondering down granville after one close restaurant after another, we decided to go somewhere else... more

It must have been the time i went on a rainy sunday afternoon that my experience was meh.I had the calamari and a waiter that tried coming onto me.When i was finished my meal the waiter said 'i gave you love by giving you food now you give me love by paying me."A bit creepy but oh well.The place was empty when i was there and the interior was old and aging.But i can see why this place would be... more

Venture Vancouver

I love their roast lamb, the meat is always so tender and juicy, the vegetables are well cooked and the meal is so filling and enormous for what you pay for. I often get take out from... more

From the outside, you'd think you were signing up for some standard issue pub fare. Maybe even some good beer.

Nope.

You get some less-than-mediocre brew selection, and out of nowhere the menu is crammed with some sort of mish-mash with "greek" and "indian" food. Basically, you'll get a dish of lame diced chicken drenched with sauce from a vat of pre-made curry paste assembled by some college... more

horrible greek

vary bad greek frozen food the chicken is from costco frozen processed horrible service vary dirty not impressed would never eat there ever again many better greek places absolutly gross disgusting the washrooms had urin all over the ground and smelled

BON APPE...WHAT?!

This is exactly the type of Character that mum warned us about. And after having the unpleasant experience of eating Characters' aviation quality food (and I'm being generous), I will never dismiss such sage advice again (pun withheld).

What more to say other than, if you're out and about on a hot sunny summer day and you see a huge patio with only 3 people, you can safely... more

I tried the lamb souvlaki and let me tell ya, there was a ton of food on the plate! Everything was just wonderful, including the grilled potatoes. YUM! I also enjoyed a wonderful sangria which was very tasty. The staff was very friendly and attentive. I really enjoyed it.

trying to find a place to watch our ladies win the hockey final we wandered into this place. unlike other places where we tried to find a seat this place was empty.
we had a good view on the screen and the sound was great.
the menu is very diverse and not exclusively greek. from bruschetta and pasta to indian curries.
we ordered the tzatziki with pita ($6) and the characters curry with the... more

Where else can you find greek food, indian food and hamburgers all on one menu? Open VERY late for those like me who sometimes just don't know when to call it a night.

During the hot summer days it is always nice to be able to sit on a patio. I went here with friend of mine today and it was quite enjoyable. The sun was out and we were able to sit in a nice shade and felt a cool breeze every so often. What was awesome was the chairs. They were quite comfy.

The food was ok, however I have had better Greek food.

lots of choices

I actually quite liked the food, the menu was very extensive. I don't think it's an authentic greek restaurant, but it did have many options.

Characters is a great quick little place to grab a bit of greek-indian fusion when you're in a pinch and don't want to spend a lot of money. They recently opened up a second location on West Broadway. Pretty decent lunch specials, and their late night service make them a great choice when you're starving, or are hammered and don't feel like stammering to get pizza, or Chinese Food.

The staff... more

Kitsilano.ca

For the longest time, a somewhat mysterious and rather small sign simply saying "Carny's Cook House" was featured in front of the brown paper covering the windows of 3132 West Broadway (@... more

Characters is a fair sized Indian restaurant servicing the hummus needs of downtown and the west end. The hummus is actually quite good. That's all I've ever eaten here.

Now, having amply discussed the restaurant's culinary accomplishments, I'll let you in on a secret. They serve booze here all night. Clearly under the radar, you can grab a quick highball here long after the city's last call.... more

It was a rainy day and Characters Taverna won by default. Too tired to make the four-block trek to Guu, we settled for Greek. Ordinary Greek. The warning signs were all there: empty dining room, stale 80s music and bad velour couches. I think we were trying to convince ourselves that it was retro quaint so we resigned ourselves to a meal there.

The lamb souvlaki was apparently overdone so it... more

This is the place that everyone goes when they just don't have the stomach to wait in line to get some Stefos.

The food is not that bad, but the service is pretty slow and the night that I was there, there was only 1 waitress working for the whole restaurant (it was a Sunday evening, and I would like to add that the restaurant is quite large!). I even saw a few people walk out from the place..... more

Okay, so we followed some others who didn't want to wait in the line for Stephano's and spilled over into Characters across Davie. This place is interesting and is a mix of Indian & Greek food. I'd say for both types of cuisine you can do better anywhere along Davie. The service was friendly, but slow and they messed up our orders (always a bad sign when they don't write it down). Then the... more

Deeeelish

On Tuesday class ended early so we went to Characters on Davie because Stephos was packed with people. I had mixed feelings about this place because the place was sooo empty. We were... more