By the time this post is published, you will still have some time to go ahead and check out this restaurant and others participating in this special event, Winterlicious (similar to Summerlicious). In this review, I will share my thoughts and pictures of my restaurant experience, Winterlicious, and more info you might want to know. Please note, like all my other food reviews, this is a strictly vegetarian review and prior to reading below, please follow on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook especially since I will be posting more food content and things to do in Toronto (and other places)!
Location and About
Floga has an interesting story that started in 1988 when George Raios took over (the now popular) original Mr. Greek which was located on Danforth Road. You might have seen any of their 20+ locations in malls, but did you know that Kennedy and Progress was their second location? Therefore, it made sense that when George Raios wanted to provide a more premium Greek dining cuisine, he would bring it back to Scarborough, where he first opened a Mr. Greek location on his own.
Floga is a massive dining space where you can host events, have big or intimate dinners, enjoy authentic Greek food, and some live entertainment. Fun fact: Floga means flame in Greek, which is why the logo resembles that and the torched/flame element is incorporated throughout the menu. The specific location is 1957 Kennedy Road, Scarborough, ON with multiple parking options and easily accessible via public transit but keep in mind the plaza it is in can be busy at times.
Pricing
Similar to what I mentioned in my Meng Rai Thai review when discussing price, there was a fixed cost per person with a few menu items you can choose from. Of course, you can purchase from the regular menu but the Winterlicious program run by the City of Toronto consists of over 200 restaurants participating from January 26 to February 8, 2024. Through this program, participating restaurants offer a three-course pre-fixed menu/items for lunch or dinner. You can select between six different price points (the cheapest is a $20 lunch and the most expensive is a $75 dinner). Make sure to check out the Winterlicious website to filter and search among the participating restaurants. The option we had for Floga was only the $45 dinner option.
Taste
Appetizer
The item I ordered was the Saganaki since it looked interesting, especially because it mentioned the kefalograviera (cheese) is pan-seared and flambéed at the table. At first, I didn’t realize it when the server came (same person who did it for every table) but I think he did it one more time because he noticed I wasn’t recording. I didn’t ask him to do it again but I think this is something very common here and even our waitress asked if I got a video of the fire. In addition to the flambée, a lemon is also squeezed on top so you did get a bit of an acidic taste. I found the cheese thick and in a good way but keep in mind because of the pan-seared, it is a bit oily. What helped was cutting it into small pieces and eating with the pita bread.
The other people on the table got the dip sampler which comes with your choice of two dips and grilled pita. I am not sure if the other bread was part of that or something else but I did like the pita, but it did have a dry after taste. The other bread they provided was really good on it’s own since it’s airty with a comforting taste and the crust having a nice crunch with every bite. Nonetheless, with the dip both the pita and this tasted great. The Tatizki was a bit too creamy for my liking but the hummus has a great smooth texture with flavor.
Main
I ordered the vegetable souvlaki which is served with a Greek salad. The Greek salad did come in before the soulvaki which personally, I am not mad about. The salad dressing was a bit too strong but I still enjoyed it with the amount of substance it had and I think what really made this salad enjoyable, was the generous amount of feta.
The vegetarian souvlaki was not bad to try once but can’t see myself eating this again. The veggies were grilled nicely and the feta help give this dish more flavour but there wasn’t any real protein or flavour that made me enjoy the meal start to finish. However, the other people at my table did get the Melitzanes Imam, which is am oven baked grilled eggplant topped with various ingredients. Personally, I enjoyed this more tha nteh soulvaki as it was cooked nicely, melts in your mouth, and there is some flavour. I also enjoyed eating the potatoes it comes with since it was really soft and also had a distinct flavour. However, I can’t deny that the sauce the potatoes were covered in reminded me of minestrone soup.
Dessert
Last but not least, we had dessert. I found the gluten-free brownie really good as it dissolves in your mouth with every bite and oozes rich chocolate. The chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top adds to the premium dessert experience as well. I was debating between getting the cheesecake or the baklava but I ended up going with the cheesecake and I am happy I did since there is baklava on top. The cheesecake is also made out of greek yogurt which you can taste and with the sweet and crunch baklava and honey on top, there was a nice contrast provided of sweet and crunchy. Frankly, I think I enjoyed dessert the most.
Overall
All in all, it was a fun experience to finally try Floga and Winterlicious after many years. I think Floga is a great place to visit at least once for vegetarians and it might be something that people who eat meat might enjoy more of. I found the price to be a bit high, so if I do visit Floga again, it would be during a regular day to try other vegetarian items. I would love to see them incorporate some sort of vegetarian protein in the main dishes as this will help make it more enjoyable and filling.
I also want to point out that the staff were working really hard there and it was extremely busy. I remember Initially the forks were placed it on the table with no covering underneath, so I asked her to change it and she did. I also thought it was a bit strange that they kept removing the untouched plates but took a while to take the plates that were empty because we finished eating and no one took back the machine when we paid our bill. I think the reason for this is because they were extremely busy so I do appreciate their efforts and not being rude. I hope this review helped and feel free to share it! If you have been here or are curious to try, let me know your thoughts in the comments below or on social media by following me on Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook especially since I will be posting more food content in the near future.