As a young adult in the mid-90s, from Friday night to the wee hours of Sunday morning, Ybor City was my home.

 

Back then there was no Centro Ybor. No video surveillance cameras. No Victoria Secrets, Urban Outfitters or Muvico. There was only Masquerade, The Ritz (night clubs) and New World Brewery.

 

Good food rarely came into play. Sure there was the Columbia and Carmine’s, but not much else worthwhile was open in the eves. Let’s face it … back then, Ybor was a ghost town by day and if you were headed there at night, you were going in a group and you were going there to party.

 

Yes, Ybor has changed.

 

Today’s Ybor is a mecca for quaint shops and eating destinations, as well as the beat-beat-beat of clubs during moonlit nights. Droves of people inhabit its once not-so-nice streets. Countless bars and restaurants line Seventh Avenue, as well as Sixth and Eighth. Hungry shoppers can belly-up to typical Tampa bar food or be seated for fine dining, with each corner offering a new option.

 

On one such corner sits Acropolis Taverna and Shisha Bar, a Greek restaurant and nightclub. Stepping inside, you’ll quickly notice the decor of the dining room is trendy; not tacky as with Greek diners. (Too much cobalt blue and Zeus and Venus statues everywhere. You know what I’m referring to!)

 

The staff is dressed in serving black, tables are a deep commercial mahogany and modernistic murals of Grecian Gods and ‘scapes adorn the walls. And those walls are of original brick, which has been cleaned and restored to break through and add to the chic ambience.

 

The second, adjoining dining room is also hip and houses a half moon, full–liquor bar. In the back right corner are stairs leading up to a lounge and hookah bar. (Yes, a hookah bar!)

 

Outside dining is also available, which I prefer. Little café tables line the front walk, affording perfect people-watching access.

 

With its more than 40 choices, I was impressed by the sheer size of Acropolis’ menu. Its appetizer choices appeared, well, very appetizing. So much so that it was difficult to order anything else.

 

My group settled for the Saganaki ($7, flaming cheese), the Hummus with Tahini ($5, a chick pea spread), the Spanakopita ($7, a spinach and feta cheese pastry) and the Dolmades ($7, grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs).

 

The Saganaki was prepared tableside. It’s a traditional Greek dish made of Kefalograviera cheese, which in this case was drizzled with brandy and ignited to burn away unwanted alcohol. Acropolis serves theirs with freshly baked pita bread and a waiter or waitress who shouts “Opa!” as the fire jumps from the plate.

 

The dish was amazing. Completely not healthy and very rich, but sinfully, simplistically good. (Say that three times.) But here’s where I have to admit to a deep, dark secret. Seeing other patrons receive the dish while their servers shouted a humiliating “Opa!” made us want to order it just so ours would have to be embarrassed too.

 

I know I am an evil person, but come on! I was a server a long time ago and every time someone had a birthday, all of us – some hung-over and some still drunk – were forced to mull together to sing that damned Happy Birthday song. We hated it.

 

I guarantee the majority of those who had requested our acappella had been servers themselves. So I considered it my fraternal right, on behalf of servers to-be and servers long gone, to make ours shout “Opa!” in front of the entire restaurant that night. But I digress.

 

The Hummus, Spanakopita and Dolmades arrived promptly. All were great; however, the Dolmades were exceptional. Tightly wrapped grape leaves stuffed with tender rice and herbs were laced with a delicious lemon sauce. The first bite tickled that familiar happy zone. You know the one; right were your jaw meets your neck. (What happy zone were you thinking of?) I could have easily eaten two more plates in their entirety.

 

The Spanakopita was airy and light. The feta and spinach melted together. The Hummus was, indeed, freshly made and garnished with Tahini (a thin, sesame paste). All were served with warm pita bread, which is in its own right addictive.

 

The entree menu was equally appetizing, offering the traditional Gyro ($6, a beef and lamb stuffed pita), Shish KaBobs ($15, Filet Mignon skewers with vegetables), Mousaka ($11, a ground beef dish made with eggplant and béchamel sauce) and Lamb Chops ($19, lamb with orzo and roasted vegetables); along with many other choices.

 

We settled on the Gyro Platter ($10), Souvlaki Platter ($11), the Grilled Grouper Salad ($11) and the Pastitsio ($11).

 

The salad was extremely fresh and very large. Huge wedges of ruby tomatoes, a spring mix of greens, a large square of feta cheese, ripe cucumbers, red onion, Kalamata Olives and a homemade Greek potato salad tossed with a superb Greek-inspired vinaigrette. The grouper, which was very fresh and seasoned perfectly with thyme, garlic and oregano, accented the salad perfectly.

 

A salad is a salad, yes, but only serving the freshest of ingredients is a notable offering. This salad made our bodies happy, nearly justifying the fact that moments earlier we had eaten our weight in pita bread.

 

The Gyro (pronounced yee-roh, not gi-ro (if you are going to eat it, say it right)) was also very good and very large; not the kind you get at a drive-thru window. The pressed beef and lamb was tender, juicy and impeccably spiced. Acropolis accents the mix with raw onion, tomato and homemade Tzatziki sauce, a cucumber and yogurt concoction that makes me salivate.

 

Instead of serving it as a wrap, the Gyro was served ‘deconstructed;’ an open invite to pile mine high with fresh tomatoes and raw onion, then soak it with yummy Tzatziki.

 

Okay, now for me time. I have an inhuman passion for meat; particularly beef and pork. My husband tells me often that I should just give up and consider myself a carnivore. Lean meat, fatty meat, grilled meat, roasted meat – I love it all!

 

The passion has turned me into a meat connoisseur, if you will, especially of grilled meats. Because of this, I typically don’t order them while dining out, for more often than not, I am sorely disappointed.

 

So, as the server laid the plate of Souvlaki in front of me, I poked it. I thumped it. I smelled it. I became optimistic. Fork and knife in hand, I carved through the large pork chunk. The knife glided through as angelic juices ran from the fresh incision. Slowly and steadily, I raised the Souvlaki to my mouth. My dining amigos stopped and watched as if they were waiting for the Messiah to speak. Bite. Chew. Bite. Blink. Blink. Chew.

 

A smile crept across my mouth. It was perfect. Fireworks began exploding through the horizon! People began to dance and sing in the streets! Old crippled women began to walk! Okay, not really, but it was that good. Acropolis’ Souvlaki was flawlessly grilled and seasoned. I was a happy carnivore.

 

On to the gluttonous temptress, Pastitsio. Pastitsio was born from its Italian cousin, Lasagna al Forno, and is as common in Greece as Lasagna is in Italy. It’s made with tubular pasta and is usually topped with a ground mixture of beef, lamb and pork with a nutmeg and all spice accented tomato sauce, then drowned in a creamy béchamel.

 

Typically, I do not enjoy Eastern spiced savory dishes. I push them away the moment I detect their nutmeg or cinnamon. This is why I was surprised to find myself licking the Pastitsio plate! It was pure and delicious comfort food. A very good job.

 

Speaking of comfort foods, Acropolis offers a beautiful dessert case that houses specialties like Baklava and Princess Cakes; however selections change based on availability. I warn you now … you should plan on having dessert, otherwise you will end up like me and be too full to even try it. To be safe, you may even want to eat it first.

 

Since my initial visit, I’ve been back to Acropolis several times. Each was exceptional, with attentive staff and fresh, delicious food. I highly recommend you dine (and dance) at Cigar City’s little piece of Greece.

 

About the Author:

Michelle Baker and her husband Greg, a classically-trained executive chef, are co-managers of Cooks & Company – a premier, personal chef service. On any given day the team can be found preparing fine meals inside the homes of couples and families across Tampa Bay. Michelle has been featured in The Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times, as well as on WFLA–TV’s “Daytime.” She is also a reoccurring food explorer for the Tribune and writes for the Eating Tampa and Seminole Heights Eats blogs. To contact Michelle, call (813) 500-3205 or visit www.CooksnCompany.com.