One of the go to places for food at any time of the day, Stalactites Greek Restaurant has made itself known as one of the few restaurants that are open 24/7.
Having found ourselves in the city late at night and quite hungry, there was only one destination on our minds.
The natural habitat of night owls
Making a restaurant stand out in the unique culinary landscape of the Melbourne city is quite a difficult task. Stalactites has chosen to diversify itself from the other Greek restaurants in the city by being one of the few that are open 24/7. One of the payoffs from this choice is becoming one of the more well known restaurants in the city.
Incredibly busy Sunday night
Lamb Giros Souvlaki $13.50
My friends had the Lamb Giros Souvlaki, which arrived to our table relatively quickly. Although the meat was tender and juicy, there could have been a little more of it, especially since the souvlaki cost $13.50. There was however a good balance of salad, sauce, seasoning and wrap which made it a decent souvlaki.
Mixed Grill $29.50
As I was feeling a lot hungrier than everybody else, I chose to have to Mixed Grill over the souvlaki. The plate contained a combination of chicken and lamb skewers, lamb cutlet, greek rissoles and a greek salad with a side of chips. The first thing I tried was the chicken, which was tender and well seasoned, this set me up for high expectations for the rest of the dish! Unfortunately, the lamb skewers and cutlet were dry and the rissole wasn't seasoned enough. The greek salad also didn't have much flavour to it, which was strange as there was so much dressing that it ended up covering the entire bottom of the plate and turning the chips into a soggy mess.
Stalactites' niche of being open 24/7 may also be one of it's weaknesses. Being open at all times during the day makes it much harder to keep the quality of the food at high standards. While I would definitely go to Stalactites for a take-away souvlaki in the future, I would probably think twice about dining there. I hope that the quality of the food can be maintained at a consistently high level in the future, as 24 hour restaurants contribute a lot to the Melbourne nightlife.
Food Rating 5.5/10
Overall Rating 6/10