Mezes

Mezes is built for the table that can't agree on one dish. The menu runs on small plates meant to be passed — dips scooped with warm pita, fried kalamari, grilled octopus, broiled tiger shrimp — so the right order is a composition the whole table assembles rather than a single decision anyone makes alone. That logic is in the name, and the restaurant says as much about itself: a place imagined as an extension of the home, where guests are meant to be greeted like family and the food follows recipes kept faithful to a Greek kitchen. It sits squarely in Toronto's Greektown, on the Danforth, and leans into that address rather than softening it into something loosely Mediterranean.

The mezes section is where the sharing starts. Tzatziki, tirokafteri whipped with hot peppers, taramosalata, smoky melitzanosalata, and garlicky skordalia all arrive with pita for the dipping, a row of small dishes that ask to be reached across. Saganaki comes as kefalograviera pan-browned and flambeed with brandy at the table; octapodi skaras keeps the grilled octopus plain under nothing more than extra virgin olive oil; garides skaras broils tiger shrimp with parmesan and white wine. Spanakopita, a block of feta brought in from Greece, and lamb chops ordered by the single piece round out a section that rewards a table ordering wide rather than deep.

The gevmata are where a meal gets its anchors. Moussaka is layered with eggplant, potato, zucchini, spiced ground beef, and béchamel; paidakia brings four grilled lamb chops; souvlaki turns up in chicken, pork, or lamb — and each lands with Greek salad, rice, roasted potatoes, and tzatziki, a full dinner in its own right. The meatless table isn't treated as a compromise: there's a vegetarian moussaka built on the same lines, a lentil soup, an avgolemono finished with whipped egg and lemon, and salads that run from the standard village Horiatiki to a Rodos of greens, goat cheese, figs, and honey-toasted walnuts. A group can cover the whole menu without anyone giving something up.

The wine list is entirely Greek, and has been for more than fifteen years — roughly ninety labels, plus Greek beers and spirits, run as a table-side education rather than a list left to fend for itself. The commitment does real work, because lamb, grilled seafood, moussaka, the dips, and the vegetarian plates all have a pairing path home to the same country the kitchen cooks from. Most neighbourhood restaurants treat the wine list as a courtesy; here it is an argument about how seriously the rest of the meal should be taken.

The history runs deeper than the current storefront. Mezes carries a roughly two-decade run on the Danforth and settled into its present dine-in and lounge address in August 2023, with a second storefront a few doors down handling takeout, catering, and private events. No founder or chef takes a bow here, and the restaurant doesn't seem to want one to. The story it tells about itself is domestic rather than personal — family recipes, a full table, a warm welcome — the language of a home that happens to seat strangers, and means it.

None of it runs on reservations. Mezes takes walk-ins only, and when the table can't come to the Danforth, the kitchen reaches it through delivery and a catering menu instead. The way through is the way the menu is built: a middle crowded with dips and grilled plates, lamb or seafood at the ends, and something honeyed to finish — galaktoboureko in orange-and-cinnamon syrup, ek-mek under rose-scented syrup and almonds, or pressed Greek yogurt with thyme honey. The meal ends the way it began, with everyone reaching toward the centre of the table.