The 10th Arahova location in the Greater Montreal officially opened in Pointe Claire on January 8, 2022, at the Sources Mega Centre near Brunswick Avenue and next to Les 3 Brasseurs. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Quebec government regulations closing dining rooms, the Kalogrias family decided not to delay the debut and welcome customers for take-out and delivery.
As a West Island resident, I was thrilled to be one of the first customers in line on opening weekend to take home a meal for my family
As we have previously reported on MtlRestoRap, it was back in 1966 when Christos Kalogrias came to Canada, leaving his native Greek village of Arahova. He was only 26 years of age and had some family here. His first job was in manufacturing, earning 95 cents an hour. In order to build some savings, he relocated to Thompson, Manitoba to work in a nickel and mining company, returning to Montreal in 1971 with enough money to open his own restaurant on St. Viateur Street. In June, Arahova Souvlaki celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Christos’ son George (a.k.a. Souvlaki Man) and daughters Tina and Bia work as a strong team in steering the company in the right direction. They have been around the restaurant scene since childhood. George is president/director of sales, Tina, VP of marketing and Bia, regional manager. Christos is still active.
One thing about take-out is presentation. My meal was well packaged and ready to go with no hassle. When I came home, it was easy to disperse all three meals.
My daughter Miranda, a regular MltRestorap contributor, was quite famished. Firstly, she had an entrée of grilled shrimp that included a generous amount of rice that can easily substitute as a meal on its own. Her main meal, the gyro chicken plate, had a generous amount of chicken and crispy fries. The traditional Greek salad was enormous. What is a Greek meal without the classic tzatziki on the side to dip to your heart’s desire? There was so much food that she had to keep the rest for the following day.
My wife is more of a traditionalist, she had the chicken souvlaki with fries and salad. The grilled chicken was grilled to perfection and easily slid off the stick. She loved her large steak fries. She is a salad person, her plate was fully stacked with cut tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, olives and least but not last feta cheese.
I am old school and opted for the gyro a l’ancienne plate. Being of Mediterranean origin, I need my olive and salad fix with my meat. Once again, I cannot stress how much we love tzatziki dip, so much so that we buy it at the grocery store. My meat was nothing short of an impossible-not-to-love flavor explosion in my mouth. Reasonably priced our meals were super-stuffers that we could not eat another morsel.
The restaurant can seat 70 diners and a seasonal terrace will be introduced (ask George if this will be the case)
Naturally, George was very disappointed with the decision to shut down dining rooms. “My disappointment is beyond words at this point,” he said. “With our newest location opening we had thought that we had this pandemic behind us as we have followed all the rules and regulations that have been applied by the government. Nevertheless, we believe in our food since 1971 and I believe that customer at the end of the day wants good quality food.”
For more information log on to www.arahova-souvlaki.ca
Looks and sounds great. Can’t wait to check them out…