The day of my senior prom is a day that I will never ever forget. Like a typical girly girl, I could not wait for a day of pampering, looking amazing, dancing and general crunkness. By the time my prom day actually rolled around almost everything seemed to be perfect. I had the perfect dress, a finnnnee date, and was actually on time with getting my hair and make-up done. There was only one thing that I was a little unsure about and that was the restaurant. The restaurant we would be eating at was a Greek restaurant in Atlanta called Taverna Plaka. To most people, restaurant choice is not a big deal but in my mind food can make or break any situation and I wanted my prom day to be perfect. Despite my reservations I decided to give Taverna Plaka a try…especially since my entire prom group wanted to eat there and my only other option would have been to find the nearest McDonalds, and eat by myself (not cool)! Needless to say eating at Taverna Plaka turned out to be an amazing experience and it is now one of my favorite restaurants.
The best way to my heart is to entertain me or simply feed me and Taverna Plaka did both…. AT THE SAME TIME! Like your typical restaurant Taverna Plaka offered an amazing array of yummy food, but what made it stand out from the rest was the entertainment! Upon entering Taverna Plaka, I was bombarded with live Greek music, woman belly dancing and people yelling “opa” while throwing napkins in the air. In a matter of minutes my whole group and I were seated and were taking part in the festivities. In our beautiful prom dresses we learned to belly dance and soon we were all shaking what our mamas gave us on the dance floor! Even the people who claimed to be "non-dancers" got into it! When we got tired of dancing we would throw napkins into the air like confetti and make a huge mess (without getting in trouble)! It was a great time and I thought it couldn’t get any better, but then the food was brought out...and it got a billion times better! 
Being in a large group, I was able to take advantage of the large group deal that was offered and was fortunate enough to taste most of the foods on the menu. There was hummus, spreads, Greek salads, cheeses, chicken and beef kabobs, lamb, rice pilaf, and Greek pastries that I still don’t know the names of. The amount of food on the table was almost overwhelming but that wasn’t enough to stop me! I tried every single dish and while doing this found a new dish that would become very near and dear to my heart. This special dish, called Spanakopita, is a Greek pastry stuffed with spinach, feta cheese and onions!! Now, I am not a pastry or spinach kind of girl so I was absolutely shocked at how scrumdiliumptios it was!! The outer pastry was golden and flaky and seemed to just melt in my mouth and the feta cheese melted into the spinach and balanced it out perfectly. And in the same way that the ingredients of the Spanakopita balanced out perfectly…so did everything about Taverna Plaka. With its mixture of music, entertainment and food, Taverna Plaka was and still is a fantabulous restaurant to dine at.
Photographs from www.closetcooking.com and my personal albums :)
I had one of my top ten worst Atlanta dining experiences at a similar place called Nicola's--belly dancing, the owner serving wine from the top of his head and belly, terrible, terrible food, and a public-bathroom-smell in the dining room like you wouldn't believe. I'm glad to hear that there is a place in town that does a better job, and love your description of your prom night. Delightful as always!
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