Riverdale

Opa Meze is a little tricky to access, we made the mistake of traipsing down North Parade, over very wheelchair unfriendly pavements, to where pedestrians can go down the stairs close to the bridge over the Avon but wheelchair users have to go through Parade Gardens, negotiating with the attendants so as to not have to pay the access fee, however they were very helpful once it was explained that we were going to the Greek restaurant. Another thing to consider is that the park tends to close around 7.00pm (if not earlier) so if one needs to get out later than that one has to contact the authorities to arrange a key. It might be good if a key could be left with the restaurant. However this was a moot point for us as we wanted an afternoon meal prior to an early evening concert in the Assembly Rooms.

The restaurant is situated in the arches under the road and has a balcony which overlooks the river. Coming in from a hot day in the streets of Bath we found it pleasantly cool and shady. It's very nicely appointed but looked as if access might get a bit tight when busy.

The food:

We decided to go for a selection of meze accompanied by one main course dish, but started with a bowl of very nicely marinated stuffed olives and an ouzo apiece to wash them down whilst the rest of our meal was prepared.

Tiropitakia were a bit of a disappointment to Mrs Riverdale (I had to give them a miss due to my wheat allergy); she is used to them being stuffed with a soft cheese filling but these were full of a hard, crumbly affair, she reported that the pastry was pretty good though, nicely flaky.
Bekry Meze was superb; tender chunks of pork in an excellent sauce.
Garides Skordates elicited differing reactions, I found the fact that, despite swimming in sauce, they hadn't been completely shelled a surprise and the sauce unexciting, but Mrs Riverdale had no problem with the shells and thoroughly enjoyed the sauce.
Xtapodi was another superb dish, served cold the octopus was perfectly cooked, with just enough bite to be interesting but not at all chewy and the dressing was an interesting accompaniment.
To these we added a Chicken Souvlaki from the grill menu and it was also good, fine pieces of flavoursome chicken with chunks of pepper and onion, a little salad and enough chips to suit us both.

We decided on a bottle of Retsina as they don't provide it by the glass and they were happy to leave the cork with us so that we were able to take the remains back home with us. I didn't recognise the variety on the wine list but it didn't matter as, when it arrived, it turned out to be the well known Kourtakis brand. I ordered a Greek coffee to follow which arrived with a couple of complimentary shots of ouzo.

Service was pretty good, Mrs Riverdale even got to try out her Greek on a hapless chef who had been summoned to our table side as the waiting staff didn't actually speak the language.

At just over £70 it might be considered a tad expensive but the ouzo measures were generous, we had bought a full bottle of wine and the portion size more than adequate if not generous. And it is definitely a pleasant quiet place to be on a weekday afternoon. We were warned however that it can get a little rowdy later in the evening with dancing, plate-smashing etc.
We enjoyed ourselves and will return.