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About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in jo...  (More)

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Palo Alto's Taverna to expand next door

Uploaded: May 21, 2019
Shortly after celebrating their one-year anniversary in downtown Palo Alto, the owners of Taverna are planning to grow the popular Greek restaurant's footprint.

Taverna, located at 800 Emerson St. in downtown Palo Alto, has taken over The Annex at St. Michael’s Alley space next door at 806 Emerson St.


Nil Blackburn and Kristen O'Neill enjoy a glass of wine before dinner at one of Taverna's outdoor tables. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

Co-owner Thanasis Pashalidis said they plan to use the 2,000-square-foot space to meet a demand for private dining. When it's not booked for events, they'll use the additional 60 seats to accommodate diners. There will also be space for a catering office, he said.

They're hoping to open the addition in late June.

Pashalidis, co-owner Hakan Bala and chef William Roberts opened Taverna last April with combined years of experience at local Greek and fine-dining restaurants.

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Comments

 +   1 person likes this
Posted by Jake Jacobsen, a resident of Downtown North,
on May 22, 2019 at 12:50 pm

I was very pleased to be told that with the closing of St Mike's Annex, St Mike's Alley (a block up on Homer Ave) plan to expand their menu and hours to include breakfast/brunch.


 +   2 people like this
Posted by Disabled , a resident of University South,
on May 22, 2019 at 1:15 pm

As a person who has a parent in a wheelchair, I find it intolerable that Taverna has set up the outside seating without thinking or obviously complying with ADA requirements. Don't get me wrong, I love outside dining. But they've taken it too far


 +   3 people like this
Posted by Downtown parent, a resident of Professorville,
on May 23, 2019 at 8:51 am

Totally agree with Disabled. Their tables take almost the entire sidewalk. But aside from this being a violation, I simply don't get it from a customer perspective. Why would you pay quite an amount of money for literally eating on a sidewalk? Pedestrians pass you by, some cough, some sneeze, your food is exposed to car gases, etc. that are just a yard or so away from you. Yikes ...


 +   8 people like this
Posted by Let's milk Stanford, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood,
on May 23, 2019 at 9:34 am

How much housing will the restaurant provide? What about the increased traffic that will come with more seating? How will the owners mitigate that???


 +   6 people like this
Posted by To Downtown parent, a resident of Old Mountain View,
on May 23, 2019 at 1:38 pm

Visit Europe some time. Restaurants do that everywhere and people love it.

Even in Mountain View. And Menlo Park, and other peninsula towns.


 +  Like this comment
Posted by Mark Weiss, a resident of Downtown North,
on May 28, 2019 at 10:58 am
Mark Weiss is a registered user.

@Disabled has a good point in that the City does not enforce at all, accept on a complaint basis, the idea that restaurants should be paying for sidewalk space, thereby squandering hundreds of thousands per year for the public coffers; we are essentially underwriting the landlords by giving them the sidewalks for free.

if we enforced the sidewalk rules, the ADA stuff would be included, obviously.



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