Specials include:
Free glass of house wine with any lamb entrée and traditional Greek entertainment plus Tsougrisma, a Greek Easter tradition of breaking red eggs for good luck.
-Open 12 to 10pm
-Full menu available
-Belly dancing entertainment begins at 7pm
Katerina Coumbaros, co-owner of Taverna Opa Orlando, tells us about some of her favorite memories of Greek Easter growing up – “The week before Easter we attended church every night and on Easter Eve we would go to church at 11pm. At midnight everyone lights their candle and we celebrate that Christ has Rise. The moment always sticks in my mind. After the service ended around 1am we would go to my mom’s house and eat a traditional Easter soup called magiritsa and crack the red eggs. Easter Day is all about the roasted lamb on the spit! Everyone can’t wait for it to be ready and we literally ate it as it was being butchered off of the spit! The older generation would eat the brain and the eyes and they would try to convince us to eat them too but that wouldn’t happen!””
The Greek Orthodox calendar is different from the Christian calendar here, so Greek Easter falls on a different day! Typically it falls a week or two after ours, but this year it’s almost a month later. Greeks partake in a fast leading up to Greek Easter (many of Taverna Opa’s staff also partake in this).
The red dyed eggs are a Greek Easter tradition and are only ever dyed red, unlike all of the bright pastel eggs we typically dye! It symbolizes Christ’s tomb. The Easter greeting “Christos Anesti” is used meaning “Christ is risen.”
Taverna Opa Orlando
Pointe Orlando
9101 International Dr #2240, Orlando, FL 32819