Acropolis
Sam Halabi bought a Harker Heights Greek room and rebuilt it around a wine list, with his wife's Food Network bakery next door.1
Why go
Halabi says what he is after: I want our guests to experience the right wine with the right meal in the right atmosphere with the right staff.
1 He keeps much of the inventory on the walls, so the list is the decor.1 The dining room is open plan and Janna Zepp found it quiet anyway, dark and set up for a table for two.1 Next door is Lily's Cakes, run by his wife Lily Halabi, who came second runner-up on Food Network's Halloween Cake Wars.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the flaming saganaki, $14.99. Kasseri lightly grilled, then flamed at the table with brandy.2
- Order: the gyro plate at $16.99, lamb and beef off a vertical broiler with tzatziki and two sides. The rack of New Zealand lamb chops is the top of the board at $25.99.2
- Avoid: Sunday, when it is closed.1
What locals & experts say
- Sam Halabi, owner, to Tex Appeal Magazine:
We want to give them a pleasant experience all the way around when they dine with us.
1 - Janna Zepp, Tex Appeal Magazine, on the room:
The dining room, although an open concept, is actually relatively quiet even when the tables are full of diners.
1
Good to know
- Booking: walk in for four or fewer. Above that the house wants a call.1
- The address is the W arm of the expressway, Suite 206, and a lot of listings put it on the S arm. That mistake will send you a mile and a half wrong.1
- Timing: the magazine printed 11am to 9pm Monday to Thursday and 11am to 9.30pm Friday and Saturday. Those hours are undated and worth a phone call.1
Verdict
could-visit — The owner says plainly what he is selling, a wine list matched to the food in a quiet dark room, and the magazine backs him on the room being calmer than an open plan usually is. The board is a proper Greek one: kasseri flamed at the table, a lamb-and-beef gyro off the broiler, New Zealand chops, souvlaki on the skewer. Nobody bylined has eaten any of it and written it down, so the room places it here and the cooking is still an open question.