OPA! Souvlaki, Toronto Life Square

Concept: 3 out of 5
Execution: 2 out of 5
Yeah, but: Diversity is great, but it's getting less remarkable.

The Long Version: Toronto's one of those places in the world that lets you get anything you want from any place in the world. There's quite a large and vibrant greek community here, and the annual Greek neighbourhood festival brings out over a million visitors over the course of a long weekend. That puts it in the same realm as Pride Week and Caribana, just without the fabulous outfits.

So Toronto is no stranger to Greek food, and as a result the standards are pretty high for a fast-food chain. I have to say that the Opa! location in the local Food Court didn't disappoint me. No, it's not the best that I've ever had, but it's considerably closer to Greek food than McDonald's is to Hamburgers or Pizza Pizza is to, well, take a guess. Even better, it's a friendly and sociable little shop. They even go so far as to provide pitchers of ice water—free!—to their customers. Updated October: This is a thing of the past, so bring your own beverage.

Service is prompt, and the cooking is done fairly quickly. It's possible to actually get cooked food and still have time to eat it. The location that I visit is fairly new, so the staff has some foibles, but it comes across as endearing rather than irritating.

I'm one of those people who says "yes" to the question of Fries With That? But the reality is that most of the time they aren't very good, but these ones worth having. As a result, I've had almost the same thing all three times I've ordered from Opa!, with the only variation being alternating between chicken and pork. But Penny tells me that their salad is also very good, and I have no trouble believing her.