Although Café Paradiso could be a nice respite from a day of shopping at the nearby malls, it can be tricky to find, so call ahead for directions. Once there, however, you step into an airy space (formerly Chardonnay’s), with light green walls and deep purple accents, a combination of colors reminiscent of purple-black Kalamata olives and the expanses of wild oregano and thyme that cover the hillsides of Crete.

Indeed, the evening we were there, Maria Zaharakos, visiting from her native Crete, was in charge of the kitchen, helping her daughter and son-in-law, Helena and Tony Silveira, co-owners of Café Paradiso, get their new venture on its feet. Zaharakos and her husband, Peter, ran the Athenian Deli just a few doors up Oaklawn Avenue for more than 25 years before retiring, leaving the restaurant in Helena’s hands and moving back to Greece in 1995.

But Maria couldn’t resist the opportunity to return and oversee the "Mediterranean-inspired" menu at Café Paradiso, which draws from both Italian and Greek traditions, as do the homemade dishes at the Athenian Deli. Among the appetizers are fried calamari and stuffed portobellos from one side of the Adriatic, and from the other, saganachi, fried squares of kasseri cheese, and a meze platter, an assortment of small samples of dips, spreads, and finger foods. The meze come in a single portion for $8.95, or $6.95 per-person when shared in a larger quantity.

No problem in sharing since the serving of each item is quite generous. The meze feature a fava bean dip, tasty but milder than hummus; tsatziki, a delightfully garlic-laced cucumber-and-yogurt spread; tiny cocktail meatballs; fried zucchini patties; tiny spinach pies wrapped in phyllo dough; a bowl of feta chunks and three kinds of olives; and a delicious eggplant salad, tart with lemon juice and fruity with olive oil. You can add dolmades, stuffed grape leaves in lemon sauce, for an additional $2.95. Triangles of warm pita bread come with the meze, but we needed another round of bread to polish off the dips.

Next, we turned our attention to the main part of the meal. Among Café Paradiso’s seven pastas is one with clam sauce, chourico, and littlenecks, a nod to Tony’s Portuguese heritage. A list of 15 entrées includes one pork, one chicken, two beef, and two veal dishes that point to the Italian cuisine. The two lamb and seven seafood offerings hit home with Greek touches. Bill chose the grilled rack of lamb ($19.95), and after much tugging in the direction of the shrimp saganachi, with broiled feta on top, I decided on the swordfish loin instead ($17.95).

Bill requested that his lamb be cooked medium rare, and though it was moist and flavorful, he couldn’t find any pink in the flesh. Maria emerged to explain that the lamb, since it is marinated for three days before grilling, never looks pink. Bill enjoyed the brown lentil sauce accompaniment, as well as the rice pilaf, the steamed peapods, and the salad of mesclun greens.

My swordfish was a hefty steak, also marinated in lemon juice, then brushed with butter and herbs before grilling. It was served with mashed potatoes and peapods, and it was a tasty comfort food meal.

Desserts at Café Paradiso are bananas Foster, tiramisu, and baklava. How could we not go with the baklava ($4.95)? The large triangle of phyllo dough and ground nuts was soaked in a delectable honey syrup, the best baklava I’ve had in a long time. And Maria reminded us that the Greek version features walnuts and almonds, not pistachios, as in the Turkish and Armenian incarnations.

Though our waitress was new to her job, she did her best to find answers to our many questions and to be attentive to our other needs. Leisurely conversations with Tony and Maria were both enlightening and welcoming — you could see that Tony made a regular practice of overseeing the dining room and talking to customers. And they explained that the painted icon of a saint near Paradiso’s front door — it’s Saint Gabriel — had been purchased in Crete with the restaurant’s theme in mind.

There’s a full bar at Café Paradiso, and they’re bringing in a Boston bouzouki band with a singer for a "Greek night" this Saturday, May 15. The Greek items on the menu will be highlighted, along with additional dishes, such as moussaka (layered eggplant, rice, and meat), pastitsio (layered macaroni with meat and a bechamel sauce), or kritharachi (orzo mixed with beef and tomato sauce). Café Paradiso also plans to open soon for lunch.

So, if all your experience of Greek culture is in films (most recently, My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and you’d like, quite literally, to taste it for yourself, head to Café Paradiso (though "Never On Sunday"). If you’d also like to hit the dance floor and become an honorary Greek for the evening, join the fun on Saturday.