O Lolos – Τσιπουράδικο Μεζεδοπωλείο Κουκάκι — Restaurant in Athens

So our first night in Athens, we get this place as a recommendation from our Airbnb host. We check the reviews on Google.. most seem good.

Now, we walk in and there's a queue which is fine given the locality. Waited for 45 mins and just as we were about to leave, the coordinator gives us a table (seemed a bit suspicious).

The food order - the waitress explains us the items on the menu and off the menu. A very friendly and patient waitress. I order a home made chicken (off the menu) and my Mrs. orders a grilled fish. Grilled fish arrives in about 20 mins and Mrs. happily devoursthe fish. Now it's been almost 1 hour since we placed the order and the 'home made chicken' is still missing. I check with the waitress she says she'll check what happened; never comes back. I wait for another 10 mins and finally speak with the coordinator. He tells me that I placed an incorrect order first which I corrected. This is where I have my first problem with these guys. They lie! Finally the 'home made chicken' order arrives about 1 hr 20 mins after it was placed.

The bill - they charged us for the bread that they placed on the table that we didn't order. Normally items like these are on the house, but apparently it wasn't. This is my second issue, not necessarily with the amount but with the principle.

So this turned out to be one of our worst experiences in Athens. Please beware of 2 things before visiting- don't order their homemade menu items (chicken wasn't that good) and beware of items that arrive on your table without asking they will...

I cannot recommend O Lolos highly enough. We had dinner tonight, my daughter and I, and had the best best value and food for a long long time.

We started with a plate of “Horta” - boiled wild greens (we call them “weeds”) which were extremely delicious topped off with freshly squeezed lemon.

For mains we ordered my absolute favourite Greek dish, Pastitsio, and Yemista (Gemista on the pictured menu).

We were shocked as to how inexpensive all the items were - see receipt. Total cost for both of us was €21.90. We rolled out of the restaurant, full and extremely satisfied.

The Plastitsio, was heavenly, prepared by the food manager’s mother. I eat Pastitsio regularly and this is by far the BEST Pastitsio that I have has the pleasure to eat out EVER. It was rich, extremely tasty, cooked perfectly, spiced exactly as it should be, and the portion size served was enormous.

We ordered the Yemista (€6), expecting to receive either a stuffed tomato or a stuffed capsicum - we got both for that price - outstanding value. Furthermore the meal was superb - beautifully flavoured rice mixture i perfectly cooked tomato and capsicum- with perfect potato wedges as an accompaniment.

The meal was outrageous in quality and price - well worth the taxi ride from wherever you are in Athens.

The restaurant is always busy and buzzing, full of locals and tourists, and you may have to wait 15 minutes for a table, if you haven’t booked. Staff are plentiful, happy and helpful.

O Lolos is a MUST -...

I visit Athens about 3-4 times per year. I have been to this restaurant at least 20 times. The food is usually very good. It is always busy. However, tonight I ordered kalamaraki and what I received was something that looked very different and tasted very different from what it usually does. In fact it tasted very bad. Tough tough squid. All is fine in this restaurant as long as you accept what they give you. The waiter i ordered from, a young male guy was not properly listening to me when I ordered. I know this because I also ordered a take away box for some vegetables which he did not bring. When I wanted to pay the bill I asked why did you change the squid. It’s different. I was told this is not kalamaraki. It is large squid. It was terrible. The lady said nothing she could do about it. When I told the waiter in question, he would not listen and told me I had my finger under a different type of squid and this is what he gave me. He then walked off. Wouldn’t listen to me again for the second time. I have been to that restaurant enough times to know the menu off by heart. I also know what I ordered. For the very very bad squid they charged me €16. Obviously in this restaurant, the customer is not always right. They would not even give me the time to listen to me. I paid my bill and I left. Don’t agree with being treated in this way. Staff were so rude. No longer my favourite restaurant in Athens. I will not be returning. Plenty of other...