ALEX the fresh pasta bar — Restaurant in Athens

I REALLY wanted to love this place. My partner and I came here for some nice pasta after seeing the astonishing reviews—it seemed like the perfect way to end a lovely museum date.

To start, we had to wait for a table, which is completely understandable. The staff were kind and did their best to accommodate us during the wait. Eventually, we were seated at the last table on the sidewalk, right next to the store. It was quite cold, so we asked for a table inside. They informed us that it would take about 20 more minutes, so we decided to stay outside.

I’m not going to dwell on how overpriced everything was—we knew the prices before coming and expected the quality to match. Unfortunately, it didn’t.

I absolutely love pasta, and I really wanted to enjoy it. At first, I thought maybe I wasn’t appreciating the food because I was freezing (to their credit, the staff offered us blankets). But in retrospect, I was just making excuses for how mediocre, at best, the food was.

Starting with the appetizer, they didn’t provide plates for the bread and mayo, so our table ended up covered in breadcrumbs. Seriously—no plates?…

Then the food arrived. I ordered the “Ναυαγός,” and my partner had the “Κλασσικός.” Both dishes were completely tasteless, which honestly takes some skill given the long list of ingredients described on the menu. To make things worse, the poached egg in my dish was cold. I’m not sure if it got cold on the way to our table or if it was served that way, but it wasn’t enjoyable.

Overall, we had a...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pasta lovers rejoice, this is a place you can visit multiple times, try something different each time, and never be disappointed

✓ I've dined here 3 times so far, always enjoyed myself, with my highlights so far being the lamb fricassee (special dish), and the orange chicken. Everything is meticulously put together, the sauces are so tasty, the pasta is as al-dente as it needs to be to be super enjoyable, every ingredient on the plate makes a difference

✓ Two sizes available for each dish, except the special one, with the small one being quite fulfilling. Delicious food and you don't need to overpay

✓ Sourdough bread and spread is available, desserts seem interesting although I have not tried yet, beer and wine menu is carefully put together

✓ Friendly and welcoming staff, they speak both Greek and English and there is an English menu available too

× If I need to complain about something, it would be the city itself and not the restaurant. When sitting outside, the road is quite slanted and my beer kept sliding on the table. I almost spilled it...

I visited ΑLEX (Αλ3ξ) fresh pasta bar with my girlfriend on a Sunday afternoon, after a stroll at Kolonaki. Since this restaurant was a newcomer to the area, we decided to visit it after many recommendations! The menu was lean, with pasta sauces coming from various Greek sourced products, and getting mixed perfectly with her freshly prepared pasta. The pasta bar has an open kitchen area where customers could look their fresh meals being prepared. By far one of my favourite pasta dishes :) We tried the "Cleopatra" (mild spicy sauce with Greek chilly, fresh tomato sauce, parmesan and homemade pasta) and "Pesto" (pesto sauce with fresh Greek basil, pine nuts, olive oil, feta cheese from Kefalonia Island and of course homemade tagliatelle). Highly recommended launch option in Athens, with great prices regarding the authentic products used and with very helpful and cheerful staff, ready to help you choose according to...