Balthazar — Restaurant in Athens

I would like to describe my dining experience at the Balthazar restaurant. It was far from being a real fine dining experience. I called the morning of that day to make a dinner reservation for a party of 2. I was told that the only available time was 22:30. Although it was very late, I could potentially understand it given that it was a same-day reservation. I arrived a few minutes in advance. The atmosphere of the restaurant and the vibe was nice. I was escorted to my table. To my surprise, the table was located all the way at the back of the yard, by the kitchen. I shortly realized that we will be the only table to have dinner given that all the people sitting at the surrounding tables were enjoying their drinks. I asked for another table but to my surprise, I encountered an unprecedented unwillingness to accommodate my request. They told me that there were no available tables, even though I could see other tables without any customers. Their response was that they were all reserved at almost 11 pm for dinner…That could potentially be true, but their lack of effort to accommodate my request was striking. Furthermore, a fine dining restaurant would never jeopardize its reputation having an unsatisfied customer. They could have just told me that they do not have any available tables in the morning when I called them. After this unfortunate situation, we started ordering for our dinner. We had 2 cocktails, the Stuck in Love and His Majesty which were good. We ordered 3 starters. The salmon tartare and the red mullet ceviche were good. The sea bass carpaccio was also ok but not at the same level. Regarding the entrees, we had the croaker and the grouper. I had the grouper which was dry for my taste. I was told that the croaker was ok. Then, and while we were waiting for the desserts 2 events happened which I would say should never happen to a fine dining restaurant. Firstly, a plate of sushi was served and it took the waiter a while to realize that we had not ordered it. Secondly, the desserts were not served at the same time. We first received the strawberries and after several minutes the cinnamon tart. I had the tart and it was good. I could even comment on other things like that the timing in serving was suboptimal with long intervals in between the courses, but that could potentially be perceived as a detail. To make a long story short, the dining experience at the Balthazar was far from being a fine dining one. If you just want a place with a nice atmosphere and vibe at the expense of the dining experience then it is a nice place to go. If you are looking for something more then, I would not recommend it. Not even close to any fine dining restaurant in New York...

Booked a table for 7 people to celebrate a life event with close friends. The representative that received the call and confirmed the reservation and informed me that the minimum consumption is €25 per person which was fine.

I arrived with my girlfriend on time and we were escorted to our table. The drinks we ordered were tasty and everything was great.

However, when our first guest arrived, he was denied entry. When I arrived at the entrance, I was told that my guest is not allowed to enter because he was wearing bermuda shorts instead of trousers. After explaining that during the booking I was not informed of any dress code, and that if that is the case then we were going to leave, they allowed entrance to my guest.

After a while we were 5 people without any incident and we were having a great time. However, my last 2 guests (a couple) arrived where they were also denied entrance. The bouncer told them that the table was full. Reminder, we had a booking of 7 and we were 5 so far.

When I tried to figure out once again what was the issue and inform them that the table was not full yet, they told me that one of my last 2 guests was not dressed to meet the standards of the establishment (bermuda shorts with a black T-shirt). The manager of the place said (translated from Greek): "This is Balthazar. Look at him. Look at what he is wearing. This is not a place for such an attire. It is sad because his girlfriend is dressed so nicely but he cannot enter dressed like that."

After that we paid for what we have drunk so far and we left, without me being able to enjoy the special night I planned to have.

If anyone has been there before, they would know that there are many people going to Balthazar with such attire.

Dear Balthazar: If there is a dress code, please inform people when they book a table. When it is a hot night, you should be expecting men wearing shorts. People are not identified by their outfit (it is 2022, wake up fashion police). Even if you characterize people by their outfit, do not do that belittling tone. Have a reality check and please get off your high horse.

Sincerely, A disappointed customer that was not able to enjoy a special event...

I really wish I would’ve asked what are our waitress’s name and also our waiters name was so I could give a shout out. They were attentive and also so kind.

For starters/appetizers Salmon tartare and Wagyu Nigiri. We are avid salmon tartare lovers and we loved this one! It had the perfect butteriness as well as a great acidity with each bite. The wagyu Nigiri was a first even though we eat sushi at least once a week we have just not been able to get wagyu where we live. The Wagyu was so smooth and melted on your tongue and just the perfect bite and wanted it to keep going.

For cocktails: My SO got the peacock cocktail and he really enjoyed it and loved how refreshing it was. I got a sex on Beach but did not finish it because it was just a big drink and I’m not a avid drinker so I drink very slow.

Main course: I got the Sushi platter (Balthazar combo) Just wow! I loved every bite but the one roll that stood out to me the most was the rock shrimp roll ! Absolutely amazing! I was expecting a regular delicious tempura roll but instead got a flavor explosion of a curry umami taste instead. Absolutely phenomenal. Every single roll was different which I truly loved. My So got the Wagyu flap steak, potato dauphinoise, king oysters mushrooms, red wine sauce. He does not care for mushrooms so he did ask to omit that which they were super kind about! It was fantastic and cooked to literal perfection. He went in for each bite and it was a perfect bite each time and also so flavorful! I’m not a meat eater really because I just don’t always care for it but he gave me two bites and I wanted the whole plate! It was perfect! Not one flavor was over powering as they each complemented Each other so well!

Dessert we were stuck between two desserts but ended up asking our awesome waiter and he told us to go with the Cinnamon tart with cinnamon ice cream. He guided us to the correct direction! It was sooo good and had crunch but also melted in your mouth I mean it was just fantastic! We are so happy we went to this restaurant and once we travel back we will make sure to...