Buena Vista Social Bar — Restaurant in Athens

I visited this place recently, and unfortunately, the experience was extremely disappointing from start to finish.

Upon arrival, we were promptly shown to our table, but that was the last efficient moment of the evening. We waited 20 minutes just to get the attention of a server to ask for water and an ashtray. Another 10 minutes passed before he came back to take our order.

We received the water, two cocktails, and one beer 50 minutes after sitting down — yes, I timed it. Then, two minutes later, all the food arrived at once, cold, and was carelessly thrown onto the table. Despite telling the waiter we were a group of four and asking if the table was big enough, he assured us everything was fine. It clearly wasn’t.

When I asked to combine tables, he said, “Yeah, I’m busy right now.” I had to move the tables myself while he ignored us. No plates were provided — just four napkins, four forks, and one knife. When I asked for proper plates, they brought us small ones, like the kind used for coffee and pastries.

We ordered a second round of cocktails, but it never arrived. As for the food, it had clearly been sitting at the pass for some time — cold, bland, and entirely forgettable.

And this wasn’t just our table. Every table around us was visibly frustrated. Guests were literally getting up and going to the bar themselves to ask for basic things like water, napkins, or ice. In a proper restaurant, this is simply unacceptable. It speaks volumes when customers are forced to do the staff’s job just to be served the bare minimum.

They didn’t even have large bottles of water — only small ones. When I personally went to the bar to ask for a glass of ice, the bartender told the waiter, who then walked out to smoke a cigarette like nothing had happened.

This was, without exaggeration, one of the worst service experiences I’ve ever had. Unprofessional, inattentive, and disorganized from beginning to end. I would never return and I strongly do not recommend this...

The place is very nice, the music was good. We arrived and there were a few empty tables. A guy approached us, we told him we wanted a drink, and he gave us a table for two. He brought us the menu and a bottle of water. When he returned a few minutes later, we ordered two cocktails. We waited 15 minutes, no one came over, and we saw a waitress walk by. We asked her for our drinks, and she said, "You should have ordered them from me, give me a moment." She left, and we waited for another 15 minutes. When no one came and we still didn't have our cocktails, we got up to leave. The waitress was at the exit to the terrace, and we told her we were leaving, that we'd been waiting for half an hour (in that time, they'd served several tables that had arrived after us). The waitress just spoke to us rudely, saying we should have ordered from her and that they had plenty of tables. I couldn't stay quiet at that point, so I told her that when we arrived, it wasn't full and that they had served an entire table of eight people who had arrived much later (okay, they forgot, they overslept, whatever, but they can't speak ill of or yell at a customer, especially when we didn't speak ill of them at any point). At that moment, the waitress yelled, "Look, your drinks." It was already late, we weren't staying, and we left. The waitress kept yelling at the first waiter who served us. An unnecessarily...

The place is quite nice with a good view at acropolis, a laid-back vibe, and a cool vibe overall. However, there is a dramatic issue with the service. I sat at the rooftop bar and was unlucky enough to be served by a young blonde guy who was extremely impolite and cynical. The storyline was that after ordering, we decided to change seats and asked the person on the entrance if we could do so. The person agreed, and after changing seats, that waiter came with a very impolite attitude, asking "why we changed" and "who put us there." After explaining and enjoying our drinks, it was time to pay. After asking to split the bill and he agreed, he was extremely ironic making comments like "don't you know revolut and that you can send the money to each other there?". And like that wasn't enough, the other person in the company who wanted to pay cash as he didn't have a card, was waiting for 15 mins for receiving his change as the waiter claimed he didn't have cash. By the time he returned the money, the waiter made the comment "next time you better be willing to pay by card." I genuinely don't understand how you intend to have such a high-end bar and hire such ridiculous staff. This person definitely shouldn't be there and destroys the face...