Elaea Dine & Wine — Restaurant in Athens

I never write any reviews for anything, but this restaurant deserves it.

On our last day in Athens, after an exhausting hike up to the Acropolis and its museum, my mom and I were walking around the Plaka area looking for something to eat. A young man approached us and explained what his restaurant had to offer. It all sounded very appetizing and he seemed friendly without being too pushy, so we took a seat. We feared this would be just another tourist trap, but that wasn't the case at all.

The restaurant itself is small and has a cozy feel to it. The food was delicious and the portion sizes were enough; my mother is a picky eater but for once, she actually finished all her food (mushrooms as a starter and lamb kleftiko). She was still dreaming about it the next day :-) I briefly saw the chef when I went inside, and she looked like a sweet lady - I was also told it's a family ran business, so it's always good to support them, especially during hard corona times.

What really sets Elaea apart from all the other restaurants in that area, is in my opinion, the super hospitable and attentive staff! Even the manager appeared friendly.

Last but not least, what I really admired was Maria's genuine kindness and work ethic. She worked really hard to serve all seated customers with a warm smile and positivity and I was truly impressed by that because we all know serving like that isn't easy, what a ray of sunshine she is! When I thanked her for her excellent service, she was appreciative and it was the most endearing thing ever, she's such a cool person and someone I'd want to be friends with for sure!

Props to the host(s), server(s), manager and chef! I'll definitely make sure to come back in the...

We arrived in Athens on June 13 and found Elaea down the street from our hotel. There is a row of many restaurants on the street, most with outside dining on the street, and a few with indoor dining. Many of them have staff out front attempting to have you dine with them. The young gentleman outside Elaea was very polite and did not pressure us. He did entice us by saying the inside seating was in air conditioning, something that was tempting given the outside temperature was over 40C or 100F, unusual for June in Athens. We told him we were looking for a place for dinner later and might be back.

We returned to our hotel and read the great reviews on TA and Google, and said this is the place. We went for dinner and felt welcome as soon as we went inside. The entire staff was very friendly and helpful with suggestions for ordering, even taking consideration of choices better for a heatwave.

For appetizer, we shared tzatziki with pita bread. Delicious! Nan had Meatballs in the oven (not so much Greek, but very tasty), and I had the suggested Grouper in the oven. It was fantastic, and the right choice for the heat. At the end of the meal, we were surprised by a complementary dessert and a couple of shots of a cinnamon based spirit they make there. What a wonderful finish to a delightful meal. All throughout, service was attentive and friendly, and we weren't rushed to leave our table.

Bottom line, Elaea is the perfect choice for your first meal in Athens. We're so certain it's the right choice for a second meal, too. As soon as I post this, we're heading there for...

DO NOT GO HERE! At first, my friend and I felt forced to go into the restaurant due to the host being quite pushy, he explained the menu twice for us. After we got seated we waited around five minutes to actually get menus. Since we had eaten before and only wanted something small before we went back to the hotel, we decided to order appetizers to share and each a glace of wine. Before taking our order the waiter immediately asked if we wanted some water and served us 1l of re-bottled water that we had to pay €4 for (while it cost only €2.80 next door where we got new water in a sealed bottle! ). When he realized that we only wanted an appetizers he quickly lost interest in us and never speaked with us again. The table next to us got 10/10 service, they had to waiters helping them serve fish and they repeatly asked them if they wanted anything else or if everything was good and when they went to pay they got offered a degistif. We sat our whole time with dirty plates, they only took bread basket and while they did that they ignored us completely. When we had finished our wine, I went to pay. When I asked for the bill I was completely ignored and I thought they hadn't heard me so I asked for it again. The waiter I asked answered me rudely and just ignored me...