ILIADA — Restaurant in Athens

Beware, I convinced my wife and family to specifically eat here based on the good Google reviews. I’m not sure how others are rating Iliada 4.9 stars on Google but our experience was not the best and I wouldn’t recommend friends or family to eat here in the future if visiting Athens.

First, they had one lady attending the cafe (taking orders, bringing food and drinks), she would literally run outside and down the street about 100 feet to the outside cafe to pick up the food and drink orders and sprint back to the indoor cafe. I’ve never seen anything like it. Occasionally a second woman would come in to bus tables but that’s it. The lady taking orders was not overtly kind to the majority of the patrons including us and very short with everyone which I somewhat understand based on how busy the place got.

When we arrived initially there were only two other tables present downstairs one of who already had their food. Over the next hour the place became more crowded as more and more people arrived. At that point service deteriorated due to having one person attending 2 stories of customers and several tables of 5 or more people. I saw at least 2 tables of people get up and walk out due to the poor service and waiting time and later saw one couple at another restaurant eating outside as I walked back to our hotel.

Second, regarding the food. The gyros at best could be rated 3-4/5. Greek salad was okay. My son had the chicken nuggets and French fries and the nuggets were exceptionally dry. Fish sticks were okay. Overall, nothing special about the food.

Third, upon leaving to pay the bill the credit card machine was not working. We were told by the lady among her frantic sprinting back and forth we would need to pay down at the cafe which when I went down there the guy looked at me with a confused upset look and after a minute or two went back to grabbing ice and ignoring us all the while a line is forming outside of the cafe of patrons who cannot pay due to the card machine going down. This whole time the one lady is still running around talking with patrons sitting outside at the cafe in between trying to put together plates to take to tables and try and fix the credit card situation all at the same time. It was one of the strangest experiences I’ve had at a restaurant. I actually feel bad for the lady as a lot of the issues could have been possibly mitigated with more staff.

Eventually my wife was able to pay the bill and we were happy to be...

We visited Athens, Greece for Christmas. We are from Phoenix, Arizona, USA. We walked to this restaurant from our hotel, in the rain. (We love the rain, by the way). We asked to sit inside. The lady asked, "You want to sit inside? Oh, we are closed." We must've looked so sad because she quickly said, "I open for you! Come!" We were in shock and told her no, but she insisted. She raised the gate, unlocked the door, turned on the lights, set our table, and sat us. She even turned on Christmas music! We ordered some wine, and then we ordered dinner. I ordered Portion chicken gyros, and my son ordered 2 Souviaki Pork Gyros. Oh my goodness! Best gyros we've ever had! My mouth is watering just writing this as I remember what we had! My entree had 4 pita triangles with thin strips of the most delicious chicken, French fries, fresh lettuce; tomatoes, cucumber, and a sauce. My son's entree was 2 large gyros stuffed with thinly sliced pork, fries, onions and Tzatziki sauce. Heavenly!! I even asked for a side of Tzatziki sauce. A party of six came in and then another couple, so we felt better about her opening back up. They all left before us though. I was finishing my wine and she caught a glimpse of me. She said, "No worries, take time! I have job, I clean. Take time!" She was so kind. We finished up and paid. Another customer had entered. I overheard him ask what time they are open until and she said 8pm. He looked at his watch and said it's after 8. Of course she said, "No problem." We believe she genuinely meant it. Loved the above and beyond excellent customer service. I'd give the restaurant a 10 if Google...

Lured by the numerous reviews praising the "delicious" pitta gyros served in this cafe,we decided to dine there. We sat in an open air space in front of the shop. Albeit warm,there was a nice refreshing breeze,and the air was clean. However the lady responsible waved us to get up and follow her in a nearby room,in the next building,which seemed to be converted to a dinning room. The place was almost full,was air-conditioned,but there was no ventilation,and a stale smell was in the atmosphere.

We were seated up floor ,in a small table for two (my self and three friends !!!),right outside the door of the toilet. A catalogue was given to us,and we ordered our pitta gyros plus other plates.The price of the pitta gyros was indicated as 7.5€,rather expensive,and the size rather small,as we noticed in VERY nearby tables.

Waiting for about 20 minutes to be served,disgusted we went away.

Quite hungry by now,we sat in another nearby restaurant,we ordered the same more or less things,and were served in about 5 minutes. The pitta gyros was only 5€,and the size almost twice from Iliada's. Fortunately we were treated like "family members",and were so pleased the we almost forgot our...