MAGEMENOS AVLOS — Restaurant in Athens

Magemenos Avlos used to be an all time favourite with the menu comprising a variety of original and exceptionally tasty plates. Sadly based on last night's culinary experience, the emphasis should fall on the "used to be" .

The salad, deceptively appearing under the "Nicoise" moniker, came deviously bedraggled in an ultra sweet yellow substance. So it came as a good thing that it contained no tuna, which would clash with the disgusting sauce. The mushrooms, must have been cooked in dead Sea water with some additional salt thrown in the pot. Absolutely inedible.

And to close this pitiful narration just a comment on the entree, the hunkiar beyendi. Usually a most pleasing plate of red sauce beef stew on a bed of eggplant puree. This is the dish and the description on the menu. Not according to the chef, though. For unclear reasons he decided to serve it (to gullible tourists, no doubt) with potato puree. Under protest the waiter managed 25 minutes later, to have it replaced with the real thing. However this new plate came soiled with sauce around the edge. Inspired by a Mr Bean movie the crafty waiter grabbed a towel from an adjacent table and hygienically wiped it clean.

Let this note come by way of a...

Well, our visit was an intresting experience, we went there with a regroup coupon for two persons ,cheese fondue with a bottle of wine.The house wine is a decent one but the fondue is so boring .The green apple salad and the potato salad was good though.The most interesting is the restaurant ,the decor,the ambiance.As it was a favorite place for many famous artists like Manos Chatzidakis,Dimitris Chorn to mention some it looks trapped in it's heavy history.Everything and everyone looks to follow with an impressive commitment this way. The waiter and all the stuff members seems to come from another era lost some decades back.If you look for a different restaurant with nice and low volume music in a romantic environment where you can easily talk without screaming ,if you like some space between the tables and this ambient nostalgia give it a try.Just...

The restaurant looked nice, after we were seated we had to get the waiters attention to order. The waiter seemed to have no clue in regard to wines. I ordered a dry white wine and my friend ordered a sweet white wine, neither were nice. My friend tried again and the waiter said a rose; however that was just red wine. The waiter delivered bread to our table, which we had not ordered, and didn’t eat, so we assumed this was complimentary, apparently not. The bill included the bread charge. The owner was there and said this was customary for Greece! I don’t believe that at all, she was very dismissive. Our meals were not hot when they came out either. We had to wait at least 20 mins for our bill. I would never go back here again. Meat & roses over the road offer much nicer food at a quarter...