Rozalia — Restaurant in Athens

I stumbled by accident upon Rozalia, a bustling, vibrant, traditional Greek taverna with tables and chairs in the middle of the pedestrian street. There is a restaurant, but not a sole in there as the warm September air is still lovely even at 9pm. I am in Athens by myself and, as well, am a vegetarian, which both cause some difficulty sometimes. A table was split apart for me, which I am thankful for, and a manu bought to me. There was not a table spare on the street. The bustle included a busker working the tables and conversation from around the world. A bottle of Mythos, some bread, local cheese, and a plate of fava bean puree to get me going. A mushroom and aubergine Moussaka as a main (I wish I hadn't to be honest, as the starters were really plenty!)

I love simple food and cooked well, and this is definitely applicable to Rozalia. The bread, fresh and soft, a local sourdough type of bread, dense and delicious. The local cheese, a harder type, salty, and tangy. Delicious. The Fava bean (split peas) puree was without doubt the best I have had. Little caper berries dotted across the top, adding a salty vinegary bite and a small dice of red onion, adding that rawness that cuts through the richness of the puree. As I alluded earlier, although the Moussaka was delicious, by the time it arrived, I was already stuffed. It was, however, full of great flavours and topped with super creamy mashed potato and baked until golden.

A really good meal. The service is typically Greek, so don't be surprised. You are, after all, in Athens!! It's very 'yesterday', the waiters smoking whilst working and chatting whilst being as attentive as they need to be.

Go and eat there. You won't be...

I had a disappointing experience at this restaurant. While the food was good, the service left much to be desired. Here are the reasons why:

First, they forgot to provide us with menus, which is forgivable but sets a bad tone.

We ordered appetizers and were explicitly asked if we wanted them as starters, to which we agreed. However, our main courses arrived when we hadn't even finished half of our appetizers. We were forced to choose between letting our appetizers go cold or neglecting our main courses. Everything felt rushed, making us wonder if we were unwelcome.

The whole dining experience felt rushed from the beginning. It made me wonder if we were truly welcome. This feeling was amplified when one member of our group, who had an obvious arm injury, was handed a scalding hot plate instead of it being placed in front of them.

While the house wine was okay, when we requested a second carafe, the empty one was never cleared. So, we had two wine carafes cluttering our table until it was time to settle the bill.

Once we finished our meal, the plates were immediately cleared without any inquiry about our satisfaction or dessert preferences. This added to the sense that we were not welcome, as each of us independently developed this feeling.

An unsolicited dessert was served, further reinforcing our feeling of being unwelcome. It seemed as if they didn't want us to order additional dessert and linger.

On the bright side, settling the bill was a swift process. However, I didn't receive a payment receipt.

Overall, it was not a pleasant dining experience. The rushed and inattentive service overshadowed what could have been...

Came here for a late meal just before closing time, main waiter was very abrupt, tired at us for asking for more time to desire what we were having, then when we ordered our options for 3 people he said they didn’t have it ! He could of mentioned that before hand ! We ordered our new options from the small option of what was available, we ordered mini kebabs which were very nice, we ordered the veal stew which was excellent, we also ordered the veal steak which was not veal at all it was pork steak ! I confronted the waiter who took our order and he said no it’s veal ! I have been a chef for many years and am absolutely disgusted that he had the audacity to again try and convince me it was veal ! It looks like pork It tastes like pork It has the very same texture as pork The waiter then said that the veal stew was from a big veal whereas the supposed veal (PORK) steak on my plate was from a small veal ?!?!??!? This type of behaviour is unacceptable from the service industry and is a massive let down to the restaurant POZANIA I will never eat here again and suggest if visiting Athens you give this place a wide...