Sense Rooftop Restaurant — Restaurant in Athens

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!

I tried really hard not to write this review, but the whole experience still doesn't sit well with me to this day, as it is the worst dining experience I've ever had between the US and Europe.

The 1 star I'm leaving is there because I couldn't give it a 0/5, and the view wasn't bad, but there are certainly much better rooftop views in Athens for a better value and more pleasant experience overall.

Our friends were visiting from the states and we wanted to give them a nice dining experience with Acropolis views on their first night in Athens. We called the restaurant and made a reservation for 5 people (which also required a down payment). I was bringing my friends directly from the airport and my wife and her friend went to the restaurant first to ensure we would make the reservation in time of b10:00pm.

Nothing about their entrance was “fine” or welcoming, as no one came to explain a single thing about the tasting menu, leaving my wife and her friend to figure it out themselves. The hostess rushed them to order drinks, and in a rude manner started all her sentences with “as I explained to the gentleman..” referring to me, not being present at the time, when my wife and her friend were explaining that the rest of the party would be here shortly.

After they were rushed to order the drinks as there was a “tight time limit”, the hostess came back to the table and said "we will start bringing out the food now". My wife was shocked at that initiative, and asked her not to and the hostess did not hide her annoyance.

Why would they even consider bringing out the food if the entire party isn't present??This blows my mind.

Once the entire party arrived, no one explained ANYTHING yet again.

If they were going to shove the food down our throats and be anything but hospitable, they shouldn’t have accepted a 10pm reservation.

The waiter was EXTREMELY snarky and sarcastic, and every single time that food was brought out, it felt extremely passive-aggressive since every plate was put on the table in a loud manner, followed by a rushed explanation of the dish.

My wife made a comment to the waiter that she liked the plates, to which he replied verbatim in a snarky, condescending manner:

“60 euros each", which was just plain hilarious.

Part of the dining experience is the EXPERIENCE, not just the food. The posh "too good for you" attitude of the waiter provided anything but a pleasant experience. I wish he took the same pride in his service, hospitality and manners, as he did about working at that restaurant.

The dishes were mediocre at best. They lacked taste, and the presentations were interesting but nothing special.

Immediately after we had finished our dish, the plates were quickly taken away and replaced by the following dish in a very quick manner.

One of the guests at our table asked about the rooster that was being served (while still wiping his mouth from the previous plate that barely just left the table), and the waiter began to give us a speech about how the guest never in his life had a rooster like this, and everything he's had up until this point wasn't even in the same league as the rooster that's being served.

And the rooster? It wasn't anything to rave about.

After having rushed us all the courses, I asked for the check and got up to pay at the counter.

When I stood up, my phone fell to the floor and I picked it up. IMMEDIATELY as I picked up my phone, the same waiter shouted in my direction from the hostess table "is that an iPhone or an Android?"

To which I replied that it's an Android (Samsung s23 ultra).

He then commented something along the lines of that if my phone isn't an iPhone then I can kiss it goodbye, which was a wild comment to a patron of your establishment who is paying very good money, for not just the food, but the overall experience as well (despite the horrendous service and sub-part food, I still left a good tip)

This restaurant is a disgrace to the Athens extraordinary dining scene and the true antonym of fine-dining and...

After some time passing between rating 2 stars and holding back on a written review to "cool off", it's time to rate this restaurant with some backup information.

At first, admittedly the review was to be a pointed, detailed account of everything that went wrong on this most special of last nights in Greece, but retrospectively the emotions of that very special of nights would cloud what was otherwise an apparent series of unfortunate events. Also, the restaurant did not charge for the portion of food and wine we actually consumed, so it would be unfair to allow emotions into the mix.

Therefore, this review isn't based on what went wrong for us, but on what you might want to expect based on our experience in order to improve your experience.

First, the view of the Acropolis from the rooftop restaurant is stunning - but this is not an open air view, with the best parts of the restaurant enclosed in glass. There are other rooftops with similar views in open air format. In the late evening, one might prefer open air, but in the heat of the late afternoon/early evening, temperature control is worth considering.

That said, it doesn't seem to matter when your reservations were made; seating appears to be random and you may not get that ideal view in the glass portion. You can ask to be re-seated when tables open up; reservations while likely necessary don't appear to provide any other benefit.

The format is well published - there were three gastronomically delightful menus offered, two shorter ones and one long one, which it was advised that if one of us selected it, both needed to do so. The reason for that strangeness appears to be the logistics in the kitchen. We selected it.

Those logistics also seem to dictate when the restaurant essentially closes for new orders. Without getting into details, we arrived for our 9 pm reservations; service seemed hurried and we requested to slow down but were informed that they could not due to the kitchen closing. I imagine there is a cost to maintaining the logistics on the trailing end of the night such that late diners might not get the same experience. For that reason we recommend to arrive no later than 8 pm, but unsure if the same pressure to move from course to course will exist.

The wine list was impressive; the so-called somelier was not. Pretty sure that this waitress passing off as a connaisseur was in fact not a somelier. It was fun watching, and we did get a good bottle of wine, but the website does indicate a somelier.

Due to the events of the evening culminating with the information that, while we could order from the long menu, we had to rush through each course, we did not consume the entire meal and left early. That said, the portions we did consume showed promise for the later ones, though cold served items were partially frozen in one case (again, assume this is due to rushing closing the kitchen).

Overall the staff felt somewhat insensitive to our dining needs as well as argumentative, however I now think that they were working to whatever rules were set up for them and did their best under the circumstances. The seating hostess was polite and smiled through our final complaints, but she must have been biting her tongue at these two irate Americans that we appeared to be.

We had several other issues with the experience, none worth mentioning and all of which would have been passable had the actual dining * experience * been better.

To potential diners, I would say there is a lot of potential here, but make reservations for early in the evening, and expect some amount of quicker pace to the night as opposed to a more relaxing experience.

To the SENSE management team, setting more clear expectations up front might be helpful and might have averted our own interpretation...

The Good, the bad and the rushed...

So, the good points...the food is sublime. Every course on the tasting menu was so delicious that the chefs definitely deserve the Michelin recommendation. Unfortunately, that is where it ended for us.

I felt that the restaurant description was quite misleading. I was led to believe there was a terrace on the roof and specifically asked to be out on the terrace when booking. There is no terrace, just open windows so you don't really have an uninterrupted view without a window frame blocking the way. We were seated by a lady with glasses who instantly made us feel rushed by telling us we only had the table for an alloted time. I was already aware of this when booking, but to mention it as one of the first things made us feel uneasy. We weren't given long at all to peruse the drinks menu and were only given a wine list so assumed there were no other options. We didn't have time to barely take a few sips and settle before the food started rushing out.

As mentioned, the food was incredible, but we felt so rushed. Even our cutlery was being set for the next course while we were still eating the previous. I've never known this in any restaurant I've been to before and just made us feel even more rushed and uncomfortable. There was a point I got up after a course to go to the toilet, only to be told that the next course was ready and I didn't have time. This in itself felt so rude. I was told then that I had to request a break if I needed the toilet leaving me to feel a bit like a child. The lady with glasses said she had made us aware to tell them if we wanted a break but neither myself or my partner recall being told this.

We'd asked for a wine recommendation and was told we could have that on the next course. 2 courses came and went without a recommendation. When we were recommended one, it wasn't to my taste as I'm not a fan of chardonnay, so I requested a glass of the same as I'd had before, however my partner was just ignored on being offered another drink completely and had to ask another member of staff for a eine list. It was then that were were brought a cocktail list alongside the wine list. This wasn't offered from the start.

The service from the ladies felt very stern and scripted with no passion and very little service with a smile. The only person that made us feel welcome and comfortable was the young gentleman server with the glasses. He is the only reason we left a tip.

Overall the experience was rushed and uncomfortable. We felt we were just bothering the staff rather than being looked after and drove in and out like cattle so we could get out before the next booking.

I've eaten at many Michelin restaurants and never had an experience like this and left feeling angry and disappointed. As a person who has worked hospitality and front of house for many years, this is not how I would treat customers paying...