Stone Athens — Restaurant in Athens

A restaurant with pictures on the menu that turned out divine — excellent seafood, superb moussaka, and an atmosphere to match.

My wife and I broke one of our most sacred travel commandments: Never, under any circumstances, sit down in a restaurant with pictures on the menu. Not in summer, not in winter, not even under duress. Why did we betray our own faith? Because Stone had a 4.8-star rating, and we thought: it can’t possibly be that bad.

And what a shock — it wasn’t bad at all. It was glorious.

The wine? Excellent. The service? Excellent. And the food — almighty Moses! — a revelation. We began with Bruschetta, though in truth it was a Greek reinterpretation: feta spread with cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, rocket leaves, and grissini. Normally, ordering an Italian classic abroad is asking for heartbreak, but here it was superb.

Then came the seafood platter and a vegetarian moussaka. The seafood platter was everything one dreams of: octopus, clams, mussels, squid, salmon tartare with an elegant vinaigrette — and not a single item drowned in frying oil. Beautiful, fresh, and confident. The moussaka was hearty, rich, and every bite convinced me I could happily live off it for the rest of my days.

The location itself is equally rewarding: we watched the sunset as we ate, and it felt like the perfect punctuation mark on an already perfect meal.

All in all, Stone managed what few restaurants can: it made us reconsider one of our most important travel rules. Of course, the next catastrophic disappointment will remind us why that rule exists — but here, at Stone, it simply...

The place is bit pricier than the neighbouring restaurants, but it is worth every penny spent. The combinations of the flavors in the dishes was incredible. We always order 4-5 appetizers, the best this time was... every one of them. It was a first time we had Greek salad with I think marinated (it was not 100% fresh) oregano, which we found quite unique (we had Greek salad every day during past 3 weeks of our Greek vacation and they were always served with herbs, but dried herbs). Feta wrapped in filo with honey and sesame seeds was served with a fresh rucola and grilled cherry tomatoes, entire dish was shaped like a horseshoe (did I mention every dish apart from a great taste was served like a piece of art?). Stuffed pork was accompanied by some sweet sauce, some sour sauce and a third one which I think was a cold pressed spring greens juice. Every bite had a different flavour. At the end we were served with a mini chocolate eclair and an alcoholic beverage of unknown ingredients; it tasted a bit like a rose wine with a maybe a forest berries juice and a vodka booster, but also with a hot spice which left a wonderful after taste on our tongues. Yes, your wallet will get a bit lighter when you visit this establishment, but as I mentioned, it is worth it. Oh, I forgot to mention the service. Friendly, showing caring for customers, but not "pushy" or "over-caring". They asked after serving the appetizers if everything so far was ok, but after that were looking for an eye contact instead of interrupting the meal with...

Stone is a a good restaurant with good food, however there were some points that made us really disappointed. The waiter was inconsiderate, seemed to be irritated all the time when we asked him for something or anything, did not utter one smile. We asked for olive oil and vinegar and the waiter did not like the fact that we did so, brought us white vinegar instead of balsamic or red wine vinegar, which is normally what a greek salad is served with, they just didn't care. Also, our food came cold and when we told the waiter he said it was not cold and completely ignored us and went to reheat it in the microwave instead of remaking the food, it was still cold. The dishes are well elaborated and taste very good, but would have been much better if they came hot. This restaurant is of good quality but the service could have been so much better. The dishes are elaborated beyond the traditional greek way. The dishes are a bit different of what are usually served at other greek restaurants, there are good spins on the way the dishes are served and elaborated, which I enjoyed, but our experience was messed up by the service, I wish I could give a higher rating, but a good restaurant disappointed me because of their lack of caring for...