Strofi — Restaurant in Athens

What an amazing experience! As we walked into this rooftop restaurant, I was amazed at how perfect the view even though, being winter, the restaurant was completely closed in with a glass surround and a flowing fabric retractable ceiling - all of which is removed in summer (so we will be back!). The tables were beautifully set and the greeting both from the gentlemen on the ground floor, and the servers on the roof, were warm and welcoming. We have been in Athens for 4 days and have had some lovely food - but this was definitely a step above! We started with Saganaki Eggplant and warm pita and a perfect Chardonnay. What a delight. It was whilst we were eating our appetizer that the group of 20 or so walked in. We marveled at their rudeness as they put fingerprints all over the windows whilst taking the obligatory photo - and hoped their arrival would not ruin the atmosphere. I'm happy to say it did not! The team was as attentive as ever to us, an the group was served straight away - which showed brilliant planning on the part of Strofi! The noise level was just the great buzz one wants when dining out. And then, our beautiful meals arrived. My husband had the Kid goat roasted in parchment with gruyere, tomatoes and potatoes. It the most tender and flavorful goat I have ever had (of course I tried it!). I had the Lamb wrapped in grape leaves stuffed with feta and gruyere (sorry - the only photo I actually remembered to take). It was just perfect! I was a little put off because the menu says "boiled vegetables". I don't know what I was expecting but these appealing strips of al dente carrots and zucchini were the perfect compliment to this dish. The roasted potatoes were the best I've had in ages - and I live in England where "roasties" are a big deal! The Greek Pinot Noir was a brilliant compliment and not usually the variety we pick. Also unusual - we ordered dessert! Sharing a Spanakopita was a brilliant idea and following it with an iced glass of Mastiha - simply because we wished to linger - ended the evening on the perfect note. I highly recommend this restaurant. There are so very many to choose from but I can promise you that you won't be...

I booked this restaurant over a month in advance & was told they only had a table on their small terrace, but that my husband and I would be put on a waiting list for the top terrace. Upon arriving at the restaurant, we were “greeted” by the owner, who (instead of saying it was nice to see us & asking how we were) brashly asked for my name. I gave it to him & asked if we could be on the upper terrace, which he rudely said no (which would have been fine, had he not made me feel like I was evil for asking).

We then proceeded to go up to the small terrace, which is really just 3 tables looking out onto the very busy street immediately below, with buses, cars and people constantly rushing by. Since this wasn’t what we were expecting, we kindly (I should stress that we are Canadian and kindness is our game) asked to be moved inside. The waiter was VERY annoyed but said they would do so. At this point, I thought “okay, onward and upward” but I was about to be in for a shock.

After reviewing the menu in search of a drink, we found that they had no wines by the glass, other than one “house red and house white”. When the waiter returned to us (after almost 10 minutes), I mentioned that we were disappointed with the selection & asked if there were more wines we could choose from, without being forced to buy a bottle. He said no, left and the owner quickly appeared who (to our surprise) told us to LEAVE.

As this was happening, I watched a group of partiers come down from the terrace with ripped shirts & belly tops, belligerent. With my mouth ajar, I asked why he was asking us to leave & why those people were on the terrace - he said he didn’t care about people who don’t “appreciate his restaurant” and “we were nobodies to him”.

We promptly left, disgusted with the service, without eating or drinking one thing. Please, for your own sake, stay far away from this place. The owner is a total jerk & the restaurant itself is not worth your time. Go to one of the street food restaurants & feel...

We came with our in-laws to Greece for the first time and everyone we’ve encountered had been so friendly and gracious... until we met the host here... A couple of locals recommended this place and even our taxi driver said we must try the food here. With full anticipation we arrived at the restaurant for dinner at 6:50PM. The host, an elderly man, looked at us and said, our roof is completely full. Without seeing a person in sight, we believed him anyway. I politely asked if we needed to make a reservation for the roof, and he replied defensively. “No we take walk ins too” so we asked when would the next table be available, he told us the earliest was 10PM. If they took walkins how does he know that all the walkins will eat for longer than 3 hours? As if we couldn’t just sit down after waiting for the first walk-in table to be finished?? At this point, I felt kind of discouraged. But my Wife said, since we are only here for 2 days let’s just make a reservation for 10PM. She then proceed to ask if we can order some appetizers to share and maybe just an entree or two because we probably would grab something small to eat first while we wait the 3 hours, plus my mother in-law eats very little in general. The host immediately cuts my wife off and tells her, “no! this is a sit down restaurant, everyone must order full course meals with dessert.” We were in shock, not once have I heard this kind of requirement in my life dining experience... He clearly didn’t want to serve us and looked at us like foreigners (we are Asian American) and I can’t help but feel discriminated against. It’s such a shame that a place with nice recommendations have people like this working there, we never even was given the chance to see the rooftop let alone the food. Would not...