Taverna ton Filon — Restaurant in Athens

First of all, I would like to mention that I’m not a tourist and I live in Greece- I’ve been around a few places (tavernas in particular) and I try to be objective about my comments.

Food was really good in general but overpriced. A lot of new places are like this at the moment so not a surprise, especially for Athens.

The restaurant still calls itself a taverna due to the location (in a former taverna) and the menu had typical dishes you find in a taverna but the prices didn’t match the experience from eating in this type of establishment. Additionally, no house carafe wine available, just bottled wine with prices ranging 20-50 euros - (including 20 euros retsina bottles and 5-6 euros Fix beers)

The ambiance was quite posh which obviously contrasts with the poor neighbourhood of Kolonos. However the place itself was really nice and spacious. Giving a retro taverna feel.

The weakness of the whole experience was the service and the weird booking system. They must be so busy that you should (have to) book a table for their three hours services only on Sundays or go on the waiting list. They contact you by text the day before to make you confirm the table. The booking system is pretty standard but for a taverna, it’s a bit too much.

Then, we arrive on time at the restaurant. No one greets us so we grab one waiter who seems confused about what we want. We mention the reservation and the name, instead of checking the list, he asks two times about the time of the reservation and doesn’t listen to anything else. Once “reassured” that we came at the right time, he gave us a choice of two tables and disappeared.

We sat and waited with nothing on the table. Some waitress passed by, I gave her a smile and look to indicate we wanted something. She stared back confused, and took some time before realising she needed to come speak to us.. only to ask us 3 times if we had the right to be seated and had a reservation. I told her that we did and this was our the table we’ve been seated at. She then realised we didn’t get any water or anything so she proceeded to bring some.

End of the meal, we were full and asked the waiter to take away the food. He seemed upset and disturbed. He asked “you are full?” We said yes. Then, he made an awkward silence and said “ohhhh, you are really full?” As if to pressure us (and make us feel guilty for asking) to eat the full plate instead and or give up asking to take out. We said yes again and he left upset. The waitress came back and had to reconfirm with us again that we wanted to take away our leftovers (similarly reluctant to do so). Then she came back with 1 box mixing our meat with the taramasalata together. Our request wasn’t indecent. We liked our food and didn’t want to waste it, that’s all. This is not a fine Michelin dining experience after all.

At the same time, we could see the waiter going above and beyond for a table behind us with two english speakers who were spending obviously more and at the end, the restaurant ask for a tip on their POS so you can pretty much guess why the efforts.

I would recommend the food and the place, and out of the staff, one of the waitresses who served us was great so...

Brief summary: worst dining experience of our lives.

We recently dined at Taverna ton Filon. While the food was generally ok, the overall experience was rather disappointing due to the hospitality service.

When ordering five dishes, the staff immediately suggested we order more, without asking whether we were hungry—this felt somewhat presumptive and unnecessarily pushy.

Additionally, we were served just two slices of bread for €4, which felt overpriced. Even for us, coming from London.

There were several issues with the arrival of dishes—one being that the food arrived quickly, with our main course arriving while we were still in the middle of our starters, which made the experience feel rushed and poorly coordinated.

Towards the end of the meal, the card machine was brought over without an itemised receipt. Under greek law, you as a business must issue a legal, itemised fiscal receipt before requesting or accepting payment, including by card.

We were unable to finish half of what we ordered and the chef, Yiannis came out and asked how our experience was, which at first we thought was positive and we shared our thoughts politely and constructively.

Unfortunately, the response we received was rude and defensive. In particular, when we mentioned that the bread felt overpriced, Yiannis made an unnecessarily snide comment about my partner having dirtied the tablecloth slightly, which was unpleasant and had no relation to the overpriced bread at €2 a slice. He also commented ‘This is the price for bread in Athens’ — which we know is not the case, hinting towards us being tourists.

The overall attitude of the staff was stiff and lacking warmth, felt a bit up themselves. We mentioned that it’s probably best not to ask for feedback if one isn’t prepared to hear it, to which the chef replied, ‘That’s not my style.’

Overall, the chef, Yiannis has an over inflated ego and evidently took offence to us leaving the majority of our food. The way we were treated towards the end of the meal by him is frankly unacceptable and the worst experience of my life.

We paid 70 euros and could not get out of there quick enough, which was within 45 minutes of arrival. It’s a shame because we had incredible experiences at other amazing restaurants in Athens and had saved this place for our last night.

To conclude, a piece of advice for the chef in particular, please read the book ‘unreasonable hospitality’ for some lessons if you wish to engage with the customers for feedback.

For others reading this review—there are so many better value restaurants and higher end experiences out there. We hope that other tourists read this message and...

You arrive at the Taverna tom Filon after a walk through a neighborhood caught between a decaying past and a promising future. The courtyard looks like a setting that could spark magic, reminiscent of scenes from old Greek cinema. It's as intriguing as the food...

The "bournias," a cheese from Andros, was particularly salty and unique, pairing well with the earthy beetroot. However, I would have preferred definitely a larger portion. It was very small, as were the two slices of bread. These details matter and can bring customers back.

The beans with grilled apricots and galotyri were deeply flavorful. The portion was slightly larger but still not quite satisfactory.

The soutzoukakia was a very tasty dish that I would gladly have another serving of, while the goat Taliata with zucchini was properly cooked and particularly delicious.

The wines were very well-priced, although as a tavern, I would have liked to see a house wine option.

To end the meal on a high note, we had Pavlova with strawberries, a delightful dessert and a perfect finish on a hot night.

In summary, in a very beautiful setting, we tasted delicious but very small portions of food. I will likely return, although the portion sizes...