The Clumsies — Restaurant in Athens

A truly exceptional cocktail experience! We tried the three drinks in the attached photos. I will review each of them in turn.

The Fortified Baklava Wine.

The baklava spice was insane. The drink smelt so much like it. Nice mouthfeel from the butter as well. However, I failed to notice that the drink was labelled 'dry.' I was imagining a sweet, rich drink when I ordered (I anticipated the mead and rum bringing sweet honey and caramel notes and body, to go with the baklava spice). This was not the case. Judging from the flavours and the name of the drink itself, it seems the intention was to create something that would taste like drinking a dry fortified wine (something like sherry) infused with baklava spice. If that was indeed their intention, they definitely succeeded. But I was disappointed given my misplaced expectations. That's not their fault tho. 4/5.

The Aegean Negroni.

I wasn't really in the mood for a Negroni on a hot sunny afternoon but felt as though I should try it given the reputation. That will undoubtedly have negatively affected my impression somewhat, so bear that in mind. Powerful fennel and pepper aroma from the herbs, which did complement the gin aroma nicely. But I did think it overpowered the sweetness of the vermouth and the orange notes of the campari too much. I believe the genius of the Negroni lies in its perfect balance of dryness, sweetness and bitterness. I think this version, though certainly interesting and enjoyable, fundamentally upsets that delicate balance and the result didn't in my opinion justify that decision. Also, I personally found the blue colour very off-putting; I associate it with extremely artificial things like bubblegum and slushies. But that's just me I suppose. All in all, a nice drink but if I were given the choice between this and a classic Negroni it's gonna be the Negroni every time. 3.5/5.

The Hippocampus Summer.

The best drink of the three by far. The fruit blend was delicious; exotic sweet flavours with that hint of acidity from the kiwi. They clarified the infusion as well so the drink was clear with a wonderful, slightly thick mouthfeel and lots of legs. It tasted like summer on a tropical island. I was very excited by the sunscreen aroma on the menu. They sprayed it onto the little card thing balanced on top of the glass and we were instructed to sniff it first then take a sip. They said this was to help trick your brain into evoking that summer feeling of cracking open a bottle of sun cream and lathering on. I loved the idea; I quite like the smell of sun cream as is, and it certainly has a powerful association with summer vibes. However, in practice it turns out that the card didn't really smell of sun cream. It smelled nice, but mainly of fruit. I was hoping for something more along the lines of the classic smell of SPF 50. 5/5 for the actual drink in the glass. 4.5/5 for the overall experience, owing to my slight disappointment over the sunscreen aroma.

Overall, Clumsies is clearly focused on creating unique drinking experiences with their cocktails, and while some of those didn't land for me (in no small part due to my own lack of attention), I still really appreciated what they were going for and will definitely return to try other things...

I've been there with some of my friends on a Saturday early afternoon. When we came in the place was packed but as we were starving and we've heard plenty of good reviews we decided to wait. None of the staff made the effort to speak to us or made sure we will be seated. We were waiting 20 minutes and had to look for the table on our own (which looks rather dodgy when you hang around in your jacket and observe people who might leave). Finally we managed to get ourselves a table. As we were a group of 5 we had to organise extra chairs by ourselves (obviously). We've been given menus and left again. We had to notify a waiter when we wanted to order. We've ordered drinks and food. The bill came literally straight away which is super weird as we didn't even get our drinks or food yet. We've waited for the drinks at least 15 minutes! The place is apparently known from their bartenders and their skills - yet the drinks were mediocre. We've almost finished our drinks and we were still waiting for our food. After and hour (!!) we've received the meals which by the way were not complicated at all (see picture attached). The bread they serve is of poor "plastic" quality (dry supermarket sesame rolls). Only 4 meals arrived, so my colleague asked the waiter where is hers. She has been told "her meal doesn't exist" 😯 She had to ask the waiter for the solution. She then ordered something else and had to wait again (this time only 10 minutes). The food was ok. We've finished in literally 10 minutes as by that time we were very hungry and angry. Waiters were not paying attention to our table at all. We were trying to get their attention few times to finally pay. No compensation was given for the inconvenience mentioned above. I totally not recommend this place. It might be cosy but the service they offer is poor and the drinks are overrated! No wonder why they call this place...

I went to this place with my friend to experience one of "The World's 50 Best Bars" from 2020. I am not that impressed. Maybe because there is a very similar fancy bar in the city where I live, even better in some ways, I would say. Waitress that was waiting our table was like "whatever". When I was asking about something that she can recommend to me, I was told that it's up to me, I should check the menu, as everyone likes something else. It was clear that she doesn't want to stay and talk to me much, more like just to take an order. At the same time, I am not surprised, the place was full. But then, it seems to me that service doesn't make experience at this place exceptional. The offer is more interesting. It includes some cocktails that barmen at the place came up with. Barmen were very creative. Each cocktail is described by it's flavor, usually a combination of two flavors. I liked an offer of cocktail tasting menu, which I saw for the first time in my life. It contains 4 predefined half-size cocktails. It's not possible to change them for some other ones. Menu also contains some meals so you don't need to leave just because you are hungry, if it happens. Interior is nice, chilling. I liked plants there. But the place is also very loud. If you don't want to shout, I am not...