The Kyklamino — Restaurant in Athens

This is a lovely place in a corner of central Athens, behind the flea market. Visited on our final night in Athens. I wish we had discovered this place on our first day there. Genuine family run restaurant. Slightly smaller and more intimate restaurant than those on the main drag, with none of those annoying people you get in the tourist trap eateries in the surrounding streets, standing outside hawking for business, trying to coax you in. The owner is a man of few words but a real gentleman. We were served by one of the sons of the owner. He told us his mother cooked the family recipe dishes in the kitchen accompanied by an experienced chef, and that him and his brother had regular jobs, but helped out in the family restaurant waiting tables after their own work ended. A family run business in its truest meaning. The menu is limited, but I guess what they make, they make well, so no complaints here. He even helped to save us money by offering the 4 dish set menu for two for 32Euros. YES, 4 dishes for 32Euros! Includes soft drinks and water. I had a beer, instead of a soft drink, so he said that would be a extra Euro. We had a few extras things off the menu too. We had been paying around 60 Euros for a meal for two with nowhere near the quality of food or service. I went for the Kleftiko (slow cooked Lamb shank with Oregano) served with rice and sauteed potatos. Out of this world. Tender, juicy and fell off the bone. My wife opted for the Pastitsio (a Greek pasta bake with mince). Greek bucatini tube pasta with minced meat. She loved it and I have to agree, it was very tasty. Greek salad was a generous size, and very reasonably priced. Fresh ingredients, packed full of flavour. The Feta they use is phenomenal. The dessert was similar to what is offered in many greek restaurants, a lightly sweetened semolina pudding cut into kind of rectangle chunks. Decent. A pleasant enjoyable dinner. As it was our last night we left all our loose change as a tip, about 10Euros or so, and then our server asked us to wait and brought us complimentory 'shots'. It was a traditional greek drink he said they sometimes have after a meal. Quite strong, it was reminiscent of a kind of tequila. I had two! Lovely. Overall, authentic, quality Greek food in a traditional family run restaurant in a lovely corner of central Athens, slightly off the main drag, at super friendly prices. Great if you're on a budget. I want to bring my children to Athens next year and Kyklamino will be top of our restaurant list. I would love to try some of their seafood next time. Kyklamino - keep up the good work - we will definitely be back. A hidden gem in this...

Later edit, after 2 years: we were so disappointed by our last visit, in August 2024. Indeed, the place was crowded. We said ok, we stay, since we had a nice experience last time. We waited around 20 minutes to get seated. What a joy... but no, we waited for another 20 minutes to order. The waiter - we suppose the son, somewhere around 50 yo, was soooo brutal. He took our order almost angry, and when he brought us the drinks he threw them on the table, spilling some of the content. Then we waited. 5 of the dishes came. 4 of them not. But they were all on the bill :)) When we said, after around 30 minutes, that we want to pay what we have consumed, not the entire sum, he got inside and came again telling us the same amount. We put him to add the dishes again (the 5 plates were on the table, it was easy to verify). Again it was an extra of 5 euros. We added the prices of the dishes from the menu, in front of him. He was rude and beyond, trying to fool us. Twice. In our face. Sorry for this business, the son does not deserve to inherit it, it will be a failure!

This was our original review, in December 2022:

This was a nice finding near the flea market in Athens. We were a bit hungry and we wanted some traditional food, when we saw a sign with this tavern. The ratings were good so we went there. The restaurant is surrounded by antiques shops, in a small square. We found a table outside and ordered some appetizers and a lamb stifado. The taste is authentic, we really enjoyed our meal. And the complimentary cake...

So, this was hard... The attention at the beginning was great, the food price was great and the overall taste was also very good, I really wanted to give it 5 stars. But! We were three people, we ordered our food and the restaurant was not very full at the time. The wine came, the bread, two of the dishes came very fast (I'd say 10 minutes after ordering), but then one dish was still missing... We waited, and waited, and waited, the restaurant started to go full. It was already 40 minutes and the dish would not arrive. We know it's possible to make a mistake, that's no issue, we waved to a waiter to let them know in case it was forgotten and ask more or less how much more it would take (the food of the other 2 was getting also colder). The waiter in a very rude manner just told us that if we already asked for it, it was already in the kitchen and that we should wait. Didn't care to reply when we asked 3 times when it would come... Nobody came to check on us about the dish. We waited 15 more minutes and asked another old man who was nice at the beginning and seemed like the owner. He just looked at us without changing his face (looked tired tho, a lot of people) and just asked which dish and left. 10 minutes later he brings finally the dish, without apologizing and still with poker face. So yeah, the 5 stars became 3 after all this, which could've been avoided if the rude waiter would've been more understanding. We were not mad or yelling, just wanted to ask since it was...