Artisanal — Restaurant in Municipality of Kifisia

I have visited Artisanal with my wife on the 4th of November for dinner, after a strong recommendation by my dad who had dinner there mid October.

My dad is a difficult guy to please when it comes to food and some of the words he used in his feedback for Artisanal were "stunning", "amazing" and "i could never believe fish could be cooked in such a way".

So, i decided to visit the place with my wife. DISASTER.

Apparently, along with a new chef hired they have changed the menu on the 3rd of November (a day before we visited).

The restaurant claims to be making a turn into a "greek family style cuisine". No problem with that. The problem is that they failed offering dishes one can eat for dinner. Out of the 18 items on the menu, 5 were desserts, 8 were starters and 5 were for main dish.

To the point, based on what we have ordered:

bread with tomato sauce and sardines: not bad, although nothing crazy. Its an appetizer i quickly prepare at home when the fridge is empty. Also, the name of this dish was spelled wrongly on the menu (Zimararopsomo instead of zimaropsomo). This is an epic failure - no one double checked the menu before getting printed? Even on its very debute night? Anyway.

mushrooms with spinach: my wife liked it, i havent tasted it as i dont like spinach

lemon chicken with pancakes: pancakes were served in a separate dish and they tasted like fried oil. They were spongy and due to the bad smell we couldnt eat them. Chicken was good, "not bad" as per my wife's words

beef with "tzolia": tzolia are hand made pasta that look like gnocchi. So, i had the luck having this dish. Beef was chewy and very hard to cut. The pasta were 90% uncoocked. You could taste the flour and you had to chew for a minute before they disolve in your mouth.

Last but not least, service: my dad was impressed (during his october visit) about a waiter named Jimmy. He was very kind, responsive and knowledgable about the menu. We had the luck of another waiter who was arrogant and seemed as if it was his first or last day at the job. He picked up our dishes (we didnt eat anything) and didnt even bother to ask how was food or if we wanted a dessert.

The above feedback was shared with the manager, who was trying to convince us that this is a new cuisine, and basically its our "fault" that we cannot comprehend this new style.

Again, the problem was not the style but the poor quality of the dishes we had in front of us.

I hope the place improves, otherwise the new menu may be the reason to close down.

P.S. during our dinner, we watched a few other tables who arrived after us and we noticed that after spending 10 minutes checking out the menu they left. We should have...

The reason for the 1 star is unfortunately the hostess at the front (brown hair) was unprofessional and impolite. Today Sunday at 1130 in the morning, me and my mother arrived (2 people with a small quiet dog) and the restaurant was less that 50% capacity. She asked if we had made a reservation which we had not (as it was below capacity at this time) and she told us within the next 30 minutes the tables will be filled as they were reserved we of course didn't argue and let her guide us to sit somewhere. She put us almost near the back storage where we can see the back kitchen. This was so unacceptable! 50 minutes have passed and none of those tables she referred to have been occupied! On top of that she took us to the side of the building all the way back as if it was a punishment! She is very rude and I have to say ruined the whole experience! The only thing I can think of is that she has a complex when nice women come through the door or doesn't...

We visited the restaurant on September 30th, a party of four people. We were seated on their beautiful garden. We ordered:

1. Nigiri: Tasty but the gemista flavour was overpowering and I could not feel the tuna
2. Pie with greens: Not what comes to mind. It was a tart with sauted wild greens. However, the dish was not baked together so the flavours were not infused within the tart
3. Wild artichokes: A nice dish but the grapes were irrelevant
4. Croaker fish: the best dish from all I’ve tried
5. Pork cheeks: I could not taste the bacon- spearmint oil and I believe the cheeks should be more tender
6. Baby goat: This was ok at best
7. Baba aux pêche: This was also ok at best

Overall, although nothing was bad, nothing was exceptional as well. I believe that in this price range there are better options in the area.

The service was professional and attentive. I would visit again to have a drink on their bar but...