L'Albero — Restaurant in Municipality of Thessaloniki

As a Greek living abroad for many years, I am Lucky to have tried top notch restaurants in multiple countries. We were looking for a very good one in Thessaloniki and based on the reviews we had some good expectations.

The interior is nice and the wood tables are great. Bit too high versus your sitting position/chairs. But overall no real complaints there.

The online google booking gives earliest availability for one month in the future whereas calling to book made it look easy to book one hour ahead. They need to fix the online booking.

The bread coming with nice salt varieties but unfortunately a heavily tasting like mayo spread that gave a bad feeling for what's next.

The beet root and fennel salad was just nice, with strong feta creme taste, but was missing another taste contrast to take it to another level (the one you would expect).

The kavourmas with eggs and truffle was very bland - not sure how you can do so wrong with such tasteful normally meat. I think it was the meat itself.

Perhaps a problem with the prior dish was it came with a strong tasting goat cheese from France. With the marmalade and apple crumble made a good combination but was killing anything else you would have liked to eat next to it.

The canelons was perhaps the biggest disappointment. Served well (in a steaming plate), you miss the Bolognese part of them. You miss actually everything. Very bad.

Lastly , the meat was good and you can't go easily wrong with it other than some parts of the outside having been burnt/ tasting coal.

I am used to very professional service, where you don't get smiles or good communication in English but 2 out of the 3 people that actually talked to us seemed like not wanting to talk at all. Their English was good but they were talking quickly and not willingly, making it hard to understand them.

We had to ask them to change our dishes at some point, when we are used to have our dishes taken quite often clean in similar price restaurants abroad.

The lady that came with the stone for the meat was the only one that seemed a good professional. Talking without making us feel uncomfortable for having her serve us.

The cheesecake was a good portion but seemed less than a cheesecake and more like a tiny bit cheese cream red fruits cake. Was nice but wouldn't call it cheesecake.

My non Greek partner liked the place...

Atmosphere The whole environment and personnel is very friendly reminding me of a fine restaurant not in SKG. The table set up is a bit strange; more specifically the one I was sitting in front of the kitchen was a bit more noisy and crowded (people passing by) for my taste.

Starter We had a Green salad with blueberries and “pasteli”. It was OK Ordered from the festive Xmas menu a fried pan of beef chicks accompanied with chestnut and berries that was very nice and tender to eat. You should try this Ordered the meatballs that is was OK. Accompanied by a yogurt type sauce.

Main We had a turkey risotto again from festive Xmas menu; the first bite was welcome however afterwards you could realize it was very salty (from the parmesan) and too oily. They need to rethink the recipe and the execution We also had 400gr. of rump cap (picanha). It came medium raw to us and the test was excellent. This specific part of meat had a bit more fat and fibers than anticipated but worth the money paid. It also arrived with a hot plate in order to cook it more which we did. This plate was accompanied by baby potatoes we had to order as a side.

Drink One of the options was “Lalikos” a rose that we knew as something very delegate and soft. You need to try this wine

Dessert Ordered a Pavlova Ordered a chocolate soufflé Both of the 2 desserts were pre-made as they arrived super fast. The taste was there but a bit thoughtful concerning the preservation in such case. I would prefer something cooked at the moment of the order.

All in all a very good option to visit in the heart of Thessaloniki. 4 stars but could have given...

When looking at the menu and the prices (comparative only to the very expensive fine dining restaurants in Athens) we were expecting something special. Our expectations were quickly shattered when the salad with “Parmesan flakes” arrived- stale plastic pieces that were not even remotely anything like Parmesan. The restaurant promptly brought more flakes to make up for this - however these tasted like a cheap version of grana padano at best. Next we received the ossobuco we ordered- there was No meat. Just fat and bone for 18 euros. Gnocchi and beef cheeks- the gnocchi was potato (?) croquettes but definitely not gnocchi.. I’m afraid the chef of the restaurant has never seen or heard of gnocchi before. The meat was indifferent. The cherry on top was the limoncello shot we were offered at the end of the meal- it came in a glass with a giant ice cube (!!) To be fair, the staff was polite and tried their best to accommodate us offering to replace the ossobuco (we declined because we just wanted to leave) and removed the dish from our final bill. The atmosphere of the restaurant was lovely, as was the staff. The problem is the pretentious menu and the bad quality cheap ingredients used in order to maximise the profit margin. We haven’t had a meal so bad in a very long time… this one will remain unforgettable for all the...