abraOvata — Restaurant in Municipality of Vari - Voula - Vouliagmeni

This restaurant is located in a predominantly posh area and advertises itself as a high-end, luxury dining experience—on par with the likes of Akti or Ittaki. However, the reality fell far short.

I ordered the picanha, and unfortunately, the sauce it came with was truly bizarre—so much so that it left an unpleasant aftertaste, and I didn’t even want to finish the dish. The octopus, while the sauce was a nice addition to the menu, was slightly overcooked. At least the sauce with it was enjoyable. Also, if you have any dietary restrictions or allergies, the menu is quite limiting.

What really shocked us, though, was the payment process. Despite presenting itself as an upscale establishment, the restaurant does not accept American Express—which is incredibly unusual for high-end dining in this area. Even more concerning, they insisted we pay via bank transfer, which felt extremely dodgy. As I bank with Swiss Banks, if this transfer were to be done, it immediately flagged this as suspicious—raising serious questions about transparency. This would immediately be flagged as money laundering under the banking system. After I explained that this would raise AML issues, the manager was dismissive of the issue. Every reputable fine dining spot we know in the area accepts Amex, so this felt like a glaring red flag.

To make matters worse, the manager who approached us when we raised the issue was unnecessarily aggressive and dismissive. His attitude was rude and completely unprofessional, which was especially surprising considering the chef behind the restaurant has appeared on MasterChef. You would expect much higher standards from a team with that kind of background.

Ironically, the hostess at the front desk carried herself with far more grace and professionalism—honestly, she acted more like a proper manager than the actual one did.

In the end, I had to leave the restaurant after dinner to go home and get cash just to settle the bill—which is absurd after what’s meant to be a luxury meal.

The view of the lake is beautiful—probably the only redeeming feature. I’d suggest coming here for a drink to enjoy the scenery, but you could only go towards the lake after 8:30 so do not come there before. Also, I wouldn’t trust their sommelier judgement, he recommended a rosé that definitely didn’t hit rosé wine standards, it was more akin to a white. Their daiquiri however, small was very unique and beautiful. It was more like a martini. I wouldn’t return for the food or the overall experience. And if you do go, bring a non-Amex card—or be ready for a very inconvenient end to your evening. Not to mention a very uncomfortable evening, especially if you’re a girl. My partner had to stay there in the restaurant while he was being watched and couldn’t even go to the bathroom until I got back with cash. There was no compromise. He wouldn’t even allow us to go back home and bring cash in next morning even if we left an ID. And failed to even offer a small treat for the inconvenience.

Also, what was strange is that they added two service charges and still asked for tip. This doesn’t even happen in London.

If you want to experience fine dining, I would suggest sticking to Ittaki, Akti and the Four Seasons and maybe actually Bagatelle when they pick up as they...

We made a reservation here for our last evening in Greece and the only good thing that came out of it was that we found a lovely little restaurant next door that was incredible.

We booked a few days in advance as my partner really liked the pictures of the place and it looked honestly lovely.

When we arrived we were sat at the table that had no view of the lake at all. At the same time 80% of the place was empty. We asked to move tables and the lady at the door said she will get back to us on it as everything was booked( fair enough we assumed that we would need a booking for a place like that so that’s exactly why we made one!!) After about 20 minutes we asked again and she very nicely and politely said she is still working on it and trying to see what she can find(fair enough).

However the part that was unacceptable was that as we sat down and ordered our drinks we also asked for an ashtray which we were given. About 10 minutes later the waiter came over and said someone on the tables around us had an issue with a smoke and asked if my partner can go out of the restaurant area for a cigarette ( the part of someone having an issue with the smoke I can understand but when I asked to be moved somewhere where we can smoke and not have to get of the table when we are paying a good amount of money to eat there he said there is nothing he can do). We were then rushed to order to which we said we will wait for the result of what’s happening with the table.

Fast forward 45 minutes and no one has come over to the table to give us an update or anything at all.

I have to say the waiter was really nice and you could see he was uncomfortable telling us about the smoking, the lady that was trying to take our food order was also very nice and polite.

I can’t comment on the food as we didn’t have any but the drinks were nice.

It could have been a lovely experience but we were made feel uncomfortable, unwelcome and less important than...

This must be one of the most beautiful locations on the planet. But then leave it on to human beings to completely destroy everything about this wonderful, unique, magical location. When I go to abraOvata, I get 3 things either water and sparkling water or soft drinks or beer. You may ask why is that because they made sure that they went out of their way to get every incompetent human being they could possibly put their hands on. They make terrible food. Every dish is disgusting to use the most pleasant vocabulary I can use on this occasion. Then, they seem to have hired only useless people to make cocktails. How can you have a bar and not know how to make a cocktail? This is incredible. Then the finishing touch is this manager Guy who thinks he's God, and he just swears cusses and shouts at his workers. I think I overheard someone calling him Manos... I mean, that was the final straw that made me get up and leave. I paid my bill, left a big tip for the girl, and swore never to return until a different management is running this establishment. I have only 2 positive comments about this beautiful lake, which is the beautiful lake and the waitresses and waiters who bust their butts to make sure that at least we have some sort of a good time. If it wasn't for the people who work for you guys there, you would have been atrocious instead of just being horrible. The craziest part of this whole equation is that, apparently, the owners are billionaires. How could they possibly have such bad management? How can they have such terrible mismanagement? Honestly, I've heard that they have a long-term lease from the government. I think the government should take...