The Athenian Souvlaki & Gyros — Restaurant in London

We were initially so happy to find the plant based menu for this place on Deliveroo - it’s great to have an entirely animal free menu to order from without the worry of having to double check ingredient lists. However, out of the 3 times we’ve ordered through Deliveroo, 2 out of the 3 orders have been wrong with items missing. Not cool when you’re starving and eagerly anticipating the arrival of dinner! The third time, as well as getting in touch with Deliveroo (who didn’t even bother to respond), I also contacted the Athenian directly through their website. A day or so later, I received an email from a gentleman called Rob who assured me he would help but after a back and forth email exchange (he kept asking me for info that I’d already provided?!), I didn’t hear from him again, despite getting back in touch to ask for an update. So, all in all, I’m pretty disappointed as both my husband and I really enjoyed the food on the occasions we ate from here. But I’m not prepared to risk placing further orders and only part of it turning it up with a then complete lack of customer service to help. Clearly you guys don’t need my business, which is a shame, as the food is great and we would have gladly eaten from here on a regular basis \O/

Update*

Since posting the above, the operations manager, Rob, has been back in touch and a credit for the full cost of the last meal we ordered has been added to my deliveroo account, for which I am grateful. Additionally, I’ve been assured that processes have been implemented to minimise the likelihood of orders going out incomplete. That said, it’s still disappointing that it took a bad review for The Athenian to get back in touch having gone silent in the middle of our email exchange because “they had been assured by deliveroo that the issue had been rectified”. Haven’t placed another order yet so won’t be updating to 5 stars at this...

Not being able to go back to Athens where I grew up over recent months I have been trying various souvlaki places around London out of nostalgia, and the Athenian was the latest one. I am apprehensive of chains but the name and marketing suggest they take the wrap seriously so gave it a try. I am also apprehensive of souvlaki places that include fries in their wraps by default (or lettuce for that matter), since this is a relatively recent ploy to bulk them up at low cost and it compromises the overall flavour. However this tactic has caught on even in Greece so i went along and just asked for them to not be included and ordered a gyros wrap without the chips. When I got home and sat down at my table to eat, I discovered to my dismay that my gyros had been "upgraded" to a skewer of pork meat, unbeknownst to me (in retrospect I must have been mislead by the ordering process on the website and order a pork skewer wrap as I had paid £6.0 instead of £6.5 which an indictment against the website and not the cook). I didn't have the energy to take it back so I persevered and ate the thing all the same. If I had not had my eyes open to see what went in my mouth I would have been completely at a loss to say what I was eating, the food was so bland. Only the textures of the ingredients distinguished themselves. The meat tasted like it had been steamed instead of grilled, the pitta tasted 'fresh' out of a bag, the tzatziki tasted of literally nothing and the tomatoes of the same. No onions were to be found in this wrap, probably another 'upgrade'? Thankfully there are a number of other independent souvlaki places in the area that offer tastier options so I’ll stop my first ever...

We ordered three pork gyros souvlaki that took apx 40 minutes. The restaurant was empty and there were no deliveroo drivers anywhere in sight. There were three people in the kitchen / assembly line and unless people were being trained or there was a mechanical issue, there was absolutely no reason for three wraps to take this long. I'm assuming that they started assembling the wraps without having the fries ready because the fries were actually really nice, crispy and hot but the rest was between cold and lukewarm. Tzatziki didn't taste like much and the pork was alright but the temperature killed it. Pita was dry and crumbly and almost fell apart. The wrap itself was more like a taco instead of a souvlaki, I'm guessing that they'd have to start over if they tried to wrap it properly because the pita was so dry. Also while waiting, I noticed the shop was really dirty. There were a bunch of tables with trays and napkins from previous customers and the floor was pretty grim and sticky. I don't think I'd ever sit in, but maybe I'll give it another try on a busier day when they have they're top...