Gondolier Pizza & Steak House — Restaurant in Athens

The servers were very nice and freindly. But this was just a strange experience. I don't know where to start. First, when you go in the door, the hostess stand is apparently not at the front. I stood in line behind people for about 15 minutes, who were all picking up to go orders, until a pushy blonde in sweatpants brushed past me, made eye contact with a waitress, and was seated immediately.

I looked at the woman who was ringing up the to go orders. "Excuse me, how do I get a table? " She replied that I just had to stand there until someone got me. Finally I was retrieved by yet another waitress. So the first tip: when you go in, make your way back towards the cake stand/salad bar and try to make eye contact with a server to be seated.

The second weird thing is that they only serve beer. No liquor, no wine, just beer. Ok, maybe that's a Tennessee thing? But this was very strange to me. And they didn't have anything exciting, either - just bud, miller lite, and the most exotic choice was Heineken.

The salad came drowning in a delightful blue cheese dressing. The dressing was fresh and obviously made in house. It was delicious. But there was also enough of it to swim in. The tomatoes were local, flavorful, and nicely acidic.

The food took so long that another waitress actually asked us at one point what we were still doing there. I replied, "uh, waiting for food". The staff were very apologetic and sympathetic but also slow on drink refills.

My steak, advertised as a medium ribeye, came with the wrong side order. The waitress immediately brought me another plate, new ribeye and all, with the right potato. The new steak however looked like a shriveled hockey puck. I almost physically stopped her in her tracks, and she ended up allowing me to have both french fries and the potato with the first steak. Thank goodness. It was edible, but nothing to write home about.

My kids enjoyed the pizza though it was a bit light on sauce. My husband said that the cheese steak was simultaneously the strangest tasting and yet flavorless cheese steak he'd ever eaten.

I did see some dishes coming out that I'd wish I'd tried instead. The Greek salad looked delicious and the stromboli/calzone crust looked devine. Well, live and learn. We didn't have time to sample any of those lovely cakes you see in my photo, either. But I don't think we'll be back to try, as I don't know what other occasion could possibly bring us back to Athens, TN.

I don't think there's much else around here to try, though. So if you're in Athens for whatever reason I'd recommend you try the place, if you can handle a Heineken. Let me know if those cakes are as good as they look! (But stay away from the cheese steak and get your dressing...

This place used to be really really good and I’ve come here many many times over the past 20 years. However, here recently, they make mistake after mistake, and are not really interested in fixing the problem. Last time I was here, I ordered a calzone with extra ricotta. It had none. Their solution was to bring me a bowlful of ricotta to eat with it. It wasn’t best, but it sufficed, at least it’s she warmed it up. This time I ordered the same thing. There was ricotta in there, but about a tablespoon max. My son ordered a calzone with banana peppers in it. Not only did it have no banana peppers, it also had no ricotta. The waitress’s solution was to bring a bowl full of cold, non-sliced peppercinisband slam them on the table and run off. My granddaughter’s spaghetti had onions and peppers all over it (that we did not order). What 4 year old wants that?! When I went to tell a management about it, there solution was to stand there and argue every mistake and make excuses as to why it happened rather than to offer any solution, so I walked away. She then came to the table indignant that I walked away. She said the waitress probably didn’t know there wasn’t banana peppers. Well, then your staff should be knowledgeable about the menu they serve. I was still charged for the extra ricotta that I never got. I paid the bill, but I will NEVER come back here. Lost a good customer who tips well and had probably spent thousands of dollars here over the twenty years I’ve been coming. It’s not the fact that mistakes are made because everybody makes them. It the fact that there’s no effort on their part to...

Listen. I take no pleasure in leaving reviews like this. But my wife just gave me a harrowing account of her experience here last night, and I would be remiss not to make an effort to correct what apparently happened.

While dining there, a person appearing to be the manager came around and noticed our 4-week-old baby lying in his car seat sleeping with his head cocked to one side some. The lady (50's, ethnic) probably meant well, but when she asked my wife if she would like her to fix our baby in his car seat to make him more comfortable, my wife promptly replied with "no thank you, I will adjust him," probably out of ample concern for his still-very-fresh wounds from the surgery he just had 3 days earlier, along with the simple fact that most people don't want strangers touching their newborns and exposing their developing immune systems to foreign germs. Nevertheless, this lady then began adjusting our sleeping newborn in his car seat, putting her hands on and around the surgery site.

I want to stress here that most people will tolerate a lot, especially when someone very likely means well, even if there is a miscommunication or perhaps even differing cultural practice or something. But almost everyone will draw the line at touching their children while expressly being declined consent to do so, and in this case, had any wounds been reopened or disturbed, this could actually have resulted in a medical lawsuit. I appreciate that this lady likely meant well, and wouldn't want to jeopardize her job, but this needs to be addressed and avoided...