Restaurant Salaam — Restaurant in Athens

First off- Tracy who was our server is A1. She was friendly, welcoming and incredibly hard working on a rather busy evening! At first, glance the restaurant took me visually to a Turkish palace, adorned with beautiful and colorful tapestries and rich carpets. There were Aladdin like lamps on the walls and each table had lamps that left a perfect glow at the the table tops. We were very hungry and I was eager to try a little of everything but we settled on the lamb rib chops with rice pilaf and string green beans, the lamb meat gyro, the hummus wrap and the vegan coconut curry and lentil soup that had a tomato base and a little bit of spicy heat and it was savory and wonderful. I opted for the Moroccan mint iced tea to drink which was incredibly refreshing and came with refills. Before our meals, we had the Tzatziki dip with pita that was fresh and warm and Tracy refilled our bread twice. They also brought out crispy bread with oil for dipping that was amazing!!! We did not wait long for our meals, all of which were incredible!!! We decided to also get desert and we got one of everything! The Baklava, the Tiramisu, the flourless Chocolate torte and my FAVORITE was the Limoncello lemon cake!!! A flavor that I found to be equivalent to sunshine!!! So delightful! I am left feeling so incredibly happy with the entire dining experience and as I told Tracy, may be one of the best meals I have ever eaten! This is definitely a place to go each time in Athens! Our compliments to the chef/owner!!!...

Pros: Yummy food, and thanks for offering halal lamb! Cons: Expensive! If it was cheaper, I would rate it 5 stars. But the crazy costs, man...

Appetizers: $5 for muhammara -Pros: Pita bread was perfectly soft and warm. -Cons: Expensive, $3 would be a better. I couldn't taste the pomegranate or molasses as described. To be a bit honest, it tasted like watery salsa with some chopped walnuts served that's kind of tricky to eat with pita bread and I had to ask for a spoon.

$8 for spanakopita -Pros: Yummy spinach pastry accompanied with dill. -Cons: Expensive, $5 would be fairer. Only 4 small pieces served.

Main course: $26 for Lamb Kabob Pros: Yummy, halal meat cooked well. Cons: Very very expensive - the worst rip-off of all. $26 for a plate of about 6oz of lamb and maybe 1 cup of rice, really? I felt like I was totally overpaying - $15 would be a fairer price. Restaurant Salaam if you're reading this, I realize the lamb may be expensive, but maybe you could try adding some more of the rice to satisfy the customer. After all, rice can't be that expensive can it?

Desert and coffee: $8.50 for a small cup of Turkish coffee and a slice of lemon cake. Pros: My favorite was the Turkish coffee. It has a slight hint of cardamom, which just ties everything together after a meal. Cons: Wow, how expensive! $5.50 for a slice of cake and $3 for the small shot of coffee feels like it's too much.

$9 for a tip on a $51 meal after taxes and the total came to $60 for one man....

This place is NOT worth their price (i.e., $12-$18 per meal). The service was horrible: the waiter forgot to take a drink order, give us silverware/napkins, give us our free bread AT THE BEGINNING when we sit down then he forgot to give us the oil that is supposed to go with the bread. I ordered the Chicken curry salad and did not like it one bit. In fact, it made me feel rather nauseous. After waiting over 10-15 minutes for the waiter to bring us our bill, I flagged down the manager.

After informing the manager that my food was making me feel sick the manager proceeded to become defensive and insisted that there was nothing wrong with the food. Then after informing her about our waiter's poor service she then continued to argue with me that the waiter's service was acceptable and was in fact "part of the way things go around there."

Some parts were good: the hummus was excellent and the mint tea was delicious. However, I am NEVER going back there again because of the way I was treated by the manager/owner. She knows nothing about customer...