Athens Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

After a spectacular lunch 2 weeks ago, I had to share Athens Family Restaurant's food with my go-to foodie friends Marian & Jim, for a poolside lunch at their home yesterday. At my prior lunch at AFR, i ordered super simple, Avgolemono soup, BLT, Baklava. All full of deliciousness, but this time, for the foodie friends, i went for the full- monty, a dinner type item called Pastichio, a slightly sweet, mostly savory balance of meat, cheese, tender noodles, baked with a flavorful bechamel sauce, crowned with an egg topping similar to souffle, light , airy, & a bit of Heaven on a Fork. The main dishes came with 2 choices, the first set of choices was either freshly cooked green beans with a light red sauce on the side, or 2 nice sized crispy potato wedges lightly fried. I went for both. The second choice was a cup of their divine avgolemone soup, or a small greek salad, that was really medium, with a delectable spicy pink dressing (one can opt for more traditional dressings too.) Each lunch only 9.99, & was packed with the traditional soft & chewy warmed pita bread. I knew I had to order the baklava for Jim's sweet tooth, & he said it was the Best he has ever had. BIG Compliment from this Texas-bred gentleman, who is no stranger to sweets. Thanks to all at AFR, who make your meal easy & enjoyable from the moment you walk in, to the moment you leaves, whether picking up takeout or dining-in, every one gets the friendly family treatment from the purveyors of Great Greek Food ( & American too) here at Athens Family Restaurant. Bon Appetit Sarasota!! ( p.s.. No photos, sorry, we were too busy enjoying, to think about taking pics...

Athens Family Restaurant is located in a strip mall. There's pride of ownership in the decor and food presentation. The service was impeccable! Starting with the appetizers. We ordered the hummus and the tzatziki. The pitas were amazing! They were a light not heavy but with texture. I could have eaten them all day long! I think they should have been a little bit more generous with the hummus and tzatziki but nevertheless it was delicious. There were so many entrees I would have liked to try but I settled for the flounder. In hindsight I think I should have tried a traditional Greek entree. The flounder was beautifully cooked but was over salted! The salt overpowered the delicate fish. Flavor was missing from the fish. In addition there was no cocktail sauce or any sauce for that matter to accompany the fish. It needed something. This entree was accompanied by peeled potatoes and some kind of canned peas with seemed like a tomato based sauce. I really don't care for canned peas but the potatoes were well cooked but just plain....nothing on them. My husband ordered lamb chops and loved them. It also came with the canned peas side. He gave the French fries a thumbs up! We had 2 children and the kids meal options were good! Pancakes and chicken fingers. We ordered a custard phyllo dessert that was out of this world! It was extreme comfort food and a pleasant surprise! The coffee was just plain awful. And the sweet tea tasted like the sugar in it had slightly gone sour. If it's your first time. I recommend trying the traditional Greek entree first. Enjoy! I'd definitely come back to...

This place was recommended by another business in the plaza. The Hummus had oil drizzled over the top which took away from The flavor and made it rather heavy. Chicken fried fingers and fries were one of the orders, the chicken fingers were extremely dry. we sent them back and ordered a burger and fries as a replacement. I asked that they hold the lettuce and tomato on the burger and when it arrived there was lettuce and tomato hidden underneath the burger patty. I ordered the traditional gyro and the meat was black and crispy. Not very good. The service was was good, very clean, nice decor but the food was not that good. We ordered right pudding and Baklava for dessert which we took to go. When I got home, the rice pudding has leaked (some kind of messy liquid) all over the paper bag, Not sure what it was because it was in a plaster container. It was warm, but flavor was ok, I f not a little runny. The Baklava was good but expensive. When I asked price before we ever got our lunch I was told $3.99 for the triangle or the 2 rolls. When I opened bag at home, I had half of an order which seemed ridiculously small for $3.99. Especially since it was the only thing I enjoyed from this restaurant. Lunch for two with 2 drinks and two desserts was $32.00 plus...