Athena's Grill — Restaurant in Georgia

I’d had Athena’s Grill’s pizza, at a neighbors and assumed the food would be good as well. When we arrived we ordered two chicken and rice Kabob plates, a slice of baklava, one side order of hummus and pita, one large Diet Coke. Total $28

We sit down at a table, when the food comes out first thing I notice oh, it’s just cooked chicken on rice with tomatoes and onions. Not actually grilled chicken on Kabobs 😕 We try the humas and pita, excellent! Next we try the “chicken Kabobs” with the rice. The chicken taste dry and over cooked with no real Mediterranean flavor, and the rice tastes like it’s been sitting in a rice cooker all day. It’s dinner time, and regardless of our famine we eat less then half of one plate, nobody touched the second plate. We continue to eat the pita and hummus, the small side salads, and last the baklava.

Due to nobody liking or eating the chicken and rice plates I decide to ask for a refund for only the one plate of the chicken kabob. As a courtesy I remain seated before going up to the counter because I didn’t want to make a big deal about it in front of other customers. I bring the tray with the two rice kabobs up to the cashier at the counter, and in a low voice say to her (so low she needed me to repeat myself) I’m sorry, but we didn’t care for the chicken and rice Kabobs, as you can see it’s pretty much all still on the one plate, and the other we didn’t even touch it. The women saids, oh ok (now some customer came in and standing behind me) and so she calls the owner over who happens to be standing behind me speaking to a customer. He abruptly asks the cashier what’s the problem, the cashier saids, she doesn’t like the food. He looks at me frowning and with a heavy accent saids what’s your problem, why you no like the food. He saids , oh you no like the food, but you eat the chicken. Where’s the chicken on the rice, I reply Sir, we tasted one, and we tried to like your food but we just couldn’t finish cause we didn’t care for it, and I only want one plate refunded. He yells at me, You supposed to only take one bite of chicken, and you bring it straight to front, no keep eating chicken! He doesn’t even hear me over his anger and then ask me , Are those your children sitting at te table, pointing at them. I’m confused as to what that has to do with anything, but go ahead and reply, Yes. He then saids to me, Oh I see you want to eat for free, your not the first customer trying to get a free meal. You don’t have to be ashamed of not making enough money to feed your kids. We can feed you for free. I try to interrupt him, Sir I’m not looking for anything for free, but we didn’t touch the second plate, everything else we ordered was fine. We enjoyed everything else, but obviously not the chicken and rice Kabobs. He’s so upset and disrespectful that he doesn’t even listen to what I’m trying to tell him, or care how other customers are listening to him insult me, and blow up over $8.89! He then yells at the poor cashier get the tray and food out of the sight of the other customers! He obviously didn’t want the other customers to see I didn’t touch the second plate, and the first plate still had most of the food on it ! He walks behind the counter to the cashier, and ask me what you want, you want your money, where’s your receipt, how much you pay, I’m like here’s my receipt, and again I’m only asking one chicken and rice kabob to be returned. He says, oh no you getting all you money back, and you no come back here ever again to eat!

I guess he really needs to save $8.89 to fix up his outdated falling apart cheap decor, and buy real Mediterranean spices to season his bland food with.

So rude, and obviously 🙄 doesn’t understand what or how a true professional restaurant owner, or even a decent human being should act like.

Well the...

AMAZING would be a definite understatement!! Upon entering, you are greeted with so many different aromas, your mouth immediately starts to water, while your stomach begins screaming in its best Audrey II voice (if you know, you know!), "FEED ME SEYMOUR"!! To say the foods here are "good" would be both an understatement, as well as an afront to the restaurant itself!

I had never tried baba ganoush before because I just don't like eggplant, but my son (being the insistent chef that he is) convinced me to try it. And OH HOLY CRAP am I ever glad I did!! It has a savory, yet smooth & strongly smokey flavor which is BEYOND comparison, & the fresh-made pita which is served with it is fluffy & flavorful in its' own right!

The spanakopita is most likely the best I've ever had in my life (I'm 54 & have had A LOT)!! It has a quite pleasingly mellow taste in which the flavors blend together flawlessly!

The gyros are HUGE, filled with long strips of perfectly cooked meat. It has a delectable, savory balance, which pairs extremely well with the perfectly seasoned Greek potatoes.

For dessert, I opted to try the cream baklava. To say it's good is, again, an understatement! The gentleman at the register had suggested trying it warm, so I tried it cold from the fridge first: YUMMY! Afterwards, I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds as he had recommended. This turned out to be a tad too long, despite the fact the baklava had been in my fridge for at least 2 hrs; 15 - 20 seconds would have sufficed. No big deal though, as I found the taste of warm cream baklava akin to a massive explosion of creamy, honey sweetness inside my mouth!

I am COMPLETELY ashamed of myself for not trying Athena's Grill sooner (I've lived in the area for 30+ years, pass it often, but always forget about it when trying to think of something for dinner)!! They have MOST DEFINITELY earned a repeat customer...on a weekly basis!!

The only even slightly negative thing I can say is there's not much in the way of parking. But again - not a big deal! Just try not to go during regular "meal" times, put it in your fridge, & heat for later! Consider a visit to this restaurant an absolute treat for...

This message is for Matthew, the owner whom the staff said they couldn't gove my info to.

I decided to look online for a place to grab a bite after leaving the movies. Called in and placed an order over the phone for a Pepperoni Calzone and a Super Gyro with fries. We were told it would be 15-20 mins later.

Arrived to pick up the food and found the calzone very burnt. Crystal admitted that they forgot the calzone was in the oven and it cooked more than normal. My boyfriend rightfully asked for a non burnt calzone.

After his calzone recooked, he got his calzone and my super gyro combo. When I checked the container, it was a regular gyro with a Greek salad. I walked back in and patiently waited for Chrystal to finish serving another customer.

When she finished, I explained to her my order was incorrect. I ordered a super gyro and fries but received a regular gyro and a salad. She stated that you all were out of mushrooms. I said "cool, that would of been good to know before being charged for a super."

She said don't speak to me like that. I said like what? And she said with an attitude. I stated, well I do have just a slight attitude as our initial order was burnt and now our second order was incorrect. She walked away and yelled to Amy to "deal with me."

At that point, I asked Amy to cancel my order as I didn't trust my food to be handled by Chrystal. Amy did and said that they were overwhelmed with Mother's Day. I said that's understandable, but it didn't warrant the service we received.

Matthew, I think you can agree serving a customer a clearly burnt item isn't good customer service. Neither is charging a customer for an item you couldn't fulfill and instead of letting the customer know—and refunding the difference —it was just passed along as if I wouldn't notice.

Don't know if...