Athenian Grill — Restaurant in Lexington

Athenian Grill has been on our list of places to try in Lexington, so we decided to visit their new location by Fayette Mall. The interior décor was beautiful—from the chairs to the blue plates, it captured the traditional shades of Greece perfectly.

For food, we ordered the Saganiki bites, Beef Stew, and Pastitsio (recommended by our server). The Saganiki bites—fried cheese balls—had a great texture: crispy on the outside, gooey inside. However, both the bites and the accompanying red sauce were a bit too salty for our taste, so we couldn’t eat too many.

The entrées were solid. My boyfriend’s beef stew, served with rice, had tender, flavorful pieces of meat for the most part. I had the baked pasta dish, Pastitsio, with a side salad. It was tasty and comforting—not mind-blowing, but enjoyable for my first time trying Greek cuisine.

Service was average. After we placed our order, no one came back to check on us, and it seemed like we had to have our payment ready on the table before someone came by to close out our bill. When checking out, our total added up to $47, but the server told us it was $57. We asked for the receipt to confirm and saw that a tip had already been added to the bill without our acknowledgement, which caught...

Writing not to complain, but for the restaurant’s awareness. I love Athenian and I want to see them succeed here. The food was fine, definitely not on par with their Chevy Chase location. The staff was friendly for the most part, but didn’t seem to know what was going on. My appetizer was taken to two different tables before coming to me. They ended up being out of what I had ordered for my main dish, and again the staff member went to the wrong table first to ask what I would like instead. I think part of the problem was that we didn’t have a server per se. There was probably 5 different people coming to the table for various tasks, each of them looking as lost as the last. When my meal was over, I had waited nearly 20 minutes for the bill and I wasn’t certain who to ask for the check because of the lack in consistency on who was doing what.

I know this is a new location and it’s a new service style for them. But this is why it’s important to have a server, a single point of contact for the customer, who knows what’s going on, what to communicate, and to whom.

The interior looks great, the patio is nice as well.

I will be back, I truly hope they get the kinks worked out and find...

My husband and I have been eating at Athenian Grill in Lexington since we happened to stumble into the old location on Richmond Road one Burger Week years ago. On 8/7/25, we ate our first meal at the Athenian Grill Fayette Mall location for a dine-in lunch. The decor and atmosphere of the new location is very inviting. I ordered the chicken santorini with roasted vegetables and a Greek garden salad, and my husband ordered the grilled lamb chops with roasted potatoes and the green beans. We also ordered the Greek sausage appetizer. Both main dishes and the appetizer were bursting with flavor and just all around delightful. We left Athenian Grill pleasantly full and happy-- as we always have.

Over the years, we have tried various dishes including the Athenian lamb burger, gyros, moussaka, and spanokopita just to name a few. We have never been disappointed with any of their dishes. The only disappointing thing is we live an hour and half away from Lexington and can't eat at this wonderful restaurant as much as we...