Athena's Corner — Restaurant in Seabrook

I’m a resident of Seabrook for over 20 years, we live in the Lake Cove subdivision so we appreciate a good restaurant near our home. We have been going to Wong Chef for many years, they know our kids and the owners/employees are great. Tonight we had a good dinner as usual at Wong Chef, my Aunt joined us, she had her scrubs on after a long day working at Houston Methodist Clear Lake, she’s also a long time resident of Seabrook. I had gym clothes on with a pony tail along with my 8 year old and 3 year old. My mother was also with us. Not sure if what we had on had anything to do with it but after dinner at Wong Chef, we were walking to our cars and decided to have a glass of wine to end our night. We decided to sit outside. We had our bag of to go food with us. We order a few glasses of wine. It was a nice night we talked and the kids sat on their phone since we were having conversation. The wine was chilled can’t complain about that. Although when I sat on the benches outside I sat on something sticky and gross. I went inside asked where the restroom was because I sat on their benches and got something on my shorts. I ask a tall tan waitress with black hair and explained what happened. I didn’t want another costumer sitting there. All she said was oh and walked away, so whatever although I did expect a oh no or sorry but it was fine. After a while My 3 year old got hungry and took his box of rice out. He snacked on that while we drank our wine. Close to closing time, a old gentleman came out with gray hair,thin, tall, maybe glasses on might have been the owner. He said he was picking our glasses up and they were closing , so we said okay, he said no food is allowed here y’all can’t bring food here, we apologized and said we didn’t know it was problem , and explained he was the only one eating, we just came from Wong Chef and we are here for wine. He said there’s a sign, we said sorry we didn’t see it and then I said well you need a sign out here too that warns customers of your benches out here because I sat on bird poop or something sticky here. Usually restaurant employees would be so nice about it and that’s what I was expecting. He said it’s probably from the food you brought over here. I said it wasn’t, it was from that bench I sat on and after that, we knew we were never welcomed there. I would have took a picture of the bench but I wasn’t expecting to be treated so rudely. We just got up and left. My 8 year old son didn’t understand why we were treated like that. He thinks it’s because we look different. He will just have to take this as lesson, if you know what I mean, you know what I mean. I have been to 5 star restaurants and I’ve never been treated so rudely. I didn’t think it would be like that at a simple restaurant in the Seabrook shopping mall. Its cute inside but still no reason to treat people like that. If they felt so strongly about my 3 year old eating his food there, they could have came and told us right at the beginning. Needless to say we won’t be going there again and I’m sure they could care less, just sharing my experience that I had there tonight. FYI: I didn’t know what I had sat on I was imagining bird poop or gum....

To keep it brief, the food was ok, not terrible, but didn't match the quality I expected based on the cost or the rave reviews I've read over and over.

To expand on that, we ordered takeout/pickup for 2 people on a Saturday at dinner time. We each had a spinach pie, Athena's grill plate with feta fries and a baklava. The total for the 2 meals before gratuity was $80. With an added tip it came out to be about $93. This is not an outrageous price for dinner for two including an appetizer and dessert for each person, but the quality of the meal simply didn't match the price.

The spinach pie had a very delicious filling but the phyllo was soggy and the texture made it seem like it had likely been sitting for some time before being reheated and packaged for takeout.

The Athena's grill plate includes lamb, beef, chicken and pork, falafel with Greek salad, pita bread and your choice of potatoes or fries. The salad was fresh and the dressing was tasty but neither of us received the falafel that was mentioned in the menu description. The rest of the plate left much to be desired. Each of the meats were dry and tough as if they had been cooked previously and left in a warming tray. The chicken was so overcooked that neither of us finished it on our plates. The fries were soggy (this seems to be a theme) and did not taste fresh. It is possible that the sogginess is due to the way the food is packaged for takeout but with the speed that everything was prepared, I am inclined to believe that some of the food simply wasn't made to order but had been sitting waiting to be served. The included pita bread was not soggy but was also not warm. It tasted like any pita bread that you can find at the grocery store bread isle.

The highlight of the meal was the baklava which was sweet and delicious. This is definitely worth trying even if you don't normally do dessert.

Needless to say we weren't impressed overall. The online ordering interface is convenient, the service inside was friendly but the food just didn't have the quality we expected. We will probably return at some point and will likely dine in rather than order takeout to give this another shot. Perhaps that is the difference between our experience and those that we have heard and read about. My suggestion would be to try Athena's Corner and form your own opinion, but maybe eat in rather than...

Nice quaint place. Relatively the same set-up as the previous restaurant but is more homey with warm colors yet modern. Clean and bright. Same with bathrooms and outside.

Ordered the Greek salad with gyros meat. Came with a very light oil/wine vinegar dressing that was just enough (I liked) and not your standard Greek dressing. Had big chunky slices of green pepper, tomatoes, black olives and onions (which I opted out of as we are not friends). Nice mixed salad instead of just Romaine. Had a friendly slice of feta on it that you could break up as you so desired. Nice touch. Wasn’t overpowering. However, disappointed that they do not have Peperoncinos - What??!! I come to Greek restaurants for some spicy Peperoncinos! The tomatoes also were a bit of a disappointment - Italians and Greeks should know a good tomato. I know our food source is no longer the best in the USA but I would like a red juicy one instead of a hard, light pink, flavorless one when getting a salad. It’s the little things. I'm not an expert on Gyro meat but it was moist yet crisp which was tasty. It wasn't the best Greek salad I've ever had but also not bad either. So overall I'd give it a B for a lunch salad and the context of the meal.

I ordered a side order of tzatziki for my pitta bread. Tasty and the pitta stayed soft and pliable while eating it.

Monday/Tuesday half of wine bottle which I like to take advantage of. Had an interesting Greek wine Monograph that had a medium intensity and was pleasant.

I do work where the wifi is and they were very accommodating, allowing me to be there for however long (I did say I ordered a bottle of wine, yes? ).

The waitress was Haylee and she was the bomb (I believe I’ve seen her in another establishment before). Smart, personable, attentive and perceptive which helped when she’s owning the place as the only wait person. She needs a raise or to become a manager at some point.

Didn't have a dessert but may come back at some point as their list was long.

I wish them luck and hope they remember to advertise to get folks in the corner of that complex and I can come back to try...