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Athenian Gardens
Category: Restaurants American (Traditional) American (Traditional) [Edit]
2900 4th St NSaint Petersburg, FL 33704
(727) 822-2000
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
3 reviews for Athenian Gardens
3 reviews in English
-
Review from David C.
Washington, DC
2/23/2009
Talk about a step down!
The ambiance of their old split-level wood-paneled dining room has been dashed to bits in favor of a generic boxcar-shaped downtown location, and they've lost their ability to seat groups any larger than four. The friendly old Greek fellow who exchanged amiable flirtations with my girlfriend has been replaced by twenty-something girls in tight jeans and uggs (attractive, but less prone to banter). Chicken Souvlaki was dry, dry, dry, as was a gyro platter. Tzatziki is still piquant and the Retsina is still a wonderfully acquired taste (somewhere between chardonnay and a pine tree).
They still shout 'Oopah' when they light the brandy-soaked cheese on fire, and the pricing is still somewhat reasonable.
Looks like I'll have to find a new Greek joint in town. -
Review from prianka n.
St. Petersburg, FL
3/7/2010
Unforunately, I can't give a place 0 stars, but I can sum up my experience here in one word: BLECH!
We ate here some months back and the experience was so bad that it still haunts me.
Here's what I think of when I think of Mediterranean food: fresh, wholesome, light, healthy, sunny-flavored food. Athenian Gardens is none of these things. It's bland, heavy, and ham-handed, and I am being kind when I say that. I understand that restaurants need to cut costs, but it was painfully obvious how much cost-cutting they'd done here (at least I hope that's why the food sucked so badly, at least that's a respectable excuse). The grape leaves were soggy and oily, and I am not sure how they managed to remove the tang from a pickled leaf - it's some sort of diabolical miracle. The tabouleh was nothing but unseasoned, overcooked bulgur with just a few miserable and mealy flavorless tomato chunks and a sprinkling of DRY parsley and a generous drenching of cheap olive oil. The hummus was laughable and lemon-free. The falafels were limp, without even a hint of crunch, and tasted like wet little sawdust pucks. My boyfriend had a chicken pita wrap - the chicken was rubbery and obviously microwaved and arrived swimming in some sour cream nightmare that I believe was supposed to be tzatziki sauce.
Either these people are completely clueless or the kitchen is performing a completely genius work of dry, black-as-night comedy at the patrons' expense.
To add insult to injury, our server was sullen and absentee...well not absentee, just absent from the tables. She was so busy standing with her back to us and the other two tables staring out the window that after waiting 15 minutes for her to come by, we just decided to walk up to her to tell her we wanted to send our food back. She then tried to argue and tell us the food was good. I told her it was obvious that our meal had at least partially been microwaved and she then stopped arguing and told us there would be no charge. That was the high point of this experience.
Hopefully their other locations are nothing like this, but after this meal I don't dare find out...I'll try every other Mediterranean spot in the bay area first.
We arrived here STARVING and were hoping to catch a quick bite, but the food was so awful that we each tasted a single bite of everything and decided we'd rather pick some stuff up at Publix and make our own lunch. Thankfully the poor quality of the food ruined my appetite for a while, so at least I didn't leave Athenian Gardens hungry!Listed in: EWWWW
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Review from Jack S.
Saint Petersburg, FL
10/4/2007
Just like the one across town. Good greek salads. They have a great lunch special, about 8 bucks for salad and sandwhich. This will not blow your socks off but if you are looking for good greek food in town, this is a local favorite. For some reason, my wife likes their coffee too. When you are feeling decadent, try the flaming cheese appetizer. Yummy.
