Reviews
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Aegli Bistrot
Zappeion Gardens
Central Athens
Tel: 2103369363-4
Open: Afternoon / Evening
Type: Mediterranean
Price Range: € 38.00 - 44.00 |
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One of the advantages of going to the Aigli, for coffee, one of the
many receptions held there or even a Christmas Bazaar held in aid of
St Paul’s Anglican Church, is the PARKING – there are very few
places in Attica that can claim to have easy parking, or any parking
at all for that matter!
The staff in the coffee shop/restaurant upstairs are not
particularly accommodating and there should be a better selection of
teas (jasmin, Earl Grey, Darjeeling, all readily available
everywhere nowadays and not just the fruit teas that I think are
horrible).
In January I went to a morning conference at the Aigli, with coffee
and refreshments first that were adequate, followed by lunch
afterwards. On the assumption that you get what you pay for, the
lunch served was excellent and plentiful and reasonably priced –
actually the main course was so plentiful that, on my instigation,
everyone at my table asked for doggy bags (but did they all have
dogs….. it doesn’t matter; if they took the remains of the chicken
home for their own supper, good for them!).
As good as the food was, the service was slow and indifferent – very
slow and indifferent. My table was near the service door, which
should have had the advantage (the only advantage of that position!)
of being served first; sadly this was not the case; we actually
waited 20 minutes from finishing the first course to being served
the main course. I called the maitre over and made a polite
complaint to which he took offence and started screaming that he was
doing as instructed that the service wasn’t slow and that I was in
the wrong to complain. Oh dear, oh dear, whatever happened to the
customer’s always right??? Even if that is a rather old fashioned
concept, his response was unprofessional which is a shame in a place
that has a certain elegance and reputation.
The trouble with complaining in a restaurant, before you’ve actually
finished eating, is that you can’t be sure what they do to the next
plate that is served to you. Anyone who has read Anthony Bourdain’s
book ‘Kitchen Confidential’ will agree that you take you life if
your hands when you eat out! In this instance I didn’t go down with
any nasty symptoms after the meal I had at Aigli, so maybe their
indifference outside was matched by indifference inside the kitchen.
Shame, because it really could be a top class place.
BC
