Apollonia Restaurant

I'm totally shocked by the reviews I've read below. Our experience at The Apollonia was the complete opposite. There were 30 of us for our friends birthday & we opted for the meze for the true Greek experience.

The restaurant was packed which we were told on booking & were advised to pre order our meals to avoid delay. We were served from start to finish within 2 and a half hours which to be honest given there must have been 150 people in there was good. The food was fresh & if a little delayed we didnt mind because when it arrived you could tell it had just come off the charcoal.

The waiters were friendly not rude at all, they were rushed off their feet but had smiles on their faces & if you've got an ounce of a brain you'll excuse them if you're waiting a little longer than usual, the place is heaving!

The entertainment was great with a mixture for all. The singer, although yes cheesy, did a great impersonation of Tom Jones that a hen party threw their knickers at him, the belly dancer was gorgeous & the greek dancers brilliant finishing off with a disco which ended at 2am because everyone refused to leave!

The Apollonia is what it is, a super night out, its not a silver service restaurant & neither do they claim to be but for £30 for good food which includes half a bottle of wine per person (pinot grichio btw so was very nice) & a whole nights partying, you cant go wrong in this day & age. I can only assume some people are being vindictive so I'd say ignore all the reviews & go try it for yourselves.
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Francis
9 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Monday, June 20, 2011

We just got back from this place that calls itself a restaurant, we had a party of 9. I have never had such over priced rubbish in my life served to me. £25 for the meal which took nearly 3hrs to come out. Two of our party had there food whilst the others could just sit and wait. .My son and nephew shared a mezze, what a pile of rubbish..the meat was completely overcooked, the hullumi tasted like rubber, the fish was fall of bones, and it cost £50, we wasn't shown the menus on the website, just pieces of a4 card...entertainment!! Oh my god, where do I start, well if u like cheesey butlins cabaret singers then this is the place for you, noisy noisy noisy, u can't here yourself think. The staff are rude, they don't even ask if u are ok, I tried to complain about the rubbish mezze and the staff wasn't interested,and the service charge was nearly £20....I wouldn't reccommend this hell hole to my worse enemy, how this is still open is baffling me.... If I could rate this minus I would
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samantha
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, April 03, 2011

Don't go if you are hungry! There was a party of us and the amount of food was for half the amount of people the bill just for food was £400 people bought drinks at the bar. The restaurant had in excess of £600 from our party! The service was absolutely appalling, 3 times we complained and we were promised a bit more food but nothing came. Entainment/show is all this place is worth going for but not worth the money.
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Chrissie Perren
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, February 28, 2011

The Apollonia Restaurant was well below standards. The food was average at best, the live music was too loud as it was impossible to hold a conversation without shouting and the whole experience was totally overpriced. As it was a Friday we ordered from the a la carte menu, but as a vegetarian there wasn't much of a choice. We could order one starter and one main which came to £25! (or the same plus half a bottle of wine for £30 both including a 12% 'entertainment charge'). I had the ricotta and spinach stuffed pepper, which had chopped raw garlic in, also the pepper wasnt cooked properly and the stuffing was rather dry. For a main I had the' Vegetarian Chef's Special', which was probably a medley of leftover starters and none of which were traditionally Greek. Mushrooms fried in garlic and dried chilli, half an aubergine stuffed with a coarse tomato sauce and topped with cheese, a filo pastry roll filled with the same spinach and ricotta stuffing as my starter AND last but not least, the same pepper I had for my starter! The rest of the party were meat eaters and, although eveyone enjoyed the entertainment, the said the food was lacking, some even left half of their dinner. The total price per person was £28 NOT including drinks which is totally overpriced for the standard of food and the location.
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Lu
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 1
Saturday, February 12, 2011

What a fantastic night. We were there for Maria's party (Saturday 22nd Jan 2011). The food was great, the atmosphere was buzzing and the music and entertainment was spot on. The staff were amazing and couldn't do enough for us (plus the DJ gave me his mic and let me crack on with a spot of singing!). Thank you all for a brilliant night. Will definately be coming back.
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Martha
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, January 23, 2011

We have dined at Apollonia many times.

A family run restaurant, the Apollonia restaurant used to be located in Central London, and has been established for many years.

The restaurant is usually busy, particularly on Friday and Saturday evenings when you can expect live entertainment including singers and dancers. Booking is recommended.

The cuisine is all freshly prepared on the premises. The chef is also the co-owner, so the food is always of a very high standard. Staff are always friendly and the restaurant offers good value for money, portions are generous.
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9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, January 08, 2010

This was the worst restaurant experience I have had in memory. Reading their menu online we were excited by the choice of dishes and looking forward to something a bit different to our more usual choice of Italian, Indian, Chinese or steakhouse. On arrival however we were presented with an A4 print out of a set menu for the day with no option of the usual menu. The set meal looked ok, perhaps a little bit pricey at £35 each so we were expecting food and wine of good quality. However we were bitterly disappointed. The food was clearly sourced from a bulk discount supplier, my prawn cocktail had fluorescent pink sauce that was very overpowering and my girlfriends humus based starter was grainy and tasteless. Worse was to come with the main courses, the veg was clearly from frozen packets and the roast potatoes were Aunt Bessies! My lamb was overcooked and very dry but the worst was the wine which was truly undrinkable.

Unfortunately the Apollonia restaurant also provided entertainment which was loud and annoying. The Greek singer felt like he belonged in Butlins, it was so bad that it became comical - especially when he sang Barry White with a synthesizer to lower his voice by a few octaves!

We left half way through our main course and despite only drinking half a glass of their wine, we both suffered from hangovers the following day!

I have never been motivated to write a review before but I felt robbed on this occasion. The Apollonia in Gants Hill is definitely one to avoid!
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, December 31, 2009

went there last night friday 4th dec what a load of rubbish one of the waiters was rude to me when i asked him when the mains were going to come this is after waiting 40 mins after are starters were cleared he replied when i am ready after 1 hour and 10 mins when they arrived 4 people that had meze it was cold got up all of us table of 12 and walked out without paying guys take note 0/0
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diana woods romford
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, December 05, 2009

awful, the service was absouletly terrble. The waiters were very arrogant and disrespectful. paid 30 pounds for bad service and rudeness. i do not reccomend anyone to go. well i think alot of people have stopped going on a saturday night half of the tables were empty will be glad to see it closing down.
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munico
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Thursday, November 12, 2009

I cant recommend this place enough, we went for my divorce party (I kid you not), and i ws treated like a VIP & spoilt rotten all night! The waiters kept giving me shots all night free of charge & didnt hesitate in making sure all my party were having a good time. We saved ourselves a packet!!

The food is great, we had the delicious meze, one of my friends is a vegetarian & she couldnt stop complimenting her food! The belly dancer is absolutely gorgeous, made us all want to try it...and i repeat TRY it!

The disco is good old cheesy fun, fantastic for a girls night out, I really cant say anything else but YOU HAVE TO GO!!!!
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Helena
10 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, October 09, 2009