Greek Affair

I have eaten at the Greek Affair several times now, and have enjoyed the experiences. The staff are very friendly, and the manageress, although not subtle, is very professional. I have had the privilege of being served by the owner, who appears to walk the floor during service at times. For those who do not know, he is a restaurateur of over 35 years, coming straight from the heart of Athens. The head chef is also an Athenian gentleman who has been in the industry for over 30 years.

Needless to say, the food in this restaurant is as genuine as you will find in London. Anybody who really knows about real Greek food, must have eaten in a taverna and experienced the plethora of flavours being introduced to your table in a one-by-one fashion. I have tried almost all of the meze, and have found it most enjoyable, particularly with a complementing wine - of which there is an interesting selection to entertain the palette. I have not found many places out of Athens, which have replicated this experience as well as the Greek Affair.

Without being rude, any comparisons to tinned/supermarket food, is simply just ignorant. The food in this restaurant is homemade, I will leave you to decide how much you value the opinion of people who cannot appreciate the difference. In addition, I'd also like to put the bread issue to bed, in genuine Athenian tavernas you will not find pitta bread. If you are truly after an authentic experience, it isn't even a main feature. However having said this, many people are not aware, so it is excusable to make this mistake. But, what is not excusable, is having a dig at the service staff who are, at the end of the day, correct. Again how much you value this is entirely upto you :-)

I would recommend this restaurant to anybody looking for a pleasant gastronomic Greek experience in the centre of London. It can get busy in the evenings so I would also recommend you book ahead.
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Panos Rivalios
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Saturday, September 08, 2007

My boy friend and I dined at Greek Affair last Friday night. It was our first time and we liked it very much. We had Xtapdaki, Arnaki giouvetsi, Kotopoulo psitosto fourno me patates and gigates. Bread was very nice and fresh and water was cold enough. Every thing was very fresh and excellently cooked and very much like home-made food. My boyfriend is Greek and from a family who have always known and had great traditional Greek cuisine and he approved everything we had at Greek Affair.

The service was very good, the waitress was very polite, attentive and friendly and after serving the food made sure a couple of times that everything was fine with us. The atmosphere was very cosy and friendly and reminded me of nice dinners we had in Greek islands' tavernas.

I have the impression that many people who complained about the food in this restaurant are not actually familiar with the authentic and traditional Greek food. Regarding ice for water I should note that we are in Britain (~Europe) not USA and until the customer is asked for ice, it is not still common to bring it to the table.

Although I agree that customer is "sometimes" right , it would be unpleasant for restaurant staff to provide high quality food and service and being criticised in such harsh manner. If you really want to be appalled by customer service please try some Italian restaurants in London, especially in Kings Road.

My boyfriend and I have recommended this restaurant to our friends and will definitely go there again.
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Mahtab Behrouzi
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Let me start by saying that I am in no way exaggerating the following review. Don't listen to any of the other reviews of this restaurant - anyone who doesn't find this place appalling is either ignorant, has never been to another restaurant in their life, or is related to the owner/manager.This is the 2nd time I have had the misfortune to find myself in this restaurant, both times it has been solely due to the fact that the other Greek place down the street is closed on a Sunday. As a knowledgeable Greek and Londoner, WHY did I make the same mistake twice? Greek Affair is awful, so ungenuine and so embarrassingly bad, that I'm worried I might forget to mention something.

Uncomfortable seats and small cramped tables means that you will be rubbing elbows with the other unfortunate people, who have yet to find out how bad their meal is about to be. The basement section, a stale and smelly pit where they allow smoking, is next to the kitchen, and dark enough that you cannot spot the filthy cutlery and table linen. Upstairs is certainly no better: a pathetic heater on the half-heat setting and a door that doesn't even close, will keep you nice and cold until the unfriendly and unwelcoming manageress comes to finish you off. There were a few short hairs on my side plate, and dried-on tomato sauce stains on the water glasses. The manageress took away the plate after I pointed out the hairs without even so much as a sorry, as if I was being difficult !

Now to the food: the tzatziki was too runny, had too much mint, not enough garlic, and not enough olive oil. The keftedes (meatballs) were dry and tiny, slighty larger than a Malteser, and cost over £1.00 each. The saganaki (fried cheese) was so salty that it made my lips stick together, and it cost about £5.00 for 2 small slices of 25g each. The gigantes (beans in a tomato sauce) were cold, hard and straight out of a tin, but of such a poor quality that I promise you, you couldn't even find that make of tinned food in the cheapest of Indian corner shops in Hackney.

I spotted a newspaper article framed on the wall, which had given their taramosalata a good review, so I thought: why not? It can't get any worse. Oh dear, it was horrible, really. Just go to Waitrose, the standard taramosalata they sell in mass-produced packets tastes far better, more genuine and is better value.

The bread? Oh my god, the bread!!!! Cold, stale and bland, just the way bread tastes when it has been defrosted. They claim to be a Greek restaurant, but they don't even have pitta bread. The rude manageress even got offended when I enquired about why they didn't have pitta bread, incorrectly saying that she could only get Arabic pitta, not Greek. Actually, my dear, Greek pitta is only used for souvlaki. OBVIOUSLY I meant the pitta you can buy in any supermarket, just like they serve in every other Greek restaurant. When I asked for the bread to be toasted, they simply refused.

The main courses: rubbery, cheap and tasteless chicken, whether you choose it roasted or in the white wine sauce, is atrocious. Moussaka and pastitsio are standard, basic Greek dishes, both ruined by a horrible bechamel sauce, and by the quality of minced beef, so course that you wouldn't even find it in Value range at Asda. I dread to think what the poor, unsuspecting diner at the neighbouring table received when he ordered the fish.........The only 2 dishes that were even approaching an acceptable quality and taste were the kleftiko, and the (undercooked) loukaniko: a "traditonal" Greek sausage, except that it wasn't, because it was actually a Cypriot sausage. I know this because we buy them at Green Lanes market every week.

All in all, this was an unforgettable experience; so traumatic, so disappointing, so un-Greek in every possible way.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot..........and the water wasn't even cold, no ice, with a dirty slice of lemon.
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alex the greek
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Thursday, July 19, 2007

My partner and I went to Greek Affair this evening. We have eaten there once before and enjoyed the food so decided it was time for another visit. What a sorry mistake that turned out to be.

We ordered several different mezze dishes and a bottle of wine. All was fine until the food arrived. One dish we ordered was a pork dish with a tomato sauce. Admittedly it was rather tasty, but the problem was that the meat was without a doubt not pork, but lamb. We also ordered kalamari in tomato sauce which should have been lovely but the squid was not as fresh as it should have been and tasted as such. Also the dolmades we ordered from the cold mezze section of the menu turned up bubbling hot... certainly not how they should have been served.

No check back was made once we had recieved our food, probably because there was only one waitress working the entire restaurant , which by this time also included several big parties.

When our plates were cleared we explained the above problems with the food and the waitress then sent over who we assume must be the manager. And then the fun really began!

She (rather loudly) told us that she had tasted the squid, and as she thought it to taste just perfect then our taste buds must be the problem. The reason the dolmades were served hot was because the fridge was set to a very cold temperature and she 'had to warm them up because i keep my customers happy'. Apparently. And as for the pork/lamb dish... well... we were liars and that was that. And off she stomped.

Overall we paid just under £50 for 7 tiny portions of mezze, 3 of which were inedible and a bog standard bottle of wine. The service wasn't good due to the one poor girl being run off her feet, and the managers attitude bordered on the Basil Fawlty. We are not complainers... but we left Greek Affair tonight feeling very angry indeed.
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cyd walker
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

My partner and I went to Greek Affair this evening. We have eaten there once before and enjoyed the food so decided it was time for another visit. What a sorry mistake that turned out to be.

We ordered several different mezze dishes and a bottle of wine. All was fine until the food arrived. One dish we ordered was a pork dish with a tomato sauce. Admittedly it was rather tasty, but the problem was that the meat was without a doubt not pork, but lamb. We also ordered kalamari in tomato sauce which should have been lovely but the squid was not as fresh as it should have been and tasted as such. Also the dolmades we ordered from the cold mezze section of the menu turned up bubbling hot... certainly not how they should have been served.

No check back was made once we had recieved our food, probably because there was only one waitress working the entire restaurant , which by this time also included several big parties.

When our plates were cleared we explained the above problems with the food and the waitress then sent over who we assume must be the manager. And then the fun really began!

She (rather loudly) told us that she had tasted the squid, and as she thought it to taste just perfect then our taste buds must be the problem. The reason the dolmades were served hot was because the fridge was set to a very cold temperature and she 'had to warm them up because i keep my customers happy'. Apparently. And as for the pork/lamb dish... well... we were liars and that was that. And off she stomped.

Overall we paid just under £50 for 7 tiny portions of mezze, 3 of which were inedible and a bog standard bottle of wine. The service wasn't good due to the one poor girl being run off her feet, and the managers attitude bordered on the Basil Fawlty. We are not complainers... but we left Greek Affair tonight feeling very angry indeed.
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cyd walker
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

I went to this restaurant a year ago and had a great night. The food was great it was BYO alcohol and the staff were friendly.

Having gone back recently we were quite excited as we had such a great time last time, we bought our Red wine and off we went.

On entering the resuarant we were bluntly told that we could not bring our red wine is at it is now licensed.

The food was nowhere near as good as it had been and the surroundings were quite cold and there was no atmosphere at all. It is fair to say we were dissappointed and later found out this has been taken over by new owners.

I would not recommend you go there as there are much better Greek restaurants around.
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Mister X
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 4
Wednesday, April 25, 2007

my boyfriend and I recently visited this small and cosy restaurant off Notting Hill Gate. Once inside however, we found it to be very draughty and because of the cold weather we had to keep our jackets on throughout the meal.

We ordered the grand meze for £15.50 per person, there was a nice selection of Greek starters and main courses, which was just enough for us two. The food was not exceptional, in some parts rather bland in comparison to other greek restaurants we have been to. We had a problem at the end of our meal with our coffees, but the manager who was called over by the waitress handled the situation quite rudely. Not a recommendation to any of our friends and if you do decided to go in the winter make sure you are wearing adequate clothing.
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marie
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Sunday, January 21, 2007

We went as a group recently and were quite impressed with the cosy decor. They had set up a big table for us near the front entrance. Most of us had not tried Greek food before, so we were not sure what to expect and have nothing to compare it against. The food was full of taste and the service was good. Overall we enjoyed our meals and had a good experience.
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Leah McQueen
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

DONT GO THERE AS A GROUP!! we went here as a group and left starving... we ordered the £15 meze and they combined everyones meals to share and it ended up being hardly any food each... it was a joke.. over priced and average food..
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Thursday, November 16, 2006

Tasteless taramousalata, stale bread, microwave-re-heated potatoes and (microscopic) lamb, luke-warm 'hot' metze. Over-priced, with a listless manager chewing gum and leaning on the counter while the two (nice, friendly) East European waitresses rushed about.

Not worth going to unless you fancy bland un-Greek food and 12.5% 'tip' added automatically, but easy parking on a Saturday night. Upstairs is non-smoking, which is good, but draughty and noisy, which is bad. Not surprised it had tables at short notice!
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Nick Tuson
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2
Monday, August 14, 2006