RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK
A PERSONAL REVIEW OF RESTAURANTS AROUND THE WORLD

TAVERNA ARSENIS
AFMITHEA, GREECE

Sometimes you "happen upon" a restaurant by mistake and it turns out to be a great experience.  This was the case for us at Taverna Arsenis.

While my wife and I absolutely  love  seafood we had pretty much eaten nothing but fish on this visit to Greece.  So we asked a local cab driver to take us to a highly recommended place (Socrates Prison) that serves up traditional Greek dishes like moussaka, etc. The doorman at the Hilton gave the driver directions to the restaurant.  However once in our cab and heading for this restaurant the driver (a very nice woman) went around in circles.  Finally she stopped at a hack stop and asked the people there for directions to the restaurant.  Turns out the place had been torn down to help make way for the remodeling of a museum!  She looked at us and asked us what we wanted to do.  I asked her to ask her friends at the taxi stand to recommend a good traditional place.  I mentioned that we had grown a bit tired of fish.  After a brief exchange in Greek between the driver and the other guys, off we went.  Ironically, however, something had gotten lost in the translation and she thought we wanted to go to a fish place!  Oh well.  Travel is always an adventure. 

Taverna Arsenisis located on a side street just off the main drag that connects Athens and the port city of Piraeus.  It's closer to Piraeus than Athens and was a fairly good hike from the Hilton Hotel area but worth the trip.

The restaurant offered some indoor seating but the main area was out on a patio under the stars.  Like most Greek seafood places, the wait staff brought out the fresh selection of fish so that we could choose our victims.  Sea bass and bream were the stars that night and cooked to perfection over a live charcoal fire. Grilled vegetables and potatoes came with the fish.  Prior to the main course, my wife started out with some fish soup and I had a small Greek pasta dish. We chased it down with some nice hot coffee and had a really nice and memorable meal.  Dinner probably came to $100 with wine.  Remember - anytime you order fresh fish in the Athens area, you're gonna pay dearly.

We'd highly recommend this place to you.

Taverna Arsenis is located at 19, Zisimopoulou Street, Amfithea.

ADDITIONAL RESTAURANT REVIEW FROM GREECE:

Sunset Cafe - Hydra