The #1 restaurant in Athens according to Trip Advisor is an unexpected choice. It’s just around the corner from the hotel where we stayed, but it doesn’t have Acropolis views or a rooftop patio. It’s merely an informal storefront cafe on a traffic-clogged urban thoroughfare. The endless noise of passing mopeds and city buses is distracting. The signage is a bit garish (e.g. Lobster font in the logo); the outdoor seating consists of folding chairs and pressboard tables.
How did this place win? The food at Victory Cafe is sublime and fairly priced. The owners only cook meals fresh from scratch. The souvlaki skewers Anna had beat out the fancy lamb dinner at the sheik patio from the night before. My prosciutto salad was delightful.
But I’d aver that real reason Victory Cafe beat out 2,451 other restaurants in Athens – some with Michelin stars – is that the hospitality is beyond what we have ever experienced.
At a lull in customers, co-owner Mina stopped by to see how we were doing. She began to chat frankly about her day and her life. Her husband noticed our girls weren’t finishing the massive portions and began playfully encouraging them to keep eating. Then Eve then discovered the narrow spiral staircase to the second floor bathroom and began to climb it over and over. The owners took a shine to her playfulness.
When it came time to pay the bill, I stood up and the husband came over. I signalled my intent, but he looked at me and said “relax”. Maybe he didn’t understand? I told him again that I was ready to pay. But he did understand, smiled, and repeated the word, “Relax”. I slumped back to my seat a bit confused. A few minutes the wife brought out a heaping plate of fruit – orange slices, watermelon wedges, bananas. There was no extra charge, no gimmick. The couple stopped by again while we enjoyed the fruit and chatted further with us. After some badgering they finally let us pay the bill.
We returned the next night. This time the noise had trebled: power tools were grinding overhead as yet more signage was being installed above the restaurant, electric guitar solos wailed from an Irish band performing across the street, clashing with the 80’s jams on the restaurant stereo, the endless stream of traffic honked and sputtered by.
The food was again brilliant with generous portion sizes. But this time, after serving us, Mina disappeared for about five minutes. She came back with a small folded paper bag and handed it wordlessly to Eve. Eve’s eyes widened as she opened the package and took out a pink bracelet that the owner had just bought for her. How did she know Eve’s favourite colour? In her joy, Eve offered to “go get them more customers” and stepped out to the sidewalk dancing a jig.
After the meal, the complementary food came in waves: free ouzo shots, strawberries on a skewer topped with whipped cream and dusted with cacao, an ice cream sundae for Eve. I barely stopped the Mina from the next freebie – a heaping bowl of cherries.
One of my guide books to Athens spoke of “irrepressible Greek hospitality”. We experienced this many times over the last few days here, but never as much as at the Victory Cafe. They have my vote for best in the city.
