Restaurant Review: Athena Grill

Athena Grill - lunch on January 23, 2014, 4-star rating on yelp

A coworker and I were trying to figure out where to go for lunch and she mentioned Athena Grill, this Greek place nearby. I'd heard of it before but had never been and of course my first thought was to try it "for blog material". Athena Grill is located in a randomly odd place in an industrial neighborhood of office parks and warehouses. It would either have to be a destination place because there's nothing else out there or the only lunch spot for people who work in the surrounding area or both.

It was actually fairly busy when we arrived just before noon. There's both indoor and outdoor seating. You go inside and place your order with the cashier. Then you're given a block with a number on it, you get your drink of choice from the drink fountain, find a table and one of the wait staff, searching the tables with the other block numbers, comes to find you and delivers your order a few minutes later.

The whole process was pretty efficient. They also come out with a basket of pita bread and French bread with hummus to each table. This is a good place to come to with a group of people if you don't want to worry about splitting the check since each person places and pays for their own order. As an aside, I found the people watching there rather funny as everyone so looked like they worked in high tech. As in, I kept thinking I recognized someone only to discover I didn't know them but I know people who looked like them. It's hard to explain unless you've worked in a certain industry for a number of years and you just know what the people in that industry look like. That's how I felt at Athena Grill and it tickled my odd sense of humor.

Pita and French Bread with hummus

Our orders arrived fairly quickly so this place is a good option for a quick lunch. My coworker got the lamb souvlaki wrap. I'm not well versed on Greek food so I couldn't tell you what it was like but I think she enjoyed it.

Lamb Souvlaki Wrap - $10.95

My own order probably wasn't very authentically Greek since I went with a pasta dish - namely layered ziti in a meat sauce and topped with a bechamel sauce that looks like a block of melted cheese at first glance but really was a thick layer of bechamel. I had thought about ordering a meatier entree to get something more Greek but I already had dinner plans at a burger place with friends that night so I went with pasta for something different.

Pastitsio - $12.95

That might not have been the best call I could've made. The pasta was decent but I did have to peel off some of that thick bechamel layer and the whole dish was rather bland. Now, remember, I have bland taste buds to start with so when I call something bland, it's really got to be bland. Not the yummiest entree I've ever eaten but, in fairness, there are probably other entrees I should've gotten that I would've enjoyed more so I'm not ready to write off Athena Grill just yet. I'll have to go back and try something else before I can really decide if I like the food or not.