Athos Restaurant

This was a quality restaurant through and through.
Service was very good, good selection of beer and wine.
The food was excellent. Tasty, well seasoned and properly cooked.
Salad and appetizers were excellent!
You can’t go wrong with Athos for a nice evening meal! I had the lamb. Fantastic!

Saturday night dinner… Maybe because I expected something out of the ordinary or maybe just because I know what great food taste like, that is the reason I give this restaurant 3 stars when we talk about food. Nice décor, modern, classy and relaxing. good wine.The appetizers were ok. Calamari was chewy, pepper spread no taste, pita bread warm and chewy, dolmathes were excellent, All the chicken on the menu to bland, you can only taste lemon, no garlic no herbs and definitely no salt and somewhat dry. Seafood dishes were over cooked, and tzatziki sauce grainy. The staff was excellent and that is the only reason I will give the restaurant 4 stars.

I’m sorry to say I’ve never Unilocaled about Athos before. This is a perennial favorite, but we haven’t been in quite some time due to the many new places opening lately, and of course because we’re venturing to Saratoga more, now that the warm weather has set in.
Athos is consistently great. I can’t say enough about the service, the atmosphere is lovely, and ladies, the lighting is great, everyone looks gorgeous. The most wonderful part about Athos is that they seem to be buying different, and to my mind, better ingredients than the usual players, and one can immediately identify a completely different flavor profile than any of the mainstream «must go to» places. Plating and details are to perfection, and the quantities are more than enough, or just enough, doubled or shared. I know of no other venue serving a whole fish, de-​boned and filleted tableside, and with so much variety. The standout this week was the lamb soup special, green and aromatic with herbs, none so overpowering as to dominate the lovely fragrance and palate, a wonderful texture, and full of great nose. The consistency was somewhere between a veloute and a purée, and it was dreamy, while not at all too lamby.
I wax poetic about the classic Greek salad, made with the finest gently herbed feta, not the crumbly, flavorless, refrigerated variety found everywhere here, and unlike most, bibb lettuce is the preferred platform. It is a crave-​worthy salad, and a lunch of lamb soup and Greek Salad is beyond perfection, but never skip traditional Greek fare, such as their gyro or souvlaki, which I prefer to be made with lamb, but is listed on the menu with a choice of beef or chicken. Athos is happy to accommodate me. The cocktails are crafted with a lovely array of top shelf spirits, the wine list fresh, rife with exciting wines from Greece both old and new, which I assume are not present on many menus around the Capital Region. Your favorites are there too.
The ambiance has the strange effect of feeling cool and refreshing in the heat of summer, when Mediterranean food tastes its best, and warm and cozy in the chiller months. Like most people, we crave heavier, heartier food in cool climes, and lighter, breezier fare when the mercury rises. This wonderful place is a restaurant for all seasons, on every count, every day, all day long.
We dine out most every night, and in places everywhere, in between Saratoga, Albany, and beyond, but Athos remains a favorite. She will never let down.

Delicious! Mediterranean food is always my fave, and this place does it right! We had the lamb lollipops, calamari with citrus sauce, tzatziki with the complimentary pita, and grilled branzino special. The atmosphere, service, preparation, and presentation are all top notch. In the future I would request the lamb a little less done and more tentacles with the calamari (it was almost all rings to my disappointment). But the light breading and preparation was otherwise perfection. The fish was fantastic. I think this restaurant beats the quality of any other restaurant I’ve visited in Albany so far. If any of our parents came in to town this would be an ideal spot to take them.

Lovely restaurant, with well prepared Greek menu. Staff is very professional. We love the hummus appetizer, the dolomathes and the fried dough dessert. I always order fish and have never had a bad entrée.
They do a jazz thing on Fridays in the bar, so it is a little more busy that night. Reservations are a good idea if planning to dine here during the weekend

My wife and I were pleasantly surprised. I’ve lived in the area for many years and had never been until the other night. Great atmosphere, service and food.

We just had a fabulous Easter Brunch here. As always, the food is meticulously prepared. The servers are always pleasant, helpful and well-​trained. Plus, now they have coffee cup reading! If you don’t know what that means, yet another reason to try this great restaurant. There is a reason why this is rated the best restaurant in Albany.

I was here for dinner on a Tuesday night with a very large group of 18. The service excelled throughout our entire night. They were attentive to our needs by getting our drinks, refilling our waters and splitting the bill. In terms of food, I got the chicken souvlaki and everything was good except the chicken. The rice pilaf, roasted bell peppers and veggies were fantastic, especially with the side of tzatziki but the chicken was a little on the bland side. It had a more natural flavor that was plain. If you’re etching for a well seasoned meat appetizer, I would recommend the kedtedakia. It’s a mix of beef and lamb formed into a meatball and it’s so good. The dolmades are another excellent appetizer choice.

For starters, the inside is very well decorated with paintings of Greek islands. As you walk in, look at the ground to see downstairs into the wine cellar through a see through floor. For starters, we ordered tzatziki and a chickpea spread that came with warm pita. I spent four months living in Greece and can say that tzatziki was amazing and brought me back. The pita was warm and very fresh. For dinner I ordered chicken souvlaki, delicious and fresh grilled chicken and vegetables with rice pilaf and lemon potato. I tried the rest of my families as well and all the meals were delicious and fresh. The meals were traditional Greek meals. We ordered a bottle of their house wine and it did not disappoint. Will definitely be back!

The food here is very good traditional food. There is no twist which is perfect for someone like me who is fairly picky — no surprises! The service is great — prompt and attentive, but not overbearing. We celebrated a birthday and they sang and made a big deal out of our teenager. We really had a great time there.

My husband had wanted to go here but I was not sure as I am not a fan of Greek food. However, after our first visit, we went back again. The fish and chicken dishes are delicious and the service is friendly and prompt. We will go back again.

Great meal at Athos, we ordered the Whole Fish Tis Imeras, it was so fresh, great flavor and the presentation was over the top, our server presents the cooked fish and then at your request they do all the work of preparing it to be eaten. Amazing bean spread (like hummus but better) served with warm pita. The service was wonderful (thank you Max for being such a great sport), we will return.

For years Athos has been my go to restaurant for the freshest and perfectly cooked fish. Last night I possibly had the worst $ 32 dish I’ve ever eaten. I ordered the whole fish which is usually a moist flaky white fish. The fish must have been frozen. It was dry and chewy with little flavor and actually made me sad. We ate it because I didn’t want to ruin dinner by making a scene. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only food that differed from the norm. The hummus was chunky and lacked flavor, the large beans we shared as an appetizer were over cooked and mushy. The best part of the evening was our wonderful and fun waiter. I’m glad something remained as I remembered it. They’ve always had great service here.
What’s up Athos? Please go back to the restaurant I knew and loved.

Yes, a delight full Greek restaurant with class.
Food was first rate, service excellent, great variety menu, priced just right.
Highly recommended. Attire was more casual then some review suggest.
Nice bar up front. Class all the way.

This is my first time at a full service Greek restaurant, as I’ve only had Greek at casual, fast food style spots. It did not disappoint and oriented me to authentic Greek cuisine. The parking area is quite large and the closest option to the restaurant entrance seems to be near the back. The main dining area is brightly lighted and tables are beautifully lined. The taverna area is more dim and an atmosphere of its own.
My friend and I were greeted warmly upon entrance and seated promptly, as we opted to dine in the taverna area. We were introduced to our server within minutes and given ample time to peruse the menu. A full dinner menu and a taverna happy hour menu were available to us during that time. We quickly decided to share an order of the pikilia (traditional Greek spreads) which allowed us to choose from a variety. We chose the tzatziki, fava, and skordalia. They were each flavorful in their own ways, but the skordalia was the winner in my book due to its garlicky potato goodness. We were also given a very generous portion of tapenade to go along with our warm pitas… which was amazing! Our server was very attentive and even offered us more pita for our spreads. Another nice gesture was offering us a sample of the wine we were not familiar with yet wanted to taste. We settled for the house white with sweet honeysuckle aroma, passion fruit and lime flavors. Each sip of the wine was an adventure, as its fruity flavors subtly interchange with one another! We then had the beef gyro with oregano fries. The meat was moist and sufficient, atop a warm and fluffy pita, served with a good amount of tzatziki on the side. The gyro definitely hit the spot! It is probably one of the best gyros I’ve had in awhile. The oregano fries were also spectacular, crisp outside and soft inside, perfectly spiced. If I could order my fries with oregano every time elsewhere I probably would now!
Since we had other post dinner plans, we skipped dessert here but we will be back to try the mouthwatering loukomathes and walnut cake. The overall experience we had was great and the relaxed yet classy dining feel really makes it special. I’m looking forward to trying more and may even take advantage of their weekly prix fixe menu offerings.

Who would have guessed! Authentic Greek in Albany! The ambience is romantic and modern, with Greek music playing that would incite some movement of the hips and feet. Our waiter Jay, was amazing, extremely attentive and knowledgeable. The food?! What can I say, every plate was clean. All eight dishes! Between the two of us ;)

Figured out the secret to this place… don’t go for the chicken or lamb — get the fish! I had the grilled branzino and it was divine! My husband and another guest had the fish special — halibut or something like that and were also very happy. Our 4^th guest ordered the chicken saganaki and she was highly disappointed with the serving size given the price ($ 20).

Just stopped by with my wife at 5pm today and picked up your $ 24.00 Take-​Out For Four. As we drove home both my wife and I were taken back at the small amount of food for $ 24.00 — was this take-​out for four very small children? Four pitas, a pint of cut up onions/​tomatoes, pint of tzatziki and what appears to be two small chicken cutlets cut up in strips.
On the plus side the food was very good and fresh, but barely enough for 2 people, certainly not 4. Buyer beware.

I had eaten here years ago, and the meal was so good, that I was scared to go back. I’ve found over the years that area restaurants have been cutting portion sizes and quality of ingredients to cope with rising food, energy, and labor costs.
After years of talking about it, my fiancée and I finally decided to brave it, and boy am I glad we did. She was immediately impressed by floor window to the wine cellar, and the service was impeccable from the start. After a chat with the waiter, we had placed our orders, and were brought out the pita and olive tapenade. Both of us love garlic, and are very picky on the types of olives that we like. This tapenade really hit the spot, and was the best tapenade that we had ever had. The pita was warm, and served nicely wrapped in a cloth.
For appetizers, we chose calamari, flambeed cheese, and the lamb chili. Wow, were these delicious. The flavors and textures were just spot on. The calamari wasn’t the slightest bit chewy, and just melted in the mouth. The chili wasn’t overly salty or acidic, and the lamb was delicious.
For the entrees, we ordered the rainbow trout, and the the shrimp with scallops dish. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the trout, it was good, but not as impressive at the other dishes. The shrimp with scallops dish was much nicer in my opinion, and when I had it reheated the next day, it tasted just as great.
For dessert, we split the Loukoumathes, and they were delicious. A Greek version of beignets is how I would describe them. This is a restaurant that we will be visiting on a regular basis, and the wide range of menu, including many vegetarian options, will allow us to bring even the pickiest eater here.

This review is for the bar area.
Yes you can go here and sit in the fancy dining room and spend a lot of money… Or you can join the kids in the bar. Me? I chose the bar every time.
The bar manager Terry is SO über friendly and truly shows care and consideration for his guests. He noticed we were eating low carb and brought us veggies with our hummus instead of bread without us even having to ask!
We love to come here whenever we find ourselves in Guilderland for Greek wings, lamb burgers and to something new we haven’t had before.
How nice are these people? Well over the winter I popped a tire near their place during a snow storm. We pulled in and AAA couldn’t come rescue our car for two days. They let us stay parked in their lot without towing us until AAA could get us out of there. Now that’s cool! If you find your car broken down in the winter go in here for some of their chicken/​lemon soup. Mmmmm… Hits the spot!