This was probably one of the worst experiences I've had at a restaurant that was completely unexpected. It was a hole in the wall Greek restaurant, with decent reviews- how could I possibly not love it?
The weirdness started when we walked in. The waiter greeted us in German, and when we attempted to respond, we got a blank stare. We tried German, English and a teeny bit of Greek- just a blank stare and/or complete confusion. We were at a loss, but eventually we were able to communicate that we didn't have a reservation but wanted to eat. Not a problem considering it was 7:30pm and the restaurant was half empty.
This restaurant is mostly tapas. We were given the English menu without asking, which was nice, but unnecessary. I'm Greek and was able to decipher what eat dish was. Since it was tapas style, we wanted to order a few dishes, then order more later. This was extremely perplexing to the waiter (it didn't help that we could barely express this), but somehow, we managed it.
The service was pretty terrible though. Yes, in Germany, there's a reputation for that EVERYWHERE, but this almost felt like they were avoiding us/wanted nothing to do with us. Also evidenced by seeing the jovial interactions with other customers. It was almost comical to see the difference- and we had NO idea where we went wrong. It was just.. odd. They weren't necessarily outright rude to us, they just appeared to want nothing to do with us.
So the food: The food was all fairly good, but consistent dish to dish. The stifado was extremely good, where as the taramas and the octopus were just "meh". The taramas was like a whipped mousse, which is a little odd when you consider it has fish roe in it. Did they blend it first? I'm positive it came from a jar. The flavor wasn't what I expected. The octopus had great flavor, but was way overcooked.
Overall, I think the food might have been a fluke for the evening, given that some of it was pretty good. But I just can't get over how we were treated. Its just unlike anything I've ever experienced, with Germans or Greeks. I couldn't believe it. We felt so unwelcome. The topping on all of this? The ENTIRE restaurant was served ouzo (which is pretty common in Greek restaurants)- EXCEPT us. I just had to laugh. It was so silly- and so direct.
So.. go if you want. I think there are better places to enjoy Greek cuisine in the Nuremberg and won't be going back simply based on the service. read more