Athenian Garden

I think the other Athenian Garden locations are better than this one. The service was good, I won’t complain about that, but the food was lacking for me.
My friend and I came in one night because it’s close to her home and decided we could get a couple things and split them because we couldn’t decide what we wanted. We ended up with a Greek salad for 2, plus chicken, and one of the appetizer samplers. The salad was swimming in dressing, and sadly the lettuce was of the nice white iceberg variety (read: no nutritional content). The fixins on it were standard, and okay — beets, peppers, feta, tomatoes, olives… Plus the Tampa Bay standard of a giant scoop of potato salad. The chicken was simple and also acceptable, but not remarkable in any way.
The appetizer sampler was special though. I don’t know if anyone else has the same sentiment or not, but I wouldn’t order it again, let alone anything on it separately. Why you ask? Let me tell you. The hummus was green. I don’t mean that it went bad, but that they added herbs that left it tasting like anything but hummus. The tabbouleh was more couscous than parsley. For people who don’t like eating salads, I guess this is a good thing, but for me it sort of… Sucked. The felafel were disks, and while I shouldn’t judge a food based on the shape, it sort of throws off the crunchy to fluffy ratio. The only thing acceptable was the tzatziki and it was still nothing exceptional. Note to self: don’t order a sampler of mostly Middle Eastern things at a Greek place.
I would definitely not go out of my way to come here. If I was in a bind nearby and didn’t want something greasy, I probably would pitstop and order anything else on the menu.

Great Greek restaurant with a little step up in class, compared with the other Mom and Pop Greek owned restaurants in the area.
When you enter, you come to a large bar area which is very upscale looking. This area also has some high top tables and a flat screen TV. Once into the dinning area, you notice the cloth tablecloths and napkins. The waitstaff are dressed very nicely in their black uniforms.
We both started our meals with mini Greek salads that were some of the best we’ve had. We love that they come with beets, with the complementary large dolup of potato salad.
My Bride ordered the combo plater of Gyro, sausage, and lamb souvlaki over rice with peppers and onions. All very good.
I had the Gyro patter served with rice, pita bread and grilled peppers and onions. The flavor of their Gyro was excellent.
This restaurant is definitely off the beaten path. It’s located in the DeGeorge Plazza about ¼ mile south of Ulmerton Rd on the west side of Starkey Rd.
When looking for a nice change from the many Greek and Albanian restaurants in the Largo/​Clearwater area, give them a try. You won’t be disappointed.

It’s solid Greek food that’s very vegetarian friendly. It’s the same menu as the other locations, which is a good thing. We tend to stick to Gyro’s and Greek Salad. We always start with the Saganaki of course!
The place always seems to be empty when we are there (Saturday lunches mostly) The service is always good and I think it’s priced fairly.
I have to mention that I think the hours are very strange. They open at 10:00am but don’t serve breakfast? They are also closed on Sunday. Personally I think it would be wiser to close on Monday and not miss the weekend traffic. But maybe that’s just me lol

I had the Souvlaki combo (with lamb, chicken, and beef) for dinner, comes with the delicious greek salad as appetizer. We also ordered hummus and charcoal grilled octopus. Everything was amazing. We went at 8pm and it was not busy at all. The restaurant is spacious and clean. The waiter was attentive.

We wanted to try a new Greek restaurant and (with Unilocal’s help) we found one. It is a large, clean, nicely decorated place. You do have to take a leap of faith in getting past the dubious strip center that it resides in, though.
For starters, we ordered the #2 Combo Platter. The spanakopita and dolmades were some of the best we’ve ever had. For entrees, we ordered the baked chicken and the gyro platter. They both come with Greek salads and lots of bread and butter. The salads had everything we require: beets, potato salad, pepperoncini, feta and a good dressing.
Our entrees were outstanding. I had the gyro platter. It was a large mound of meat that was perfectly shaven. It came with grilled onions and bell peppers. I could have eaten an entire plate of just the grilled veggies! Both entrees came with some rather good rice, as well. It was fluffy and flavorful. The baked chicken was very tasty, too. It came with assorted veggies that were surprisingly good. They didn’t seem to be your standard steam table type.
Even though everyone around us were ordering dessert, we did not succumb to peer pressure this time… maybe next visit. We were too full!
The wait staff and the chefs were very friendly. This restaurant was a pleasant surprise and in the coming months we will definitely eat our way through their menu. Please disregard the run down strip center and venture in!

I have also been to the Tyrone and the now closed 9^th St and Gandy Athenian Gardens. This location is no exception.
I have never been disappointed in the quality and consistancy of the food. The greek salad and gyros are always great. I enjoy the lamb sovlaki. The dolemedes are great, and served with gravy.
This location is no different. It is a lot more airy than the other locations and is in a less than elegant strip mall, but you won’t care because the food is that dang good.
For lunch try one of the specials. I usually get number 1, a salad and gyro; it is almost too much food. Almost too much, but — you — can’t — stop — eating!
Kali Orexi!

This place is great for lunch. The service is quick and the food selection is awesome! I’m a vegetarian, and they have a lot to choose from. I’m not a big fan of greek salads to begin with, but their greek salads are big and tasty. I love their falafel and humus wraps or pitas and the tziki sauce is good. I’m also a fan of their hummus appetizer and lentil soup. The portions aren’t overwhelming, but you definitely don’t leave hungry.
They do have outdoor seating, which is good for a nice day, but you’re looking at the parking lot. The drawback is also that’s where smokers sit and it’s hard to avoid the smoke.

Pretty good food. I had chicken pita sandwich and that was tasty. Will go back again. My wife loves this place.

KEEPER!
Hubby & I went to Athenian Gardens for our 8^th anniversary dinner.
We’d never been, so this was a great treat!
We shared two appetizers:
Saganaki — Oopa! (Flaming cheese)
and the Shrimp & Scallop Saganaki
Both delicious!
We had 2 glasses of the house White Zin (²⁄₁). Delicious and potent!
Main courses:
Me: Moussaka — rich, creamy, and delicious.
Hubby: Greek Shish-​Ke-​Bob — tender, perfectly season & cooked
Each dinner came with a small (good size) Greek salad with potato salad. Delicious.
Only caveat, they don’t serve pita bread with salads or meals unless it specifically says so on the item description. While the bread they serve with dinner is yummy, we wanted and expected pita bread.
Pita bread is $ 1.25 extra if it doesn’t already come with your meal.

We got take out from Athenian Garden last night and I think everyone was impressed. Our food was ready super quick and everything tasted great! My only disappointment was that my Greek salad came with bread instead of pitas and tzatziki like at most other Greek places that I’ve ordered from. But, the salad was delicious and so was the bhaklava we got for dessert.

Lunch review: The food here is solid! And, this location has more than just Greek food. They often have specials like crab cake wraps and salmon portabello wraps. Sometimes they even have octopus, although I wish it was a menu staple like other Greek restaurants. The saganaki is great, and they even have a shrimp/​scallop saganaki! There is a full bar and I wish this place would be more crowded because it deserves to be. If you want a nice meal that is inexpensive but delicious, I highly recommend this place. Great bartender on Fri night for happy hour!

Having lived out of the area for a while, something I would always crave is a Tarpon Springs style Greek salad with potato salad. Getting a Greek salad elsewhere typically meant just a normal salad plus feta. Calling this a Greek salad was always a big disappointment to me. Where was the yummy potato salad??? I would suggest or mention this fact while in New England and it always seemed like a pretty foreign concept to people, but I am a firm believer that Florida’s Greek community has it right when it comes to salad. Pile on those potatoes please!
As a fan of this style Athenian Garden is my go to place for Greek Salads. They are consistently great with a perfect balance of crisp lettuce, tomato, kalamata olives, beets, onions, green peppers, pepperoncini, feta, herb oil+vinegar dressing, and of course knock your socks off potato salad. I’ve tried many others in the Pinellas area, and I always and think to myself, why keep on searching? Athenian Gardens has me covered.
Besides my obviously high regard for their salad, the falafel sandwich is always outstanding here. The fried crispy chick peas, yogurt tzatziki and warm buttery pita always taste delicious together. My dinner companions rave about the chicken or lamb souvlakis as being great too. And often they will have very reasonably priced dinner specials which include a free glass of wine and creative different entrees such as octopus, crab stuffed shrimp, or local red snapper. (Plus almost everything on the menu comes with the above-​mentioned incredible Greek Salad!)
Athenian Gardens has multiple locations throughout the area and this Largo location on Starkey is their newest opening. It tends to be not so busy as compared to their more established restaurants and that makes it easy to get in, and the service is always very attentive and the food comes out quick. I guess that is one advantage of it not being super busy. The plaza is on the left just before the intersection of Ulmerton and Starkey if you are heading northbound, and the restaurant has many booths, tables, plus an entire other side featuring a full service bar and high top tables I never see full. Lets hope people starting going here as the Greek food is excellent, and I don’t want this to be Largo’s best kept secret anymore!