Athena by the Sea

I would have given Athena a 4 star review, we have been going there for years, everytime we vacation in Lauderdale by the Sea.  This trip, we went there 3 times!  First night, Apps, cocktails and carry-out wine for the beach, yay!  Second night, full dinners and drinks and more wine.  The first two visits, the food and service was great (we request Stoyan on our second night, because he was great on the first); however, on the 3rd visit, we sat at the bar, to watch a game, and eat/drink, got saganaki, requested pita bread, never got it.  My husband ordered a kabob dish a gentlemen next to us was eating and didn't get at least 2 of the side dishes that were included, and we asked the bartender and she brought only one out.  She never brought the hummus & pita that is normally served before the meal. Both bartenders seemed very "unengaged" with the clients at the bar.

Most of the staff is great.
The food is average for a Greek themed restaurant.

Not all of the staff is *very* great.

If the manager/owner reads this:  

I went into pickup a to go order - simple, right?  I had to peel the hostess off of hitting on 2 cops outside to get my order - the bar was busy.  

Short blonde, early 20s - not very attractive (this is how the owner/manager can discover who it is.)

By the time I convinced her to do her job, the bartender already had my order to give me.  

Hostess takes my money for the check, and says "you don't want $x.xx dollars back right?'  As in, you want to tip me the balance of this bill right?

That is annoying, unprofessional, and rude.  She needs corrective action or termination, because of the manner in which she asked - it was a rehearsed question she asks everyone when possible.

I am absolutely disgusted by this place! I was on vacation with a group of friends for the Patriots game. We visit lauderdale by the sea twice a year. We noticed this place was recently renovated and decided to go check it out for dinner.   There was 15 of us. Everything from placing our drink order to paying our bill was awful! It took about 30 minutes from when we ordered out drinks until we got them. Then we placed our order... Two people in the group got the lamb chops, they came out so raw they where still cold in the middle, the calamari came out wrong and a simple burger came out 15 minutes after everybody got their food and was almost done, not to mention it had probably been sitting there the entire time, the fries where so cold and hard a homeless man wouldn't have touched them! The service was awful, they didn't come to check on us at all, and we had to flag down the waitress every time we needed something! After everything had gone wrong, I asked to speak with the owner. The "manager" who also played as our server said he was not available....as I watched him walk around the restaurant all night. When the bills came out, we got double charged, and they copped an attitude to take it off. I finally was fed up and demanded to speak with the owner. WRONG MOVE! He is the most unprofessional, arrogant, selfish, human being I've ever come across. Everyone in our party either works in the restaurant/bar business or owns a restaurant! As I politely explained the experience we just had, he stood their with his arms crossed staring at me. Couldn't even apologize, let alone say ANYTHING!!   I would never even look at this place while walking by. It was the most awful experience I've ever ever had in a restaurant! And we've eaten at ALOT of places. I would never recommend this place to anyone, I would hate for someone else to waste their hard earned money on a place like this. When they closed to renovate, they should have stayed closed!