Groupon for Aegean Greek Restnt in Watertown

[opinionatedchef]

My CH search only turned up one (Framingham) thread w/ mentions of this place. Any comments here? Thanks much.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/aegean-r...

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Aegean Restaurant
640 Arsenal St, Watertown, MA 02472

[sun1234]

I am glad that I read this thread. I was just thinking that I haven't been back here in years. I will stick with the Greek Corner in Cambridge.

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Greek Corner Restaurant
2366 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02140

[givemefoodnow]

I've been there once, and although the food was good, the service was HORRIBLE. I can only speak for our server who came to the table only 3 times throughout the meal. I have never felt so neglected, as I sat there with empty water for at least 10 (probably closer to 20) minutes (and no, I am not exaggerating). I would probably give it another try if I lived closer, but whenever I think of that restaurantI think of the worst service I've ever experienced.

[CookieLee]

I don't know when this happened to you. That's too bad. I've been dining at the Aegean for many, many years and have always found the service to be v. attentive.

[threedogs]

Service was very, very attentive for us, too. Just the look in my eye caught someone's attention & they moved so fast to check on our food - we had no complaints there at all.

Every place can have an off day/night - to the OP - did you try to get your server's attention, or someone else's (if he or she wasn't around) for your water?

[givemefoodnow]

Yes, eventually we got someone else to get us some water, but that still took a while. It must have been a bad night, or just a sub-par server because I honestly have never experienced service anywhere near that in my life. I literally felt like I was on Candid Camera.

[opinionatedchef]

i can definitely identify with that situation, but I seem to have blocked out where I experienced
it. And yet i do remember that what finally worked to turn around the situation- was seeking and finding the manager. But with luck it will never happen to you again!

[CookieLee]

We must have different taste buds than the other posters. We love their saganaki, and the lamb rib appetizer. I like the seafood casserole and the calamari.

[threedogs]

Well, I had already purchased not one, but two Groupons for this before OC posted this. Was in a bit of a panic when I read so many neg comments fr people I respect - thank you, CookieLee for posting your opinion!!

I'll use one, then if I don't like it, I'll ask for a credit. I'll probably go w/the seafood casserole when we go. It's close by & a good lunch destination to break up a busy work day.

I'll post my thoughts afterward. One thing I will say, though - I ate at Verona Restaurant in Watertown Sq a short time after I moved here. Worst meal of my life. So bad, I just couldn't post a review. I *should* have said something about it to the waitress, but I was so tired, in so much pain at the time, I ate the stupid food & left. Baked stuffed shrimp - a few measy shrimp w/some wet glop on top w/two wet, soft sides. Old school restaurant that caters to toothless, old folk, I think. I'm not there yet...

[Pia]

Hmm, I'm not sure how Verona snuck into this thread, but I'll stick up for it -- the homemade pasta and the Indian pudding are good and a great value. Anything else on the menu, not so much. (And not all the pasta is homemade, so ask first.) My feeling on Aegean is more "meh" than the negative reactions above -- I'm not crazy about it, but there are worse places to eat.

[threedogs]

Well, Verona snuck into the thread simply because I have a tendency to ramble. I really, really wanted to like it - it reminded me of the old school restaurants of way back when. Unfortunately, that was when there was nothing else in the area... I do want to say that the waitresses were awesome - really, really nice. Going there was a chance I took - wish I had known about the homemade pasta. I won't, however, be going back.

[sun1234]

Gregs down the street is much better for old school italian. The food is great and we always have excellent service. It tends to be a very local joint. But if you want a good meal at a reasonable price. It blows Verona away.

[threedogs]

Was going to write that I never heard of it - did a quick search & realized this is the place my son just told me about. That's exactly how he described it: old school Italian (to us, that means everything). I am def going to try it.

[CookieLee]

Best of luck at the Aegean. We may be on the same wavelength, as I also found the Verona to be worthy of the worst meal we ever had. We went with toothless, old folk, no lie!

[threedogs]

Hahaha - the service there seemed to be really great - that alone would have brought me back if my meal wasn't so ... well, you know. Hopefully I'll luck out (in a good way) and get a good meal at Aegean! I esp. would hate to waste what is probably going to be a zillion calories when I go, lol!

[StriperGuy]

Please report back, I would love to know if it has improved.

[threedogs]

OK, here I am, reporting back! (btw - I took some photos, but on my browsers - FF & Safari - I don't see any way to upload a photo here. I posted them under the Aegean Restaurant listing here on CH)

Ate at the Aegean Restaurant in Watertown tonight & used my Groupon. We decided to go on the spur of the moment - tried to get there in time for lunch, but it was almost 4 (when they start serving dinner), so we were given the dinner menu. I had already decided to try the seafood casserole (despite my aversion to tomatoes in seafood - weird hangup fr my childhood that stems from a gross fish recipe my mother used to make when she dieted). My DC (my son) chose the steak (sirloin) entree.

For bread, there was a half of a small, round loaf of bread cut in two (would have preferred smaller pieces, but it was tasty) and a couple of triangles of ordinary pita bread. Olive oil was served (I assume that the cheese in it was feta). I thought it could be tastier, my DC gave an opinion regarding my own mental abilities.

He loved it (the olive oil w/cheese for bread-dipping).

Salad arrived. I always ask for salad dressing on the side, and it was served in a pretty blue bottle. I'm on a blue kick these days, so yeah, I have to include this.

It was blue. And I really liked it. So there.

OK, so now I'm staring at the pretty blue salad dressing bottle for too long. The only other diners had left, all the waitresses were hovering around the computer at the hostess' station, (most likely getting their schedules) and I started to have visions of our foods drying up under the heating lamp out back.

But then someone must have caught that look in my eye (combination of hunger and fear of chow-disaster, I think), and quickly asked if everything was all right. She checked on our food, told us the steak was still cooking & found our waitress, too.

Nice! All seems to be fine.. so far.

Then our food arrived. DC's steak looked awesome (see photos) and my dish did, too. He chose rice, although he says he'd come there just for the potatoes. (I then found out that it was this restaurant that got him on the well-remembered 'potato kick' when he tried to replicate them, cooking several pounds of potatoes at one time...)

So, DC said steak was great - cooked exactly as he requested (medium), and really tasty. I didn't taste any, so I have to trust his judgment (YMMV). My seafood casserole (lobster, shrimp & scallops) was good - but - the lobster was dry. However, I still enjoyed it - the shrimp & esp. the scallops were very good, and the flavor was excellent. If I ever go back, I'll prob order Broiled Scallops.

I felt the mozzarella cheese on top was too much (again, my DC questioned my mental ability - and consumed all that I left on my plate). Personally, I thought, when I read the description, that I'd find fault with that choice as the cheese to use as a topping for this dish - but I was wanted to order it anyway.

So - I'm happy I got the Groupon. I enjoyed my meal, despite the flaws - and, since my son just started his own gardening business, the fact that it's so close to home was a deciding factor - he has little time these days. But - this is one place I just can't see as a destination restaurant. I live nearby, but if I had to drive a distance - well, I can't see it being worth it. There's too many other great food destinations around here.

[rsnyder]

I can't remember a worse meal,including the lamb ribs. Greek Corner (Mass Ave in N Cambridge) ain't fancy but the food is tasty.

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Greek Corner Restaurant
2366 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02140

[StriperGuy]

Never mind the food is barely edible glop.

[gourmaniac]

I actually like their Lamb rib appetizer.

[lergnom]

I agree. Poorly seasoned with tendency to way too much salt.

[StriperGuy]

Honestly the food, drowning in butter/grease, not in a good way, is just terrible.

[opinionatedchef]

Stripes, i do agree w you on this one. Unf'ly, i bought 2 groupons before you answered my plea. Today we finally used one and i am TRYING to figure out HOW to use the other one(maybe not) because all 3 dishes were mediocre/bad:
--spinach pie- not much flavor,
-- moussaka- weird orange cornstarch tomato sauce,nothing compared to Esperia Grill's
-- lamb souvlaki -no marinade flavor and toughest lamb imaginable

calamari with a batter i do not order. various lamb dishes we glimpsed seemed to have the same cornstarch weird tomato sauce topping.broiled tilapia no thank you. <oh me oh my, what am i goin' to do? i cannot turn de straw into gold.>

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Esperia Grill
344 Washington St, Brighton, MA 02135

[StriperGuy]

Aaaaaaaack, if you burn a printout of the groupon, and delete all electronic traces...

then for the next 12 nights, you engage in a brief meditation, thanking Julia Child for everything she did for all of us just before you fall asleep...

You just might purge the memory of that chow from your psyche.

I do and I do for these kids and they still ignore my advice :-)

[gourmaniac]

The one thing I used to like here is the lamb rib appetizer but haven't been in a long time.

[C. Hamster]

It sold out