Hell's Kitchen

I didn’t exactly grow up in Hell’s Kitchen New York City, but I knew plenty of people who had, many of whom later became well-known Greek restaurant people. Here in Athens Hell’s Kitchen is just a restaurant, not a whole neighborhood, but it couldn’t be situated in a more apt location, in the ever-changing dark heart of Athens, near the old Town Hall (Dimarheio) just off Kotzia Square, where junkies sadly crouch and prostitutes hover in doorways.
We visited on a Saturday afternoon for lunch, no reservation in hand because I never in a million years imagined I’d need one. The place was jammed. There are two floors, but, crowds notwithstanding, they don’t serve food on the upper floor. They will, however, let a table be occupied at the busiest hour of the day by a couple of guys nursing coffees. It a policy that’s definitely not cost-efficient! We waited at the bar until the waiter eventually managed to squeeze our party of five into a table space.
Hell’s Kitchen is fun, the food is more than competent, the prices are made for a youth budget, the menu is huge, the wine list totally foreign and the service well-intentioned but harried.
The décor is simple and pretty minimal. A long counter with high stools occupies the middle of the room and a handful of tables crowd the periphery. The bar takes up a fair amount of space, too. A mural depicting abstract buildings decorates one wall. The napkins are a very un-feng-shui black!
Salads, sandwiches, pastas, burgers, omelets and more serious main courses make up the menu, which is a potpourri of Greco-Mediterranean and American (Texas burger, BLT sandwich, Caesar salad, etc.) fare. There are two kinds of fries, the classics and the “village” fries, which have been boiled before hitting the hot oil and are soft, not crisp. But they’re good.
We liked the lentil salad, with its crumbled goat’s cheese, arugula, and sweet balsamic dressing. The green salad came with a large choice of dressings. We opted for the Mediterranean, which had a nice, slightly sweet flavor. The chicken saltimbocca with mushroom risotto sounded more interesting than its execution—the chicken, rolled with sage, parmesan and prosciutto, was dry. The risotto was competent. The pasta with saffron and shrimp is a simpatico mélange of tagliatelle, saffron sauce and small shrimp, an easy dish for lunch or dinner. Two of us ordered medium-rare burgers. Mine, a cheeseburger, came out well-done. The Texas burger was a more faithful rendition of “medium”. Both could have been a little juicier.
I am glad Hell’s Kitchen isn’t hell. Even though I really dislike noisy restaurants, and bemoan places that are so cramped that the waitresses can’t reach your table easily, Hell’s Kitchen fulfills its mission: it’s a trendy place with more than decent food that young in body and spirit seem to flock to with abandon on Saturday afternoons and beyond.

Cuisine: Mediterranean-American dishes
Athens Area: Center, Kotzia square
Decor-Atmosphere: Simple, minimal decor. Trendy, noisy, fun. 
Service: Harried
Wine List: A limited selection of French, Italian, and American wines – nothing Greek

Prices: 20-30 euro a person
Address: 13, Klisthenous str., Kotzia square, tel. 210 524 1555