Dal Professore

I wanted comfort food. It had been a stressful week. The idea of a soothing glass of red wine, a bowl of steaming pasta, some garlicky concoction from our Italian neighbors and the company of a good friend led us to a place I had been hearing about and had actually visited a few years ago: Dal Professore.

This Italian trattoria is situated in an old house in Maroussi, pretty much in the commercial heart of Athens' overcrowded northern suburb. When I had gone a few years back the meal was less than I had hoped for. But a different chef and the unabridged praise of more than a few trusted food friends led me back there. Unfortunately for a second time I was less than thrilled.

It was as much an attitude problem as a food issue. Our waiter was extremely difficult to understand and when we asked for details he seemed annoyed. It had been raining all week, so when he said that the seafood is always fresh I asked him how that could be when the weather has been so bad that fishermen don't go out. OK, maybe that was an unfair or a loaded question, one in which a food critic goes looking for trouble, but he responded nastily and that set me on guard.

We had the Romana salad, which is described as red radicchio, which led me to imagine the deliciously bitter real Italian radicchio that I love so much. Instead it was a simple lettuce salad with a very heavy, creamy dressing. We ordered it without the grilled chicken. When the bill came, I couldn't tell if we were charged the full amount or not for it.

A pizza marguerita, described as topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan and basil came out without the basil, which I had imagined as velvety soft leaves perfuming this classic. It was ok, even basil-less. But the waiter insisted it was “In the sauce,”. A Vitello tonnato, one of my favorite Italian antipasti, made of paper-thin slices of beef carpaccio and creamy tuna sauce fell flat on this tongue, with none of the perkiness such a contradiction of flavors and ingredients is supposed to bring.

Then came our main course. The waiter had tempted us with a gnocchi special, on a night when the restaurant was occupied by us and three other tables. When we decided to order it he said it had already been taken. It was a one-order special? Hmmm….We opted for another classic, homemade tagliatelle with sausage stew and saffron. The stew was hardly a stew, but rather a dry gathering of decent sausage slices hiding among the folds of pasta. As for the saffron, we assume it was hiding out somewhere with the basil. It was hard to taste.

Dessert: The classics here, too. We went for the amaretto panna cotta, which was, indeed, redolent of bitter almond, which I love, but was a bit dense and stodgy from an oversupply of gelatin.

Have I come down hard? Maybe. Each review is the reflection of an experience. What can I say? I just described mine.

Cuisine: Trattoria classics 

Athens Area: Maroussi, northern suburb 

Decor-Atmosphere: Cozy old house 

Service: Snotty and borderline rude 

Wine List: Sympatico 

Prices: 35-45 euro a person 

Address: 47 Dionyssou & Hatziantoniou str., Maroussi, tel.: 210-6149000