Oroscopo restaurant: Simple quality that pleases

Oroscopo

Address – Area: Antinoros 42-44, Kessariani, Athens, 210-72.38.567
Latest Visit: 2014-01-27
Cuisine: Italian / Greek, Pizza
Overall Opinion: Positive
Methods of payment: cash, Visa, MasterCard, Diners, AmericanExpress
Working hours: 12:00 – 01:30
Website: www.oroscopo.gr

Presentation / Ambience: Initially a classic Greek-style pizzeria that has expanded its menu in recent years and offers extremely good value for money. During spring / summer you may get an outdoor table facing the small square next to Divani Caravel Hotel. Indoors, a simple, square hall with about 20 tables (non-smoking) and another 7  tables at the patio upstairs. Thanks to the big glass façade they all have view to the square outside. Very popular with people staying in nearby hotels (often for business) and with locals (I've been here on business lunches quite a few times). Simple, very well-cooked food. Somewhat austere, neutral, but also very clean, surroundings. It has something of the atmosphere of a Greek diner in the US. If I had to sum it all up in one phrase I'd say that it's a place which impresses with its simplicity and honesty. It's for places like this one that I continue writing this blog even when my mind is some place else...

Food / Drinks: I have dined here several times in the past 5 years and always left with good impressions. You may find pizzas, home-made pasta with a recently (2014) expanded menu of offerings, Greek / Italian appetizers (hot and cold), a Greek-type burger that is tasty, fresh and very filling, salads, risotto and, when available, fresh fish. The ravioli with porcini mushrooms and truffle paste we recently tried (a new dish) had a really exquisite taste while the cornetti filled with beef ragu and parmesan sauce were tasty and filling too. Among the appetizers we recently tasted we liked both the grilled pleurotus mushrooms and the grilled talagani cheese w/ tomato and pine nuts. If we had to change anything we would have liked some dishes to be a tad warmer but that didn't detract from our overall pleasure. We also liked both deserts (a chocolate tart and a tiramisu) but differed on which one was best!

They have a small selection of reasonably priced Greek wines and 4 "house wines" which are not some anonymous liquid, like in so many other places, but come from a known winery (Lafazanis) and are of specific varietals. The white house wines are Malagouzia and Moschofilero, two of the most popular and versatile Greek wine grapes.

Prices:

-Bread & dips for two, 2 hot appetizers, 2 pasta dishes and 1/2 litre of Malagouzia white wine, cost around 40€ in 2014 (sorry, I don't remember the exact prices). And we were offered leek soup, farewell drink (limoncello or mastich) and deserts, on the house!

Service: Fast, attentive and discreet at the same time. On our last visit we tried a special (a free offer) that they had in order to introduce their new pasta offerings. Not only were we treated with utmost respect but on top we were offered a leek-soup as a starter and a farewell drink and desert, all on the house! That alone says it all. They try to win their customers through their service and not just make a quick buck off of you. It's no accident they've been around since 1981!

Location / Getting there: Practically next-door to Caravel Hotel (at the square right before it) and less than 100 yards from the Athens Hilton.

If you take the Metro, get off at Evangelismos Station. Walk along Vas. Sofias Avenue towards the Hilton and turn right on Vas. Alexandrou St., right before the Hilton. 

Walk along Vas. Alexandrou St. towards Caravel Hotel and turn right on Antinoros St. You will see Oroscopo facing the small square. 

See map of Athens restaurants at the bottom of this page. 

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