Time and Relative Dimensions
Pro Value portions.
Con Wet beans.
Pay
€
Per Person
€11 for set menu del dia. El tenedor discount may be available, but on the a la carte.
Find
Website Link
Access Step free
In Short
Hopes? It does what it says on the menu.
Reality? It does.
First Impressions? It's all Greek to me.
A USP? A lot of greek-inspired lunch for not a lot of drachmas.
The food in three words? Welcome to 1958.
Can they get the staff? Took two goes to get the bill.
Service with a smile? Efficient without warmth.
Friend friendly? Lots of v-options.
Rating for dating? Lighting and decor probably right, at the right time.
Tip? 5%
Change one thing? Presentation would really benefit from polish.
Going back? There are more things to try.
Compare & Contrast
More menus del dia.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Kritikos offers a generous-sized greek-inspired menu del dia that would benefit from a touch of zhuzh.
Set menu. Chueca. With a touch of the greek. OK, quiet at the back. It's not big and it's not clever. So to speak. Actually, it is big. There's lots of options, with a couple of daily offerings too. V-firendly starters for us for us today, meat-lead mains.
Starters Falafel, Spanakopita
Deep fried falafel chunks benefitted a lot from splodgettes of tahini, and could have used even more. A right-angle triangle (credit to Piethagorus) of spinach and cheese tart was suitably tart, but could have benefitted from more going on in the cheese department. Good stuff though.
Some nice warm flatbreads, with a little dry oregano sprinkling, were very welcome, but until the mains came along there wasn't that much to do with them. But the accompanying salady stuff was odd. Not unwelcome as such, and a drizzle of the decent (Iberian) oil in the table was welcome, but it took the presentation back in time. Hugh, Colin and a comedy punch-up? Yes please.
Mains Greek Style Chicken, Soutsoukakia
Pro Value portions.
Con Wet beans.
Pay
€
Per Person
€11 for set menu del dia. El tenedor discount may be available, but on the a la carte.
Find
Website Link
Access Step free
In Short
Hopes? It does what it says on the menu.
Reality? It does.
First Impressions? It's all Greek to me.
A USP? A lot of greek-inspired lunch for not a lot of drachmas.
The food in three words? Welcome to 1958.
Can they get the staff? Took two goes to get the bill.
Service with a smile? Efficient without warmth.
Friend friendly? Lots of v-options.
Rating for dating? Lighting and decor probably right, at the right time.
Tip? 5%
Change one thing? Presentation would really benefit from polish.
Going back? There are more things to try.
Compare & Contrast
More menus del dia.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Kritikos offers a generous-sized greek-inspired menu del dia that would benefit from a touch of zhuzh.
Set menu. Chueca. With a touch of the greek. OK, quiet at the back. It's not big and it's not clever. So to speak. Actually, it is big. There's lots of options, with a couple of daily offerings too. V-firendly starters for us for us today, meat-lead mains.
Starters Falafel, Spanakopita
Deep fried falafel chunks benefitted a lot from splodgettes of tahini, and could have used even more. A right-angle triangle (credit to Piethagorus) of spinach and cheese tart was suitably tart, but could have benefitted from more going on in the cheese department. Good stuff though.
Some nice warm flatbreads, with a little dry oregano sprinkling, were very welcome, but until the mains came along there wasn't that much to do with them. But the accompanying salady stuff was odd. Not unwelcome as such, and a drizzle of the decent (Iberian) oil in the table was welcome, but it took the presentation back in time. Hugh, Colin and a comedy punch-up? Yes please.
Mains Greek Style Chicken, Soutsoukakia
Good news: We can't knock the quantity. You get a good go of stuff here for your €11, but it needs a touch of...the 21st century. The identical veg still held crunch and flavour, although those beans had enough warm water in them to keep Archimedes bath full to overflowing. The meat balls were tasty - but not spicy - and would have benefited from much more tomato sauce. The chicken quarter was well cooked - not easy when time is tight - but its sauce was cream with a hint of mustard. With much more kick it could have been a winner. Best thing on the plate were two roast potatoes which had been inside an oven long enough to get flavour into them. Good.
Now this turns into time travel. Change the yellow peril for bisto and it's a dimension jump; roast chicken dinner in 1960s Guildford, not a greek bistro in 2010s Madrid. And those lonely-looking meat "balls" - dimensionally challenged too - look more than a but unloved. We're not obsessed with presentation. We'll never place it over flavour, but it helps when things look somewhere near as good as they taste. Things not only tasted better than they looked, they tasted far better than those photos leave them. Everything would be helped if the plating had a smidge more detail and care attached.
Dessert Yoghurt Icecream
Dessert's the prime example of how, maybe, at €11 Kritikos are underselling themselves. A fantastically creamy and acidic scoop of white deliciousness. It was absolutely excellent. But there was nothing else to it. Not a hint of fruit or even a wafer or two. Fair enough, maybe the price means there's no wriggle room for decorative flourish. But I'd pay an extra 50c for just a touch more care and feeling.
Service offered no issues, save me being ignored when I tried my charades skills to get the bill. Everyone's a critic. And no, the irony is not lost. Tables aren't too cramped although with big groups in, even at lunch, there's potential for things getting a bit noisy.
The price is good for what's on offer and where we are, and the set menu's commendably lengthy and warrants a return visit. There's well-intentioned potential here, but it's not going to be made the most of by going back in time 60 years.
This food doesn't just want care, it should demand it, in big black letters on a mustard sauce-coloured background.
Dish of the day: Yoghurt icecream
