On Changele Lu you find a lovely hidden garden with tables around it and you can also eat Greek food here. Aegean was recently opened, and is probably the only Greek restaurant in Shanghai. We were in the neighborhood and gave it a try.
Food
Tzatziki – 30 Rmb
The traditional Greek drained plain yogurt sauce that has to be right in a Greek restaurant. Luckily it was and there were complimentary pita pieces and 3 small rolls. Why 3 when you are with 2 is probably a Greek riddle.
Calamari, with lemon and shellfish sauce (if I tasted it correctly) – 55 Rmb
Not bad, crispy and a slight reminiscence of Crete (the part of the Island without bars) which is a good thing.
Greek Salad – 50 Rmb
The salad was ok, it had the feta, the olives (a couple), the tomato and pieces of green.
Kokoras Krassatos – 75 Rmb
We didn’t eat this before so it was a blind order. It’s thick pasta with what I belief chicken. A generous serving, pasta doesn’t cost too much, and tasteful although a bit bland.
Souvlaki with Pita Bread – 72 Rmb
3 stingy pieces of pork and chicken with a lost onion ring in between. That was the Souvlaki. I knew it would be pork and not lamb as it should, I didn’t know they would save on the green pepper.
Wine
Soave Villa Cornaro Veneto, white – 180
Very nice dry wine. Pricey but worth it.
Service
Honestly. Well, here we go. If I eat jiaozi in a hole in the wall joint, I understand I shouldn’t expect service. If I pay almost 500 Rmb it would be nice if the wine cooler would come with the wine. The male waiter couldn’t pretend to like his job and we had to wall our plates as he preferred to take them away half full. On top of that he had little trust in our solvability. He counted the 100 rmb notes in front of us. The waitress had a smile so keep her and fire the bloke on the spot.
Toilets
Is there a correlation between the cleanliness of the toilets and the quality of the food?
That would go much too far in this case but I must admit that I wasn’t impressed with the state of the toilets.
They were a little dirty and smelly actually. Easy to fix but often neglected.
Environment
Very nice. A lovely hidden garden with plenty of tables on the terrace. Also the many flowers give it an authentic feel. The typical colors blue and white are everywhere so on that part there has been a finishing touch.
Overall
The food was below expectation, the setting was excellent and the service was tragic.
Train the waiters, clean the toilets (use some lavender for the smell), upgrade the food and start offering some free [tag]Tzatziki[/tag]. That would make the whole experience fit the location better.
Totally Spent
Time: 2.5 hrs
Money: 462 Rmb
Aegean Greek Restaurant
333 Changle Lu / close to Shaanxi Lu
(behind Secret Garden restaurant)
Tel: +86–21-5403-1850/13601668257
Daily: 10am-11pm
Other [tag]Reviews[/tag] to average the experiences:
Shanghaiist
Cityweekend
Disclaimer: All opinions are biased, based on non-existent food knowledge and influenced by the mood of the moment.
