Athena Greek & Lebanese Grill, Shreveport LA

I had such a great trip to New Orleans in December for the Sugar Bowl. I got to spend time with great friends, enjoyed lots of Cajun food, and watched my first game in the Superdome. Unfortunately we lost the game, but that didn’t diminish our good times and memories.

I wanted to get to Shreveport before stopping for lunch, so we left bright and early the morning after the game. I had driven the entire way to New Orleans, but was dead tired from the funtivities of gameday, so my mom drove the first couple of hours and then I took over. Although I enjoyed all the Cajun food we ate, I was kind of “Cajuned-out” so I wanted something different. I went online to TripAdvisor, and came across Athena Greek & Lebanese Grill. It was ranked #6 in Shreveport, and I love Greek food, so it was an easy decision.

Athena Greek & Lebanese Grill is a few miles off the highway, and you have to make a couple of turns. So unless you’re familiar with the area and know where you’re going, GPS will need to be your friend to find it. The restaurant itself is quite large, and is separated into 3 dining sections. In the back of the space there’s a little grocery store! They’ve got a lot of very unique items in there, and after we ate we walked around and checked everything out.

The restaurant wasn’t very crowded when we arrived, but it was also after the lunch rush. We were seated in the front section of the dining room, which has a lot of natural light thanks to the huge windows at the front. The one super random thing was the TV in our section was showing really bad music videos from the ’70s and ’80s. I asked our server what channel that was and she had no idea. She just called it “random old videos”.

We were going to start with hummus, but then my mom pointed out that most of the entrees come with hummus. So instead we went with falafel

Crunchy, deep-fried ground chickpea balls served with Tahini sauce

There were originally 6 on the plate, but my dad took one before I could take the picture so I had to improvise with the remaining ones. The falafel was really delicious. At first I thought they looked burnt since chickpeas are so much lighter, but they weren’t at all. They were quite dense, as falafel should be, but did not taste heavy at all. And the Tahini sauce was light and very flavorful.

We all decided to go with skewers plates. They come with hummus, rice, pita bread, and salad

First, the salad

The salad was very simple, just lettuce, tomato and feta. The dressing was light, but had a wonderful punch of flavor. I really enjoyed it, and the feta added a nice contrast in texture and taste.

The pita bread was served warm, and the pieces were a very generous size. The bread was fantastic, and I had to force myself to only eat one.

My dad got veggie kabobs

I didn’t try any of the vegetables, but my dad said they were really good. He did say they had a good kick, and he doesn’t do spicy. But he used the hummus to cool it down.

My mom got shrimp kabobs

I tried a piece of the shrimp and it was excellent.

Of course, I couldn’t decide what to get. I was trying to remember what I had eaten when I visited Cafe Mezza and Grille in Houston, because it was outstanding. But of course I was having a brain freeze, and my phone wasn’t really cooperating. With the help of my server, I eventually decided on the lamb kufka kabobs

The lamb was good, but a little overcooked. It did have good flavor and was spicy, but not a huge kick. It was also a little dry for my tastes. As I ate, it hit me that the kufka was my least favorite at Cafe Mezza as well. In hindsight I should have gone with the lamb kabobs. Oh well, live and learn. My food wasn’t as hot as I would like, which was a little disappointing.  My mom is a big proponent of scorching hot food, and I could see the steam coming off of her shrimp when it was brought to the table. The grilled zucchini and peppers were cooked to a perfect tender-crisp, and well seasoned. I was caught off-guard by how much bite the onion still had, even after grilling. My dad’s was the same way, but my mom said hers was fine. The rice was delicious, and had a very good flavor. The hummus was fantastic. I’m not sure exactly what the green stuff was on it, but it had a serious kick.

Will I go back to Athena Greek & Lebanese Grill? If I’m ever back in Shreveport, I definitely will