Following the advice of two friendly employees at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller who lead us around during Matthew's shoot there, we decided to try Athens, a Greek restaurant located just before the bridge into the main part of town. We were a little apprehensive eating Greek in the middle of nowhere, and became even more nervous when we walked in the place and discovered a mishmash of knickknacks thrown seemingly willy-nilly all over walls and every inch of available surface space. Fake flowers, pots, pans, candles, tacky vases ... it looked as if an old lady's attic blew up and all of the contents somehow landed in the restaurant. It was a bit much, as were the scary looking, scantily dressed female patrons with enormous bellies hanging out.
After sitting for several minutes with no sign of water or menus, we briefly debated leaving before a slighty nutty (but friendly) waitress appeared and informed us of the day's special - freshly made moussaka, which we happily ordered along with a hummus appetizer and lamb kabobs. While waiting, we chatted with a local couple who had never been to a Greek restaurant and were quizzing us on what to order. They ended up copying our order exactly. It was rather amusing chatting with them through a thick jumble of silk flowers.
After what seemed like an eternity, our food finally arrived. First the hummus, and then moments later our two entrees, which were served with salad and generous amount of both pita and garlic bread (a Canadian midwestern addition, I gather). We were both happily surprised by how delicious everything was. The moussaka was prepared beautifully, a time consuming dish that kind of looks like lasagna. The lamb was equally as delicious, tender and flavorful. The one thing that kind of suffered, but was still good, was the hummus. I'm a huge fan of freshly made hummus, and order vast amounts of it in New York from the incomparable Hummus Place. They set such a high bar that when I'm served cold hummus that has been sitting in the fridge for any length of time, I'm a little disappointed. But, as I said, it was still decent.
Overall, I give Athens Greek Restaurant a B+ for their surprisingly good Greek food. Even if you're not a fan of Greek fare, it's almost worth the stop here just to peek in at the jumble of crap all over the walls.
ATHENS GREEK RESTAURANT
71 Bridge St
Drumheller, Alberta, Canada
T0J 0Y0
Phone: 403-823-3225
Hours: Open 4PM - 10PM Daily