What do you do when the waiter cannot contact you thinking that this is the right one? An exploratory stroll through the restaurants of Thessaloniki.

Restaurant criticism is usually limited to the obviously necessary, menu and flavors. But of course there is the service. In this regard, criticism is exhausted in the “rude” or “friendly” dipole. But one can specialize more. Let’s go to Thessaloniki, a traditional Eden for belly.

So we go out tonight and go to one of Nouvelle Cuisine temples, the ten -triangle restaurant

to General Kallari. The waiter can only recite the list, any intermediate question destabilizes him as if he is forgetting the lyrics. And the lyrics are fifteen syllables, each dish is mentioned with all its rare ingredients, in the second verse you have forgotten the first one. We almost accidentally order one of the lyrics and wait. And then the drama culminates. The waitress considers her obligation to recite the whole verse from the beginning with each dish. We beg her to stop, she finds it difficult to stop the CD that has implanted her but at some point she does. Result: I don’t even remember what we ate in the ten triangles.

The next night we insist on General Kallaris, but to avoid the trumpet we go to Parea. And there, however, the waiter has to recite the dishes with all their incredible details to obviously prove to the customer that he has good upbringing and therefore that he connects them. Here, the waiter after the retsitativo responds with an embarrassing “everything is perfect” to the question of whether he could recommend something from the menu. It is clear that staff are unable to show flexibility, denies in advance whatever escapes the taught material. Result: I don’t even remember what we ate in Parea. Among us, not that the kids are to blame, no one is voluntarily dummy, probably the management confuses Archontohoria with the sophistication.

So we are changing the way, too, we go to the famous Charlot today. Here’s finally relief, even with our own criteria. Staff, boys and girls, completely relaxed and professional. He can recommend, he can advise, he may be charged, he may deviate. And the next day on Charlot for reward. At the end of the meal, one of yesterday’s waiters, not from those who had served us, of those who were simply hovering around, throws me into one: “espresso with a sugar and grappa, like yesterday?” This light attention to the customer is the ultimate refinement. In Charlot the day’s hammer with vegetables was unforgettable.