Review The Claypot Taverna - Kensington

firstly, where do I begin: the kleftico was the size of a small entree. It looked and tasted like it had been boiled. Luckily we had tomato sauce in the cupboard to disguise the taste. Not to mention almost $25 for something not enough to feed a toddler and not good enough to feed a dog. Secondly, the chicken kebabs. The salad had over ripe mushy tomatoes. And the chips were completely inedible due to the high salt content. I think they dropped the salt shaker on the chips. My lips are still burning from the salt. I did not know that chips could be fried in the Dead Sea. The colour of the chips as well was a complete disgrace, looks like they have been fried 8 times in year old oil. absolutely horrified at the quality of the food. And the experience I had to endure. highly frustrated and annoyed that all the food had to go straight in the bin. Will never be ordering from there again

Old world restaurant service. It's very much a small family style affair at The Claypot. Con, the owner always around, either on service or cooking and its nice to have a familiar face at a local venue. This is some of the best Greek and Cypriot food in Kensington and surrounding suburbs. The decor is old, traditional and the menu is always the same but it works in its favour. Best dolmades around.

great food friendly owner - quaint place good character. We are regulars and love this place. The décor isn't much, but they are always friendly and welcoming every time we come. The staff turns over a lot and service can be hit and miss but the food is SO good; traditional Greek like mamma (ok someone's mother) used to make, and probably best of all, it is very affordable. So Posh and swanky? not your place. But if great food, quaint and excellent value give is what you want, it has all this in spades

Where to start? Shame I can't give 0 stars. As mentioned in other reviews, the chips were indeed inedible. No potato, all salt and batter. The "signature" dish Pastitsio was also foul. It tasted as though toilet cleaner had been spilled all over the dish, and I had a stomach ache within 30 seconds of consumption. Perhaps the macaroni was cooked in 3 day old, used dish water? Regardless, after 2 bites I had to give up. These alone would not normally warrant such a negative review, but the service was so terrible I couldn't leave without warning other patrons in grave danger of suffering the same fate. After everyone had finished eating, plates were collected and I was challenged on why I didn't eat my meal. After politely explaining there was something wrong with the taste of the dish, I was barrated as "this was the first time in 6 years this dish had been sent back". I dropped the subject as I wanted to avoid making a scene at my friend's birthday dinner, which the owner obviously didn't seem to care about. When paying, I was charged for the dish, even though I had not eaten more than 2 bites. When I questioned this, the owner started off defensive and then became aggressive. "It was from the same batch as 2 other dishes this evening that weren't sent back. I ate half and there was nothing wrong with it. There's just something wrong with your taste buds!" I have never experienced such terrible service, and I intend to avoid this place until there is a new restaurant or owner to keep this from happening again.

Claypot lamb was a little dry, but flavor was good. Spinach & feta filo and bougatsa dessert was really tasty. Quaint relaxed place. If you're looking for a flashy restaurant, it's not for you.

We ordered the Pork Souvlakia which was $17.50 each. For that price we thought we were getting the usual Soulvlakia which is a wrap. However we got 4 skewers with small pieces of meat, ton of fries and 1 pita bread. For the price that we spent it was totally not worth it and it was an absolute rip off!

REAL Greek food. Cosy, homey, like going to my grandma's house. Emphasis is on the food instead of wasting money on interior design. Delicious & good portions we'll be back!

Very nice food and mix of flavours. 100% greek! Very recommended, however beware that the place is small and air filtration is not good so you end up smelling of fried food.

My partner brought me to this restaurant to celebrate my birthday, as he knows that I like my (authentic) Greek food. The outside of the restaurant is not really inviting, it looks more like a takeaway shop than a proper restaurant. The inside is small to medium in size and consists of three dining areas with a kitchen in the middle of the restaurant. For mains, we ordered the souvlaki (meat skewers) with chips and "Greek" salad, for desert a piece of baklava. These dishes were definitely not the best I ever had, the meat on the skewers was dry and there was nothing Greek about the salad (almost no olives or feta cheese). On top of that, we only got a very small bowl of tzatziki, which we had to share. The biggest letdown for me was the baklava; it was very dry and there was no syrup, you actually can't even call it baklava.

Poor and rude customer service by the staff and specially the owner which was an absolute shock and overpriced low quality greek food that was served was another disappointment.

We went for Sunday lunch with friends. The food was really tasty. I had the goat claypot way too much for one. Friends had lamb and lamb shanks. Two claypots between 3 would be sufficient. My wife had the fish and absolutely loved it. The entrees were great, standard fare but done very nicely. The decor was great. Will definitely be going back.

We ordered moussaka and pastistio. Both were tasty but heavily salted. The service was ok as was the ambiance and decor. It's definitely worth a shot if you're in the mood for some home cooked greek food.

I have been to this place for 3 times and I felt very disappointed after dinner tonight. <br/><br/>Dessert and coffee are supposed to be free according to the sign they put outside of the restaurant. Their staff member also mentioned free dessert and coffee were provided for lunch and dinner. I ordered the free dessert and ended up paying more than what I expected. I was with my friend and didn't check the receipt carefully when I paid. But after calculating the amount I found out $9.50 extra was charged for the dessert. <br/><br/>I definitely won't go back to this restaurant due to their dishonest behavior.

Our new favorite place<br/><br/>Decor is just average but the food is amazing and very reasonably priced <br/><br/>We go twice a month and have had several family functions there

I stumbled onto this place by chance... well to be completely honest I was out this way looking for a Portuguese Chicken place but then I realise I've tried it and didn't feel like eating mediocre food just to review it. Mainly it was their signage that caught my eye as I was wondering back on Anzac Parade... that and they didn't have a cash only policy... plus my weakness for souvlaki got the better of me as well. I walked in and noticed only one other patron in the restaurant who was also dining alone. I sat down at a free table and a staff came out and told me to move to a smaller table since it was just me. With the restaurant being empty, this felt quite unnecessary... but I didn't say anything and just moved... leaving him with the hope and free tables that a large group might walk in unannounced. Taking into consideration that this was Friday lunchtime and the fact there was only one other diner in here... it was at this point I was half regretting my choice. I ended up ordering a plate of Lamb Souvlakia marinated and grilled with pita and "xoriatiki" salad and home made chips. The meat was slightly on the tough side and not well seasoned but that's only because I'm slightly picky. The pita was basically two thin quarters.. but would have nice to have one more quarter just to pair up with the three tiny skewers of meat I received. I thought Xoriatiki salads comes with feta but instead it was just a plain garden salad with vinaigrette dressing. Essentially what I ended up ordered with a plate of chips (which weren't even cooked well) with a side of souvlaki... With such few customers, there could have been more of an emphasis on polite service. Maybe even a smile, or a welcome as I walked in,  or a thank you and a goodbye as I left...  I'm not sure how this place survives.. is it just a front for something else or do they hold major parties at night that I'm unaware of... or will it soon be like most restaurants on the Anzac Parade scene where it becomes a dis

This is a lovely small Greek eatery on Anzac Parade with a warm and homely feel. It’s BYO and corkage is low. Service is quick. Arni Kleftico (slow baked lamb) $24.50 in the clay pot is good as is the fish with olives, psari plaki $24.50 also cooked in the claypot. However, the very best choice is the mixed greek delicacies mezeklikia $15.50 (includes the dips and bread). It’s worth ordering more than one to share. It includes delicious dips, clamari, mousaka, keftethes (meat balls) and spanakopita.

Greek salad dresses in sweat. The old Greek guy serving and seating was dripping sweat. Our salad might of been dressed with Greek sweat. Yuck.

Rude and sweaty. They made a mistake with our order and the food didn't come. Instead of apologising, the manager said they weren't "Chinese" (I'm Asian). I told him he was sweating and drenched and he said he was Greek and will sweat, not like "Chinese". What a horrible evening.

Delicious Seafood Chowder!. We have been to this restaurant for the second time.<br/>Always nice relaxed comfortable Greek atmosphere.<br/>Delicious seafood chowder and fish clay pot so yummy.<br/>If you are in Kensington I would recommend this place.

The Best Ever. My husband and I dined at this wonderful restaurant 4 nights ago and are going back again already with our son and daughter who are eagerly awaiting to experience the food and atmosphere we've been raving about. Firstly, the owner and staff were very friendly, welcoming and attentive. The atmosphere was charming with lots of nick nacks and bottles of wine on shelves and a colourful clay domed oven in the corner.We were transported to the Greek Islands with their authentic music playing. My choice, served with style was their clay pot slow cooked lamb and vegetables. Delicious and very,very tender. My husband had the generous portion of grilled and glazed Salmon and fresh, crisp salad. All this while savouring the fresh baked crusty bread straight from the oven and glasses of delicious, rich, red, Greek wine. Mmm! We were in Greek Heaven. This time I'm going to try the Moussaka and must try hard to fit in a dessert. Can hardly wait!

Food was delightful at the price, Souvlakia and stuffed baby calamaria v tasty, although 2 of 3 mains were wrong. 1 was quickly replaced, with the third we had lost the appetite to complain. Service was ok, hard to attract attention. Will likely try again as I would like to try the dish I ordered...and others. Homely. Definitely worth a try.

Arrogant service. I can concur with the previous reviewer. Had a really bad experience here. The owner is really arrogant and a bully. He was so rude, I was worried that he might have spat in my food, so I couldn't finish my meal (which was pretty ordinary to begin with).

Best Restaurant Experience in Years. Amazing food, cute atmosphere, very reasonable prices (such a novelty in the Eastern Suburbs) AND we got serenaded by the adorable (new) owner. Very unpretentious too. <br/><br/>We had the moussaka, spinach salad, souvlaki and lamb in a claypot. All were superb. The dessert was incredible too (galaktoboureko) - just ask for the Semolina Pastry! All handmade. <br/><br/>Highly recommend to anyone.

Lovely atmosphere, very friendly & the food was delicious.. I don't eat meat so the vegetarian choices were great & my partner was in raptures about the goat meat.. I could see it was meltingly good.. can't wait to go back for more of those stuffed tomatoes too.. our new favourite eats for sure!

Seafood Claypot. I was excited to try this restaurant since i passes this place several times . Delicious seafood claypot, loved The Taverna atmosphere .... and the owner was very friendy and attentive .