Ariston - Excellent Greek opposite Frankfurt’s district court

Ariston is a popular Greek restaurant that won already multiple culinary awards of being the best of its cuisine in Frankfurt. It is located in a hidden side street close to the eastern end of Zeil in Frankfurt’s city center. The immediate area is rather run down and, while the Zeil is one of Germany’s busiest shopping streets, its eastern end is dominated by not so pretty post-war buildings with cheap stores. However, the area is still strongly frequented and boosts plenty of eateries. It features some of my favorite spots like Green Thai, a great fast-food option, and café Maingold, a popular hang-out at the green belt. A small parallel street even boosts one of Frankfurt’s two-star restaurants, where I yet have to visit. On the very same street is also Ariston. It is located right across from the district court, which itself is a beautiful building.

We visited Ariston the other day to celebrate a birthday in my family and I reserved well ahead for a group of six. The restaurant was completely full this evening. It is very popular and thus it is really necessary to reserve before. The interior design is based around the topics naval voyage – a large ship model is standing in the middle of the spacious dining room – and justice/reference to the court across the street – a painting of the Greek god Justicia is hanging on a wall. The flair is going towards fine dining / upmarket, but we were also comfortable to have a relaxed birthday dinner there.

The menu features solid Greek-Mediterranean cuisine. There is quite a choice of salads, there are the classic Greek dishes like bifteki and suvlaki and there are many more fish and meat dishes. There is also a long list of appetizers and desserts. The wine menu shows Greek wines only, which I find very consistent. We decided to order a bottle of red and I was absolutely astonished how great it was. As for the food, my family ordered suvlaki and other dishes from the main course menu. My wife and I ordered however a couple of appetizers, which was accompanied by tasty full-grained bread. We got some mashed peas, a crispy deep-fried feta cheese, three meat balls and a beetroot salad.

The ingredients used in the dishes all seem of high quality – for example was the feta not an ordinary feta from the supermarket, but clearly a finer version. All in all, Ariston provides solid Mediterranean cooking for their guests. The vegetables of our antipasti were fresh and the meatball was also done to the point. Flavors were not particularly strong, which is authentic – the cuisine is characterized by fresh ingredients and subtle flavors. Overall, Ariston was a nice dinner spot. It offers an elegant culinary atmosphere with great Greek dishes. I really want to come back some time and try one of their course menus.

Style: Dinner

Cuisine: Greek/Mediterranean

Location: Innenstadt

Website: http://www.ariston-restaurant.de/