(Visited in August 2010)
Those who live in the coastal area of Athens and those who have ever taken the Airport Bus X96 to go to Athens must have seen this restaurant from outside, but those who have ventured into might not be so many, so I hope this report is useful for those who have ever wondered about what sort of place this was.
In is directly faced on Poseidonos Avenue and close to the centre of Glyfada.
There are outdoor tables and that was where we chose to be seated. The indoor area looked nice as well, but it was in August and all the Greek customers chose to eat outside.
It was a Saturday evening and there was a good number of customers, if it wasn't quite full. All of them were either Greek or English-speaking foreign residents, and accordingly the menu was only in English and in Greek. I asked our waiter - who was a nice man - if they have Chinese menu and he said no.
As you see in the photo, the table setting is quite slick for a Chinese restaurant.
The spring rolls that we ordered as starter arrived immediately. There was no way that they fried them on order; they must have been reheated. The Greeks won't mind, as they don't eat buring-hot stuff, but it was a pity for the Far Easterners like me.
Tasted not bad, not particularly good. Priced €5.
Sichuan chicken (€12) was supposed to be hot dish, but we requested to make it only moderately hot, as we were not sure if my dining companion could bear with the heat.
It tasted all right, except that the chicken was clearly pre-cooked. They must have tossed boiled/steamed chichen together with other ingredients. As an Asian, I did not tollerate this, but, if you are not, you might not have minded.
The Prawn Fried Rice (€ 12) was the best dish of the day. It was fluffy and contained many prawns (not quite king prawns, but weren't small either) which where not over-cooked.
Together with a bottle of beer and a bottle of water, the bill came to € 37, which I thought was just OK in value-for-money wise. If we had ordered 2 startes, 2 mains and 1 rice/noodle dish, the bill should have been easily around 50.
The service was very good; the waiters spoke Greek well.
I don't mind going back, but for me who live in Piraeus, it does not worth the travel. But if you live or happened to be in the area and want Chinese, Sao Tao is not a bad choice.
SAO TAO
89 Leoforos Posidonos, Glyfada
Tel. 210-8943373
Fax. 210-8943374
http://www.saotao.com/
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