text: About three weeks ago the Greek gods decided to take a break from their endless squabbling descend from Mt Olympus and pay a visit to us mortals Fortunately they landed in Phoenix and they came bearing gifts These can be sampled at Athena Greek Cuisine a new restaurant in the shopping center at Mayo and Scottsdale Rdnn If the Scordalia is not heaven sent I do not know what is This spread made from bread almonds potato olive oil white wine vinegar and GARLIC is jawdroppingly good It has a mellow almost sweet taste and is good smeared on anything but especially on the Greek Sausage appetizer another gift In fact all the appetizers we had were delicious Ken chose Grilled Octopus Pat had Greek Style Wings which had been marinated in olive oil parsley oregano and lemon these were even better cold the next day Marinated Beets were refreshing Meg to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for introducing us to Athena says the Fried Smelts are tasty too It is so nice to have outoftheordinary menu selections available And the servings are surprisingly large great for sharingnn The entrees do not reach the sublime level of the appetizers but for the most part they were good and reasonably priced Meg and I split Moussaka It was as good as any I have had in Phoenix but there was nothing to lift it out of the ordinary Stewed green beans were served with all the entrees and these were a nice foil for the richness of the moussaka Ken had the Combination Plate which had Pastitsio Moussaka Dolmades with Avgolemono Sauce and Roasted Leg of Lamb I thought the lamb was novercooked but that seems to be the norm for Greek restaurants and tasted curiously livery Pat was disappointed with her Greek Spaghetti which was way too saltynn We were quite full but Pat being half Greek felt we had to sample the Galaktoboureko a filo and custard concoction The custard was pasty rather thannsilky and the lemon sauce needed some zest to wake it up But it was nice to see something besides Baklava on the menu in fact there were a number of Greek desserts nn I loved Athenas decor It is happily over the top There is a statue of Athena centered in the doorway an aqua backlit frieze on one wall a white bar framed with Greek columns The white painted wooden chairs which Ken said were not very comfortable look great against the dark floor The only jarring note is the two TV screens flanking the bar If you go on Athenas website you can get a virtual tour of the restaurant and also check out the menu nn Our waiter Chris and his shadow were both very pleasant and seemed familiar with the menu There was a huge amount of staff for the number of patrons but better too many than too few Given that Athena has been open only for a short time I find it easy to overlook the shortcomings in fact we are planning to return this weekend We will probably stick to the appetizers but believe me that is no sacrifice