Ariana's Cafe
  • rainbow_carnage
    I'm currently sitting in Ariana's Cafe, on the corner of Fonthill Road and Lennox Road. According to the guy behind the counter, it's been open for a year. How is it that I've never been here before?

    So far, I've only tried the coffee, which is surprisingly drinkable. The music is a bit shite, but at least it's quiet. The fridges are a tad too loud, but now I'm just being picky. The best thing is that for a good half an hour, I was the only person here.

    From now on, Good for Food will be my socialising cafe. Ariana's is my new work cafe. I just need to learn to turn off wi-fi....
  • James
    Yeah it's good isn't it?

    I did mention it ages ago (http://www.stroudgreen.org/discussion/622/ariannas-cafe-sp/#Item_5) but spelt the name wrong...
  • rainbow_carnage
    Ah, so you did. Sorry. I had done a title search, but it didn't come up. I'll have to try the food, too.

    The man is very nice. After I posted my last comment, the music improved dramatically with a bit of Bowie. It has since gone downhill again with James Blunt. Ugh.
  • tosscat

    You're beautiful.

  • sophie
    excellent baked potatoes.
  • rainbow_carnage
    Now I'm going to be paranoid, looking out of the windows...
  • rainbow_carnage
    So I'm back at Ariana's today. Trying to get some work done, but I keep getting distracted by thoughts of monkeys.

    I've just had a lovely grilled veg and mozzarella pannini. It came with some salt and vinegar crisps and a pile of lettuce, masquerading as a salad. Overall, not bad at all.

    I shall have to come back for brunch.
  • Donna
    Just tried this cafe out after reading this thread.
    I had a tuna jacket potato and my boyfriend had a paninni. It was very tasty but most of all I liked the atmosphere sitting outside. The waitresses were friendly but very busy. We also had a fruit salad which was just divine on a hot day like today. So I'd definitely recommend it and go back.
  • gardener-joegardener-joe
    Ariana's?

    I had breakfast there today, Sunday. Full English (St George's) breakfast, nothing special, and the room needed the heat turned up. It was chilly in there by the window ... well, it is all window. Bitter coffee too. And, OMG, my clothes acquired the smell of scorched lard ... the place just reeked of frying.

    If it is a regular breakfast greasy spoon I am after, and I happen to be only a couple of minutes away (unlikely), then it is probably fine, but otherwise, I will not make the journey again. Well, not for breakfast.
  • wideboy
    I have a recollection of looking at the saugages with a raised eyebrow having tasted a dubious bit. Dubios as in far-from-fresh or slightly raw tasting, take your pick. Quite annoying really. Previously they had a woman chef there who did an amazing eggs benedict.
  • heavy_hippie
    There is a really nice greasy spoon on SGR opposite the worlds end. It's not greasy or stinky and the folks in there tend to be really nice.
  • Greg
    I regularly have the veggie breakfast which is excellent. I usually go with a carniverous colleague who enjoys the St. George's breakfast. Sitting outside in the summer one could be in Barcelona or Seville(especially if you close your eyes). I am not brave enough to sit outside in February although a surprising number of people do.
  • rainbow_carnage

    I haven't been to Ariana's in ages. The last two times their wi-fi was down and the coffee tasted like brown water. That's pretty much my criteria for choosing a cafe: free wi-fi and good coffee. I have both of those things at home, so I need at least one of the two to tempt me to leave the house.

  • checkski
    Ariana's is my nearest cafe, so I want it to be good. Have just popped across for a lunchtime cappuccino, and, I must say, I like it.

    First and foremost, two really nice women on duty, one of them Ariana herself, an Albanian who has been here for 12 years, and speaks excellent English, and is plainly highly intelligent.

    The other lady is from Rumania, but has lived in Rome, so we spent some time airing our Italian. I was able to ask her to prepare my capp all'italiana, and, devo dire, it wasn't at all a bad try (do you know this place, Krappy? M'interesserebbe sentir il suo aviso).

    Across the way, a large party, eating burgers, salad and chips, all of which looked nice, and well prepared.

    PS. Hello, Greg! I didn't know you were a stroudgreenorgiast, and a fan of Ariana's. This is Mike, and I play for Mark's community choir.
    (Anyone coming today, by the way? 5.45 - 7.15, if you're interested, but ) -

    SORRY, WRONG THREAD!
  • dorothy
    Do you do a test to assess the highly intelligent?

    .......did you ever take that test yourself?
  • checkski
    Suddenly realised I spelt AVVISO wrong, in my last post.

    As for intelligence tests, Dorothy, I suppose I have taken one or two, in my time. They were all the rage when I was a child. But mostly it is some ineffable quality in a brainy person's discourse that strikes me - no test needed - but perhaps it doesn't work that way for you.
  • tbp
    I pass Ariana's on my way to the tube ...

    I took my Mum there once, claiming the cappuccino was drinkable. it wasn't ... weak, grey, milky.
  • sophie

    poor sausages today ariana. very poor. how did you manage to fit quite so many bony gristle buttons into them? it would have been impressive if it wasn't so repulsive.

  • Ian

    I spotted in the commercial property agents on SGR that the lease for Ariana's is up for sale as a fully functioning cafe. I wouldn't trust the sausages until new owners arrive.

  • wideboy
    http://www.varosilettings.com/93-view_property.html
  • samtheman
    i have had breakfast here a few times,, its OK if you just need a fill up but i want right home about the place, nothing worst when you can taste that something has already been cooked and just warmed up
  • yagamuffin
    Ariana's has become our regular venue for hangover breakfast and it does a passible job. But, no where near as good as Mari e Monti. If only it wern't quite so far to walk...
  • cristocristo

    Anyone know what the new space is going to be?

  • ActionVerb

    I thought it was just a refurbishment, presumably after having finally been taken over. All wild conjecture.

  • Misscara

    I heard it's going to be another Sainsbury's with a late night bar upstairs.

  • cristocristo
    @Misscara - We must have the same chinese whisperer! :)
  • ActionVerb

    Half right Misscara, Moon Sun Bar Restaurant signage has gone up today. Hopefully more of a restaurant than a bar, get enough bother from the N4, which co-incidentally is now called The Fonthill with some snazzy art deco lettering.

  • Misscara

    I was joking obv.

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