Xenos Restaurant, Bar & Cafe

O long-​serving denizen of the Nest Of The Crow, whyfore have I not availed myself of your delectable victuals before now?
Because you’ve been in the area for, like, ever. I always thought it was just another café for some reason, but that all changed when I took my mother there for a meal because I’m a great son. Firstly, it was packed, always a good sign. And the meals we ordered, nothing short of spectacular:
Entrée:
Chalcidice Hand Stuffed Olives — Giant juicy olives jammed full of 4 different fillings: goat’s cheese, grilled Cypriot haloumi, lemon, walnut and chilli. Served with grissini, but you didn’t really need the grissini, the olives were a meal unto themselves.
Main #1:
Greek Style Slow Roast Lamb with baked potatoes and chicory — the slight bitterness of the chicory offset the tender, fall-​off-​the-​bone lamb beautifully.
Main #2:
Roasted Goat — dish of the night, this was off a specials menu but it comes around every week or so the waitress said. It was with the little rice-​shaped pasta and it was stunningly good, and ps SO. MUCH. GOAT. Giant tender hunks of it. Normally you get a bit of bone and a couple of morsels, not so at Xenos.
So, yeah. Come. Join the happy throngs. Get bizzay in downtown Crowie.

Absolutely brilliant, great food at a reasonable price, good atmosphere & great service !

My business group of friends have eaten here regularly on Fridays in 2014 and 2015. The Greek food is consistently of high quality. We are always unanimously happy with the service and food. They have had the same chef for over 10 years. These are large meals served. The ingredients are fresh. This restaurant is very popular and a booking is recommended.

They make my coffee the way I like it, and for that I’m very grateful.

The Greeks know their lamb! This place is great value and the food is wholesome, well presented and delicious!
Came here for lunch on a Saturday. Wasn’t too busy and the food came out relatively fast. I would definitely recommend this place if your in the area.

We had a very nice breakfast with the family. I chose the lambs fry with bacon which is not in the traditional way that is sliced as a stir fry strip with capsicum mixed through but very tasty. The rest the big breakfast with a mixture of styles of eggs all good. The toast is also good. All in all a great place for a meal.

Staff are nice, food is ok but you can keep the screaming kids. Crows next really caters for families, not singles looking for a pleasant dining experience

I’ve been here over 100 times in the past ten years. Same owners… Same great food… Same great service.
The coffee is old school and does not try to be anything it’s isn’t. What Xenos café aims to be is a fine café with excellent food coffee and service.
No hipsters. No attitude just one of Sydney’s great cafés that has lasted for good reason.

My fiancé and I are regulars here, and with good reason. The food is always delicious without needing to be complex or full of itself as many Sydney restaurants seem to be. Coffee made by Tim and Sami is always perfect, and arriving at around 8am on weekends will see muffins fresh from the oven available for purchase.
Xenos is not a culinary experience, it is good honest food for when you want a great meal. I highly recommend it.

I have gone here about once a fortnight for the past 4 years. The food is great, good portions and coffee ok.
But the service has always been its worst. Most of the staff look and sound like they couldnt care less being there, and today I had enough.
First up when you wait at the door its like they would prefer you stand there for 10 days rather than finding you a seat so again I waited and then I just went and sat down.
For the third fortnight in a row my meal got forgotten today. In fact I had my order of a skinny cap and an omelette taken by the mature red haired lady as soon as I sat down and my coffee arrive a min later. But then I sat there reading my paper for 25 minutes with order after order being delivered around me and no food.
A waiter even came by and took my empty coffee cup from my table at about the 18min mark and yet didnt think to ask about whether I had my meal yet given the knife and fork were still unused on top of the napkin on my table.
Other times when they have forgotten (and its happens nearly every time) I pipe up and ask but I thought today I wouldnt. They never remembered. You would think if she’d ordered it then the food would be waiting on the pass but there was nothing on the pass. So at the 25min mark I stood up paid for my coffee and left.
The waitress even had the gaul to suggest to the owner as I was telling him what happened that «its ready now» I mean seriously it doesnt take 25mins to cook an omelette and salad.
So thats it I will never return and suggest others think carefully before going. Oh and in my haste to leave I forgot my umbrella. They now have that as well.

Xenos is one of our regular places for a weekend brunch. The food is generally good and it has a pleasant atmosphere if you are sitting outside and it’s a nice day.
I enjoy the breakfast options; and the crab cakes are amazing.
The one massive detractor from Xenos is the service. The waitstaff range from average to horrible. I don’t know what the story behind it is; maybe they just hire a lot of casual staff or first-​time waiters.
I won’t go into specifics because the girl that screwed up my order also messed out some other tables orders and I don’t want her to get into too much trouble. Basically I asked for a very simple change to a menu item and she ended up saying that wasn’t possible. The request wasn’t strange, it wasn’t hard, it wasn’t even a big deal — but having a staff member argue with you sucks.
We’ll be back there… in a month or so when I get annoyed and my sister wants Crab Cakes.

Great coffee and friendly staff. Would be nice if they served a large size coffee, for those extra tired mornings.

Brunch is arguably my favourite meal of the day. On this occasion we decided to try a different spin on brunch and go try some Greek breakfast.
FOOD
We ordered the Corn Fritters with Poached eggs bacon, avocado, roast tomato and relish ($ 15.50)
and Traditional Lambs Fry and Bacon, onion and capsicum in a cream veal jus served with rye sourdough toast ($ 18.00)
When the corn fritters came out I was surprised that they were in more of a ball shape. They were quite heavily fried and too crunchy that when I bit into it all the corn parts just crumpled apart. The poached eggs were however nice and runny and avocado perfectly ripe.
We ordered the lamb thinking we’d try something a bit different and more Greek sounding. The lamb had quite a strong taste I think also aided by the veal jus. Eating a whole plateful of this for breakfast was a bit too heavy and I wouldn’t recommend it. The toast was also a bit tough which made it hard to chew off in a neat manner.
To wash down my food I ordered a caramel milkshake ($ 6). They were generous with the serving but too generous with the amount of sugar in the drink. It was ridiculously sweet! It probably needed another glass of milk to dilute the sweetness
SERVICE
About a minute after we were seated a given menu’s a waitress came over to take our orders. Being our first time here we still weren’t ready to order. When we had decided we spent about 5mins trying to make eye contact/​wave down a waiter as they were all too busy attending other tables to notice us. Our hungry stomachs were not pleased
OVERALL
Think I’ll just be sticking with normal brunch of eggs, mushrooms and toast next time.

A lovely Greek/​Australian dinner spot. Great atmosphere, good food, good service. Consistently above average.

Asking friends for suggestions of where to go can be a dangerous thing. If you are not aware already, I am not the biggest fan of Vittoria coffee. Too often there is some sort of after taste that ruins the richness of the coffee (for me). I am sure that most people would not identify with my preference in the least, but given that it is what it is, I tend to find alternative cafes if given an option.
When I arrived at Xenos I didn’t notice at first that they served Vittoria and so put in an order for Greek coffee. Once I tasted it, I knew. It was a real pity too. The service was awesome, the cake selection was great too (even though we got brought the wrong one), and generally me and my boys had a great time.
While I wont go here for coffee, I think next time I might delve into their food.
Café Summary
— — — — — — — —
Passion for Coffee — ⁷⁄₁₀
Coffee beans — Vittoria
Crema (1=burnt, 10=velvet) — ⁶⁄₁₀
Special coffees avail? — Greek coffee
Special Features
— — — — — — — —
Toilets
Good cake selection

Every time I walk past Xenos it has been bustling with customers. That’s no easy feat for a spacious restaurant — it probably has at least twice as many tables as most of its café-​style competitors in Crows Nest.
I went there for breakfast during the Crows Nest Festival so it was pumping quite early. The Greek music was loud and the staff were running around getting a head start on maintaining some order before the crowd really started to kick off. The atmosphere was lively and pleasant. My coffee order was hear wrong (only ever order Soya) but the waitress had the correct one to me in a matter of seconds.
Top breakfast menu picks:
Blue Swimmer Crabmeat Omelette topped with Salmon roe ($ 20)
Pear Raspberry Bread toasted with cinnamon butter (6)
Greek Style Scrambled Eggs with feta, chives, roast tomato on toasted sourdough ($ 15)
Grandma’s Greek Brekkie — eggs in tomato and garlic served with toasted pide ($ 14)
Apart from the Greek flavours on the menu this place has the Greek energy about it. I use to work for a café that was owned and run by a Greek family — they seem to have a knack for efficient sociable service. Saying that half of the staff didn’t look one iota of Greek descent but the friendly factor and straightforward manner was present.
Xenos have a licenced bar but are also BYO at $ 3/​person. Comfy cushioned chairs and an open kitchen. Their wine, beer and spirits list is extensive. The Vittoria coffee is smooth and hot.
Kid friendly with high chairs available. Two large TVs had the menu on but I imagine had the World Cup on later in the day even though it most definitely has a casual restaurant feel rather than pub — it’s Greek — they can definitely get away with it.
One last thing — no split bill and a $ 20 minimum for credit or debit cards (they will let you dash off to the cash machine if you forget like me).