Rant: Xenia Greek Restaurants & the Michelin Guide

"Krasi is the modern word for wine in Greek, and it derives from the ancient, meaning a mixture of wine and water, which was indeed the way wine was drunk in antiquity."
The Food and Wine of Greece by Diane Kochilas 

Krasi: Meze and Wine, a superb Greek restaurant, opened in February 2020, and since 2020, it has continued to remain on my annual list of Favorite Restaurants. In 2022, I instituted my annual Top Three Favorite Restaurants (which has since expanded, in 2025, to my Top Five), and Krasi has been on that list since 2022. Its food, wine and hospitality has remained consistently top notch and each of my dining experiences there has been stellar. It's a place I frequently recommend to others, and those who follow my suggestion also rave about their experience. 

Krasi is part of the Xenia Greek Hospitality, a restaurant group which includes Kaia, Bar Vlaha, and Greco truly Greek, and Hecate. They have established a small Greek restaurant empire, providing quality and delicious cuisine, at various price points, from the high-end Kaia to the fast casual Greco. And excellent hospitality is essential to all of their restaurants. 

In my prior Rant: Without Proper Hospitality, A Restaurant Will Fail, I discussed their practice of hospitality. I stated, "Some restaurants only give lip service to the concept of hospitality, but the Xenia group truly embraces its spirit and practice. I have met many of the people behind the Xenia group, such as Stefanos Ougrinis, Demetri Tsolakis, Natasha Breshinsky, Brendan Pelley, Evan Turner, and Chris Marcin. And each and every one of them has been an exemplar of hospitality. In addition, they are truly sincere in their hospitality. It's not merely a front, but a concept they embrace heart and soul. They pass on their belief in hospitality to their employees, and it's evident as well at all of their restaurants. The level of hospitality at the Xenia restaurants is a significant reason for their success."

I also stated, "People dine out not just for good food and drink, but also for the experience. They want to be treated well, as a beloved guest, so if the hospitality is lacking, their experience suffers. And they won't want to repeat such a failed experience. Have your chef make the best food possible, have your sommelier compile a killer wine list, have your bartender concoct an awesome cocktail program, but without the element of hospitality, the experience becomes a failure." 

This all came together once again in my mind as a read a recent article in Estiator: The Restaurateur, by Theodora Tsevas, titled, The Michelin Guide Came to Boston. Why Didn’t Greek Cuisine Make the Cut? Restaurateur Demetri Tsolakis provided some insight into the recent Michelin Guide results in Boston, as well as the place of Greek cuisine in the country. 

The Michelin Guide came to Boston in 2025, announcing their results in November, and 26 restaurants received recognition. One restaurant, 311 Omakase, received a Single Star, while six received Bib Gourmand designations, and 16 others received Michelin Recommendations. Not a single Greek restaurant was included, which was surprising to me as I truly believe, as do many others, that at least one of Krasi, Kaia, or Bar Vlaha should have received at least a Michelin Recommendation.

The Estiator article, mentioned, "Demetri Tsolakis wasn’t surprised." He "has spent years watching Greek food struggle for recognition in American fine dining." He also stated, "Greek cuisine, as old and sophisticated as Italian or Spanish cooking, struggles for the same recognition in American fine dining....Greek restaurants remain largely unseen by the guide, facing persistent assumptions about what Greek food should be." 

The Michelin Guide has recognized only 43 Greek restaurants across the world, with a single Two Star spot in Greece and four One Star spots, all overseas. In comparison, the Michelin Guide has recognized 840 Japanese restaurants, 740 Italian, 613 French, 101 Barbecue, and even 50 Peruvian restaurants. So, for whatever reason, we can see that Greek restaurants don't fare that well under the Michelin Guide.  

16 Greek restaurants in the U.S. have received Michelin recognition, all Recommendations except for a single Bib Gourmand. The restaurants are in California, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, New York, and North Carolina. New York has 5 Michelin Recommended Greek restaurants, including: Pylos, Kyma, Eléa, MP Taverna, and Taverna Kyclades. California has 4 Greek restaurants, Florida has 2, and the District of Columbia, Illinois, and North Carolina each have 1. 

The Michelin Guide provides their criteria for assessing restaurants. "Five criteria guide the Inspectors during their assessments: the quality of ingredients; the mastery of culinary techniques; the harmony of flavours; the personality and emotion that the chef conveys in the dishes; and consistency, both throughout the entire menu and across different visits." What's missing from their list? Hospitality. That aspect is ignored.  

In Estiator, Demetri stated, “I wish Michelin was also service-oriented, because a lot of our mission is philoxenia. The experience of eating out is not just taste but also feeling, connected and cared for.” On the Xenia website, it explains, "At Xenia Greek Hospitality, everything begins with philoxenia—the ancient Greek art of making a stranger feel like family. It’s more than a word to us; it’s the heartbeat that connects every table, every guest, and every one of our restaurants." And all of that connects back to the prior Rant I discussed above, especially as I stated, "The level of hospitality at the Xenia restaurants is a significant reason for their success." 

In addition, even with their strong dedication to hospitality, they do not sacrifice the quality of their cuisine. Hospitality is but one element of the entirety of the dining experience. Their different restaurants allow them to showcase different aspects of Greek cuisine, from more traditional regional dishes to more creative Greek dishes. As Demetri also mentioned in the Estiator article, the public needs more education about Greek cuisine, beyond the staple dishes found at many places. The public needs to be more adventurous with their palates, to be willing to experience something new and different.  

Will one of the Xenia Greek restaurants make the next Michelin Guide? It's certainly possible, and would be well deserved, but the restaurants shouldn't sacrifice their devotion to philoxenia. They should continue to operate their restaurants as they have always done, and hopefully the Michelin Guide will smarten up in the near future. 

Please read the full Estiator: The Restaurateur article, The Michelin Guide Came to Boston. Why Didn’t Greek Cuisine Make the Cut?