Went their with my wing(wo)man Mary W. Mainly just kinda looked around. Everything definitely LOOKED out of this world. Smelled great, cute quiet atmosphere with a coffee bar area on the side of the bakery. We did however, get a couple of small gelato's on our way out. And Man, lemme tell ya. FREAKIN AMAZING. I had strawberry, Mary had "Rose", which amazingly enough, had a very "floral" taste and even had some edible rose pedals in it. Super super great tasting. So, I definitely plan to go back..after smoking a bag o pot...then I'm walking up there and getting my munch on. read more

Athan's makes delicious, delectable sweets. I sampled the marble pound cake and almond baklava. Both were succulent and seriously sweet. The downside? Service is a bit slow. read more

I heart Athan's Bakery. I've been there for coffee, tea, and some of their delicious pastries - as well as for the free wifi. It can get very crowded during weekend days as it is the perfect place to sit all day with your laptop and sip away on your caffeinated beverage of choice. They also have some sandwiches but make sure you read the menu carefully as they are often out of one or two. Some people complain about the paninis but I think they are really just there so people don't OD on caffeine and sugar. My friend had one and enjoyed it. Hit up the yummy baklava (very oozy and delicious) or one of the beautiful looking desserts. Another friend of mine especially loves them for the red eye (espresso shot in coffee) for those rough mornings. read more

I was a good loyal customer to this place with everything from chocolate, gelato and the baklavah. Today I came and got melted, old stale chocolate. When I asked for my money back, the owner/ manager refused and was so rude abot it. Over the dollar I will never be back here again. read more

Athan's is a very nice bakery. Their pastries are always fresh and it's a fun place to hang out if you are looking for a coffee/tea and a pastry. read more

Okay food & drink with a local destination right on Washington Square is nice, but I think that's the only reason why people go here. Good customer service is just nonexistent. read more

This place is awful in every way which is too bad because it has potential. Not only is it overpriced but the food sucks. Today I had a breakfast egg with cheese panini and it was pre made and the eggs were too hard and gross. The entire thing had no taste and no seasoning. I also had a bit of carrot cake and threw t away. It was hard as a rock and not moist at all. This place is no cheap either so I will definitely not be going back. read more

I stumbled onto Athan's by chance..but boy am I glad I did...it has this mouthwatering range of Pastries, cookies and chocolates, gelatos as well as Mediteranean sweets...all of their desserts are not overtly sweet but soft and fresh...it also has this nice coffee bar...you can sit with your friends and chat over a good cappucino and some great desserts. read more

Baked goods and espresso here = top notch. The salads and other prepared foods are really good too - always fresh and delicious. It's a good place to study, or to go for an after-dinner coffee if you're on a really awkward date and don't know what to do next... read more

Athan's has that great Euro ambiance. Their latte's and espresso are pretty good. Usually a fair amount of people studying and it can get pretty packed. Likes: packaging and design, drinks, laterish hours for Boston, Dislikes: overpriced, no table service (???), line can take time. Street parking is limited so take the T or walk if possible. read more

Delightful place. Delicious pastries and sweets, average coffee. Perfect spot to read, catch up with friends and relax. Does get loud (bad acoustics) and the lighting is poor. Still, my favorite spot when in wash sq. read more

Hazelnut Gelato! My husband took me here for the first time on our visit to Boston. So amazing!

This is a European style bakery. Most of the desserts are individual tortes and are rich and decadent. Butter cookies, macaroons, gelato, and baklava, oh my! They have a precious seating area where you can enjoy your dessert with a cup of tea or coffee. Really pleasant place to unwind. read more

I have walked and driven past this charming little cafe/bakery a few times before and was dying to try it. I decided that today would be the day, and low and behold...Groupon is offering $5 for $10 of food/drinks! Fate...or so I thought. I ordered a double chai latte, and a prosciutto / red pesto panini figuring I would read a bit, enjoy the food, and then move on to dessert. I placed my order at the counter, grabbed a seat at the bar and reveled in what I thought could possibly be a great new place to hang out when I visit my girlfriend in Brookline. When I received my latte it looked harmless enough, and I love chai latte's so I was really going to savor this. After my first sip, I was struck with a flavor that can only be described as lightly spiced hot milk. Great....and I ordered a double. I had about 3 sips before giving up, and relegating my "Chai Latte" to the farther side of the counter in disgust. It even had me question whether I perhaps didn't know what Chai was, and had only been exposed to some sweetened western version, so I did what any rational person would do...I googled it. As Wikipedia clearly points out..."all masala chai has the following four basic components:" They list: tea base, milk, SWEETNER, and spices. Clearly, at least one of those ingredients was missing. The rest were nothing special. My panini was uninspired, and nothing to write home about...except for the fact that it could have cost me almost (sans groupon) EIGHT BUCKS! I've had dorm food prepared with a clothes iron that had more pizazz. To top it all off, they serve your food Panera Bread style...i.e. they stick it at the end of a counter and call out what they've put there. That wouldn't have been so bad, except they don't take names, and I was sitting at said counter....so each time a piece of my order came up I had to get up and walk to the other side of the counter to pick it up. The inefficiency here makes my head hurt. After all that...I skipped dessert. May be that was a mistake...some of it looked pretty good, but the selection was weak, and I didn't want to waste any more time and money on this place. Besides...I've got Konditor Meister closer, and if I'm going to spend that many calories on something, why risk it? read more

A great place to sit and relax with your favorite beverage and something delicious. Tried the Brie panini - amazing. All you vegetarians - get this. So many sweet treat options to choose from, you'll need to come back multiple times just to try even a fraction of them! read more

Best bakery in Brighton. I live in Allston, took a chance at driving over there after reading the reviews and it was definitely worth the drive. Great gelato and chocolate mouse cakes (that's all we got), but everything else looked phenomenal. Highly recommend it. And the staff is really nice and patient too. We had a guy helping us at the register, helping us find what we would like, he was great. Whichever guy worked tonight around 730pm on 4/27/14 was really cool. Thanks Athens :) read more

The original baklava is hands down the best I've ever had. Their other sweet treats are also great though! Perfect for any desert craving you might have. read more

it's a nice place to hang out, They used to play interesting Greek or Middle Eastern music, lately haven't heard anything. Their pastry chef needs to go easy on the butter and sugar. Their fruit pies are the best. read more

From my serval times experience in this Bakery, I will not recommend anyone who has children to come, they are not welcome children at all. Few month ago I had coffee there with my baby girl , they were so bad to the little one since she wants to walk around. I called the boss later to explain all the details, he answered me his staffs could not get any service training since they turn over fast. Today we have to meet some friends there again. When the cashier ( Rebaca) saw our baby walked in the bakery, asked us to leave in the "friendly" way. I answered them since we were still eating our cake. Then the other cashier ( Sarah) even come over to complain about baby, my friends were totally shocked by their service. For better for Worse, they do not have the best cake in the Boston although the Greek Boss told me proudly they are. For Sure, their service is the worst in Boston. read more

Would be a nice place to sit, but here's a hint: when all customers are sitting with their coats on, it might be worthwhile shutting the door in the back. Brrrrrrrr...... read more

Good gelato, alright coffee, yummy chocolates and baked sweets. The cafe is a little uninspiring in terms of layout and decoration, but it looks like most of the people in there are students who are studying, and therefore uninterested in the design of the place. A fun place to go for a quiet cup of coffee and a good read. read more

This bakery is amazing! The pastries and chocolate here are quite good, especially the cakes! They have smaller versions of their cakes - which I like cuz then I can try them before I buy the bigger version. I usually get a cake here for someone's birthday. The cakes are presented very beautifully - everyone I know loves the tiramisu so that is what is I usually order. Sometimes, the cake I want - tiramisu - isn't available, so it's a good idea to order a cake ahead of time.. I think you had to call two days ahead? Gotta check the website again. Oh, and there's gelato. So splurge! I believe there are a couple tables to sit down and enjoy your food, but this is more like the order and go branch. If you'd like to sit down for a bit, the Brighton branch is the place to go. Athan's always satisfies my sweets cravings. read more

What a Washington Square gem! This quiet little cafe is a great place to study or read with a coffee and pastry. I recently tried their chocolate croissant which was fantastic. The bottom of the croissant was layered with thick chocolate and it was very fresh. I also tried a cup of steamed milk instead of coffee and it was probably the best I've ever had. The staff is very friendly and your order comes up very quick. If you're in the neighborhood definitely check this place out. read more

I love this place. It is cute and comfy yet it has plenty of seating so it never feels cramped. The pastries are delicious (get the chocolate croissant, you will not regret it) and drinks are good too. I don't drink coffee, so I can't speak to that, but my roommate who is a coffee addict seems to like it fine. I will say that their iced tea is amazing! I don't know how it's so good, it's just basic black tea - I get mine unsweetened - but it is delish. I still haven't tried their paninis/soup but one of my friends recently got a sandwich and said it was delicious. I did try a "cheese pie" expecting it to have a cream cheese-esque filling, but it was actually something like white cheddar. Not what I was craving, and it was pretty dry, but it was really my fault for not asking what was in it. One of the previous reviewers said they never have almond croissants. Although I've never gotten one, I've seen them pretty frequently up by the register. Also a lot of people seem to be complaining about the service. They're definitely not the in-your-face friendly types, but they do their job fine. To sum up, Athan's is a great place to lounge around, do some studying, drink amazing iced tea, and enjoy a pastry. I'm moving to Washington Square in a few months so I'm sure I will be trying their full menu soon! read more

Coffee that reminds you of home and sinful, yummy desserts ... What more can A person ask for! This quaint cafe at the corner of beacon st is the perfect place to have a warm cuppa or two while watching the crowd go by! :) read more

Great place to hang out with friends and get dessert - the mango mousse cake is my favorite, and the fig cake and Black Forest are great as well. They also have a nice assortment of baklava. Also a good place to study with a nice pot of tea - although don't count on the wifi. read more

I'd heard so many great things about this place I finally wanted to stop by. Being tasked with 'dessert' for a dinner party was a great excuse, so I popped in to pick up some pastries. At first blush, the place is super cute. Chocolates, and pastries every.where. And the pastries look really good; they're displayed well, there are descriptions for the items, and they look really nice and kinda fancy(not like the homemade stuff your grandmother makes that might look a fright, but you'd still trade a kidney to eat because it's so earth-shatteringly good). There's a whole side/back area around the corner from the checkout where you can have a seat and gab over coffee, etc. I popped in at 6pm on a Sunday and it was jam packed over there, I'm not sure what might be a better time. The pastries themselves were pretty good, however, not anything I don't think I couldn' t equally be satisfied with at another cute bakery. The eclairs were especially lackluster in my opinion. read more

Came here with a friend today because Starbucks was full -- we saw this little bakery and decided hey why not? The little shop certainly looked cozy and inviting when we first walked in, however we quickly found out the more quirky (not in a good way) aspects. First, the customer service was subpar. You have to ask the cashier to bag pastries for you - no self service, I guess they don't trust you - and the person who served me was brusque and insisted on asking me what kind of pastries I wanted at the counter, even though nothing was labeled and I had to go with her to show her what I wanted anyway. She then informed me the espresso machine was broken, which would be fine, except she said everything in a "can you please go away" kind of tone which really irked me. The whole counter was disorganized with cashiers ordering over each other and customers milling around, confused. After I paid, my cashier gave me the receipt to sign and immediately left, leaving me extremely confused as to what happens next - will she come back to pick up the receipt? Where am I supposed to get my drink? I guess I didn't need to know! When I finally figured it out and got my drink, we saw that we weren't allowed to sit at the round tables - 3 people or more, apparently, and the owner will come kick you off otherwise - even though they were the same size as the rectangular tables and were all empty while the rectangular ones were full. Out of options, we decided to sit at the bar, where we then saw an ant crawling... Drinks wise, my iced tea was nothing special. My friend ordered a cappuccino - I guess the espresso machine wasn't broken after all - and it tasted like crap, like a lot of frothed milk with some coffee grounds stirred in. We probably should have read the other reviews before coming in, and certainly won't be returning. read more

My Husband and I stopped in here last night and absolutely loved the place! Very charming European style coffee shop with AMAZING desserts and tea! The service was very fast and efficient, even on a busy Friday night! We loved it and will definitely be coming back frequently. read more

After so many years here..I can't believe I havent been here..finally tried it and hav much to try...but so far the Gelato, Coffee and the Bolero...were great !!! I like the wooded floorings..classic lights..and the way its all spread out forcing you to take a quick walk around and choose your selection from behind glass ...the seating section seperated with the long wide espresso bar is very slick and cozy too...yep..new coffee spot for me in Brookline ! read more

Amazing cakes, homemade bakalva and gelato. Always a great spot to meet up for dessert. The honey walnut cookies and baklava are my particular weaknesses. read more

This place is a great little stop for a cold winter night. The inside is nicely lit with a wash of warm, bright lights in the pastry section, and ambient lighting in the seating section that could stand to be toned down just slightly. Strangely enough, it reminds me of home in Beijing a bit, where one might find a cozy foreign cafe around a street corner teeming with talk and laughter. The layout can get a bit confusing at peak hours, especially since customers need to be accompanied by staff to get pastries, but it's a minor thing. The lineup of pastries is amazing! Selection is so wide and varied I don't think anyone would be too disappointed with it. Great for a cup of coffee and a rendezvous with friends. For a quiet discussion, perhaps it's best to come when this place is at it's quietest; it gets pretty loud in there. read more

I've been here a dozen or so times in the past year. The coffee is excellent, the pastries fresh. Like all coffee shops, depending on the time and day of your visit, you're going to get a very different experience. The service is always trying its best, and - yeah - on a Saturday early afternoon, you're going to have to wait a little longer for your beverages and sandwiches. I don't mind the wait: my drink is better than anything they rush out at Starbucks. One complaint though - and this has NOTHING to do with Athan's itself. Some of the customers here are complete jerks. They're rude, unsympathetic, and crotchety. This morning, I very nearly said something to the man who was giving the VERY BUSY and OVERWHELMED baristas a hard time about, well, pretty much everything. People need to relax. read more

I absolutely love this place! Its a great place to come to on a rainy day and share a coffee with a friend! I come here for a nice cup, or to buy fancy cakes for my friends' birthdays. They are a bit expensive, but very much worth it! Their baklava and chocolates are also amazing! Stop by for a cookie, coffee and cozy atmosphere! read more

Aside from a croissant made in a cooking class from scratch on your own, these are of the top three places in Boston to get a croissant. It's also a great place to go read and drink some tea or coffee. Every night of the week this place is crowded with people on dates, in school or just wanting a happy place to be and eat. My only wish is that they'd stay open later! I love the atmosphere and energy as much as their tea and pastry! read more

Pricey but very high quality. Quite possibly the best croissant I've ever had.

They should be embarrassed. The sandwiches are on white bread with one slice of cheese. Ugh! Haven't been here for years and will not be going back. Sandwiches used to be fresh and filled with ingredients. Pastries are still great but sandwiches are lame. read more

This is a special place for me, I love the white chocolate passion fruit cake.

Everything is amazing. Absolutely everything. Service is personal and genuine. Wouldn't change a thing! Best pastries in Boston. Love the coffee. Amazing panini, wraps, salads. Try it! read more

FABULOUS!!!!!!!!! I got one of these cakes for my birthday. It was absolutely orgasmic!!!!! There was like some sort of butter cream frosting which knocked my socks off. Highly recommend this place! read more