In Greece, by ''Café" we mean the ''Café-Bistro'' which is small, has no outdoor space and so smokers no longer go there. The ''Cafe'' that they call abroad we call it here ''Caféteria'', yes I know in the US it is a little different but that's how it has become established.
Completely unofficially and based on the customs and way of life here (which may differ from other countries) I classify them into 3 categories, A B and C.
When a Café opens, the owner has decided in advance what category it will be and what customers to expect, if he does not calculate things correctly then in a short time he will go bankrupt and close. Similarly, the customer sees and understands in advance what kind of Café he will go to so he should not have other expectations because he will be disappointed and of course it is not the shop's fault.
The Café does not serve steaks as we see in other countries, there is no bar to eat nor do they serve dinner e.g. pasta on a table. Apart from coffee in some Cafes they can bring you toast or a small pie or sweet as a side dish, the Cafe is for coffee-tea-soft drink and maybe beer-ouzo-raki with a small appetizer, not lobster or fried fish. In the Cafe in Greece you can ask as
extra and it is always
free: a cookie (in A-B) a glass bottle with ice water or ice cubes, napkins, brown sugar or stevia-cinnamon, a spoon etc and almost never the waitress will come to you to say ''would you like anything else?'' to make you to leave, especially if you are with your wife or friend you can sit as long as you want, for example I sit for one and a half to two hours.
I am not talking about bakeries or Take-away shops of Kafeneio (Cafe for older people in villages) that also have tables and chairs for coffee outside, I am talking about a place with an indoor-outdoor space with the main purpose of serving coffee.
Café C: It is in areas with low wages, tables and chairs made of plastic or metal are not comfortable, it is not a place to sit for a long time. The music is modern or pop '80, relative noise from young people, others bring their children or their dog. The waitress is a student who works there occasionally and there is nothing special in appearance, the coffee is cheap and average quality, the equipment of the Cafe generally ''calls from afar'' that it is a low-cost place for this reason young people usually go there, students, couples who do not have demands and non-locals.
It is not a place to enjoy a pipe/cigar for this and I never go there.
Café B: It is in areas with higher wages, the tables-chairs are of higher quality and comfortable, beautiful decoration, TVs in the interior (in silence, however) showing football-basketball. The music is soft (e.g. rock ballads), the coffee is of quality and a little more expensive, couples with children or a large dog do not go there. The waitress is a beautiful girl with an appropriate dress, they bring you They give a free cookie with the coffee, the customers are usually middle-aged although often older, the young and non-locals do not prefer this coffee B because it does not match their dress and behavior.
It is a place to enjoy your pipe/cigar for this and I go to such places, after all they are visible in the photographs I take.
Café A: It is in areas with high wages, the tables-chairs are very comfortable, the decoration and the atmosphere are luxury, the music is soft, e.g. jazz, the coffee is expensive but excellent quality, the waitress is a ''model'' style in a uniform or a gentleman but well-dressed with a bow tie. Due to expensive rents their outdoor space is small, the customers are usually middle-aged rich or young newly rich. It is a place to enjoy your pipe/cigar but there is a serious disadvantage: because it is in areas with expensive rent and one-way streets there are no free parking spaces on the street, if you go there at 10:30 in the morning you will not find a space so you have to pay in a private parking lot and it is not profitable.
I went there as a young man with my girlfriend but the combination of suit and tie on a motorcycle was not very convenient.
Someone will ask me: can't a young man with simple clothes go to a cafe A or a well-dressed gentleman to a cafe C? Sure and no one will say anything to him, but he will immediately be disappointed because he will see that the environment is not what he is used to and generally does not "fit" in the place. If two business men go to a type C cafe, well-dressed, with their tablets, to talk about a future project, they will immediately be disappointed by the noise and the uncomfortable seats, and it will not be the owner's fault. Similarly, if 2-3 young people go to a type A cafe and start shouting and laughing, they will immediately be noticed and everyone will look at them askance, they will pay a lot and they will be disappointed, but it is not the fault of the Cafe but of those who chose to go there.
What I say may not apply in other countries, but here we have different customs and traditions and please don't start about ''tolerance'' ''diversity" ''racism'' etc. In a future post i will tell you what happens to those who create problems in a GR Cafe (not a bar-nightclub because completely different things apply there) and how they are initially dealt by the customers and then the owner (not the manager) who provides the final solution.
Double Greek coffee and Quorum Delgado A/T.
