Liene Rokena-Argiriu studied, lived and worked in Crete for thirteen years. She graduated from Turība University and is a hospitality industry professional. While studying, she applied for internships in Spain, Turkey and Greece, and received an offer to work as a waitress in Crete. In Greece, Liene worked in various areas of the hospitality sector — in restaurants and SPA facilities, as well as in hotel administration — and learned to speak Greek.
Liene returned to Riga with her Greek husband, Nikos Argiriu, and their two children — twelve-year-old Mateos and his little sister Artemis — less than a year ago, in October 2025. Now, in August 2026, at their family-owned restaurant, “Garšas namiņš”, at 66 Tallinas Street in Riga, they serve 40–50 guests every day, and Liene says the business is growing. She believes the key to their success is that they are always present themselves, taking care of their guests and overseeing all the restaurant’s processes.
“If there were only employees working in our place, the situation might be different,” says Liene. “We do everything ourselves — I am the waitress, Nikos is the chef, and my brother Oskars works at the cash register. We are a family business. Only now, after six months, can we afford to hire our first employee — a kitchen assistant.”
The reason Liene’s family decided to return was connected to starting their own business.
“The opportunity to open our own restaurant in Riga without taking out a loan and without renting premises was the main reason we returned — for me as a hospitality professional and for my husband as a chef. We opened the restaurant two months after moving to Riga.”
Nikos was the first to come to Riga. He inspected the premises to see whether they were suitable for a restaurant, whether there was enough space for a kitchen, and how many guests they could serve. Nikos had long conversations and discussions with Liene’s brother before the family finally made the decision to return — something they had been talking about from time to time for two years.
Liene’s husband is the head chef. The restaurant serves Greek dishes such as shrimp Saganaki and Ladolemono, grilled octopus with homemade hummus, and a variety of dishes featuring Mediterranean flavours. Starters include tzatziki, red pepper marmalade, pita bread and other delicacies. The restaurant also offers Latvian flavours. During the winter, customers would come to “Garšas namiņš” asking for soups, which are not particularly popular in Greece, so Nikos added solyanka, meat and vegetable soups, and broths to the winter menu. Prices are affordable. The daily special costs €7.60, starters range from €4.50 to €8, and main courses from €6.50 to €17.
“The chef is the most important person in a restaurant,” says Liene. “Our goal was to create a restaurant that is affordable for the middle class — cosy and Greek, but also incorporating Latvian flavours. We are not aiming to be a high-end, expensive restaurant.”
“As soon as we opened, our first customers were people living nearby and those working in the area. Once they got to know us, they started coming every day. Now we have a stable customer base of people who regularly come here for lunch. They drive over, have a meal and then go back to work,” Liene explains. “We built the restaurant with our own hands and invested the money we had earned in Crete. We received funding from the Riga City Council for renovating the premises. We did the renovation ourselves — painting, planning, furnishing and taking care of everything. We drew up the plans for the restaurant and other rooms ourselves and designed the interiors. My brother Oskars helped us a lot. He was the one who suggested that we return from Crete and open our own restaurant in Riga. My mother was worried that we were planning to leave a well-established life by the Mediterranean, but now she herself often comes to the restaurant for lunch.”
“When I returned from Crete, I saw Latvia through different eyes. There is rain here. Everything has a smell. There are colours. There is nature — grass, trees and parks,” Liene continues. “Latvia has highly developed technologies. Compared with Crete, we have very little bureaucracy. Riga also has a very well-organised system of schools and extracurricular activities. Mateos goes to judo and rugby training. I was also surprised by the high level of medical and healthcare services. When I took little Artemis to the Children’s Clinical University Hospital to see an optometrist, I had never before experienced such professional service, modern medical equipment and such attentive staff. The hospital visit was free of charge. We did not have to wait long and got an appointment within a month.”
The only unresolved and unclear issue Liene still has to deal with is the Latvianisation of her children’s names. Her daughter’s name is Artemis. When arranging Latvian citizenship and a personal identification number, her documents recorded her name as Artemīda. Mateos’s name has also been Latvianised and no longer corresponds to the original Greek form. Liene explains that Greeks often give their children names with an ancient history. The female name Artemis refers to the goddess of the hunt and nature, while Mateos means “messenger” in Greek. It is important to Liene and Nikos that their children are called by the names they were given at birth.
“Otherwise, we are very happy with our life in Riga. I try to see everything in a positive way, and no country is paradise,” says Liene. “My inner feeling is that we did the right thing by returning to Latvia. I do not have any specific advice for Latvians who are thinking about returning from abroad, other than this: you need to know what you are going to do, what awaits you and why you are returning. You need to have a clear vision of the life you want to build in Latvia.”
Photo: Nikos Argiriu and Liene Rokena-Argiriu at their Riga restaurant, “Garšas namiņš”.
For information about returning to Riga and the Riga region, please contact remigration coordinator Daina Šulca.
Email: koordinators@rpr.gov.lv
Phone: +371 26614179