Themelio Tavern Café — Restaurant in Omodos

During a recent visit to Omodos, I dined at Themelio Tavern, having been drawn in by the waiter’s (son) confident recommendation of the moussaka, which he proudly described as award-winning. Unfortunately, my experience was far from that standard. The moussaka was cold, dry, and the béchamel sauce was hard and rubbery—a far cry from what I would expect of a freshly made or acclaimed dish. When the waiter came around to check on our meals, I gave honest feedback and said that I didn’t find the moussaka to be up to par. While I acknowledge my delivery may have come off as blunt, what followed was completely inappropriate and unprofessional. Moments later, the owner (father) appeared at our table with a confrontational tone, saying: “So you think our moussaka isn’t award-winning?!” I was surprised by the aggression, but calmly reiterated that the dish was not up to the standard he claimed. His response? “Can you make it any better?”—to which I responded, honestly, yes. He then circled our table, staring, before walking away. The tension didn’t end there. When it came time to pay, we remarked about the large number of flies buzzing around, and the waiter sarcastically responded, “Yes, I’m sending them all your way,” while flicking his hands in our direction. Overall, this was an uncomfortable and disappointing experience. Constructive criticism should never be met with aggression or sarcasm. If a business wants to hold itself to high standards, it should be open to feedback, not hostile toward it. Sadly, I cannot recommend Themelio Tavern based on this visit. There are many other warm, welcoming tavernas in Cyprus that serve great food and treat their guests with genuine hospitality—this was not...

We came for lunch as all other restaurants in Omodos were full. We ordered moussaka, lamb and chips. The chips arrived brown and burnt. When I asked for a fresh batch the manager became very angry that they were not burnt, but were Cypriot potatoes and needing extra cooking. As a Cypriot im aware of how our potatoes should be cooked, but burnt is burnt. After arguing back and forth, he eventually agreed to get us another portion. When it arrived, I bit into a chip to discover it was uncooked. Standing over me, he said 'see, now it's raw! Thats why it needs to be extra cooked'. I tried to explain that there is a happy medium between raw and burnt and that he didn't need to give us uncooked potatoes to prove a point. A nearby table informed us they had had similar issues when they complained about their burnt food before us. We ate what we could and left. I will never return, it was the worst dining experience I've had in Cyprus.

Overall the menu was aimed at tourists and not great, but edible. The lady who worked there was very nice. What was appalling however, and warrants a one star, is how angry the manager was. Shouting at customers, telling them they are wrong when their food is clearly burnt and serving raw food to prove a...

We visited this taverna today, hoping for some traditional Cypriot food. Our waiter looked fed up and disinterested and we were clearly a nuisance to him. We ordered dips, salad and halloumi, which was fine then everything went down hill fast. The beef stifado was fatty, chewy and flavorless, it was served on the same plate as a salad and chips, the watery gravy turned the salad and the chips soggy, the Cyprus sausage was raw, I took a bite couldn’t do anything with it and had to remove it from my mouth. When I called our waiter over , he said I was a tourist and didn’t know how the sausage should be - strange approach to customer service.

The mixed grill and grilled chicken breast were dry and quite clearly reheated. When I asked the waiter about the quality of the food he jumped on me and said it was just that I did not want to pay for our meal - I had not mentioned any type of discount that was the waiters idea. All in all this is undoubtedly the worst meal I’ve had in Cyprus in the 19 years I’ve lived here and the worst customer service we’ve...