PRESVEIA Restaurant Meze — Restaurant in Ioannina Municipality

It took us a few days to decide what to do with this review. It will be long and honest, because we believe in giving fair feedback.

We always read other guests’ reviews carefully before choosing where to dine – this time, we didn’t.

This review is based on a single visit. When we arrived, the restaurant was not busy at all. We were seated upstairs. The interior was lovely – beautiful furniture and tasteful décor. The background music created a pleasant, relaxed dinner atmosphere.

We ordered a bottle of wine, a couple of beers, and some sparkling water. Drinks were all great – no complaints there.

For starters, we had a salad. The flavour was lovely, and the ingredients fresh. However, we were surprised that the prosciutto – supposedly the star ingredient – was missing. When we pointed this out, the waiter explained they use crispy little bits instead and kindly brought us some extra. In our opinion, that was a bad idea – they had no taste or substance and didn’t add anything to the dish. The menu description here is misleading and should be changed.

We were still enjoying our starter when the waiter suddenly brought out our mains. Honestly, that is unacceptable. There was no space left on the table, and the assumption seemed to be that we’d just grab our salad plates and make room. A basic rule: don’t prepare and serve mains while guests are still eating their starter. Clear the plates first, then bring freshly cooked mains, hot and ready. In our case, the mains had clearly been sitting in the kitchen, waiting for us to rush through our salad.

Mains: We had the pork slices and a pasta dish that was supposed to be filled with prawns and sausage in saffron sauce.

The pork was excellent – smoky, soft, and generous in portion. Big enough for us to share.

And we did end up sharing – because the pasta turned out to be completely empty. No filling. The sauce was tasty, but we tasted nothing resembling saffron. The dumpling-style pasta was shaped like triangles, but there was simply no room inside for any filling. A few tiny bits of carrot and spring onion were squished in, but that was it. I’ve never experienced something like this at a restaurant before. According to the staff, I was the first person to say anything about it.

To their credit, the waiter was professional and immediately passed our feedback to the kitchen. The dish was removed from the bill. Still, I would have preferred to pay and receive the meal I was promised. We come to a restaurant to enjoy great food and wine – not to be disappointed and go half-hungry.

Would we return? Maybe. The place has potential. We hope the owners will read this honest review and use it as constructive feedback to make some changes – because this place could be great with a few...

It was a cold and rainy night and my wife was feeling a bit under the weather, but a visit to this homey restaurant was “just what the doctor ordered” to lift our spirits. This former Italian Embassy (hence the name) reeks of history and warmth. The cooking is excellent. My wife enjoyed her chicken risotto and the 500 gram beef steak was cooked perfectly to my liking and was almost more than I could polish off! I’d hate to see the man who could do justice to the monster 1000 gram steak that the menu features! I should add that the fried potatoes that came with the steak are like almost no other we’ve seen in Greece. In short, we’ll certainly be back to this civilized outpost the next time we’re in Ioannina. We wish this restaurant the success it deserves for its hard work and...

Place to go in Ioannina in terms of food quality!

My friend had a salad with balsamic, hard (Greek) cheese ... and this was very tasty and well dosed between the different flavours. I had Gnocchi with chicken and a sun-dried tomato sauce, which was heavenly. Actually, I wanted to order chicken terriyaki, but this was not available, no regrets.

Location is good. Close to the castle of Ioannina and the bustling life there. Personally, we chose to sit at the back, away from the hustle and bustle of the street, and this was a nice, pleasant choice and beautiful setting. Although, we went to eat reasonably early, and were served immediately, there are several tables that had to wait longer than 30 minutes for their order to be taken and simply left...