Mavro Provato — Restaurant in Municipality of Agios Nikolaos

I should admit this review is not trivial at all to write, it is heartfully out of my best intentions, and I will briefly explain myself:

Focusing on craftsmanship, locality, slow pace and smaller scales in broad sense, is of vital importance nowadays. Gastronomy does not have to be fancy or marketed, simplicity and genuine passion to create are more than enough.

In this respect it is lovely to see (relatively young) people to take on a different life path, decentralise and run a small business located in a beautiful little village on a detour from the massively touristic Elounda region. The ride towards and from the place was easy and enjoyable, passing by little villages and olive tree yards. The little restaurant offers outdoors typical summer relaxed atmosphere and indoors seating in a little stoned area, surrounded by a garden in the backyard.

The staff were honestly welcoming and friendly, with some clear Italian roots. I will not emphasise on the menu, which had many options on bruschette (pizza is offered only part time during the weekend due to kitchen size) and handmade pasta. My critique will step on the fact that everything I tasted felt like lazy cooking. It does not seem there isn’t any talent or aesthetics to the crew, but a feeling that this is enough to offer, and nevertheless profitable. Fagotinni with Gorgonzola and pear was the most interesting plate, and gnocchi with basil pesto was literally like barilla’s can (I actually buy it often). Portions were small with respect to the price and quality ~10Є per pasta plate. Sorry guys, I really believe you can put more effort on this, both in terms of ingredients’ quality and food preparation. There is plenty you could do even on higher prices, provided a more creative stance from your side.

On the other hand, Dedalos microbrewery really felt like a more mature business. We had beer with diktamo which totally met the expectations and I would be happy to spread the word.

As to conclude, guys, such a setting has tones of potential and deserves some more vivid efforts and care. To prospective visitors, food in this place is at least more honest than the heavy touristic places, with a homemade feeling, and I believe we should embrace and support such...

1-We started badly as the website does not say they make pizza only on Fridays. We thought that this might be an honest omission and the waitress informed us that they have put this note outside the restaurant. Please, update the website to clearly indicate this.

2-The waitress came out for our order and when I ordered Lasagna alla Bolognese, she said they were not available. This is something one should say from the very beginning and not when it is time to order.

3-We ordered Tagliatelle alla Carbonara and it came with spaggeti (no tagliatelle). Again, no one informed us. If they run out of tagliatelle they can at least let us know when we order.

4-The food came in extremely small portions and yet the price was not small (I pay 9 Euros for a Carbonara in Agios Nikolaos and it was the same price in a small village). Yet, I defended this to my parents as the waitress said "it is quality not quantity for us". And I agree with her that if the quality is at least good, then I can understand a smaller portion.

5-However, this was the worse Carbonara we ever had in our lives. 4 people, two living in Greece, one in Australia and one in Switzerland. All 4 looking at each other and wondering how it is possible to be so bad. We did eat it all (it was anyway literally 4-5 bites) and then we went for dinner elsewhere as this was far by being satisfying. One of us also had a stomach ache on our way to the other restaurant and she became sick.

6-My mother did express her disatisfaction for the small portions but the waitress was the most unprofessional waitress I have seen. She was extremely rude and should certainly learn to inform the customers from the beginning for anything missing from the menu as well as for changes in the dishes we order (spaggetti instead of taglietelle). It was also obvious that she did not care about anyone and anything. Only to talk back to customers.

Overall, a shame really. Such a nice village and this place ruined the experience for us. All the way from Agios Nikolaos for this disappointing experience. Certainly...

Absolutely fantastic Italian pasta!!! We are staying in Plaka for a few nights and saw this on google and were curious about a fresh italian restaraunt sort of in the middle of a small greek town 20 minutes away. So glad we took the chance and made the drive - the pasta was phenomenal!! I ordered the Faggotini Formagio Pera per the recommendation of the host and my husband ordered the Amatriciana with House Pasta and both were so delicious! The Formagio was hand made there and you can taste the freshness and the pear piece inside! Delicious! My husband really enjoyed the Amatriciana - which has a spicy kick to it. We were so impressed with both our dishes, we wanted to try another - so we ordered the Carbonera with house noodle. That was delicious as well. My fave was the Formagio and my husbands fave was the Amatriciana. We are hoping to try other dishes one more time before leaving!

Also the beer is home brewed and my...