Merastri Sellia Taverna — Restaurant in Municipality of Agios Vasileios

A Culinary Gem in Sellia, Crete

Merastri is a family-owned restaurant that has captured our hearts for the past four years. Located in the charming village of Sellia, this restaurant is a must-visit for anyone seeking a delightful dining experience.

The atmosphere at Merastri is warm and inviting, perfect for a cozy meal with family or friends.

George, the owner, is an exceptional host—fun, attentive, and always ensuring guests have a memorable time. The staff around him are equally attentive and friendly, making every visit a pleasure.

The food at Merastri is creative, fun, and hearty. The menu offers a range of dishes from vegetarian options to pork and veal. Every week, there are special dishes that add a unique twist to the dining experience.

The restaurant also has a great selection of drinks and desserts. If you’re lucky, you might get to try their hazelnut cream with pralines and honey—it’s absolutely divine!

Merastri never disappoints. Reservations are recommended. The quality of food and service remains consistently high. We plan to return next year, and Merastri will be our first stop. Highly recommended!

NOTE: closed on Monday

2022 (see 2021 review below). Marastri Taverna

This was our second time to Marastri. First times were in 2021 and we thought the food was great. In 2022 when we first arrived, our first stop was to make reservations for that night. After 24 hours of flying, driving and sitting in airports - this was the dinner spot we wanted. It was like being at our favourite neighborhood eatery.

The menu is creative, the food exciting, the service phenomenal and the views are endless. It’s like seeing a fast moving musical; everyone from the cooks to cleaners to servers are moving at a rapid pace and keeping things lively at the same time.

We stayed in create for 2 weeks and every 3rd night we ate at Marastri.

George the owner is fantastic; keeps things moving and makes sure everyone is having a good time. When you go to Marastri make sure to make a reservation in advance. You may get lucky without one but it’s best to have a reservation. Whatever your palette, they have the cravings covered.

Just some of the dishes we tried: pork with feta and raisins. Greens beans in tomatoe sauce. Veal, chicken and of course Greek salad. Don’t forget to try the chocolate cake with vanilla Ice cream with orange. Or the orange cake.

Marastri, thanks for making us feel at home. Hope to see you soon again. —-

2021: What a GEM of a place. Love it.

Great location. Amazing views. Fantastic food and GREAT customer service!!!

Make reservations. Especially on a Sunday. The place gets booked.

The views are stunning. The food is creative. The staff is fun. It has a homely feeling.

We loved all the dishes; pork with honey, pork with okra, aubergines, Greek salad, lamb. You want it, They got it or will make it.

They did an amazing bday celebration for me. I was serenaded “happy birthday” in various languages ... so much fun.

Oh, please try chocolate cake (best we have ever had). And ask for baklava!

Thank you for all...

This is our second time visiting the tavern, after our previous visit to Crete 2 years ago. We didn't remember it as anything special then. Now we came back after a friend praised it a lot, even though the previous time we didn't distinguish the place compared to other classy restaurants around Plakias. We had made a reservation, and we were surprised by the fact that there were free tables. Then we understood why. Despite the reservation, and despite the free tables on the terrace, we were seated at the most unpleasant table by the entrance to the toilet. While friends of the staff were seated after us at far more pleasant tables with a view. And the wait began, first to ask what we would like to drink - 20 minutes and secondly to be able to take our order - another 20 minutes. When we asked a waitress when we would be able to order, she explained to us in a rather unpleasant tone that they were busy (with empty tables) and each table is served in the order of seating. Something that was not true, because two tables with friends of the staff were seated after us and served before us. The food was ok, average, but nothing remarkable compared to other tavernas in the village and in the neighboring village of Myrtios. And to top it all off, we found that the chair they gave my husband was covered in something greasy and his pants were ruined. In summary, I can name at least 4 other restaurants in the area with better food and better service. An addition: My answer will be irony in response to irony: Where did you see that you are in my top 5 restaurants in the region? By region I mean only the two villages - Myrtios and Selia...which means practically all the taverns in both villages are before you. ;-) And can you think logically? My review was left in the first days of August...did I visit you in August, which had not yet started at the time of leaving the rating? We had dinner at your place on 20.07, and we made the reservation by phone on 19.07. And yes, you seated your friends, German speakers, with whom the owner hugged and even kissed. I guess he is not that close with all customers? At least he did not want to hug and kiss us. :-) And yes, at 19.30 the tables facing the street, and even those by the entrance to the indoor part, were empty. I did not understand why you did not comment on the slow and rude service? Or my husband's ruined pants from the greasy chair you gave him? My review is completely objective, and yes, I found far better service and food in the neighboring village and restaurants where customers were waiting in line to be seated while you had...

We stopped to visit the small village of Sellia while heading back to Heraklion after having spent the day on the sand of Souda beach. As we stopped we met a pope, the greek priest and we stopped to chat with him, at the end we asked him advices on the best place to eat in the village and he addressed us to the Merastri Taverna. We were so lucky to find a table and decided to taste several of their dishes, we were three therefore we ordered different main courses and starters to share.

The menu presents unusual dishes from what you can easily and repeatedly find in the millions of "authentic greek taverna" for tourists you find everywhere. The wine list is limited to les than 30 labels, mainly greek wines with prices ranging from little more than € 15 to € 50 for a rather good greek Pinot Noire that I was my choice.

All dishes were pretty good and tasty, abundant as always and well served.

The taverna also serves cocktails and I had the enjoyable Mastica Gin.

The view from the terrace is spectacular and gives the dinning a plus, the ambience is nice, featuring light colours and a clean design, everything transmits the positive feeling, furthermore all that one can see shows clean, not always this is true in many tavernas.

Final words: go to this place and taste their dishes, none loving Greece and good food will be disappointed by the place, the choice and the quality.

My further note on the 4 * I rated here: there are far too many restaurants ranking 4 or 5 * for no reasons but the lack of taste of the average customers instead of ranking 3, 2 or less. Why? Because far too many people are used to eat fast food, processed food, take-away or delivery and when in holidays everything is so beautiful and so good, hope you're not in that bunch, therefore their judgement is biased by the situation.

Without being mean I just write fair reviews, to be a full 5 *, whatever is the restaurant category, both property, kitchen and staff have to be committed in the e effort to excellence, 4 * means vary good, an average 3 * means you will eat average food and no more. Less than 3 is a definitive "NO GO".

Without a correct evaluation and a fair rating in its context every guide loses its value and people aren't able to make a clear and well directed choice but are mislead by the...