Restaurant Mistrali — Restaurant in Municipality of Apokoronas

Well, we visited the Mistrali this summer for the third year in a row, and are more and more impressed with each passing year! In almost thirty years of visiting Crete, the Mistrali takes the crown as the best apartment complex we have experienced. The apartments/studios are spotless, well maintained and regularly cleaned. We noticed this time that everything had been freshly painted, and new air-conditioning installed, since last year. The apartments are cleaned every two days. Owner Kosta works so hard, is very hands-on, welcoming and attentive, and runs the show with superb efficiency. There appears to be a very low staff turnover. Anastasia and Cleo at reception are super-attentive, speak excellent English, and so communication is great. Email correspondence is quick, and it is so easy to book direct, if you are lucky to secure a room! The rooms, and beds, are so comfortable. The taverna is situated across the quiet street, immediately beside the beach. It is, basically, beautiful. Thatched roof, intimate atmosphere, great wee bar area, open on all sides, and a wonderfully relaxing place to spend an afternoon or evening. A table at the edge, overlooking the beach in the setting sun, is amazing. Bar legends Manolis and Tassos are experts at what they do, restaurant and sunbed manager Giorgos is fantastic, the waiting staff (special mentions to big Zarko and young Giannis) are tremendous. We can't name everyone, but there aren't really any weak links in the chain. The food is delicious, well presented, big-portioned, and served quickly. Such a variety on the menu, for all tastes. The apartments are situated towards the much quieter eastern corner of the village, away from the traffic, basically on a cul-de-sac leading towards the very pretty harbour area. The beach is sandy, very gently sloping, and the warm sea quite shallow even some way from shore, and so is very safe. But on breezier days (there's always a refreshing sea breeze) the waves are such fun, and so therapeutic! There's a wee supermarket almost directly adjacent, with a handful of other eating places, and we really don't need to walk more than 100 metres in either direction! All in all, the perfect place to stay and unwind. A lot of familiar faces, by way of returning guests (we lost count!) probably says as much as any words I can write. We will be returning again next year, and have already reserved rooms. Idyllic and lovely place, thank you...

Really disappointing. Food. The restaurant has a showcase with fresh fish near the entrance, so we chose it to try it. Like in all other restaurants the menu indicates which seafood dishes are cooked from fresh fish and which ones - from frozen. We ordered a fresh salmon steak and fresh grilled squid. So either the cook is not capable of preparing seafood or (which I tend to believe more) both dishes come from frozen stuff. Although they looked nice, but the squid was a piece of rubber, salmon was dry as if it had been prepared a week ago. Waiting time. Having come at 20:00 we got food at 21:00 Service. There were several people helping the visitors. The manager who helped us to get the table was nice, but the waiter who took the order was "so-what-do-you-want-from-us?"- style. Very unpleasant. Bill. We waited for the bill for 20 minutes. They included water twice (while we ordered only 1 bottle). Small amount and perhaps just a mistake, but left very negative impression. Check your bill carefully when you...

Now one of the fundamental things about leaving a review for a taverna is that they serve you some food from the menu and then you can report on how good, bad or indifferent it was.

But if you don’t get served any food, if you sit at your table and nobody even brings you a menu, if nobody comes and asks if you would like a drink while you are waiting, if none of the waiters that you have signalled to that you are waiting come and pay you any attention, then you just get up and walk away wondering why you just spent twenty minutes of your time waiting in a taverna where no-one really cares if you are there or not. I could have put that in more profane and blunter terms, but you get the point.

Oh, and I should be clear. When I arrived, the taverna was I guess about a third full at most. When I left and told the staff that I had been waiting for 20 minutes to get a drink and order some food, they just shrugged their shoulders, told me they were very busy and returned to chatting...