AlmyVita — Restaurant in Municipality of Chania

Let me start by saying that ALL of the servers were friendly, upbeat, attentive, and were doing their best. The problem was SOMEone in charge had given them the most bewildering and unprofessional set of instructions. And either they are all new to front of house, or this Chef is a tyrant because ANY experienced server would have spoken up about this nonsense. Whatever the cause, the end result was a dining experience that felt like someone had HEARD about Fancy Restaurants and wanted very much to try to be one, but had never actually HAD fine dining, and did not understand that fine dining service is helpful, knowledgeable, without incident, and unobtrusive. It doesn't draw attention to itself. Here are just THREE examples of what fine dining service ISN'T: Fine dining ISN'T interrupting the table every 10 minutes to do a weird ice-cube ballet where all guest conversation is ceased as servers seize your wine glasses, empty them, fill them with ice, and twirl them overhead at you like a circus act until the glass is 'chilled' (which lasts for about ONE minute) and then refill your glass for you, whether you wanted ANY of this to happen or not. Dude. Get an ice bucket for the bottle and we're good. Fine dining ISN'T bringing out the PLATED food, SHOWING IT TO GUESTS like something up for auction, then hustling it off to the aisle, where a swarm of servers instantly set up tray stands and re-cut and rearrange and re-plate portions which by now are ICE COLD and have been touched by like, 5 people, and only THEN give it BACK to the guest as if they are a child who can't be trusted to cut their own food. Dude. Either plate it or serve it family-style. Also - PLATE IT. Garde Manger by CIA is a good book, you should read it. Fine dining ISN''T waiters leaping at the table every 5 minutes demanding "Is it good?! Do you like it?!" (It wasn't and we didn't, but we had already ascertained that this wasn't a serious place, and there would be no use in replying any way but the positive. And anyway, the kitchen is NOT the front-of-house's problem. If the food is undercooked or it's the wrong dish, you can send it back. But if the kitchen is just not doing a good job at cooking, what can a diner do but learn and not return?..) And if the food had been great, the insanely misguided service might have just been a laugh. HowEVER.. . . I won't bore you with the entire meal, but it culminated in being served an incredibly tough bland $100 whitefish (of course SHOWN to us whole, then re-cut and plated in the aisle for 5 minutes so that it was ice cold by the time we got it), served with a sad mushy pile of bog-standard unseasoned grilled-vegetables that the Taverna around the corner would have been ashamed of. Dude. I am more than willing to pay $110 for a fish, but it had better be worth it. To Maridiaki up the road put this kitchen to shame on every level INCLUDING sides and plating and THAT PERFECT fish was just $12! I was told AlyVita is new - but I have been to many "new" restaurants and they were not circuses. I think the Chef and Manager must be the "new" ones: New to kitchens, new to service, VERY new to fine dining and possibly just new to food. TLDR?: If you have no idea what fine dining is, you should not try to open a fine dining restaurant. But the servers were all lovely and deserve to work somewhere...

One word: Sensational. Almyvita is a truly special dining experience. An exceptionaly talented team of chef's prepare what can only be described as a perfect selection of dishes, a treat for any food enthusiast. The menu is comprised of a mix of traditional and unique dishes, prepared in an elevated and sophisticated way. The cold and warm starters are a fantastic kickstart to your culinary journey, the Sea Bream Ceviche, Beef Tartare and Shrimp Tempura were instant classics with a unique twist. The Bistecca Fiorentina beef, a rare find on the island, transported us straight back to Tuscany. Cooked to perfection and accompanied by lovely grilled vegetables and the homemade Barbeque sauce, incredible. Our evening was rounded off by.. some of the greatest deserts we've had anywhere in the world. One showstopper after another. The grand finale to an already incredible evening. Perfectly balanced, innovative and exceptionally presented deserts. From Strawberry Soup (A must try!), Mille Feuille and a picture-esque chef's special (off-menu item) which was a trio of white chocolate glazed Apple variations.

Niko & his service team deserve an honourable mention for hosting us this evening, catering to our every need and introducing every dish with a deep rooted knowledge of the ingredients and cooking technique of the entire menu. He anitcipated our every need and delivered first-class silver service.

Almyvita is a must-visit culinary destination for anyone visiting Crete. A future Michelin star restaurant. See it to believe it. We can't...

You will not find more attentive staff in the right and good way than these guys. Fantastic. We picked this restaurant as it looked more high end. It is very modern and clean with electrical controlled huge window panels that staff would lower or close to open the wall up to see the sea. The reason for a medium score would be the lack of dish time management. We were having starters and the started to take away our plates before we finished. It was only a little bit left on the plate but we were not there waiting for a bus in 5 minutes. We had only been eating for 5-10 min at this stage. Hal way through the starter, we were told that the main would be served in 7 minutes exactly. I had to tell him to easy off the tempo as we couldn't eat this fast. That was ok and the dish would be served 7 minutes from when we would tell him again he said. He had a small iPad like device that he took all our orders on. He would only need to press send, and the order would be sent to the chef and the device would calculate exact cooking time. I think he was very excited about this gadget and perhaps wanted to impress with their efficiency. Oh... be aware of dish sizes her. 1 steak dish was without exaggeration enough for 3 grown men!! So was the other dishes. Non of us could finish anything from mains. We ordered two salads to share between 6 people, but not able to finish either. Maybe just an off day, but not sure if I...