Ellotia — Restaurant in Municipality of Chania

One of the Best in Chania , you should go there. During my stay in Chania I had opportunity to try traditional Greek food in few different restaurants. Despite I had bad luck to have my dinner in the restaurant in one of the typical tourists areas where the food was less than average we find a great place Ellotia. It lays hidden in small streets of old Chania but I am sure you can find it easy. Lets start from the beginning. You have to book your table in advance what was already a good sign. We were meet and greet by the waiter in nice and friendly manners . Great interior with lights and candles make this place very romantic . The drinks and wine has been served properly and fast. We also got some local fresh bread and sun dry tomato before the starters arrived , so we could bite something ,however we were not waiting long for the starters. We had Greek Salad and cheese Saganaki ( simply fried cheese) I know Greece well but I totally do not understand why Greek Salad is served with small pcs of Feta which is one of the main ingredients . As in other restaurants we got a tiny triangle of feta ,In Ellotia feta in Greek Salad was grated...why ? I have no idea. Salad was tasty and properly seasoned. The main course ( Assorted Grill for 2 ) arrived in the right moment ,hot and looking delicious ...OK , it was not only looking , it was absolutely great grilled meats . Lamb , pork , sausages...all full of flavour .Yes ...it was proper greek style grill . Despite TzaTziki had a little different consistency ( more creamy) it was great home made stuff no doubt. Ellotia is busy place and only two waiters on the floor is kind of tight. I do not complaint about the service at all as we got all on time and as I ve seen other tables were served well too but 12-13 tables to serve with 2 staff members is hard and put a lot of pressure on the staff which are forced to act sometimes like cashier at Tesco ;-) Most likely it was the reason we did not get thank you sweet which is always served to the clients with the bill. (Again I am not complaining) Overall , lovely spot which takes you to the trip through Cretan food .Perfect place for romantic dinner. As I learn it is family business run by mum who is the chef and son who is in charge of restaurant. Chapeau bas to Chef ( Mum) and the team . Would we go there again? We already booked next dinner there ....

Excitedly made a reservation here after reading reviews and eating in other places in Chania that were supposedly “nice restaurants” that had really disappointed us- we are foodies from CA and I was hoping for us to have a romantic splurge night out - arrived promptly for my reservation at 9:30pm on a Monday & wasn’t acknowledged or greeted by anyone working there for ten minutes (with a half empty restaurant). I had to seek out a waitress who seemed confused when I let her know I had a reservation.

Then, once seated it was another fifteen minutes before same waitress came to the table to simply bring us water and take our wine order. Wine was brought quickly. We then ordered 3 appetizers. Two were “OK” one was very good (stuffed peppers) . Atmosphere was cute, but the main course (slow cooked lamb with tomatoes, peppers rice and feta) was very bland, tough and taste was subpar - pretty disappointing here as we have found with most of the other “nice” restaurants in Chania. As the restaurant filled by 10 pm, another guest brought a crying infant baby to dinner …we were surprised this was even acceptable by the restaurant’ standards considering folks are drinking and smoking in close , almost “indoors” quarters. Appetizers (grilled Haloumi and Daxos weren’t anything special… we’ve had better in the Cyclades.

We ended up corking the rest of our wine, paying our bill and leaving right after our last course- do yourself a favor, save a hundred Euros and find some Gyros or some street food in Chania - most “nice” places we have tried here after week are just like this, tourist traps with cute atmosphere with...

OK so I was taking a trip down memory lane and found this place again (via Google Maps/Street View) We first ate here in 1995 - yes 30 years ago! What a wonderful experience it was.

A courtyard in a sort of square tower open to the skies apart from the remains of the support beams of the former upper floors and some stray vines and creepers. The floor was just gravel, tables and chairs made of thick wood. I think that the food was prepared in a kitchen around the corner along the street to the rear of the eating space and it was very traditional - my first experience of Dakos. The local wine came served in beaten copper jugs and poured into thick glasses. Staff worked hard, food was excellent and the vibe and ambience made you feel like you were experiencing the Crete of bygone days. The highlight for me was a young lad sitting on a slightly raised area playing his acoustic guitar and singing traditional songs and then.... the opening notes of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" Magical !!

On a later trip on 2007 we tracked it down again and many renovations had taken place and the gravel floor had been tiled over but the old walls without any glazed windows remained. No guitarist that evening but we still enjoyed.

Thanks for reading - maybe the owners and/or staff from 1995 are still involved and remember...