Salis — Restaurant in Municipality of Chania

A bizarre and unfortunate experience with poor service.

I had been recommended to this place by a friend of mine, and I was really looking forward to it. We came there for dinner, and everything started off okay. We were recommended an amazing wild ferment wine from their own winemaker's vineyard, which ended up being the only memorable thing from that night. Furthermore, we ordered 4 different appetizers and a main course for sharing. We waited at least 25–30 minutes for the appetizers to come, only one of the dishes got explained to us. The food was great, but then everything just went downhill from there. After finishing our appetizers, no one really came to check up on us. After 20 minutes, their somelier came down to pour us some more wine from our bottle. He asked us if we were finished, and we told him that the food was amazing. He did seem extremely uninterested and almost annoyed at us for even trying to talk to him. He then takes one of the finished appetizer dishes and leaves again. Then we sit there with our cutlery clearly indicating we were finished, and wait and wait.

For almost 40 minutes, maybe even 50, nothing happens, we get multiple eye contacts with different waiters with no response back. A table that got seated way after us even got both their appetizers, mains and bill in the meantime. We keep waiting patiently, and finally, after, well, I guess, at least more than an hour after being finished with the appetizers, the sommelier finally moves towards our table, instead of clearing it himself, he just asks something to another waiter in Greek, clearing the table where the guests had already left (the ones that came after us). And then, 5–10 minutes later, that waiter comes down to clear our table. The sommelier then comes down once again and tells us he will give us 2 desserts without any sort of further explanation. Again, he seemed annoyed at us for no reason. Wondering if we will ever get served our main dish, we instead get 2 desserts on the table. Fed up with the waiting time, we finish and decide to ask for the bill. We had to wait another 20 minutes before any action was taken (even though we made many eye contacts with the waiting staff). On the bill, we still get charged for the main course, which we kindly inform the waiter we were never served. It is then, of course, removed from the bill, and the waiter tells us she will look into what went wrong. She goes up to the kitchen, talks to both the chefs and then another waiter, looking in our direction, and then lets out a loud mocking laugh. She never comes down to us again, and we are left somewhat confused. I politely asked the waiter who billed us, "All good?" and was then waved off with a mocking smile.

Overall, I left super disappointed and ashamed of the restaurant. I've been working in different restaurants for 5 years now, and I've never experienced anything like this. Also, a table on our side received an almost royal service, they were though looked after by the winemaker himself, who seemed very charming...

EAT/DRINK HERE

Alright where do I start I’ll try to make this organized as much as I can.

OVERVIEW: I’m a foodie and this is in my top 10 restaurants along side Michelin starred restaurants.

Location: Right on the water next to the yacht docks. The water is so clear when close and deep rich blue as you look out. The boardwalk is not distracting and actually adds to the vibe making you feel in the city.

Vibe: Modern & classical without pretentious. Can come dressed as you are and still feel part of the ambiance.

Service: exquisite, nurturing, as if you are someone important but still down to earth. Timely and polite. I’m saying all this even though they only had two waiters to take orders and hand out food! The way they managed is that you tell them everything you want after they give some time to look at the menu.

Food: everything that we had from the croquettes to the two fish dishes to the sausage flatbread gelato and the wine was all excellent. I know it sounds kind of crazy, but yes, everything tasted good. Oh forgive me we also had calamari fried calamari and I hate calamari. This is the best calamari I’ve ever tried. Yes, I tried calamari even though I don’t really care for it because I want to experience different foods. The calamari had no ocean taste to it whatsoever slight chew crispy outside light refreshing. I almost couldn’t believe it was calamari. Even if you just wanted to just have a snack of the calamari totally worth whatever distance you’re walking for. The fish was light and divine every side dish attached with it blended and coexisted with all the flavors of the fish, you could separate them as well and still enjoy separately without the side of portions. The pork that they used with accidentally not too salty just right. The gelato wasn’t too sweet. You were there. It was like you kept coming for more, but it was never too much. After eating all this food and literally our stomach over capacity we still didn’t feel heavy. The food just delicately entered our digestive system, as if there was no blockage. No sludge in the way it was meant to be consumed. I’m very shocked this place doesn’t have a waitlist months out. Or at least a line out the door. Sure the tables are full, but we just walked up on a Saturday around lunchtime.

Conclusion: if you want a delicious reasonably priced not overly expensive lunch/dinner and dessert make sure you come to Salis. There is no way in the world that I will ever believe you would be disappointed no matter what you get on them menu. Additionally, they have the thickest wine list I’ve ever seen. If you are disappointed, probably because they’re down to one cook, one waiter and they’re just shorthanded. This place is a godsend a jewel of Chania. We were all walking back saying we’re going to be dreaming of all the various dishes that we had.

Thank you again for the fabulous time

P.S: to all my beautiful people you know who you are…… Green...

As an avid traveler and food enthusiast this place did disappoint based on the reviews. I’ll begin with the good though - service was in general was good, professional and friendly. The restaurant is beautiful and sits right on the harbor. Modern spin on many dishes.

The eggplant was delicious, although slightly confusing if it was supposed to be served warm or cold as it was just lukewarm. But would eat again regardless!

The octopus carpaccio was our highlight! Unique, delicious, well balanced with acidity, and just so well done. Beautiful presentation as well. Highly recommend trying. Didn’t see anyone else talk about it and am quite surprised by that.

We tried the full meat and cheese board all from Greece (I believe Crete). The server set it down and did not explain anything on the board which is poor in my opinion - this was the one time I felt the service was not on par. It was pretty good overall, the meats are okay but I honestly don’t believe Greece is known for cold cuts the way Italy is obviously. The cheese was better than the cold cuts in my opinion. Fun to try a variety! A lot of the cheese in Greece is quite mild so it was nice to try some with various flavors.

The duck main entree was a huge disappointment. The server highly recommended it over everything. Duck is not a traditional Greek dish which is fine! But it’s also a very challenging dish to get right. Come to find out it’s the only duck the server has ever tried which I wish I would’ve known before ordering. It was over cooked, tough, and under seasoned. The beet risotto sounded so good but unfortunately was just too much happening and overly sweet for the concept. I had a few bites and just couldn’t have any more.

Overall, this is a good restaurant to have some variety away from the traditional Greek cuisine in the harbor area. I would stick to the Meze or...