Ta Petrina — Restaurant in Municipality of Chersonissos

This was without a doubt the worst dining experience we’ve had in all our travels to Greece—and we’ve been here 7 times. Sadly, we walked right into a tourist trap, and while we’re angry at how the restaurant operates, we’re mostly frustrated with ourselves for falling for it.

It started when we walked into a souvenir shop nearby. The woman there insisted we go “just take a look” at the restaurant next door, describing it as a traditional Greek place where locals eat. She made it sound warm, authentic, and family-run. We had reservations elsewhere, but she was so persistent that we decided to change plans. Huge mistake.

From the moment we arrived, it was clear the entire setup was for tourists only. The staff were standing outside aggressively trying to pull people in from the street, claiming their parents were in the kitchen and the food was homemade and fresh. This couldn’t have been further from the truth. We were very hungry and decided to order a lot of food. Unfortunately, not a single dish lived up to expectations. The calamari was obviously frozen, tasteless, and rubbery. The moussaka was overloaded with cheese, almost no meat, and felt like it was adapted to what they think tourists want. The lamb chops were tiny and mediocre at best. Every other dish was bland, barely seasoned, and lacked the rich, fresh flavors we’ve come to love in real Greek cooking. We ate what we could out of sheer hunger, but left disappointed and unsatisfied.

Service was chaotic. While we were sitting at our table, the staff were much more interested in pulling in the next group of tourists than actually checking on us. It took forever to get their attention, and even longer to receive the bill.

Then came the final insult: over €100 for what was, without exaggeration, one of the most flavorless and forgettable meals we’ve had. No bread, no complimentary olives (which is common all over Greece), and no hospitality. The waiter immediately offered bottled water and soda without mentioning cost—and of course, they were added to the bill. We expressed our disappointment politely, but instead of understanding or empathy, the waitress became aggressive and rude. She shoved the card machine at us and barked, “Pay now!” We never refused to pay—we were just trying to give honest feedback on a meal that didn’t come close to what we were promised.

It left a bitter taste that went far beyond the food. This place is a well-rehearsed scam targeting tourists who don’t know better. If you’re reading this—trust us and skip it. There are hundreds of genuine, warm, delicious places to eat in Crete. This is not...

Avoid at all cost, tourist trap!! 🚨🚨🚨 The lady who owns the corner gift shop in the square suggested we tried this "traditional cretan restaurant". Is this happening to you right now? Have you come to Google to read reviews? Turn back! It's not too late for you!! We went down the street to take a look, bit suspicious as the menu was so long, but thought we'd give it a try since it was recommended by the shopkeeper (learned from locals later that she's the restaurant owner's sister). Worst meal we had in Hersonissos, and most expensive : 46€ for 2!!! The owner insisted I tried some lemon juice 🍋("fresh from the trees"). She served me a whole glass and I grew suspicious: I asked how much was the glass she had served me: 5€. For lemons that grow ABOVE HER HEAD. No farmer, no transport, no processing... Literally how can you price it that high?! It was bitter, she did offer sugar. I wondered if it would carve a hole in my wallet. We ordered some olives with bread for starters (priced at 1€50 on the menu). She came out with bread and olive spread. We asked her if we can have the olives instead. She comes back with... 4 OLIVES. For 2 of us. In a country that GROWS OLIVES she somehow had an olive shortage (unlike the lemons, they must've had a surplus of those). The bread was stale, and so, we meticulously shared our 4 olives between us two. When mains came, she stopped serving us to go harass some tourists down in the street. My moussaka was burnt, and my partner's chicken was nothing to rave about - his plate was quite small for the price & for Crete. The atmosphere was weird so I won't rate it. The owner kept pacing around, looking busy. From time to time, she would randomly pet the head of another patron's child as she walked by. There was no one else in the restaurant. Look, guys, I am someone who ALWAYS finishes my plate. I hate wasting food. I will clean my plate with my finger in public, idc. But this moussaka was vile. The meat was undercooked, and it had a "freezer food" quality to it. My partner asked for the bill so we could get out of there. Guess what: the bread and olives... they weren't 1€50. They were 1€50 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯!....How much is that per... olive...? 🫒 I felt bad wasting food so I discreetly dropped some of my moussaka on the ground for the begging stray cats. They refused to eat it. As we left, the owner was attempting to grab more people in the street. I realised it's her parents' restaurant and she's determined to keep it going... but have you not realised that if you actually served good food, people would come of their...

ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!!!! We were directed down the side street towards this restaurant by a friendly seeming shop owner (only now finding out many others had the same thing happen to them) towards this restaurant, not realising at the time this was only the start of the scam. We were ushered in off the street with extremely hollow sounding compliments by a waitress, and sat down, all seeming fine so far. She immediately opened 2 bottles of water even though we hadn’t asked for any. The menu seemed very pricy, but as we were only there for starters, we ordered a couple of dips and some olives and bread. When it arrived we were speechless. The dips looked okay but we’d ordered a garlic dip and what had arrived was a sad looking, minuscule piece of garlic bread. We’d specifically asked for bread and olives for 3, and were brought quarter of a stale, chewy baguette. We checked with her that the order was correct because it was so far from what we’d ordered/expected, and were rudely shrugged off by the waitress, who wouldn’t hear a single question about the food or try to rectify any of the glaring issues. When we pointed out this was not what we’d ordered nor what was written on the menu, she became increasingly aggressive and kept telling us this was the way they’d been doing it for years and that was how it was done in greece, which not only is not true but doesn’t remotely account for the fact that the food was shockingly terrible. Since she was so unhelpful and rude we got through the food, then raised our issues again when she brought over the bill. €31,80 for 3 dips, stale bread and 2 unrequested bottles of water????? We told her politely we were reluctant to pay full price for such a meal, and were told extremely rudely she’d call the police, before she stormed off into the restaurant. She returned a few minutes later, speaking over us and becoming increasingly insulting. We paid, and informed her that both the service and food were terrible, and which point she pushed my friend up out of her chair and hurled insults and mockery at us out of the door. She shouted after us down the street that this was a place for families not young girls, and made it clear we were extremely unwelcome, as if we’d ever dream of returning. We left in shock and genuinely laughing at how comical her response to any criticism was. I truly cannot emphasise enough to anyone reading not to come to this ‘restaurant’, unless you want to experience physical and verbal abuse, along with disgusting and...