Taverna Porto — Restaurant in Municipality of East Mani

Trust your nose, not the bad reviews

We ate at Taverna Porto a few days ago and I still cannot understand why so many people left a bad review.

I am Italian and I am used to eating and preparing fish, and believe me, the grilled fish that I had here was the best of my life. Since we were several days in Porto Kayo I can confirm that they fish their fish, and prepare it in a magistral way. We ate a grouper (cernia) in two.

The meat was so juicy, the skin crispy and tasty, and even the inner parts near the head were amazing because they eviscerated it perfectly. And the cheeks, oh my friend, so good that left us speechless. We ate also a pie with wild herbs, a magical, authentic, antique flavor that lets you travel centuries in the past. The rosé we had was also great, refreshing, salty, with hints of little red fruits, it paired perfectly with the fish.

The bill was adequate for the quality of the food, and the mastery with which they prepared it. To the ones who complain that it is not in line with Greek tavernas, I will answer that this place is absolutely not an average Greek taverna. I don't know where you come from, but it doesn't happen every day to eat fresh fish directly caught in front of your eyes and prepared with such love and care, in a heavenly place like Porto Kayo, and with that price point.

So we asked ourselves, why so many bad reviews? Maybe people forget how to recognize great food, maybe they don't have the chance to eat real food so they have difficulties judging it, or maybe they just don't have an idea of how to distinguish fresh fish from the average served in many restaurants all over the world. Maybe they are just out of their mind.

Do you know how we decided to give this amazing place a chance? The amazing perfume that this place has. Follow the perfume, trust your nose and forget the bad reviews. You will live a gastronomical dream that will remain in your memories.

Thank you, Maria and everyone, who makes Taverna Porto such a...

Ate here accidentally two years ago, and to this day we still talk about it with my partner as to how horribly aggressive the service was. It was the only bad experience we had in our 15 day stay in Greece.

We arrived just before lunch looking to eat and chill by the beach in this beautiful location. All of the other restaurants were packed by 10:30am and this was the only one left, practically empty. Hmm, felt too good to be true. We asked if we could sit and take two sun beds and we were allowed to stay as long as we planned on eating. okay no problem. We bathed and drank a couple of beers and couple of sodas until 1pm, grilled squid was shoved into my face despite not really ordering it and my partner who does not eat seafood ordered fries and a greek salad, since there was no meat on the menu. The manager ushered me into the restaurant to pick my fish and practically yelled at me to pick something. Ok, no problem I ordered some fish.

Bill was almost 80 euros.... wanted to pay with card, but she said the machine wasn't working and it was impossible. When we told her we did not have enough cash and she furiously grabbed the payment terminal from a drawer and lo and behold it worked just fine. Left no tip behind even though we almost always do!

I have no problem spending money on good food, on holiday, especially in such a great location but being yelled at is not a dining experience I prefer to have, especially at a such a high price for some small white fish?? I understand given the location, prices will be marked up, but this was shockingly high for Greece and the blatantly rude service was just the cherry on top. I thought maybe she was having a bad day (the manager who wouldn't stop throwing plates on the table and shouting) but it looks like we're not the only clients who had this experience based on the reviews here. Plus the food...

Placement, super, food, poor Arrived in Porto Kagio, and saw the largest of the two-three on the beach establishments. We were greeted by a very polite young waiter. We put our things on the beach beds in front on the dinner tables, ON the waves, and... from then on it was down hill -for us. Before choosing any other food, we inquired about fresh fish soup. The manager lady, suggested half a fish -"almost fresh" as the eyes were already cloudy- or two kilos, 45€ per kilo, for four people, FOR SOUP, and was adamant that less would not do. We decided against it, and went for the standard menu: (cover was 1€ per person, only 2 knives for 5 people ?!) prepackaged eggplant salad, well fried potato fries, a tomato salad, fried cheese (saganaki), marinated anchovies (WAY too old), rubbery fried frozen squid, 250ml white house wine, 2 beers and a bottle of water. Altogether for 40€. The money is not a lot, but the quality was very disappointing. Coupled with slow service, I would not recommend this place. It was a pity, as the setting prepares you for a LOVELY afternoon, but bad food -even for mediocre standards- can ruin the experience. We are so spoiled by most of the places in East Mani, that we consider this a fail. The area is worth the...