To Barbounaki — Restaurant in Municipality of Folegandros

UPDATE: The day after initially writing this, the chef (who somehow found us - seemed like he drove down to the port specifically looking) tried to intimidate us, creating a public scene and raising his voice at us for leaving this review. Not sure why he expected we wouldn’t leave one given the experience we had, but antagonising your customers and shutting down feedback with arrogance and rage is one way to run a business I suppose. Have updated price in light of restaurants response though, our mistake.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

A Greek Tragedy.

This was a very bad experience. We Loved the setting and menu, and the restaurant was busy so we waited 45 minutes for a table. It took an hour for our starters to arrive, which were good. Unfortunately what (eventually) followed wasn’t.

€21 of seabass arrived which, when cut open, revealed raw and gelatinous flesh. We ordered tuna tataki for our starter - we are not averse to raw fish. However we did not expect grilled seabass to be raw too. We mentioned it to the waitress (who, credit where it’s due was lovely, passionate and responsive) who passed on the info to the chef. He proceeded to treat us with so much disrespect and contempt that we forgot for a second that we were paying customers. After making us feel guilty for requesting our fish be cooked, thankfully, he put it back on the grill. In the meantime the second main arrived! Salmon gnocchi; and lo and behold, the salmon fillet was equally, if not more, translucent and gooey than the fillet of seabass we received ten minutes prior. Upon our second complaint, the chef patronised us further, trying to convince us for the second time tonight that the fish sat before us was cooked properly. It was then he revealed “that’s how I like it”. If undercooked fish is ‘how you like it’ - fine. But I would recommend mentioning on the menu that all the fish you serve is raw. As this was a not a sushi restaurant, that kind of detail should be advertised.

We understand that on occasion in a restaurant mistakes can be made - and that is fine. It’s how the restaurant responds and treats their customers that defines them. The fact the the chef made us feel guilty about wanting our food to be cooked (even trying to convince us it was, despite what we could all see) makes us feel that this restaurant will not stand the test of time. Shout out to the waitress though - we’re sorry you have to work in an establishment that would make...

The only bad experience we had in Folegandros. Food is of good quality, but that was about it. The restaurant was pretentious and overpriced. First we were "forced" to have bread. Being Greeks we know that Greek restaurants charge you for bread whether you want it or not, violating the law. We kindly said that we do not wish to eat bread, and the waiter said "that's alright, I will still leave it here just in case", and we insisted until he took it away. Nevertheless, we were charged 1.5€ for it in the final bill. I got a seafood linguini (for 26€) and asked whether I could get some cheese to add on top. The 2nd waiter (later to be proved to be the chef/owner) brought me some and said he will have to charge me 2€ for it. I was displeased and he just said out loud while walking away that this charge is just to "cover the cost". From then onwards we were just trying to eat fast to leave and forget it, but the chef came back to apologise and explain that he knows as a chef that we shouldn't be having grated cheese with seafood and thus he has decided to charge for it to give customers a culinary lesson. He then offered us dessert and some drink to make amends. Our night was ruined, this was by far the most expensive food in Folegandros and the food was ok, but nothing memorable. Apologising gets you 3 stars, but being told what I should or shouldn't eat (they didn't charge the 2€ in the end) in that inappropriate manner, claiming 2€ is only to cover the cost when the pasta was 26€, and being forced to have bread just ruined our whole evening. Luckily faith to Folegandros restaurants was restored in the...

We love Folegandros and have been visiting regularly since 2010. While we love the island, we have to admit that the food while fresh and pleasant has never been a highlight.

That has changed with Barbanouki in Chora. We loved it so much that we went four times on our recent stay. It’s fantastic! Fresh seafood, wonderfully prepared. Where to begin. Sole, deep fried in the lightest most delicious batter. So good I ate the fins! Fresh oysters from Italy as well as delicious, sweet scampi and North Atlantic lobster-both grilled. We had local red mullet-small, fried whole and very tasty. We also had grilled fish. Whole red porgy and even the farm raised ( the staff always let us know which fish were wild caught and which were farm raised) sea bass were outstanding, cooked to perfection.

Side dishes were also excellent. The fried zucchini was indescribably mouth watering and the grilled broccoli was also excellent. We never get enough fresh vegetables when traveling. A dish of ceviche in a coconut broth was also quite good.

We fell in love with our hostess Maria. The chef is her boyfriend. What a charming, delightful, adorable young woman who always made us feel special. Her brother, also a sweetheart works as a server. What a great addition to our wonderful...