A Little Wine A Little Sea — Restaurant in Municipality of Heraklion

I used to be a regular to this restaurant, meaning that every year I come to Heraklion in winter and my first stop was here. But after two visits this year I don't feel like coming back soon. The food quality has changed for the worse. For example, the sides of a dish traditionally included fries, some bulgur, and a little salad. Now they include only fries and boiled vegetables, including boiled potato... which means you are offered fried potato accompanied by boiled potato... Not a very bright idea, chef! The prices are overall some 10-20% higher than their next door competition with no real reason. The restaurant traditionally offers some sweets (doughnuts, ice cream) and raki on the house which probably prompts customers to leave the place happy and write nice reviews. However, you may have the surprise of NOT getting anything, or not getting a raki - and this is at the discretion of the staff. I understand that this is a gift and not an obligation, but when you are expecting your raki at the end of the meal and you only get the bill the situation is awkward. If I knew, I would have ordered the raki and pay for it because I like to end the dinner with a glass. But when you are presented with the bill, this looks like an invitation to leave. Especially when you see other customers are treated differently. Not so nice, really... I also didn't like that the waiter asked me not to vape, although vaping is not forbidden in Greek restaurants and I really did not produce much vapor. It was the first time when this happened to me in Crete, and it happened in my favorite restaurant which used to tolerate real smoking even after it was officially banned in Greece... First time this year we went for dinner and the place was full, so the attention from the staff was not great (mixed up orders, some drinks never came...). Second time we deliberately chose a more quiet time, but all waiters were on the cold side, like they really hate their job. Anyway, it was also when I felt I shouldn't leave any tip. For the first time in so many years I come to Crete in general! Sorry for not being more positive but you guys just managed to ruin a nice place and turn it into a...

The fish was not fresh and the service was slow, they didn’t serve us properly: they brought the appetizers together with the main dishes totally ignoring our requests to bring first the appetizers and the main dishes after. We were four and we ordered steamed mussels which were good and the mixed fried fish plate which was really embarrassing: the fish was frozen and not well fried as it smelt old oil and it was totally immersed in the oil. We ordered a cuttlefish with wine (it was written red wine but it was with with wine and it wasn’t fresh). Me and the other girl ordered a grilled sea bream and, while we were ordering, the owner told us that all the fish was frozen and he suggested us that we take the fresh fish of the day (which was only one grouper and really big, only in order to make us pay much more). We therefore preferred to take two sea breams and one sea bass (which were farmed and not fresh- as said by the owner himself). We left half of the dishes saying that the fish wasn’t good and the owner told us that he would have offered us the desserts. When the bill arrived we paid 35 each and no dessert included apart from one standard ball of ice cream that we saw in all the tables. Totally not recommended. A not typical Greek restaurant and very poor quality of food and...

Unfortunately, the service here was a complete failure. The waiter we had on the separate terrace was incredibly unfriendly. The menu and the tick sheet were not commented on, the drinks also came with an unfriendly face and without a word, without pouring, but at least bottles were opened. When the food arrived - there were two of us and only one of two dishes was served - all they shouted at us was "moussaka". When I made it clear that it was for me, it was placed next to my companion, diagonally opposite me, very brusquely. It has to be said that it was pretty good. A full 10 minutes later, the second dish arrived - cold. After we pointed this out to the waiter, we were met with a "That's tzaziki, it must be cold". However, in our opinion, the meat and fries should still be served warm. So the food was taken away again and brought back 10 minutes later. The dessert on the house, which all guests get, was very good, but unfortunately it was also simply left at the table without any explanation or anything else. The food was quite good compared to the service, but the waiter was unfortunately incredibly unfriendly and not...