Grandma's Restaurant — Restaurant in Municipality of Ios

Not a great evening. I understand there can be a mix up with communication and language but nothing went right.

We arrived a little early, we were welcomed, we offered our names and explained that we had a dinner reservation. In return, we were told to “sit anywhere” so we did, but then we were moved on as those seats at the bar were reserved.

Had a pleasant drink with my girlfriend during sunset and then asked to be seated. Only to be shown the original seats at the bar that we were moved on from.

The main issue with this is the fact there were about 30 knot gusts coming from the north, which are not enjoyable to sit in. However, in hindsight, I can see how a request for a table at the front of the restaurant could be considered/interpreted as sitting at the front of the pool.

We asked if it was possible to be seated inside because of the wind and it was explained that the restaurant was at full capacity and it could not be accommodated. So we sat in the cold wind and ordered.

Now the food, al la carte - first courses were far superior to the mains, however they are extremely small. The ravioli and the gnocchi were tasty and executed well, but in the wind turned cold quickly.

Then my girlfriend and myself sat in the wind for quite a while, it was explained to us that there was a “technical issue” with the kitchen. Not quite sure what this means. Usually it means that it was forgotten to be cooked.

When the main courses arrived, the grouper and the John Dory were small and not executed well. I would be surprised if the grouper was fresh. To me it seemed frozen. The John Dory had a pistachio crumb that was floury and needs to be pan seared as opposed to baked in a broiler. These also turned cold quickly due to the wind gusts.

The most disappointing part of the evening was when I asked for the cheque at 21:14, I walked over from the bar to the restaurant to see if it truly was at full capacity and I saw at least 5 empty tables. The excuse being that many people are “delayed.” Being the hospitality industry, this was the least hospitable act of the night, being sat in strong gusts of wind for no reason at all for two hours. I hope these tables stay unfilled all night.

With the bill for the night being €114 for two first and two mains courses, my suggestion would be to eat elsewhere as fresher ingredients, cheaper and tastier dishes are served through the island. For what was meant to be a memorable night in Ios, i wouldn’t dream to recommend Grandmas House Restaurant to anyone.

What I can only suggest is that with so many empty tables at 9pm, many other patrons have caught on to the substandard nature of this restaurant and are speaking through actions of booking and enjoying a...

5 stars view, 3 stars food and 2 stars service.

This restaurant is within a hotel and it is positioned as a high end place on the island. We went during the sunset hours and the view was fantastic. We sat by the pool and watched the sunset with a drink, it was great! The service at the bar was actually good. We then moved to the restaurant and everything just went downhill from there.

First, they forgot about our water for a good 10-15 min. I had to call the waiter to ask about it. It was clear they forgot. We waited at least another 10 min before someone came to take our orders.

I understand they may want to be attentive, but asking “how is the food, are you happy with everything” too many times during the meal was a little too much.

Then, because of their own error in booking, when we were about to order dessert, they made us move tables so that they can accommodate a larger group. That was quite rude. They tried to make it up to us by having the chief serving us the dessert, but we didn’t care about the superficial stuff. As the “premium” restaurant on the island, this should not have happened. It made us feel like 2nd class customers.

The food was okay. You can definitely do better at some other places (e.g. Drakos, Sainis, Koubara Seafood) on the island for less money.

Overall, worth going for drinks for the sunset view, you can do better with food and service elsewhere.

Edit: To respond to the restaurant's comment below, we were never informed about the 22:00 cut off time, neither on the phone when we made the booking, nor at the bar when we were having our drinks before dinner.

Also, we are surprised to see there is not a single word of apology mentioned in...

Overall, the location was great, with lovely views of the island port; we got the degustation menu, which was disappointing as it didn’t have continuity or a concept as a menu; it was more random items from the a la carte menu on smaller portions. We asked to exchange the raw dish as my partner doesn't eat raw fish, which was a straight no as the chef is strict with any exchanges, which is okay, and we don't want to ruin the concept. The bread and a salty brioche were delicious; however, the starter soup was relatively flat, and the cured ceviche-style fish was highly bitter due to an overload of lemon zest, which made it uneatable; the second starter was aglio olio pasta, which was rather plain. There was no kick or anything to make it exceptional. The subsequent two main courses were exceptional: the fish and the beef cheeks. Desert was nice. However, the portion was substantial and not designed for a degustation menu. Overall, it was a positive experience; however, I will get isolated dishes next time, not...