Caravella — Restaurant in Municipality of Kantanos-Selinon

Earlier this week my girlfriend an I stumbled upon this beautiful family restaurant right next to the sea. We were promptly seated by a waiter, on a table overlooking the ocean. We ordered Melinzano Salata (Eggplant Paste) and Chortas for Starters. After only a few minutes they were served and we were surprised by the big portions. Alongside we also ordered a big bottle of water and some of the local wine. The Starters alone already filled us up quiet a bit while we were waiting for our Calamari and 1kg of Gilthead (Dorado). When the Main courses were served the very nice waiter (all of them were really polite and friendly) offered to filet the fish for me, which she of course did way better than I ever could. :) The Fish was absolutely amazing and the Calamari aswell. Very high quality and fresh, nothing compared to what you can get at restaurants in our home country of Germany. While we were focused on our food, the waiter came out and pointed out the red moon that was just setting above the Mediterranean sea. With that stunning view we finished out food (it took quiet a while) and enjoyed the view until we were the only ones left and it was nearly midnight. For dessert we were served the obligatory Glyco and Rakija which topped of a beautiful evening. Overall a very very good experience and they absolutely deserve the 5 stars. Polite, helpful and attentive waiters, a family restaurant and amazing fresh food, for a really fair price. If you ever look to eat good seafood, this is the...

The restaurant presents itself as 'fancy', with iPad menus, a large menu screen, wine named after the restaurant (of which the owner seemed very proud), etc. and therefore immediately feels different from the more down-to-earth, to-the-point restaurants in town (and Crete overall).

While Caravella strives to be 'chic', the food, while fine, is actually no better than in other close-by restaurants. However it will cost about 3 times as much. A single scorpion fish (sold for 10eur per kilo by fishermen) cost here about 45eur, more than a dinner for two with drinks in a typical restaurant. Even water, normally served for free in Crete, here has to be ordered specifically and paid for. Despite the obscene pricing, the service was slow and not very careful, with different main dishes arriving with long time spaces between each other. We also often felt pressured by the owner to order more side dishes.

In sum, you won't eat badly, but if what you're looking for is good fish or good food, you'll find it at much lower prices in the other restaurants where you won't come out with the distinct feeling of having been taken...

We ordered small fried fish, battered calamari, and mussels. The mussels were okay, the fish were light but pretty bland and lacking flavor. The biggest disappointment was the calamari – chewy and rubbery.

However, the biggest issue was the service. We waited almost an hour before anyone even looked in our direction. The waitress was clearly avoiding us, walking around with an annoyed expression, completely ignoring our table. For the first time during our trip to Greece – and we’ve visited many places – we had to go to the counter ourselves to pay, because no one came to offer us the bill.

She literally threw the receipt on the table without a word, turned her head away in irritation, and didn’t thank us or say anything. She also charged us for bread, which we never asked for, nor had a chance to decline – she just dropped it off and disappeared.

Honestly, we do not recommend this place. I’ve never left a negative review before, but this was beyond disappointing. Avoid...