Familia — Restaurant in Municipality of Kythira

Absolutely horrendous experience.

This was, without a doubt, one of the worst dining experiences of my life. We arrived at the restaurant at 9:00 PM for dinner, but they didn't take our order until 9:50 PM (!). After a mind-boggling delay, the starters finally arrived at 10:40 PM—and they were... cold. How is it even possible to serve cold food after making someone wait for over an hour?!

Adding to the misery, as if to make matters worse, the owner / chef spent most of the evening drinking shots with a table nearby, completely ignoring us and the other starving customers all around. It was simply impossible to get his attention -- we exchanged awkward looks and exasperated smiles with other diners who were just as frustrated as we were.

By this point, our child was starving, and it was nearly 11:00 PM. I went to the kitchen to politely request that they only serve our kid's meal and cancel the rest of our order since we honestly were exhausted and no longer hungry. To my utter shock, I saw about 15-20 dishes just sitting there, ready to be served. They immediately brought out the kid's meal after my request, proving they could have done this much, much earlier.

Here's the best part:

When we asked for the bill, the owner/chef came over and said that he refused to take our money, accusing us of being rude.

Let me be perfectly clear: We politely expressed that we were exhausted from the lengthy wait. Given our child's hunger, even at 11 P.M., we requested they serve his meal promptly. For ourselves, we simply wanted to cancel the remainder of our order.

Instead of acknowledging the abysmal service, the owner attempted to manipulate the situation by portraying himself as the victim, unfairly accusing us of rudeness when all we did was express our exhaustion and hunger due to the excessive wait times.

Thankfully, the cooks and waitstaff witnessed everything and can confirm that we remained courteous throughout.

This experience was utterly infuriating and disheartening. The owner's disgraceful behavior and the atrocious service were beyond unacceptable. I strongly advise everyone to steer clear of this place—it was a total waste of time and left us...

I would have liked to rate with 3,5, but not possible... We visited this restaurant after a recommendation of our best best friend who happens to be a good friend with the owner for many years and she knows the place, plus the good reviews. I called to book a table and mentioned we d like to meet him. We arrived and a really sweet smiling waitress came to welcome us, showed the table, and I said again we d like in a moment to meet the owner. He never came.... . Maybe to busy since he runs three restaurants, but still.. She brought menus and a snack on the house, we gave our order which came after a bit. Taramosalata ( fish roe dip) made with fava ( really unusual) was an excellent dish, really tasty. The smoked mussels with big slices of baked potatoes, another nice dish. On the other hand we didn't really find that stuffed wine leaves ( dolmadakia) and the stuffed onions were something special. I have to mention that when we got there, a table with a single lady, a table with five people and one more with two were there. Just after we sat a group of 10, a lady with two young boys and a group of 5 Greeks with a baby came all together. And there was only one waitresd to do EVERYTHING. Welcome guests, give menus, bring drinks, bring food, bring extra things, bring bill, bring change or pos, clean tables on between. I don't think this is fair for the waitress, and it's not considered as good service for such a place. Apparently the girl was so positive, patient etc. Fair prices.

To my taste the place's decoration could be better for what it wants to be: a bit old, a bit Italian looking. Most tables are having a metal base, not even real iron, with different wood for surface, but kind of modern. I repeat this is my taste. Location of restaurant is super, no cars, no noise, perfect.

I recommend it, but I...

We dined there on Sunday the 18th of Aug ‘24. We visited as a couple with our 1,5 year old (who obviously didn’t ate nothing from the menu).

The vibe is nice. Good looking restaurant although the music was boring and uninspiring.

The restaurant has a capacity of ~ 80-100 people yet there were only 3 employees for the service (one taking orders and servicing with two assistants; plus one person at the reception). Overall, the service was slow.

The first negative surprise was that they had no high chairs for our 1,5 year old. The excuse was that they were all broken… it would be more honest from them to say they don’t permit kids in the restaurant. Since they do, they should provide at least a high chair…

The food was really good and tasty apart from the fava that was mediocre at best.

The big surprise came at the very end over the check. They charged us for three portions of bread. I don’t give a duck about the extra 3 euros they asked me to pay. After all we are visiting a restaurant that will come down to ~50 euros per person… my price elasticity is high. What got me mad was charging for bread for a 1,5 year old. First, for those not familiar with Greek restaurants, bread is compulsory (you don’t order it) and works something like a service fee. So the restaurant wasn’t happy with €100 bill we made at the end and thought “you know what? This little 1,5 year old boy created extra work for us, let’s charge something extra”. This is ridiculous…

Again, it’s not about 3 ducking euros. It’s about how they treat people and their way of making money… not through a good service but hidden...