mateo`s — Restaurant in Municipality of Monemvasia

For five years, I had Mateo’s on the first page of restaurant recommendations in the guidebook that every guest at my 12-bed villa receives — sending him a moderate but steady stream of larger, high-spend groups during the season.

The reason? Location. Right on the harbor, convenient, a good beer selection (though many well past their freshness), and seemingly welcoming to newcomers. Not because of exceptional food, or consistency, or standout service — just a practical choice for travelers arriving in town.

As a commercial photographer, I’ve also worked with several of Mateo’s neighboring businesses — people who, unlike him, understand what it means to build a strong public image and maintain good working relationships. Relationships are, after all, the backbone of any good business.

Last week, I arrived at 19:15, hoping for a simple meal during a break from photographing a nearby hotel. The staff greeted me with a freezer-cold shoulder — clearly something was off. When Mateo rolled in, the dismissal became explicit: “No meat, no potatoes — they don’t serve potatoes with seafood, strangely enough — and we have a big group coming,” and other vague excuses. The message was crystal clear: leave.

This wasn’t a service slip. It was deliberate contempt.

Mateo’s playbook is predatory tourism in miniature, in my experience: • Hunt yacht arrivals on the dock, shoving business cards into their hands. • Beg for five-star reviews with a mist of spittle before diners swallow their first bite. • Apply upsell pressure throughout the meal. • Discard locals and repeat patrons the moment they’re somehow inconvenient.

There’s no grasp of the true spirit of hospitality, relationship-building, or even basic courtesy — just an ignorant, short-term cash grab that hollows the place out from the inside. It’s a shame, because there’s potential there — if he wanted it.

Mateo’s is now off my guidebook permanently. Monemvasia offers plenty of spots run by people who understand the difference between service and scavenging. I’ll likely be adding a note for future guests to steer clear.

And if he responds to this review, you can bet it’ll reflect exactly the kind of attitude...

This small restaurant is one of many eateries located along the waterfront in the New Town of Monemvasia. Specializing in seafood, they also have a huge selection of craft beer (they claim to have over one hundred and twenty varieties) and fifteen varieties of ouzo.

The host is one of the highlights of any visit. He is gregarious, friendly and clearly very proud of his restaurant. He’s happy to recommend dishes, and is eager for you to try his family’s artisanal olive oil. The olive oil is superb, so good we bought a 500 ml bottle to kit out our apartment pantry for our stay.

On our first visit we enjoyed three appetizers: aubergine purée; cheese pie; and, local sausage. Accompanied by their excellent fresh bread these appies satisfied our lunchtime hunger as well as any mains could have.

Our second visit was for dinner. We ordered cheese croquette, carrot salad and fried shrimps with cheese and tomato sauce. The appetizers were good (though the carrot salad needed to be jazzed up with some olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper).

The fried shrimp were a bit of a challenge to dismember, but once we figured out a couple tricks we were able to enjoy the sweet, perfectly cooked beauties while happily mopping up the cheese and sauce with the aforementioned delicious bread.

Our third visit was a light lunch of Greek Salad and Fried Calamari. The salad was very good, while the calamari was excellent. These folks really do rock seafood.

We also popped by one very warm evening for an after dinner ouzo. We left it up to the owner to choose one for us and we were very happy with the choice. A 200ml bottle for 8.50€ is an excellent bargain.

Cost for the appetizer lunch (which included a large bottle of excellent sparkling water) was a mere 24€

Cost for the dinner, including sparkling water, was 46€

Cost for the Greek Salad and Calamari lunch, including a small water, was...

We took the family to Monemvasia to climb to the top of the castle. We walked into town for food, with no expectations. Mateo greeted us at the entrance as we walked by, then displayed the catch of the day once we were seated. His enthusiasm and willingness to be involved in every step made this very enjoyable, from the greeting, to taking our order, to rushing back to the kitchen to prepare our dishes, then personally delivering them to the table, it felt bespoke and homestyle all at once. The quality was excellent - my octopus was perfectly seasoned and grilled, my wife's whole snapper fantastic under a light drizzle of lemon and olive oil. The taramosalata was creamy was balanced, and my son's home made sausage was excellent. Calamari was perfect, with no hint of greasiness. Saganaki was excellent. I felt the prices were exceptionally reasonable considering the freshness and quality. There were no disappointments on the menu, and Mateo's enthusiastic presence - mind you he was in kitchen garb and working hard - made this one to remember, as his love for his job was...