Kastro's Restaurant — Restaurant in Municipality of Mykonos

Tourist trap… Attended in late May 2023. We read all the reviews about how good this restaurant is, and went to the bother of waiting for the two week window to book, and travelled by car to the old port / little Venice (which was an ordeal for us as driving in Greece and the car park at this location was a nightmare).

Upon arrival at the restaurant we were greeted by a man in a pink shirt, asking in a rude/aggressive tone ‘have we been spoken to?’ To which we replied ‘no, not yet’. He walked off and a nice lady came to seat us.

We were offered a balcony, but only if we order 2 starters, 2 mains, 2 desserts and 1 bottle of wine at a minimum. We didn’t want to drink or overeat, and so this arrangement was not chosen. (I overheard the couple who eventually sat there, be told by the waiter, that the spring rolls they were ordering off the starters menu ‘do not count as starters’. He was blunt and rude in communicating this to them.

While the restaurant was still quite empty (~6:45), the staff were awkwardly standing in the dining room together staring either directly or through the mirrors on the wall.

We ordered a moussaka sphere to share, a rib eye steak, and a lamb rack (and sparkling water).

The moussaka sphere was a novel looking dish, and looked like a giant arancini ball. However the dish was served lukewarm, and tasted bland.

The rib eye was about 1 cm thin (I have never seen such an anaemic rib eye in my life - I wasn’t convinced it even was a rib eye). There was quite a significant chunk of fat too. The meat, while cooked medium pink as asked, was tough and chewy to eat, and we left half of it on the plate as it was too unpleasant to eat. The accompanying purées/sauces did not complement the dish at all.

The rack of lamb bled as you cut into it (asked for medium cook). The lamb itself was tender, however like our entree, lacked punch and was quite bland. Somehow the eggplant purée clashed with the lamb flavour on this dish, but the jus was very nice. The lamb dish’s jus complemented the rib eye dish better than anything they served with it.

At this point we realised we have been basically tourist scammed, and wanted to leave. All dishes were served lukewarm. We asked for the bill and flagged the issue with the tough steak. They went off and told the chef who apologised and advised that it must have been a bad piece of meat.

However there was no remedy offered. No coffee, no dessert, no discount, nothing. They just dropped the bill off. When collecting payment they assumed we were tipping (this is the first place we didn’t tip) so we had to make clear we want our change. They simply didn’t care enough to do anything about it, when they knew there was a clear issue with the food they served us.

We paid the bill with no tip and left. Until we visited this restaurant, we had been blown away by how nice and hospitable staff have been literally everywhere in Greece/Mykonos. Even when you wouldn’t expect ‘good service’. But this restaurant broke that trend and have been our worst customer, and dining experience in Greece this far.

I would not recommend...

Alright, honest review, after being told to come here by a few different friends and also our hotel reception suggested we come here, we were intrigued for sure. Let's start with the atmosphere, it's good. There are 3 tables that can fit 4 that are balconies overlooking the water, there is an exception to sitting here, which is ordering a full course meal for each person, plus 2 bottles of wine, we of course were not looking to overspend that much, and opted to sit inside, still a fantastic atmosphere. Moving onto the service, it's decent, I'm not sure if it was a busy night for them, but the food did take a very long time to come out, the restaurant looked about half full give or take. The food. Now this is when things start to shift, honestly the food is quality, they have good chefs and the flavors and complexities of the food do stand out. But the biggest point here is the portion size to cost ratio. I get that it's mykonos and prices need to be competitive, but it just leaves you wanting more. We ended up all getting a gyros after because we were not satisfied.

Overall, good that we went here to tick it off the list, but we will not be coming back, nor suggesting any of my friends come unless they are OK paying heaps for small portions.

A humble suggestion to increase portion sizes and give more value for money would make this the best spot in mykonos, but until that is fixed, this is 3 stars...

Traveling throughout, we visited almost all the Cycladic islands, including Naxos, Paros, Santorini, and more. Seeing so many places in less than a month could quickly become blurry. However, Kastro was the restaurant I would never forget, and I would always associate with Mikonos and this beautiful sunset we got to experience. At first, I wanted to get the little table at the shore right in the little alley situated by the restaurant. But since the table was taken, we got the table right on the terrace. This was the highlight of our dining experience. What a view, it felt like we were dining sotustd on a cliff-hanging over the sea. Beautiful! Forget about all the influencers and their one-time shots; this is the top. Once here, you have all of the Mikono's little Italy at your fingertips. The food? Oh, the food here is divine. The presentation is splendid, and the small details are favorably catered to. We enjoyed the sea bream and the sea bass dishes, and we loved every bite. The staff is attentive and quick to respond to every request. We received fantastic service, and it all contributed to an...