Taverna Axiotissa — Restaurant in Municipality of Naxos and the Lesser Cyclades

What used to be the best place in Naxos.

Axiotissa used to be the place to have dinner in Naxos. Typically you would book a table the moment you stepped off the boat. I am originally from Naxos and haven't visited for a long time. I was so excited to visit Naxos after a few years and was looking forward to come back to Axiotissa. I wish I hadn't.

Axiotissa failed to impress on every aspect. From mediocre food - we had the specials - to ambience, I would struggle to find anything to recommend Axiotissa for.

More specifically, we had the baked eggplant with local cheese. It was overcooked and tasteless. I don't know if it was the quality of the eggplant or the recipe but it's nothing to write home about. For mains I had the wrapped goat which was interesting but you can have this dish in every other restaurant in Naxos with same or better taste. Not bad but certainly not a special either. We also had the stuffed courgettes. Again - an ok dish that I forgot 10 minutes after we left Axiotissa. What was good was the local cheese plateau but isn't again this something you can get in any restaurant in Naxos?

It's also far from Naxos town so I would rather spend a night in one of the countless restaurants of the city rather than see my memories of best restaurant in Naxos get shattered so emphatically.

I thought the owners and chef had a bad night but I was told by friends that unfortunately quality has dropped massively.

EDIT: Added specific information about dishes since the owner called me a sycophant and a liar. I feel compelled to answer but I d rather give him a piece of advice. Running a restaurant that makes good food is something that is highly subjective based on customers personal taste palette and pretences. However accusing customers who provide genuine feedback on review sites is certainly unacceptable irrespective of...

Overall - disappointed with the experience.

We tried to call 3-4 times before we got there and no one answered. Once we got there, they were able to give us a table in the garden, even though we did not have reservations. That was kind of them. However, the interaction with the host was not very professional. I did mention that we called and showed him the number and he said that we had the right number but that they didn't hear it. At the same time, the phone rang and he handed it to someone to answer it so it seemed that the phone was working okay. Also, he had the reservations written on a notebook and he was flipping around and did not have a clear understanding of whether they had openings or not - his notes were all over the place and it was quite surprising.

The waitress was not very friendly and did not check on us and how we were doing enough. We had to reach out to the waiter from the section next to ours to express concerns.

The Naxos salad was great. The rose ice cream was also great.

The lamb and steak were quite disappointing. They were bland and not cooked properly. The lamb was so dry and not tasty at all. They did replace the dish and it wasn't that much better. The beef was chewy and not special at all

The menu makes the dishes sound special and super flavorful with a flare but the actual main dishes did not meet those descriptions.

The bread was cold and hard. It was also barely any bread for 2 people. The dip served with the bread was quite good.

It seemed that there was no real effort to form a connection with us as customers. The service was not warm and we did not feel part of the family like we usually do in small restaurants in small towns.

The garden was beautiful and the...

Considered by many as one of the top tavernas (restaurants) of the island - and rightly so. A well-thought-out menu utilising mostly local ingredients by small farmers & producers captures the essence of Naxian/Cycladic/Mediterranean cuisine and adds some interesting new touches & combinations, while avoiding the unsuccessful extremisms of the "nouveau-Cycladic" offerings of some very posh & expensive restaurants in Mykonos, Paros & Santorini. There are 3-4 not so good dishes, but by far the majority of offerings ranges from interesting to excellent. There are roughly six main sections: salads, mezedes (appetizers), meat, fish & vegetarian main dishes & sweets. I won't delve into details, as the menu can be found online, but special honourable mention must go to rovitsa (a quite rare legume) salad, fried okras, stuffed tomatoes with bulgur, goat in parchment paper & the divine dark chocolate cake. Excellent local cheeses & spirits round off the satisfying menu. Alas, the very promising cheesecake with citrus jam (a speciality of Naxos) wasn't available during our visit - so we have another reason to come back. The owners Sofia (maître d') & Giannis (the chef), and all the very friendly staff, do a fantastic job & deserve all praises. Extra plus points for the excellent price/quality/quantity ratio, the possibility of take-away orders (in eco-friendly food containers & utensils), and the pet-friendly policy of the house. Sole concern: you have to book your table well in advance as the place is literally full from 14:00 till closing time, day in day out. Highly...