CAVO Rethymnon Restaurant — Restaurant in Municipality of Rethymnon

Really poor experience.

Recently dined here at the weekend while staying in rethymno. Had seen good things online so decided to give it a go. Initially the guy at the door was really friendly as was the lady who I assumed was the host. Both warm and welcoming. Showed us to a nice table and wished us a pleasant evening. Then came our waiter. Initially quite abrupt throwing the water on the table half of it ended up outside our glasses.

We ordered our food and the starters came quite quickly again nothing from our waiter as the plates slammed the table. We had our wine and the starters were lovely. After a couple of minutes the waiter returns and takes the plates without even asking if we were finished. Myself and my partner are quite laid back so we said nothing at this point. We then waited over an hour for our mains. We were 90 minutes into our meal before receiving our mains. Our waiter nowhere to be seen again. It actually hit so bad that the sushi chef ended up giving cocktail menus to a couple beside us….

Instead our waiter was at the back near the till on his phone chilling out laughing at his phone. Out of the 5 tables in his section 4 of which seemed neglected. The only table looked after were a Greek couple behind us. Their wines were topped up, water topped up, ice brought to the table and even put in their glass. He asked how their meal was and had some chat with them.

Not once did he come to our table it got so bad we had to ask another waiter for some water to which he went and found our own waiter behind the sheltered area on his phone not hearing his colleagues shouts.

Mains were nice to be fair, partners mussels cold but at that stage we would have eaten anything. Fish portion a little small probably could have done with sides. Fish was cooked well

Once mains were done it was the same carry on from our waiter. Disappeared on his phone not once checking on us. Again we had to ask one of his colleagues for the bill at the point that staff member was irritated with him shouting his name from across the wall to get his attention. We were in no mood to stick around.

Instead of the bill arriving a dessert came to our table. No cutlery was given to have the dessert and the table wasn’t even full cleared from our mains.

The host/ supervisor came down to take payment for our bill which we were told “first you have to pay the bill then you can see the receipt”. Only restaurant in Greece where we didn’t leave a tip.

The lady who first greeted us could see that something was wrong I’m not sure if one of the staff had flagged it with her but in fairness she did ask us how our meal was. I told her it was fine and just okay and that we wanted to just get our bill sorted and go. I will say this was 2 hours too late in my opinion.

The worst service we have had in Greece by a mile. Expensive too not somewhere you would visit every week, or expect poor service. Don’t mind spending the money if the food and service is on par. Celebrating a birthday and anniversary with my partner so disappointed to say the least.

Starters were nice can’t fault the starters have...

What a disappointment A one off opportunity for a 50th birthday celebration ruined by choosing Cavo. Cavo appears to be trying to be an upmarket venue and has succeeded in a number of ways. The layout and construction are very impressive and interior design is excellent. The restaurant is perfectly situated on the edge of the sea all providing ample photographic opportunities. It is a posers paradise. The restaurant fails however in its prime objective of being an upmarket dining experience. After providing their upmarket menu price list it fails to deliver on service, timing and quality. The waiters are pushy trying to rush additional orders, constantly hovering to top up glasses and recommending “another bottle?”. Having requested another bottle another waiter arrived “another bottle?”. The reason for this was because we didn’t have a waiter, we had many. No one had responsibility for individual table service. This resulted in a shambles of service, a request for an additional cocktail went unfulfilled, a gap of over an hour between starter and main course, despite two requests for follow up. The second request was not well received because “we are busy”. The restaurant was fairly empty when we arrived. I was astounded to be presented with my obviously dirty fork removed from my starter dish for my main course cutlery and had to ask for a replacement. In an upmarket venue? - absolutely not. Turning to quality, after the prolonged wait for our starters the 4 of us all had the same starter and complaint. It was a hot starter that wasn’t hot. The lukewarm prawn saganaki was very tasty and we were all keen to eat and despite it being only warm we did enjoy it. Approaching 2 hours after our arrival we were discussing leaving however after over an hour and progress requests the main courses eventually arrived. Again the same complaint, the temperature of the food. One course, a rice dish, was still hot in the centre. All other courses were just warm. My steak was rare rather than medium and I would have eaten it had I been able to cut it with the steak knife. After a few attempts it went back to the kitchen along with my extra side dish of fries and my daughter’s mushrooms to be returned soon after on its own without my fries. I just thought no point complaining again having concluded it was a disaster. After trying again with the steak I just gave up. My wife had lamb and I knew she wasn’t happy but she did not want any further upset. In the end I refused to pay for the steak as I was unable to eat it. After the usual rebuts it was conceded. In summary, if you want sit in comfortable surroundings with a lovely ambiance and are prepared to pay through the nose for not even poor mediocre lukewarm food with poor service on top...

If I could give 0 stars, I would.

We booked CAVO to celebrate my girlfriend’s 25th birthday, expecting a great evening. Instead, it turned into one of the worst dining experiences we’ve ever had.

Here’s why: • Booking chaos: Our confirmed reservation wasn’t on their list. We were told to wait at the bar and didn’t get seated until 20:50 — almost an hour after our 20:00 booking. It felt like a tactic to make guests spend more at the bar. • Terrible seating: Despite booking in advance, we were seated at a cramped high table next to the bar, surrounded by people standing around and shouting over music. We asked for a proper table and were moved… to another high table a few steps away. • Service was a disaster: • Our starter never arrived. We only got a few olives and bread (which the waitress dropped on the floor). The replacement bread never came. • Drinks took 30+ minutes to arrive, even after asking three times. • We spoke to five different staff about the missing starter — ignored every time. • Mains arrived at 22:30. To make it worse, a waiter took our table lamp mid-meal to prepare food for another table. • No one checked on us once. Not for drinks, not for food quality.

When I raised this with the manager, she admitted we weren’t the only ones complaining that night — meaning this is clearly a pattern. They “removed the bread and starter” from the bill, which is laughable considering we never received them.

I had also arranged for a surprise dessert with candles for my girlfriend, but by then we were so frustrated that we left without celebrating.

CAVO is all style, zero substance. An overpriced, Instagram-driven spot with no real hospitality. Avoid it at all costs.

We ended up at Karnagio next door for dessert — the staff there were warm, attentive, and completely turned our night around. Highly recommend Karnagio (their lemon mousse is amazing) instead.

In short: Don’t go to CAVO....