ΚΑΡΥΔΙΕΣ ΤΑΒΕΡΝΑ — Restaurant in Municipality of Samothraki

The most unpleasant restaurant experience, in spite of the fact that the food was delicious. We went with high expectations, considering the very good rating here. But at some point, I had to use the restroom which, by any decent human standards, was unusable. Imagine the trash vomiting dirty paper, a strand of it hanging from the toilet seat, and a flood of 2 cm on the floor. It’s an approximation, but considering my sandals soles have 3 cm and I was still able to walk in just to at least wash my hands, I think it’s pretty accurate. I was a bit sorry I didn’t check it first as the good old advice says that a kitchen restaurant is just as clean as its bathrooms.

In the end, the owner asked us for feedback, so we gave an honest one. We were waiting for an “I’m sorry”. Instead, he rambled about how important is that the food is great, because the rest are just small things that don’t really matter, and that the place was too busy that evening for the staff to have time to check this small detail. Huh? Under no circumstances a restroom should look like that. So as a responsible customer, I knew I had to leave a review. But picture or it didn’t happen. On my way out, I passed by the crime scene to take a photo. At this time things looked a little bit better - they emptied the trash and the flood was gone, it just left a wet floor. He saw me taking a picture and with a burst of angry laughter he told me: “You’re funny”. I said: “No, I’m serious” and headed to the exit. He told me to go “far away”. But then he came after us, to continue some kind of arguing, looking at our license number, like it would have any kind of relevance where we were from in this dispute and started asking us about Ceausescu. Flash news: he’s dead, we are in 2023, both Greece and Romania are part of the EU, and, as a customer, I have the right to say when something is not right. We noticed he had a rock in his hands which he threw over our car as a show-off. Probably he took it when he got out of the restaurant to follow us, and then he realized is not the best move to throw it at us.

Still, what’s wrong with you, man? Yes, some things don’t matter so much, like the mediocre service or the poor English your staff has, that’s why we still wanted to leave a tip. But we couldn’t, because the POS didn’t allow that, although the waiter said it was possible to do that. If you want to run a place that only relies on how good is the food, a food truck in the street is for you. A restaurant should offer an experience. And ours tonight was disgusting and terrifying, in the end.

I hope you will get something good from this review. Otherwise, now you also know my real name, so throw an arrow at me or something that comes naturally to you, beast!

LE: I tried to add a screenshot of the first reply (I had a feeling he will change it) I got from the owner: still rambling, but at least admitting threatening us. I guess he realized his poor judgment again, and someone helped him write a better one - for him.

Hey, Google!? Why is posting the screenshot against your policy? It is a world’s info that you should make it accessible & useful. Power to the truthful people of the Internet!

I described the facts exactly how they happened. The only problems I have are with his hygiene standards, lack of empathy when this was brought to his attention and his arrogance. If one of us has problems that need therapy, that's him: anger management and now being a lame liar. He's not able to take feedback in a constructive way, and considers that any criticism happens because people are malicious. I took some time to read the other 1 star reviews and it all adds up. His favorite line at negative feedback is ”you're funny". Now this is really starting to be funny, from where I stand. About the staff's English: we only tried to discuss the menu options, but unfortunately it was a challenge for them. What else can I say... luckily he didn't have time to grab a big knife from...

Overall a poor experience.

I called and asked for a reservation. They told me that they don't accept and if we go before 6pm, since we are two people we will find it easy to find a table.

We arrived at 5.15 and waited for a full hour under the heat to sit at a table. We ordered. My food - lamb and plumbs- arrived at 7.20.

Dozens of wasps over our table, aggressively fighting to get in our plates.

Overall the goat was very good and the semisweet wine, but all starters were not. Watery tomatoes, oversalted zucchini, and saganaki cheese which was not sagani, but tomato and onion covered cheese.

Overall a bad experience, and unnecessary hustle. They should and must have a reservation system, as there are no other options nearby. The staff also is either shorthanded or slow. We could have stayed for an hour and ended up staying for two as the food came late and we payed 20 minutes after we asked for the bill.

Edit: I think the owner's reply says it all. There are tons of stuff you can do about wasps, as 300+ taverns I have been to in Greece and abroad have done so.

Also the salty comment about my mood can be explained by a place that has a waiting time for an hour plus, when they tell you to "just come here, no waiting time before 6 pm". Put reservations, and end of story. When no other options are nearby you are stuck in this limbo.

As long as their good relationship with Athinorama lasts, this place won't have a problem with revenue. Just know that their reputation is undeserved, as most taverns in the island have better food, and much much...

Summary: the food took long, it wasn’t up to the standards of the place and the staff was horrible. We had to drive through an awful road to get there and had to wait for literally two hours for the plates to arrive. We were a party of three people. We thought it was worth the wait because we had heard the best about the cooking. All three dishes were below average and all were goat. The specialty of the place. You could get the same thing at someone’s back yard. The first plate came at a reasonable time and the person who got it was mostly satisfied (500gr we were told was the food. Only 30 of those were meet and edible). The rest two we were waiting two hours for. One of them was overcooked and the person who ordered eat could eat half, and the other was supposed to be liver and we got kidneys and parts of hearts instead. It was also overlooked (if not burnt) and the person who ordered it couldn’t eat any of it. When the “liver” arrived, we made a remark: “well it took two hours but at least it’s here” and the waiter said “well even if you didn’t mentioned that it would still be here”. To say it was rude is an understatement. When we tried the dish and saw it was inedible, we decided we should at least give it to some dogs instead. While trying to get a box to put the food in to take it to go, the rest of the waiters had an awful attitude and didn’t apologize once...