Ωκύαλος — Restaurant in Municipality of Sifnos

From the parking lot, admittedly, it was a difficult-to-locate haunt, tucked away and nestled among a strip of cafes, hand-crafted jewelers, and other cute, feel-good shops. Once one arrives at the destination, there is no fanfare to signal the arrival, no illuminated signs nor hearty greetings. However, any feelings accrued during the journey to the establishment were at once offset by the extremely prompt and hospitable staff. Quick to re-fill and even quicker with a smile, the staff was responsive to our needs and questions; truly a delight. It goes without saying that this post, building towards its obvious crescrendo, has now reached that feverish pitch: it is time to talk about the cuisine. As a large group, we opted to order a smattering of appetizers and entrees that the whole family could try (or not for some of our more picky dinner-goers). For fear of prolonging the suspense and ultimately turning you off, I will tell you all that we got now: Octopus, mussels, chickpea soup, dakos salad, vegetable moussaka, vegetable skewer, and chicken filet. I must say that as each course was presented to us, I kept reveling in the seemingly never-ending goodness that was this night (in no small part thanks to the wonderfully sweet white wine that we paired with our meal). Words cannot capture the essence of the night. If I was told to describe the night in a...

A real disappointment, we sent back our main courses.

This restaurant came highly recommended. A total let down. Our starter of king prawn was shocking. Warmed up tomato paste, 3 (suspiciously clean) and loose heads and 3 tails of tiger king prawn (left over from another plate?) And 4 tiny (frozen ?)shrimps from a packet and not the same species, the whole thing covered with limp cold chips. Our other starter of dips were ok but tasted straight out of a jar with too much vinegar. Just awful. The bread rolls were straight out of a supermarket packet and were stale. Our main courses were a total car crash, parpadelle (microwaved as some of it was super hot and the rest luke warm) again with tomato paste out of a tube, 2 tiny pieces of dry beef , no jus or gravy (meant to be Ragu) and an awful sour cream on top. My partner's stuffed cabbage leaves which was served with a foul smelling clear gravy, was so dull it wasn't worthy of a hospital canteen. We didn't touch it after 2 bites and sent it back politely. Our waitress was classy enough to apologise and was really nice with it all, they still wanted to charge us for the main courses which we again politely declined. Shocking. Lastly, the pictures posted online looked nothing like the food we were served. Avoid is a fair...

We came back for a second go as it was so good the first time...This time we went at night and it was even better: the soft lighting, the presentation of the wonderful food, the ever friendly Wilson and the owner's lovely daughter-in-law made for a super evening. Everything was delicious and beautifully presented, but have to give a special mention to the Sifnos cheese with fig compote. Even if you don't like figs you'll love this!

Last visit Pretty, small taverna, located on the beautiful pedestrian lane through Appolonia. The food was absolutely delicious: chickpea dumplings, Dakos salad, and bread. The house wine is served by bottle €24 euros, or €6 per glass. It's a bit pricey but it's delicious wine and they are generous with the quantity. It's run by a charming, smiling, hard working manager named Wilson. When we dined he was on his own, serving, clearing tables, helping the chef, and much more...his smile never slipped. Highly...