Iliovasilema — Restaurant in Municipality of Syros and Ermoupoli

The location and food at the restaurant were quite good. Unfortunately, the experience was significantly marred by the poor service – specifically from a lady named Fani, who was in charge of taking orders (head waiter).

We were a party of two and ordered: one bottle of wine, a salad, taramas mousse, sea urchin with sea greens, red mullet tartare, grilled calamari, grilled prawns, and fried potatoes.

I politely asked Ms. Fani if it would be possible for the dishes to be served at a slower pace, so we could enjoy our evening with a second bottle of wine and perhaps some additional dishes. Her response was surprisingly rigid: “The chef does not accept additional orders, so whatever you want, you must order now.”

It’s worth noting that when we made the reservation, there was no mention of any time limit or ordering restriction.

Considering it was Holy Saturday and the restaurant might have been under pressure, we accepted the situation and stuck with our original order.

Then, the food service began – starting with the fried potatoes, even before the salad had arrived. I politely asked if the fries could be brought out later, alongside the main dishes. Ms. Fani’s response was unnecessarily sarcastic: “If you don’t eat them now, you won’t be able to order them again.”

I replied calmly: “In that case, please take them back – I don’t want them.”

She then turned to a junior waitress and, in a dismissive tone, said: “Offer the fries to another table.”

Later, once all the dishes had been served (within 15–20 minutes), I asked a different waitress if we could get a portion of fries. Ms. Fani reappeared and said bluntly: “You cannot order fries, sorry.”

This entire interaction completely ruined the atmosphere, our mood, and appetite. All over a portion of fries – despite the fact that our bill had already reached €190, and with further wine and food (fish of the day)we would have easily gone up to €320-350 euro.

I don’t usually write reviews, especially not negative ones. I’ve visited numerous restaurants of this caliber and higher, both in Greece and abroad, and I fully understand the challenges of hospitality. But the attitude of this specific staff member was completely unprofessional and unacceptable.

Thank you for the setting and the food – and I truly hope that the owner and chef, Mr. Bougiouris, will take this feedback into consideration. It would be a shame for such a well-located and promising restaurant to be let down by poor service. I hope he considers assigning more responsibility to some of the other delightful and truly professional staff – like Anna, who stood out with her...

I was thinking long if I should write the review or not as I don’t like to be negative etc. but what we experienced here can’t be stay silent… We arrived last week evening to Syros and as we were hungry we eat at the port then we continued to our hotel to Galissas. We wanted to have a dessert and beer/cocktail after arriving to enjoy the first evening in Galissas. We sit into this restaurant, more then the half of the restaurant was empty and ordered 2 most expensive desserts (2x€8,50) additional a beer and I asked for the cocktail menu or if they don’t have I would have ordered wine instead. Then the waitress came back that they don’t serve only dessert and drinks, they only offer the whole dinner… we said oh sorry we already eat so we can’t eat the whole menu…. Waitress answered: “no problem, but we don’t serve only desserts.” What? No problem? We couldn’t say anything we were just shocked. The other waiter tried to make the situation better as he said so sorry maybe in the next one you can find something… I never experienced such a thing, common the restaurant was not even half full, because I understand if it would be full and others are waiting for the table and then they want to have a full menu table but it was not the case… as we ordered their most expensive cake I really can’t believe that they don’t need €30… this service is the worst which I have ever experienced…. Especially in Greece the service is always so friendly and great, this restaurant needs to visit other places to learn how to service… Don’t worry we found the best rated restaurant which has more beautiful view and the prices are cheaper!!! As we were shocked from this situation, we asked there if it’s possible to eat “only” dessert and drink, they just didn’t understand the question, immediate answer: “yes of course of course, you are very welcome” You know there we spent not even €15 s for the best service here we would have spent for sure €30… And you know if the cake would have been tasty we would for sure come back for lunch or dinner next evening as we did in...

The restaurant's food quality is good and is one with the highest quality and definitely the most expensive in Galissas. However, for a top restaurant, the service is not top and does not match the premium vibes. In other restaurants on the island you were always warmly welcomed, here you didn't get the impression that you were even wanted.

When we only ordered a main menu and drinks we were looked at strangely. We were told that we had to order everything immediately and that it was not possible to order later. I have never experienced anything like this before. They don't want me to order more and spend more money?

The food prices are significantly higher than in the surrounding restaurants. The fish/ seafood dishes were really excellent but the portion was tiny for €22 without any sides. We weren’t very hungry so it was fine. If we had been very hungry or normally hungry, we would have come out hungry.

We spend 60€ in total but If you are very hungry you are going to spend at least 60 € per Person for food and drinks. The prices are two times as high compared to neighbouring restaurants.

CONCLUSION Food quality: Top. Service: Bad - The worst we have experienced on 5 week long trips to Greece Price-performance ratio: not good

In other restaurants you can eat much cheaper and get larger portions paired with excellent service. Right next door, for example, is Restaurant Benois, which offers great value for money and...