Basalt Restaurant | Ammoudi Bay Santorini — Restaurant in Municipality of Thira

We used to go to another restaurant in the same Bay, but they have changed a lot in recent years so we were looking for another place to try. Basalt is fairly new, and based on the reviews we booked dinner here for our Anniversary. It's safe to say this will be our new yearly celebration spot! Of course there is the setting, on the gorgeous Ammoudi Bay in Oia. But Basalt bumps it up a notch, with a resident DJ playing the background music for your day or evening (I really loved that touch). We were seated right along the water's edge, though I will say in late August when the sun sets it is positioned so that you may not see it the whole way down (in case that is important to you, ask if there's a seat where it's all in view or maybe get up and walk further down at that time). The staff is ALL super friendly and fun, and that struck me immediately. There were 2 women helping seat reservations, both so sweet (later in our dinner they were being handed people's babies, it was adorable). We had a main server (Yiannis) and his assistant (Giórgos), both guys were FABULOUS! You know how sometimes when you go to a high end restaurant and the servers and people are stuffy and uppity, and it's almost a "high-pressure sales" type of environment? This is a high end restaurant, but it's not that way. It's lighthearted and fun, with extremely high quality food, perfectly cooked, served with smiles and warmth the way Greece is absolutely known for. We had the saganaki cheese (please order this, I cannot stop thinking about the cheese, wrapped in an ultra-crispy crust with a lightly sweet lemon flavor) and ribeye steaks (also perfectly cooked and with this brown butter that was so good I could have drank it straight from the little bowl) followed by their Basque Cheesecake (it's smothered in a strawberry sauce, with strawberry sorbet, and it's heavenly). The great service coupled with such incredible food and served on Ammoudi Bay? Don't miss this restaurant. I cannot wait to go back. It was so good that I completely forgot to take photos of the food, and I cannot remember the last time...

Let me start by saying I don’t do these often and sadly only really do when I have a mixed / bad experience. Was very excited to come try, made a reservation at 10€ per person. When we got to the restaurant there was open seating near the water, I told the hostess we had an 2045 reservation and asked to sit by the water, but she instructed us that to have that table it would be 45-60 minutes, so we decided to sit across the walking path near the bar (where only 3 other tables were occupied (so not a full restaurant). Once we sat down no one came to check on us for 10 minutes and during that time 2 couples at the bar waiting with no reservations were seated near the water, one at the table we were told would be a 45 minute wait WITH our reservation, so those two events happening right off the back really frustrated us.

From the time we were waited on until the time we finished our food we had a great experience. The waiter was knowledgeable and personable and the food was top notch. Several employees came to check on how we were doing during this period of time.

But the time we finished our food to the time we paid was almost unbearable. Our food plates were cleared but then no once came to check on us for 15-20 minutes and I had to request from another employee, not our waiter, to ask for the check so we could pay and leave.

Overall I’m just disappointed that I expected great service, hospitality, and food but only got 1 of those boxes fully covered. I hope, and see by the reviews, that others have / will have all 3 of these boxes checked off which is great!

I just think to pay 20€, then not be sat by the water when there is an open table, is not appreciating those customers that make and pay for reservations which isn’t right. Then not being checked up on before / after the food service spoiled my perception of this restaurant and...

A bit on the pricier side but an absolute must try if you can go! The staff is all super friendly and you can tell they like to work there because it shows with how thorough and passionate they are. To start off they bring out a sample show of both the freshly caught fish from that morning and the assortment of steaks they have. It’s a full experience they give you. To start off my parents got a sangria which they said was really nice, and I got the “Basalt” drink. It was really well made and clean tasting and it tasted kind of like a green pina colada. After that for appetizers we got the white fish ceviche and the Aegean Shrimp Tacos. Both were absolutely amazing, super fresh and filled with lots of different spices. Both appetizers were around 20€. For the mains we ended up choosing the Mosxida steak and the Red Snapper. It is more of a shared dinner where you order a steak or fish and share it with the table because it is expensive but comes in big portions. The steak came with chimichurri, some sort of butter cream sauce and veggies. The butter sauce tasted like absolute heaven and the chimichurri was amazing as well. The steak was cooked perfectly and the flaky salt it came with elevated it. For the fish it came with a buttery olive oil sauce and was cooked very well. They debone and fillet it right in front of you so it’s a cool little experience. The skin of the fish had amazing seasonings on it and paired perfectly with the delicate fillets. For dessert we got the “Salami” which looks like a log of salami but in reality it is a chocolate fudge with nuts and cookies topped on it. It was my favourite dessert so far I’ve had in all of Greece. At the end they gave us shots of limoncello as a nice finish to the meal. Overall one of the best experiences I’ve ever had and definitely my favourite restaurant I’ve been...