MIA'S RESTAURANT SANTORINI — Restaurant in Municipality of Thira

Don’t be fooled by my photos — the food had a nice presentation; but, the flavors were… ugh.

— It took literally one hour from the time of our reservation to even get a basket of bread at our table. Service was incredibly slow and disorganized.

— The nykteri we had for our aperitifs were sour and tasted oxidized. The “somm” said it was only in the beginning of oxidation and that it should be fine to drink. Seriously???

(Note: We actually visited the winery the next day and tasted the same wine and vintage. It was not at all what was served at Mia’s. The one from the winery was clearly beautiful to the nose and lovely to taste.)

— Our server discouraged my spouse from ordering a steak medium rare, which was his preference, because, according to the server, Greek beef can be tough when not cooked a bit more. The server encouraged us to get temperature to medium. I ordered mine medium+ and it arrived very well done! The meat was actually tough as a result of being over-cooked. Gross. It may have been better as medium-rare.

— The fish and couscous dish were over salted.

— During this time in Santorini, evenings can be very cool for outdoor or rooftop dining, especially with the wind factor. While they offered us blankets to keep us warm, the service was incredibly slow that we could barely stand the cold even with the blankets.

— On our way out, we asked for the cork for a bottle of wine we ordered for dinner. The “somm” said he couldn’t find it anymore and told us to simply walk out with an open bottle. Again — seriously??? The manager noticed this and then put a foil around the tip of the wine bottle. A foil!!! I can’t make this stuff up.

The one pleasant experience in this whole fiasco-of-a-dinner was the hostess. She was pleasant.

Santorini is one of our favorite travel destinations. Thank goodness for other restaurants with amazing dishes and outstanding service, even during Covid times.

This place was a waste of time...

Mia’s was down the road from where we stayed so we decided to quickly reserve and have dinner there. We got to the island late at night and didn’t have any other choice.

We were greeted by a nice lady who checked our reservation and showed us our seats.

We ordered water and just when the water came and how we were served, we realized we chose a fancy restaurant. Like I said, we were just hungry and chose the nearest restaurant from us.

After water, we got the drinks menu. We thought the description of the drinks were spot on. It also helped us guess what it would taste like. I got a Tangy Refreshing one which I liked. My friends liked their cocktails too. We thought they were a little pricey but they were good!

Next, we were served with butter and bread. The butter was very good!

We ordered our meals for dinner. We ordered the following:

King Crab & Asparagus: this was so delicious. Portion could feed two for a starter.

Roasted Bone Marrow: very flavorful. Small portion because it’s bone marrow. You may or may not be lucky

Crispy Barbouni with Couscous: looked small but it was quite filling. The aroma and taste were flavorful

Baby Rooster Stuffed with Truffles: I think this is the star of what we had. Two people ordered this and couldn’t stop raving about how delicious it was.

Oxtail Pastitsio: we didn’t really like this but you can eat it.

It is a fancy restaurant and even though we thought they were pricey at first, they really came through with all the packed flavors. I would recommend this restaurant. They know what...

What we loved: The food and service was excellent. The baby rooster was the best we ever tasted and so was the potato mouse that went along with the Greek Rib-Eye Steak.

What we felt uncomfortable about: The cutlery was placed directly on the flat surface of the table. They did clean the table a couple of times during our stay, but still, the cloth they cleaned it with was used to clean other surfaces as well. And the cutlery comes in direct contact with our mouth, so… In addition the ice they use for the drinks is placed as an exhibit near the entrance and even thought that looks really impressive it is completely uncovered, so as we go by and talk or cough or sneeze, all these go directly on the ice and then inevitably into our drinks. Not very hygienic (especially during an airborne virus pandemic).

What we didn’t like: We made the dinner reservation to celebrate our wedding anniversary and, following the restaurant’s advice on their web page, we let then know about it a day before so that their team “would create a memorable moment” for us, as they specifically state on their site. Not only they did absolutely nothing, but we noticed that they did offer complimentary vinsanto drinks to a couple of tourists sitting next to us (who, as we unintentionally heard, had a bill much smaller that ours). They only offered us a couple of “loukoumi” with the bill which, as Greeks, we know that it is not up to the standards of a high class restaurant. It is disappointing when one is promised something that one...