Χορεύτρα — Restaurant in Municipality of Tinos

Not for Families. Expensive unnecessarily w/o any menu options for kids.

Where have the humble roots of this once-charming taverna gone? The restaurant, once a hidden gem, with hearty, unpretentious dishes prepared with care and tradition. Now, one must practically take out a second mortgage to eat there as a family (we paid 300 € for 4 adults and 4 small kids). Hey guys we don't need our fried potatoes with Louza powder and cheese foam. Such exotic usage of these materials are really unnecessary esp. when kids want to eat them. A dehydrated Louza btw loses completely its taste! Just market your restaurant, excluding families.

The materials used are good, but their execution on main dishes is poor ending up with pretty heavy combinations e.g. Beef cheeks with nioki. Couldnt even eat half of it. In the tagliatelle with artichoke one could not taste the artichoke at all, which is a feat in itself given the flavors that such an ingredient could produce. The Salads were good and closer still to the roots of this taverna with unpretentious usage of fresh ingredients. Overall, the once-abundant array of small dishes with local delicacies have been overshadowed by a gourmet-type shift. It seemed as though the kitchen had level up its techniques, but forgotten to pick up the essence of the islands along the way.

In conclusion, while the experience wasn't entirely unpleasant, this once-authentic taverna has taken a detour to the land of fancy experimentation, leaving behind its roots and affordability for a family. But If you have a wallet as thick as Zeus's beard this might be a choice. As for me, I'll be searching for that charming little taverna on a hidden Cyclades alley where authenticity and fair prices are really on the agenda.

ps1. Even the service was pretentious and oversized. They charged us couver for 10 people 25€ (is this still legal in Greece?) whereas we were only 8 in total, out of which 4 of them small kids till 9 years old. The Tagliatelle dishes we ordered for our two 7-year daughters were big enough each to feed a small army. One dish would have been sufficient but the waiter didn't mention it.

ps2. The kids when we return in our hotel, were asking for...

This is a sincere and honest review. Sorry to say, but Xoreutra, for me, was a complete farse! GIFFD (Greek Impersonal Fast-Fine Dining) at its best! A gastronomic experience meats fast food! We were advised at the time of our reservation that a time slot of 1 hour and 30 minutes was a prerequisite, which I of course agreed to without hesitation. Time slots do exist at many restaurants world wide, which I fully respect. Our reservation was for 2030 hours and we arrived at 2035 hours, only to be greeted by an “I-Robot” impersonal-maitre. May I add that our table was not ready and waited for 5mins till we were seated! However, while we were seated at around 2040 hours our order was taken about 20 mins later, and only after having to flag down the waiter to take the order. Moreover, Xoreutra, unnecessarily may I add, has a “Sommelier”. Unnecessarily, because the wine list, out of white, red and rose does not include more than 30 wines and the “Sommelier” while eagerly wanting, and rightly so, to recommend some wines for your dinner only reduces your stay at the restaurant. Xoreutra is only interested in fast table turnarounds, nothing else, expecting that the gastronomic experience will alleviate the anxiety, the poor atmosphere and the feeling of being rushed out. This is the first time in any of the restaurants I have visited world wide that I have been brought the bill without asking for it, and being denied to order a desert. Moreover, you should see the lines of people queuing up to be seated! Might as well be “Xoreutra Station”. Seriously, there is no reason to endure such an experience. If you are going to have time slots you have to know how to properly manage them, Xoreutra has no clue of managing time slots! Fewer clients and more personal attention is what Xoreutra needs! Till then, any gastronomic experience at this restaurant...

We visited this restaurant on our last night at Tinos. Knowing that it's an expensive restaurant on a small village on the mountain, and having read the reviews, the expectations were quite high. Unfortunately they were not met. The food was good, nothing was disappointing but certainly not exceptional. It's definitely better than the (also expensive) touristic places in the Chora, but not comparable to the restaurants in Athens-Thessaloniki (or even Wien-Berlin) of this price range. On the positive side, the service was good, polite and fast even when they were busy. Parking is not available near the restaurant, you have to park on the main road but we didn't have any trouble finding a spot.

Also on the negative side: There are no kids options, we didn't expect this on a traditional style restaurant on an island. The alcohol free options are very limited (even beer was not available that night) Left us with a bad impression that there was no welcome drink or after dinner fruit or sweet treat as it's usual in almost every Greek restaurant. We are used to that when eating in other European countries, but certainly not in Greece. We were also charged 10euros for bread and 2euros for a bottle of water. If you want to follow the European standards (as with the treats for example) then you should also follow them on this aspect and offer it as a service that we can decline or not order, not as mandatory.

Overall it was good food, we had high expectations, but the value for money is very low, and the other negatives mentioned, make us not choose again or recommend...