Il Familia — Restaurant in Sami Municipality

VERY BAD COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT - CATCH OF THE DAY IS FROZEN FISH (Tourist Scam))

Absolute disaster!

Having read so many positive reviews I booked a sea edge table for the celebration of my boyfriends birthday. We were so happy to experience delicious Greek cuisine and catch of the day fish. Unfortunately, we were deeply disappointed with the bad quality food & rude service, which almost ruined our evening.

In the beginning, the waitress offered us the menu and highly recommended the daily specials: two different kinds of "catch of the day" fish, fresh fish salad with caviar for the appetizer.

The appetizer salad was just swimming in mayonnaise and the taste was rather like fish from tins than fresh fish, so that we asked for some lemon and chopped cucumbers to neutralize the taste of canned fish. First disappointment.

To be fair, the bread and the aubergine salad tasted really good.

After that, came the main course which was absolutely criminal.

Both mains were not eatable at all. We are sure it was a defrosted fish, which was very dry. The fish meat didn´t fall easily apart as it normally should with a fresh catch of the day fish. instead, it was chewy and oversalted. My boyfriend's dish was full of panade and under the panade, you could find the same tasteless and oversalted peace of defrosted fish.

Both dishes were returned to the kitchen uneaten.

We tried to complain about the dishes and explain our disappointment in a polite way,

Instead of carefully listening to a costumers complaint, the staff just took our plates and didn't even ask what was wrong with food nor listen to what we had to say.

Without listening to what we had to say the reply was just: "The fish is fresh" and "it's okay, we take it back". We think that this is a sign of a tourist scam that has been exposed. Because a caring caterer would want to listen to what the costumers have to say.

To be fair the staff came back with the menus to offer an alternative main. We did decline the offer, trank our wine and asked for the bill.

As I paid the bill, I tried again to communicate with the waitress and try to explain what was wrong with the food, but again she turned her back and went away while I was still speaking to her. For me, this was another display of rude behavior.

In the end, I don´t know what was worse: the unprofessional and rude behavior, the careless complaint management, or the very bad fish which was most probably just defrosted.

Last but not least the food was highly overpriced. We paid 45 EUR for two starters and one bottle of...

This was the 4th summer I visited Familia. I must highlight that in all previous times, Familia delivered to the maximum and certainly deserved a 5-star review. However this time there were many issues with the whole experience. The menu for one more year was sort of the same. I.e Athinaiki salad is a delicious plate but I can't see it at the special of the day anymore. Add it to the menu and be more creative with your specials every day. Similarly with the rest of the menu. Service was fine up until the point that we had to wait for nearly an hour to be served the main dish after the first plates. The restaurant wasn't that busy to justify this long delay. On top of it, no apologies whatsoever. As for the food lots of issues. Lobster risotto and prawns risotto were cooked in a very dark super salty broth which tasted very smokey. Both dishes were cooked the same way with the only difference in the toppings ( prawn or lobster). Prawns pasta was salty enough to cover every other flavour. Stuffed Calamari was okay but just that. Fava was tasteless and the salad we ordered was over-covered with some balsamic sauce.

We discussed the food with the woman in service and she seemed very accepting saying she will feedback to the chef.

The bill in the end was significantly higher compared to previous years. I get it there is a lot of inflation going on but still not justifiable.

We left with some disappointment this time. Maybe it was a bad day but decided not to eat at Familia for the rest of the holidays we were in Sami. I hope things will go back to the good old experiences I had dining at them the previous years.

For sure, Familia belongs to the top 10 restaurants...

We had dinner at La Familia restaurant twice in a row during our holiday in Sami in the middle of September, it was amazing! Unfortunately, we found the restaurant during the last days of our stay, but we had the best dishes there! The food is delicious, always try their special dishes! 👌 They have perfectly fresh salads as well. I enjoyed them the most, as I am vegetarian! 🥗 The staff is also great, as they speak English perfectly and Kalina also speaks Bulgarian, which was super! The owner is really friendly as well and is always there to help and talk to everybody if they are satisfied with the service. If you love to eat sea food and salads, have a lovely atmosphere and communicate with the nicest staff, La Familia is your place! 🦪🥙 Special thanks to Kalina - she is the best, always smiling and so kind to everybody, we love her! ❤❤❤ Thank you from Alexandra, Yanko, Gabriela, Dimitar, Arkan and Cvetomir. 💜💚🧡🤎💛💙 We love you and will be back...