Tassia Restaurant — Restaurant in Sami Municipality

Summary: An unpleasant experience. Below standard food. Poor service. Not value for money. Left with a general feel that this was a money grabbing restaurant that does not value its customers. One star for not poisoning us and one star for the location that is great (as are all restaurants in Fiskardo). The reasons I have given this score are described in greater detail below.

We knew that Tassia is like a sort of legend with respect to cooking and has almost linked her name to the wonderful village of Fiscardo. Neither I nor my wife had ever tasted her food so we were looking forward to going to her place during our first ever visit to the isle of Kefalonia. We knew it was going to be busy so we booked a table the day before. Moreover we did mention we were keen on the lobster with pasta. The following day when we arrived, we were seated in probably one of the worst seats, near the entrance to the restaurant while also facing the pedestrian path, with no view of the sea. We felt that given the fact we had made a booking well in advance and also were planning on having a rather costly meal, there would have been some appreciation on their behalf..... Anyway, we were sure the food would make up for that. Or so we thought.

The waiters were clearly having a busy day and kept sweeping across our seats. When we gave our order, they did not appear to be very knowledgeable of the menu. As we had already pre-ordered the lobster however, I went in and chose one that was as fresh as they come (1.2kg). We also ordered a couple of other things. Some breads were swiftly served once the order was made but those were clearly stale. Our salad and octopus kefte arrived very quickly too as if they were trying to close all orders in some sort of record time. What became apparent during the first 5 mins (order, breads, starters and wine all delivered) was how loud the owner (Tassia) was that was located just behind us, giving orders continuously in a rather militant fashion to her workmen. Making matters worse her language was not the most refined, making the whole experience worse. Food wise, our salad was very average and the octopus balls (kefte) appeared rather burnt , black, and oval shaped.... and tasted not great either. The mouse of octopus did not have much octopus in and it all felt as heavy as a bullet. We were optimistic that the main part, our lobster pasta dish would be smashing......

Once the pasta dish came things did not appear right. May I say that for years we have had this kind of dish during our summer vacations and know what works. This may be rather subjective but we know... The pasta was overdone. So unfortunately was the lobster that was quite rubbery. The sauce though.... Here was the big faux pas. It clearly had something that was surely cheese. The sauce was stringy and you could see the hardened residue on the spoon once the temperature decreased. Once challenged, they denied this was the case.... Moreover at no point did they ask us how our meal was.

We were unable to finish our meal. It was the whole night’s experience that let us down really. We felt like just one extra customer. The food was clearly below par and the rest was just extra negative points. At this price point I would only be able to recommend nearby restaurants, just up the street that have much better food and better service. We will never visit again....

It’s established, having celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, opening in 1972, when Derby County and Panathinaikos were the top dogs, but where are they now. My point is that the oldest kid on the block isn’t always the best or the smartest. We pre-booked the night before and asked for a table quayside. The initial response was we can’t promise, so we thought, hey, they’ll pull it out of the bag. On arrival, when we asked for a specific table (unreserved), the manager thought it legit to shout at my wife (happy anniversary love!) hollering “it’s a table for five”. Fair point but the attitude was surprising. This is clearly a place that doesn’t care about its customers. It’s a cash cow that rakes it in, in one of most picturesque harbours in the whole of Greece. The waiter we had was cool, with good service, but as we ate, the “team” brought more tables out, building further down the jetty and quayside, like they owned the place. More cash to be had. I can imagine the other restauranteurs can’t abide their arrogance. We were in Fiskardo for 5 nights and visited other places - check our reviews elsewhere, but it’s safe to say that most of them had top notch customer service. The food at Tassia was good - we shared a 1kg bream that was filleted for us. The veg however had been boiled to within an inch of its life. The accompanying salad with figs was also tasty, but the first 5 minutes was hard to forget. They need to drag themselves into modern restaurant etiquette, and consider customers wishes, instead of just seeing them as dollar/euro/pound loaded...

This is my 4th summer in a row in Greece. I almost always get the classic Greek service and sense of hospitality from the restaurants I go to. This was an exception. My family and I, a group of 5, were spending a beautiful day in Fiskardo when we decided it was time to eat. Tassia’s seemed promising. Beautiful atmosphere right by the water. It was us and another table of 2 that were being served. From the moment we sat down we felt unwelcome. The staff was distracted and and inattentive. Our waiter went missing in action and after a while we finally had to ask someone to get him. He finally came to take our order and he was the most impersonal waiter I’ve ever encountered. While taking our order my son had ordered the pasta with clam dish and asked for additional prawns to be added which he seemed to understand. The food came and the clam dish came with no prawns. My son asked where the prawns were and our waiter proceeded to argued and then insisted that he did not order prawns and that they don’t deviate from the menu. I told him that I had heard him order the prawns and if that was the case he should have said something right there. He was visibly annoyed but guess what happened? He deviated from the menu and had the prawns added. Bottom line was we felt uncomfortable, the service was terrible and I reflected it with no tip. I wish I had looked at the Google reviews before we sat down. A restaurant with a 4.0 rating is not good in...