Κουκουνάρι Πάπιγκο — Restaurant in Zagori Municipality

This café is in a beautiful traditional mountain village that I’ve enjoyed visiting over the years. When I first came here a few years ago, it felt welcoming, with ceramic cups, wooden furniture, and a more personal service.

On my recent visit, the experience was disappointing. The place has shifted to self-service, the traditional wooden furniture has been replaced with modern metal pieces, and the warm character has largely been lost. Even more troubling is that every drink and dessert now comes in disposable paper cups, paper plates and paper cutlery — there are no reusable options at all. For a café in such a natural setting, surrounded by springs and mountains, relying entirely on single-use items feels wasteful and environmentally careless. Compostable or not, it still means huge amounts of unnecessary waste for something as simple as a cup of coffee. Compostable is way worse environmentally than reusable ceramic.

The desserts remain tasty, but the coffee experience was inconsistent. I asked for a drip coffee and explained it clearly, yet was served an americano instead — disappointing.

The service attitude also felt unwelcoming. As paying customers (around €10 per visit for coffee and dessert), we asked for a simple glass of tap water. Instead, we were told to buy bottled water, and only once, reluctantly, did we receive a paper cup after insisting. The next day we were refused again. For a café in Greece — where offering water with coffee is a basic part of hospitality — this was disappointing and out of step with local tradition.

I understand the desire to cut costs and simplify, but refusing water to paying customers while producing large amounts of single-use waste does not leave a good impression. A compostable paper cup may cost the café around 10cents — I would gladly pay that extra if it helped reduce plastic — but denying a cup of water to someone who has already spent €10–15 comes across as wrong.

This village deserves a café that reflects its character, traditions, and natural beauty, not one that feels that cutting cost is the number one priority and at the expense of environmental...

Sadly the experience we had was opposite of most of the glowing reviews left previously. Extremely rude staff and inhospitable treatment.

Upon arriving, we moved a table ever so slightly(no more than 3-4 inches) so that the 4 seats were not in the sun. We were immediately chastised by the staff and told to move the table back in a very abrasive and rude manner. When we explained it was because of the sun, they said if we didn’t like the policy we could leave- mind you we were also with our baby.

This was the total opposite experience of how an establishment should treat their paying guests. We were simply trying to move out of the sun so we could enjoy the experience and the staff was totally unwilling to accommodate us in a small way.

I wish instead we had chosen to leave since our presence was clearly so not needed or wanted.

After eating the owner came up to our table and confronted us, asking if we had just posted a review on Google about the situation with the table, and saying it was totally unnecessary to write because they gave us the option to leave.

If you don’t want guests to be comfortable and don’t care about if they stay to spend money at your establishment you should probably not be in the...

We visited Papingo due to the magnificent views and the Pool Rocks. While enjoying a stroll through the village we came upon this cafe. We've remembered the excellent reviews so we decided to visit and were so happy that we did. Due to my lactose intolerance I prefer vegan options for coffee and cakes and with the promise of finding these in the menu, we sat down. Service was very friendly and nice, explaining all of the options and I've opted for the almond strawberry tart and a cappuccino with almond milk. The tart was absolutely unbelievable, such lucious delicious flavour of fhe crunchy almond crust and almond cream (pudding?)filling. Topped with the strawberries, it was a dream! Finally had some cappuccino in the many weeks of travels through Greece - a joyous occasion! My partner chose the carrot cake and it was also absolutely amazing- although a bit too sweet. But the creamy top was just mind-blowing. Luckily the coffee was strong so that we could enjoy these incredible sweets 😋 They have many options available - also gluten free, the staff is very welcoming and helpful. Along with the cute interior, it is a worthwhile visit while in Papingo!

Thank you for having us and...