Filoxenia Restaurant — Restaurant in Zakynthos Municipality

Worst experience on the island. Even thought this place had and still has enthusiastic reviews, both the food and the service was as bad as it gets. We ordered a plate of mussles that were literally inedible. We are not 100% sure about this, but we all suspected they were rotten - color, shape and smell were disgusting and none of us managed to eat even one. The sea food grill was another sad disappointment. The sea food itself seemed taken straight from a cheap frozen market - really bad in quality - and were served completely burned (see picture). Literally everything on the plate tasted the same, which was either nothing or burned carbon. The only "positive" note was the sea bream which was just okay-ish, and wouldn't reorder anyway. When we provided our negative feedback about the food, the waiter seemed honestly sorry at first but not entirely surprised. However, in a comical attempt to make us happy by giving us a discount to the total price, we were promised a price that was suddently and arbitrarily increased 10 seconds later at the till, denying that they ever gave us that price, and providing the excuse that we consumed the majority of our food when in reality we were just starving and had to eat something at that point. No free shots nor desserts were offered by the restaurant at the end of the "meal", something that regurlarly happens anywhere else on the island, and something that every restaurant owner would do if they ever cared even a little bit about their customers, especially when complaining about a meal. All of this in an evening were we had to wait a loooong time for our food, and the staff did not even say goodbye when we left, even though our complaint was very cordial, we did not ask for anything in return, and had not problems paying the final bill. Stay away from this place, and don't get fooled by the positive reviews like we did. It's the perfect definition of a...

I will start with complimenting the head waiter (it seemed to me he was boss). The most professional hospitality worker I ever seen.

He told us from the start food takes about 30 minutes before sitting down. If there was somebody coming, he saw who finished, asked them to come to the bar for free shots, cleared the table and sat down new customers. Very smart and practical from a business perspective.

The food was very nice. If I am to be critical and annoying like Gordon Ramsey I will say the following:

we ordered the calamari . They all looked perfectly breaded like from freezer, oily and no garlic sauce like every other restaurant gives. Good, but could be better…. 7/10 for this dish

we ordered pork souvlaki for my wife. We noticed here they do almost raw, a bit pink. I personally love it and think pork tastes amazing not fully cooked, she doesn’t. We gave a small piece to a cat which she chewed for 5 minutes 😂😂😂. Maybe ask foreigners well done or normal? I loved it… me 10/10… wife 6/10

i had pasta seafood. Pasta was a overcooked snd should be a bit hard, seafood delicious. Overall very very nice. I had the same dish in Malta at a top Italian restaurant, which was very salty and waiters very pretentious and rude. 9/10 for this dish.

also had moussaka in the middle, as I want to experience everything. It has aubergine. Personally I prefer the potato one as we have in home country. Will give 10/10 as very delicious and nice portion.

i had a glass of house wine which was a bit too sour (was already drunk from half sweet wine from before), and ordered a glass of similar wine which was nice. Wish she told me in advance what kind of wine is the house wine.

Very busy restaurant, very very good prices. Hard working people which deserve the best.

Respect to the head waiter (i guess, i didn’t ask the name, tall and bald, proper greek taverna boss). Will come here again...

DON'T TRUST GOOGLE REVIEWS!

This place embodies everything you should avoid when on vacation or in touristy areas. We researched the best restaurants on Zakynthos in search of a nice seafood dinner and this place was at the top of the list, with an overwhelming amount of positive feedback. We decided to give it a try. Immediately upon parking our scooter, the manager met us in the parking lot with the energy of a hired clown.

He would not stop talking and complimenting us in a superficial way. We reluctantly took our seats and the entire meal we couldn't relax. He approached our table relentlessly, every 5 minutes, asking us if everything was okay and recommending other items on the menu in the form of a song.

He also kept harassing pedestrians on the street, trying to lure them inside with his weird songs.

The other staff seemed really uncomfortable and forced to act the same way with guests. The food was below average and 3x more expensive than other restaurants with much higher quality and authentic service. Long story short, avoid this place if your goal is to dine in peace and enjoy an authentic Greek meal. Places like this are the reason local cuisine gets a...