Stathmos — Restaurant in Zakynthos Municipality

I would not reccomend.

Location: Bad, tables next to a busy street, cars and bikes every second smell of gas.

Staff: Bad, our waiter said nothing, didn't reply to "hello", no "welcome" no nothing, just put the empty serving plates on our table and left in silence.

Atmosphere: Bad, we were not welcomed, the owner said we may or may not have to leave because we didn't have a reservation, even though we were seated at a table by the waiter. For 15 minutes a begger was moving from table to table, refused to accept "no" for an answer from us and people on other tables and kept negotiating for money, the whole time was practically in our faces, mind you this is happening during Covid! Staff did nothing and his attention was a lot more than we got from them, waiters passed by our table 5 times, seated other people, served them and kept passing our table without taking our order.

Food: I cannot comment the food because after 15 minutes without anyone taking our order or at least offering water until we wait (I understand they are busy during the season) I was so annoyed that we just left, but it doesn't matter because even if it was amazing it wouldn't have overwritten all of the above!

I rearly leave bad reviews, but the atmosphere was extremely unpleasant and frustrating, for sure not your place if you want to have a nice evening with your partner and I have no idea why they are rated so high. If I could give...

While I've had plenty of poor restaurant experiences before, this is the first time I've been motivated enough to write a review. I understand sometimes it's just about what you order that can make a difference, but anyway, here's my experience. It started a bit poorly with the staff seeming a bit put out by having to deal with a single customer. I know sometimes the over the top friendliness in some tourist places can be over the top but a smile wouldn't go astray. Happy to let that go though. The problem was the food. Grilled octopus to start. Remember this is Greece. How did they manage to serve rubbery octopus? Though at least it was kinda edible. Unlike the stuffed calamari to follow. Even with the steak knife they supplied (for seafood???) I had trouble cutting it. And after trying to chew a few mouthfuls gave up. I intended just to quietly say nothing and pay up but when the person at the next table sent their main back (not sure what it was) I thought I'd mention to the waiter why my plate remained full. She obviously said something to the manager who came to ask why there was a problem. He was a bit too defensive verging on aggressive so I just asked for the bill. Such a different experience to everywhere else I've been here. Like I said at the start, maybe I was just unlucky with my ordering but the customer service throughout was poor. There are so many other better...

I'll give it 1 star and I wish I could give it less. It is a true pity, because the quality of the food is quite nice, but the owner looks much nicer, at first, than he truly is. We were a group of 16 people and, sadly, had the same experience I have read in comments before - we were charged for food we didn't even ask to be brought to the table ("complimentary" pita bread and tzatsiki no one asked for), and I personally asked for a side dish of fries, which did come, only for my plate to then be brought with fries and charged 1 extra euro for it. So I ended up paying for extra fries AND for extra extra fries I didn't ask for. In the end, since so many of us were charged for fries we didn't ask for, we were sad with the service, and the owner became more and more rude, screaming at us if we wanted to pay by card and claiming he didn't have change for high bills. It was a HORRIBLE experience and I honestly hope they don't stay open for long, because dishonest businesses don't...