Yard of Taste — Restaurant in Zakynthos Municipality

Worst Dining Experience – Misleading Food, Overpriced, and Offensive Owner This was by far the worst dining experience I have ever had. • The food was completely different from the promotional pictures. For example, what looked like a generous meat platter turned out to be only two small pieces of pork, and a dish that should have been full of octopus arrived as just six mussels and four shrimps. • We paid almost €100 for two people and still left hungry. The quality and quantity were absolutely not worth the price. • When we raised our concerns politely, the owner insulted us, saying we were “very vulgar,” and even told us he did not want to see Chinese people in his restaurant again. This was blatant discrimination. • Finally, he refused to let us pay at the table and forced us to go inside, which felt humiliating.

The owner’s arrogance and rudeness shocked me. He even said he did not care about bad reviews because “there are many countries in the world, one less does not matter.”

If you care about food quality, fair treatment, and respect as a customer, I strongly advise you to avoid this restaurant.

The other two dishes were so bad that I didn't take pictures of them.

Response to the owner’s reply: Your response is frightening to me. Unfortunately, the incident happened so suddenly that I could not keep evidence or recordings. But you are the one twisting the facts.

Ordering and food: I ordered dishes directly from the photos, and your staff never explained these were from 4–5 years ago. Only after the older waiter brought the food and I questioned it did he confirm this. If you have surveillance, please check it. That same waiter also rudely questioned us about food we had brought from another restaurant and left angrily. There was no polite reminder, nor was there any sign saying outside food was not allowed, but we stopped eating it anyway.

About “enjoying our meal”: When asked about the food, we stayed silent. At payment, I expressed that the food was not as expected and the portions were not the same as what I saw served to others. I did not ask to cancel the bill, only to adjust it. In the UK, where I work in restaurants, managers would do this. Instead, you arrogantly replied that your dishes are not designed to make people full.

Discrimination and rudeness: After we already said we wanted to pay and leave, you continued with arrogant and discriminatory remarks. When I said I would leave a bad review, you twisted this as a “threat.” What you actually said was that you serve so many nationalities every year that you don’t care about my review. When we went to pay, you insulted us by saying we were “not qualified” to pay at the table and that you never wanted to see Chinese people on this island again. When my friend went inside to pay, the lady owner looked at me with disrespect and muttered something in Greek.

Your seemingly polite reply is dishonest and full of false accusations. This was a truly...

Now, here's a review I've been looking forward to write. Disclaimer: It's a bit longer ;-)

Yard of Taste is, without any doubt, one of the single BEST restaurant I've ever been. This place is so much more than your ordinary "place to eat food". Yiota (the owner) made sure that not just the simply amazing food, but also the atmosphere and whole appearance of this gem of a restaurant is in total alignment with each other. The way the individual colors (Green, White, Purple) interact with one another as well as the lighting, that is being very intricately funneled into the yard by retractable ceilings, is simply breathtaking. The way the food is prepared and presented is very creative and beautiful. Because of the fact that this restaurant is not on any main road, it is very calm and quiet here, which is just great. The food is easily among the best we've eaten, ever. The owner and chef pays particular attention to the wishes and preferences of her guests. We're vegans, so it is not always easy for us to find a place that doesn't just offer salad, bread, and fries. Yard of Taste offers a wide variety of vegan dishes that can also be made gluten free. The owner herself, as well as her staff, speak English fluently. Yiota herself even speaks German! The staff is VERY attentive and nice. The bathrooms are VERY clean and the bathroom sink is probably the coolest thing I've ever seen! An odd thing to say when reviewing a restaurant. But it goes to show that this place really is the whole package. It is, simply put, perfect. If we could give this place more than 5 stars, we would do so in a heart beat. GO THERE!

The original review above was written in 2018. It is now 2025 and we just came back to Zakynthos and Yard of Taste as a married couple with a 4 year old daughter.

It was so great to come back here after 7 years, seeing the amazing owner as well as the place itself again. Reconnecting was so fun, seeing the owner react to the photos we made in 2018.

The place is still as amazing if not more so. The service is still perfect, friendly, approachable and plvery personal. The food is still incredible. Nothing more to add, really. If you're going to Zante and not check out this place, you...

I will start on a positive note. Two stars I give for ambiance, very friendly staff and good fast service (we did make a reservation for a Friday night dinner day in advance). Now more to the negative side of the whole experience. FOOD. Place is waaaaaay overrated here on google, so be aware. Connoisseurs/Foodies will be disappointed with how unbalanced and poorly textured food is. We had ceviche of the day with passion fruit that added some nice notes, but unfortunately it got all crossed out by the amount of aioli/mayo. Octopus was probably cooked soups-vide and was not seared afterwards, so the outer skin was pure chewy gelatin. Sauce on the octopus was so salty, that it left my tongue numb. Lamb rack was tender but not juicy at all, over seasoned with salt, nut (pistachio) crust. Almost forgot the most dull starter of the day, which was two pieces of rye bread with sautéed mushrooms in cream sauce. More surprises came after we asked for the check. They charge for amuse buche ( starter bread), saying that they do not include service fee, but charge for bread instead. Overall left very disappointed with total bill of 120€. Will never come again. Spent 9 day at Zante and had mostly amazing meals, but after this one feel disappointed.

P.S. Most surprising is the amount of positive reviews this restaurant has. Makes me think they either fake or from people who have never ate anything but fish n chips or doner kebap close...