Parea — Restaurant in Zurich

Came with a group and left not just hungry but also very uncomfortable and frustrated with the service. At some point during the meal I was so angry that I lost my appetite, which never happens.

pushed to order the sharing menu due to our group size (fine) more dishes came than what would normally come*, instead of bigger portions (not fine - we could taste but not actually share and eat. I appreciate being able to try more things but not to leave hungry, plus “many” of the first plates were just spreads for bread - if this was half of the normal menu I would feel scammed to have paid so much for this) made it known to the waitress that it was not enough (she was defensive and only pushed their “concept” instead of actually trying to make the experience better) we ordered a few more plates after our complaint (she happily took our orders but charged us extra for it later, even pita bread, even though it was clear we expected to be able to ask for more portions since the plates were too small to share)

*It could be true that the food might be enough for another group with a much smaller appetite, but as a concept it does not work well to spread out the menu so thinly that one could only take 3 spoons of a dish, max. I’m not sure the increase in number of dishes compensates proportionately for the increase in portion size needed to feed the larger group size.

Overall a memorably terrible experience that we still talk about (!) I wish the manager would accept the feedback constructively instead of making excuses.

Looking forward to hearing how you plan to resolve this...

Parea was high on my list, and it didn’t let me down.

This Greek restaurant uses fresh and high quality ingredients. The meat and fish we had were both tender and juicy, and I can’t recall another place in Zurich where I had such a tender, almost buttery meat (in consistency) for a good price.

We loved the tastiness of simplicity. The wine was good, the interior of the restaurant was very simple and humble but rightly so, as food was the absolute main star of the night.

If I really had to make two tiny observations, these would be perhaps to give the yoghurt mousse a twist (it was hard for me to tell it apart from normal yoghurt) and perhaps prepare 4 mini meat skewer other than 2 regular ones, if it’s 4 people ordering (just for the sake of practicality :)). Still, I love this concept of food sharing. I even liked the Tatziki despite not liking pickles. We had a great night and hands down we will come back to try other dishes. We also sympathised with the staff who were very friendly and calm despite the place being...

When you go to Parea, you feel like you're on holidays somewhere in Greece. I'm not even kidding, or exaggerating.

First, the service is incredible. It's perfectly paced, extremely polite and friendly. Frankly, this level of service is very rare in Zurich. Welcoming & accommodating.

Exactly, they'll accommodate to your needs (one fresh random example: we wanted a cocktail, but more on the bitter end and less sweet, they simply did it, no questions asked).

Then, the food is top tier. Very authentic and generous, super tasty. But the crazy thing is, everything is cooked to perfection. The scampi, the octopus, the fish, the beef. Everything 10/10. We had the Mezze Parea, which is about 9 dishes, best shared with the whole table. If someone doesn't eat so or so, they accommodate.

Then you have the greek background music that fits perfectly the cosy atmosphere. Just enough to immerse you in the experience.

It's the second time I eat at Parea, and it's a 5 stars all around.

Go there, you'll have an...