Samos Restaurants

Greece is generally not for gourmet tourists, and Samos does indeed have remarkably little to offer the discerning palate, in view of the amount of European (mostly), middle-aged and presumably well-off couples visiting the island every year.

Phytagorio is the city and area where it's at, as they say, and is a lovely, small seaside town full of friendly people. Certainly, Samos and Pythagorio and it's people are warm and welcomming ! Unfortunately, although packed with sea-front restaurants along the harbour, the menu is basically the same everywhere , in variety as in quality, from grilled calamari to pork schnitzel..'nuff said.

Dolichi Greek & Mediterranean Cuisine is Samos's best kept secret, ironically because of its superbly center-stage location. Let me explain: Pythagorio is centered around the harbour, which is lined with all the restaurants and bars, shoulder by shoulder. These are all ground-level and open towards the harbour promenade. In the middle of harbour street you'll find the custom's office, litterally the only house in the entire harbour front that isn't a restaurant. Dolichi is located on the first floor, on top of the restaurant immediately after the custom house. What you do is you take a left away from the harbour as soon as you can after the custom's house, and then another left, to get to the backside alley of the buildings. There you'll see the restaurant sign, go up the stairs, et voilá, you are among the few guests in what is beyond any comparison the best restaurant in Samos. get a table by the balcony, and you have full view to the harbour promenade and the mediterranean ocean, and to top it all, from around 7 to 9 the moon wanders across the sky over t he ocean to linger over the old Greek church on top of the hill, as seen from Dolichi's balcony tables. Simply amazing location, fantastic for a romantic or social evening in the Greek archipelago, it looks like a movie :)

Dolichi is an interesting place. It has world music, tastefully playing in the background, and makes a point of including visual art in the place's atmosphere. The food is simply excellent. Dolichi is also one of the few places on the island that actually serve drinkable wines, and the wine card includes better Greek and some decent European wines. (Greek wine in common restaurants generally stink, and youre better off with Mythos beer, but if you must, stick with the whites and you'll survive ;)

Besides a single night in the mountain villages or at Hydrele Beach Hotel's restaurant, we never eat anywhere else than Dolichi when we are in Samos. It reigns supreme among it's peers. If you wish for an all-you-can-eat buffet, have screaming, unruly children or would dream of asking the waiter if he could play some traditional greek muzak, please do stay away.

Finally I should mention that I am simply a repeat tourist with a long background in the restaurant and hotel business, and that I have absolutely no affiliation with any of the places I mention. I

Favorite Dish: Make sure to try the Sundried Cherry Sweet Bites in Syrup for desert, each tidbit mouthfull is an explotion of taste and heavy sunshine.

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Now this restaurant had the best of both! Al fresco dining & good food too! Set away from the main harbour front of Pythagorion up a picturesque side street, but not too far from the hub of things.

A very pretty setting with bouganvillia orange and lemon trees .Helpful attentive staff & a great atmosphere.

All the food we ordered was excellent. One of the few places in Pythagorion where a complimentary after dinner drink was served too. All in all a great restaurant which I would happily recommend!

Favorite Dish: Try feta cheese with a crust of basil pesto, steamed mussels with lemon and fennel, stuffed calamari and prawns with finocchio, scented with the delectable Kozani crocus. Kleftiko lamb with mint, stewed beef, stuffed kid cooked in a wood oven .Lamb chops with scallions and Samos Muscat wine, pork fillet with honey and mint, chicken fillets with Kozani crocus cream, fillet with Chios mastic, fillet with parmesan and truffle oil. Enjoy Hellenic creative cuisine.

The several mountain villages of Samos offer the best-value food. Manolates, which we frequently visit, is a good example. Try any of the half-dozen (I think) restaurants and you'll be satisfied. Local specialties and local wine are offered at very reasonable prices and remarkably good quality. You'll wish you never had to leave!

Favorite Dish: All "meatballs without meat", i.e. with chick-pea or zucchini (revythokeftedes or kolokythokeftedes, if you really want the Greek name).

We were driving around in the western part of Samos between the villages of Tsourlei and Leka, when it started to rain. We decided to flee into ‘Kostas Place’, just opposite the car park in the centre of this rural village.

Kostas Place is a café/snack bar, very basic, honest and simple with just a couple of local men playing cards and having a Greek coffee. Kostas, the owner, recommended us a home made pasta dish for lunch. So we did and to be honest it was very tasteful (and extremely cheap) !!

We are grateful for the rain; otherwise we hadn’t visited such a local place. I highly recommend doing the same and experiencing some of the local dishes.

During our visit to Platanos we wanted to have our lunch in one of the three local tavernas. We decided for the taverna with the yellow chairs: La Leona.

I ordered a ‘pasta dish’ (a kind of lasagne) and after some time it was served. But it turned out to be not warm at all and I asked the waitress to reheat my meal, but she wouldn’t believe and an older woman (suppose it was the mother) came to our table. She was more or less shouting (in Greek) and got angry at me. After some discussions they took my meal into the kitchen and minutes later I got my pasta back.
Still not warm and I’m convinced they didn’t do anything with it. I think I met the first very unfriendly Samians !!

If you visit Platanos and intend to have a lunch I wouldn’t recommend the yellow chairs of La Leona; choose one of the others.

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The first time e reached Vourliotes during a walk and after a climb of 340 metres and it really was fantastic to sit on the blue chairs of Café Restaurant The Blue Chairs. It is located on the small triangular main square of the mountain village of Vourliotes. We started with a fresh squeezed orange juice, which was well earned and tasted heavenly. Later we had a perfect omelette.

We liked this place so much and decided to have our fare well dinner also at The Blue Chairs. Just sitting in the setting sun on a shaded terrace, looking to the latest walkers, having an honest dinner with a large glass of home made wine. We finished with the best yoghurt with honey we had during our Greek holiday.

Favorite Dish: Just a perfect place for lunch or dinner; doesn’t matter what you order.

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Coming from our hotel (by foot) To Kyma was the first restaurant along the waterfront we met and we decided to have our first dinner on Samos. To be honest we don’t regret this choice.
To Kyma has a couple of tables inside, but the most of them are in a (open) tent on the promenade along the sea.

It turned out to be a real authentic Greek taverna, where Greeks themselves also have dinner; nothing fancy, but fresh and honest food. The owners and their family are operating this restaurant and were very friendly and helpful. To Kyma offers several specialities from Samos, but also more common fish and meat dishes.

According to the Greek tradition we could take a look in the kitchen and make our choice. We had a grilled fish with fries, rice and a Greek salad, with a welcome drink and a free dessert a very pleasant dinner.

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Meravilia was the first restaurant we visited on our holiday in Samos and we were made to feel very welcome. The service and the food were excellent and the waiters very helpful and friendly which is why we did return a couple of times during our stay there. On the menu are many of the Greek traditional cuisine as well as Italian dishes. The restaurant is situated right on the sea front in the picturesque village of Kokkari. I would recommend the Meravilia to anyone for the friendliness, good food, location and with the Greek music in the background what more could you ask for

Favorite Dish: There were nine of us on this holiday so I tried a few of the dishes on the menu. My favourite would be the traditional Greek Salad for a starter followed by Lamb Kleftiko. I also tried the Pasticio and Moussaka which were also very nice. We were also given a complimentary dish of melon and also a drink of the local Samos wine each time we were there. I would say on average our bill including the drinks came to €20 - €25 per night for the two of us.

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Now this restaurant had the best of both! Al fresco dining & good food too! Set away from the main harbour front of Pythagorion up a picturesque side street, but not too far from the hub of things.

A very pretty setting with bouganvillia all around the interior. Helpful attentive staff & a great atmosphere.

All the food we ordered was excellent. One of the few places in Pythagorion where a complimentary after dinner drink was served too. All in all a great restaurant which I would happily recommend!

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A nice setting with a good, lively atmosphere.

The food was fairly average really, nothing special. Also the service was a bit erratic - a lot of wait staff but nobody seemed to be around at the right time or in any hurry to help when needed!

Nice for the al fresco pretty garden setting, but wouldn't say the food was anything to rush there for. During the daytime, the octopus catch of the day can be seen hanging out to dry - see pic.

Favorite Dish: We had typical Greek bbq meats & a pasta dish between us - all pretty ordinary.