Paros Restaurants

Great food, great music, a warm welcome and you'll feel at home :)
Unfortunately, not very easy to find, located on the "potami", around 500 meters from the bridge, next to the bus stop and opposit the parking, after the clubs. It is really worth the visit.
Thanks Elda, that Dorado will long live in my memory!

This restaurant was reccommended to us by the driver who picked us up at the ferry. We also noticed that it was full of locals during the lunch time. So we decided to try it one evening. It was very quiet when we went - with only a couple more tourists. I chose to have the cod with garlic and Koos took the calimari. The cod was delicious really but the service was strange to say the least. We got bread and salad and then after a while came my cod. Then came the chips Koos had ordered and a long time after that (I had finished my cod) Koos'calimari arrived.
The menu said cod in garlic and that was in fact cod in batter with a garlic sauce and nothing else. All side dishes had to be ordered seperately. It was not very pleasant to be eating seperately but the alternative was to let my food get cold.

Favorite Dish: I had the cod with garlic and it was delicious but I thought it was expensive for what I got. the two pieces of cod were actually quite small. Koos ordered chips with his calimari. In fact he got a (small) platwe of chips and then a while after the (small) plate of calimari.
So in fact although the food was hot and very tasty we were a bit disappointed

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There was some sort of local jamboree happening in the square on my one and only (so far) evening here on Paros and so I chose to have dinner here at Argonauta sitting out on the covered terrace with the square in front of me.

Excellent waiter, all moustaches and smiles, handed me the menu with the recommendation that the "Flat Fish" special is excellent - HA! No need to open the menu then and so I just handed it straight back and added a carafe of local wine to my order!

Favorite Dish: Well obviously the "Flat Fish"!!! Which was preceded by excellent bread and a bowl of succulently savoury black olive tapenade. The fish itself was perfectly cooked and subtly seasoned and the few fries and the green veg accompaniements were exactly the order of the day - all good healthy stuff!!

Even with the wine and then a coffee to finish I think the lot came in well under the 20 euro mark - this is the way to spend a layover!!

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If you're in Paros, you MUST dine at Happy Green Cows. It's a vegeterian restaurant, but there is an "alternative" chicken dish. My husband and I couldn't help returning on our second evening on the island, even though wer'e not even vegeterians ! The food is absolutely delicious, and you don't miss the meat at all. Among other things, we had a "plate of the house", generously garnished with delicious vegetables grown on the island. The owner, the waiter and the chef were all very pleasant and interesting people to meet. The decoration is great, every detail and object has been chosen with taste. Dining at the Happy Green Cows was one of our best restaurant experiences ever (though we live in Paris and have been to many good restaurants). It's located in "downtown" Parikia, in a small charming street behind the National Bank. They also have a nice local white wine.

Bon appétit !

Rebecca & Nicolas, Paris, France

Favorite Dish: The Plate of the House and the amazing chocolate cake

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Cyber Cookies is a modern cafe in the heart of Parikia's old town. The prices are expensive, but every order from the menu comes with 20 minutes free Internet access.

There are a few tables with comfortable seats indoors and a handful of tables outdoors on the quaint main street of the old town.

Ice cream sundaes are hideously expensive, ranging from 5 to 9 Euros. These include the Cyber Cookies Special (9 Euros) which is described as "lots of fresh fruit, lots of ice cream and raspberry syrup" and comes with a warning to "get your camera ready"! At that price, you might also want to get your credit card ready!

Another tempting item on the menu is half a watermelon scooped out and filled with fruit, ice cream and syrup. Again, this will set you back 8 or 9 Euros.

Even a normal ice cream (2 scoops in a bowl) will cost a ridiculous 5 Euros.

As well as ice creams, Cyber Cookies offers a large selection of sweet and savoury crepes (3 - 8 Euros), yoghurt with honey, walnuts or fruit salad, sandwiches, milkshakes (5 Euros), smoothies, beers, soft drinks and hot beverages.

Favorite Dish: Although I was tempted to splash out on an exotic ice cream sundae, I opted instead for:

Amstel beer (500ml bottle) - Cost: 3.50 Euros

I sat outside on the shaded shopping street, enjoying my cold beer while watching the world go by. The setting is very nice, but the prices are very expensive. A beer here cost 3.50 Euros compared with 2 - 2.50 Euros elsewhere in Parikia. I did get a complimentary bowl of peanuts with my beer though.

Ice creams, cakes, pancakes, drinks and Internet access in the heart of Parikia's old town. Prices are significantly above average!

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Nick's Hamburgers is a small fast food joint located in a traditional Cycladic building (whitewashed walls, blue balconies and window frames) in Parikia, the capital of Paros.

It is located on Ventouri's Square, 50m inland from the seafront and a 5 minute walk from the port. It offers a handful of outdoor tables and a couple of tables in the small interior.

I first ate here on a wet evening in late September 2005. I sat inside with a portion of fish and chips and a bottle of beer while the rain lashed down outside and flooded the surrounding roads. I passed my time waiting for the rain to stop by looking at the hundreds of photos that decorate the walls showing previous diners from all over the world tucking into large burgers.

I returned again one lunchtime in May 2006 and this time I was able to enjoy my fish and chips and a cold Coca Cola at an outside table in the blazing afternoon sunshine.

As its name suggests, burgers feature prominently on the menu. In fact there are 14 different types of burgers, including ham, beef, chicken, cheese, bacon, vegetarian and a host of other combinations such as the heavily filled "Nick's Special". Burgers cost between 2.50 and 5 Euros.

As well as burgers, Nick's offers fish and chips, onion rings and a few other seafood options.

Favorite Dish: I opted for:

Fish and chips - Cost: 5.80 Euros

A large battered fish (it wasn't cod, but it was similar), served with salty chips, a slice of lettuce and a couple of slices of tomato. Reasonable fish and chips, but not as good as those back home!

Coca Cola (500ml bottle) - Cost: 1.40 Euros

If you fancy a burger (or fish and chips) while you're in Parikia, this is the place to come!

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Mezzo Mezzo is a medium sized Greek taverna located on Parikia's seafront, just a couple of minutes walk from the port. I ate here one evening during a visit to Paros in May 2006.

The airy open-plan dining room offers sea views across the road, but the seafront is not sufficiently lit at nights for there to be anything of a view.

The friendly, talkative waiter was keen to talk me through the menu and to suggest dishes that I might like to try. However, he was also happy to back off and leave me to browse through the menu at leisure when I told him I'd prefer to have a few minutes to consider my decision. He told me that, because it was so early in the holiday season, not all of the menu was currently available.....but 90% of it was. Typically, my choice of dish was in the other 10%!

Mezzo Mezzo offers a very extensive menu, including:

Appetizers: saganaki fried cheese, Greek salad, feta cheese, stuffed vine leves, a choice of soups;

Meat dishes: pork and chicken souvlaki, pork and chicken kebabs, gyros, beef steaks, pork chops, lamb, moussaka;

Seafood dishes: fish, squid, octopus, shrimps;

Daily specials: the waiter was particularly keen for me to try one of the daily specials. On the night that I ate there, the specials included a beef stew with a tomato based sauce and a lamb dish cooked with lemon and onions.

Other dishes: amongst the large choice of other meals are pasta dishes and a large selection of pizzas.

Desserts: a choice of cakes and pastries, ice cream sundaes, fruit, Greek yoghurt and honey.

Favorite Dish: I opted for:

Chicken kebabs - Cost: 7.50 Euros

Chicken kebabs weren't officially available at the time of my visit, but the chef was able to improvise by cutting up some chicken breasts to create kebabs. I thus received a handful of large pieces of grilled chicken served with a tomato sauce, thick Greek yoghurt, pitta breads, french fries, lettuce, onions and coriander. The chicken was tender, well cooked and very tasty. The yoghurt was a welcome change to the tzatziki that is usually served with such dishes. The whole meal was served on a wooden plate. Accompanied by 3 slices of crusty bread with sesame seeds, but no butter (included in the cover charge of 1 Euro).

Amstel beer (500ml bottle) - Cost: 2 Euros

Good quality food and an extensive selection of meals. A nice seafront location close to the port. Recommended.

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Gyromania is a small fast food joint in the centre of Parikia, the capital of Paros. It can be found just a couple of minutes walk inland from the port. I ate here one lunchtime during a visit to Paros in May 2006.

It offers a dozen or so outdoor tables, shaded by umbrellas, but most customers buy a snack to take away with them.

The menu includes a selection of cheap snacks (costing approx. 2 Euros) and a few more substantial meals (costing approx. 6 Euros).

Takeaway snacks include gyros pittas, souvlaki, beefburgers, chicken burgers, pork and ham sandwiches.

Meals include gyros portion (gyros meat served with pitta breads, chips and salad), souvlaki meal, beef steaks, pork chops, lamb chops.

Soft drinks cost 1.20 Euros and bottled beers cost 2.50 Euros.

The service was quick and friendly.

Favorite Dish: I opted for:

Gyros pitta - Cost: 2 Euros

A pitta bread filled with tasty spicy grilled pork, french fries, tzatziki, onion and tomato. The meat was well cooked and was excellent quality and, despite it's seemingly small size, it proved to be a filling snack.

Coca Cola (330ml can) - Cost: 1.20 Euros

Excellent cheap meat-based snacks in the heart of Parikia. Recommended!