Yialova Restaurants

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Brilliant! What more can I say? This small restaurant is on the main road leading into the village and is a great place to watch the world go by from. It's also ideal for having a wander around the couple of tourist shops while you're waiting for your meal.

Run by two very efficient Greek men, one cooks, the other takes orders and serves. The food is excellent with some interesting dishes being served, including squid cooked with peas and my favourite was their stuffed aubergines. Superb.

The outside area is narrow with a thatched roof which the rain pours through on a wet evening. Only on one occasion did we have to eat indoors here and it was a great evening. I loved watching all the goings on of the cook, who incidentally had a brilliant voice, singing along to his favourite tracks. Even granny came along to interfere with the grill which the cook didn't seem overly pleased about. I seem to think the place had been the bakers in the past as there were artifacts and posters relating to baking.

O Morias was always popular, prices were good and service very efficient. I couldn't believe how well run this place was, with only the two blokes dealing with everything.

Favorite Dish: The stuffed aubergine, filled with feta cheese and tomato, which was cooked to order:€5
Pork in mustard sauce:€6
Saganaki:€3
Fassolakia:€4
Half kilo rose: €1.50
Coke:€1
Beer:€2
Mixed Plate which included black-eyed beans with spinach and alsorts of things:€7

The policy here was slow food, those dishes being marked with SF on the menu. What a refreshing change from having pre-cooked food thrust at you almost instantaneously.

A small dish of olives was served with the bread and we usually ended up with an extra miso kilo, gratis from the house.

2010 UPDATE: HAVE JUST BEEN INFORMED THAT THE RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED AFTER 60 YEARS OF TRADING IN GIALOVA AND HAS OPENED IN PATRAS.

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We ate here on our first night and thought at the time it was a lovely place. We ended up eating here three times and all were great experiences.

Nicely situated on the seafront, with the sandy beach in front and tables both on this side, under the trees and on the other, outside the restaurant where it's a little warmer if there's a breeze blowing.

Stavros and Voula are very friendly and service is good at this family run restaurant. The cooking is fantastic with a good choice for so early in the season and the wine certainly slipped down very easily.

We were at Zoe's for the European football championship which Philip was desperate to watch, being a Liverpool fan. They had the television outside and he watched with a Dutchman, the only two supporters, while we drank wine and pretended to follow the game. At halftime, Philip had to have a little sustenance for the next half, after all, Liverpool were losing, so he enjoyed a plate of saganaki which Voula cooked for him.

Zoe's is also a hotel and there are apartments behind.Everyone we spoke to who stayed here were more than pleased.

The restaurant is open all day.

2008 UPDATE>

Returned here in May 2008 as we had enjoyed our meals so much last year. Unfortunatey the prices have risen steeply, the wine had doubled in price and the portions did not seem as generous.At lunchtime, we were the only people who ate here. What a pity.

Favorite Dish: There was't anything we didn't enjoy. Everything was delicious.

Gigantes: 5 €
Spag bog: 5 €
Aubergine stuffed with cheese and veg: €5
Shrimp saganaki:8€ (absolutely delicious)
Lamb in tomato sauce 7€ superb
Grilled courgette balls 3€ (simply mouth watering.)
Half kilo rose wine: 1.5€

There was always a freebie pud, be it cake or fruit. Another nice touch.

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We had eaten here a couple of times in previous years and liked the proprietor and the place so decided to lunch here this year after a hectic spree of shopping for vegetables, fruit, bread and Autan.

As popular as ever and as nice an experience as we remembered.

It's nice to feed the fish with the large portion of bread you can't quite finish. Watch them fall into a feeding frenzy. There are actually some really big fish in the harbour, here.

This place really fills up when the Greek coaches arrive. On our last visit, a lot of very pale skinned Greeks arrived, there was even a ginger haired boy, most unusual for Greece, I think.

The proprietor is very swift on his feet, despite not being in his prime!!! and very efficient.

Favorite Dish: We went for the grilled octopus which was the best we'd eaten. Deliciously tender and a large portion, it went down extremely well with lemon squeezed all over. €9 but worth the money as this is not something you can eat in England very freely!!

I went for the squid which again, was beautifully tender and moist. €6.

We also went for a tomato salad which came complete with cucumber and onions and was €3.

Another great choice was the mixed meat plate at €8. This included the most delicious roast pork with crackling, along with gyros meat, sausage and keftedes. Amazing plateful and I wasn't even that hungry!!

Wine a half kilo; €2
Coke: €1.50
Cover for 3: €1.50

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Another try at getting a decent souvlaki in pitta bread!! This place again looked as though it catered more for the Greeks but was not well patronised apart from the last weekend of our holiday.

There was a menu on a stand outside, like most places but the choice seemed to be mainly grilled foods again.

A good position on the main street into the village, so plenty to watch as you waited for your food.

Favorite Dish: I had a souvlaki in pitta which was ok but the meat was not very tender and perhaps a little over-cooked. Philip had keftedes in sauce which was a bit too tomatoey for him and the wine was once again, not at it's best. The really good food was the courgette balls. Delicious.

Souvlaki in pitta:€1.50
Skewers (single)€1.30
Courgette balls:€3
Wine €1.70 a half
Keftedes €5
Cover €1
Coke; €1.50

This was another of those establishments that appeared more Greek than continental so as they were advertising souvlaki in pitta, every night. I made the decision of eating there. Oh dear, a mistake. Nick was already in a strop as he didn't fancy anything, not that thay had anything other than grilled food. I had a souvlaki in pitta and Philip and Nick had a few skewers between them. Well, my food was good, the pork beautifully tender and the pitta good. Unfortunately, the skewers were so salty, no-one could eat them. I mean really salty, even Nick who pours salt on his food couldn't manage these. I told the girl, who simply said sorry. It was a real shame as the meat was really tender and it was cooked over charcoal. I never did get a decent souvlaki in the fortnight, disappointingly.

I seem to think the wine was non too brilliant, either. It was all pretty cheap, though.

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One day, we went to Methoni castle. By the time we had finished looking round, the heavens opened. We drove into the main square and opted for Ostria kafe/zaxaroplasteio for a beer and coke. Very comfy seats with some good old rock music being played quitly in the background.
The lady of the house appeared to be of the Germanic type - I think maybe she was Austrian, hence Ostria. Perhaps yet another of those Greek/foreign marriages. Whatever, it was a pleasant enough place to watch the world go by in the rain!!

Favorite Dish: We only had a beer and coke which were served with a dish of nuts. Normal prices, beer €2, coke €1.50.

This establishment is probably one of the original in Gialova, being on the main road but with a lovely beachside setting. Superb views and sunsets across the bay. It has a very large intereior which makes me believe it will be open all year, and seemed popular, at weekends, with Greeks.

Chelonaki was the most authentic Greek place we went to, it was just unfortunate the food was not brilliant, nor was the wine. The place was very friendly and not a lot of English was spoken, although there was a menu in English outside.

Favorite Dish: We opted for chicken in tomato sauce (€6) which turned out to be a tough old bird which tasted like it had been re-heated and served with the sauce,.Very disappointing. Philip had bifteki (€5.50) which was nothing special and the rose wine was brown. Oh dear, we knew what that meant, - oxidised and tasting like sherry. Oh, and the chips were disappointingly frozen.

It was a real shame our experience here wasn't brilliant as being very Greek, I would have liked it to have been THE place.

Strangely, this restaurant appeared very popular at the beginning of our holiday but by the time we left, custom had tailed off. To be honest, we ended up not eating here owing to the fact they had nothing we wanted. Unfortunately, we had made the mistake of sitting down and ordering the wine before we found this fact out. No sooner had we sat down than the bread arrived, along with a plate of olives and a bottle of water . Oh dear, we are going to pay for this, we thought. How right we were.

When we were told we should have looked at the board, not the menu,to see what was available, I could have kicked myself. Normally I make a habit of wandering into the kitchen or asking what cooked dishes are available but somehow I got carried away with the place seeming so popular and presumed there would be a good choice. In the end, we decided to drink up and leave. We were stung for more than €6 for a half kilo of wine, bread and a bottle of water!! Still, we had the satisfaction of telling the Swiss? girl who ran the place we would not be returning,. which we didn't.

One other point we didn't like about this place was the fact it was very Anglicised, with food being served with a choice of boiled, mash or chips. I ask you...... It was also priced a little higher than other places with the wine being an outrageous €2.90 a half.

Favorite Dish: I expect many people loved this place because everything was in English or German and served with your choice of potatoes. Home from home. We just felt we didn't have time to waste coming back to try this place again.