The Akti Restaurant is situated on the little square in the centre of Skala Kallonis and overlooks the harbour. They have quite comfortable seats and the friendliest service. We tried several dishes at this restaurant and everything came out really good. The cappuchino is a bit on the pricy side, but other things on the menu are quite reasonably priced, like their delicous breakfasts (which came with slices of cake, cappuchino and a big plate of bacon and eggs, vegetables, bread, and orange juice) or their pizzas. They serve all sorts of snacks, coffees and cocktails. The Akti restaurant also gets my award for the cleanest and best equiped toilet on the whole island of Lesbos.
Verdict: highly recommended, 9 out of 10
The Kozanitis Restaurant and Grill House is situated at the beach of Vatera. When you enter the village turn left and drive a couple of 100 meters along the beach. They serve a delicious housewine from Limnos, and on the menu are grilled chicken (just perfect), black beans, Greek salads, fresh fish and lots of other dishes. The service in the restaurant is genuinly friendly and personal. Topper, and really a place to have a big dinner and select all sorts of things. On the picture: us and our friends Dimitra and Vaios from the Madonna Studios in Vatera. They live in the village and know which restaurant is the best.
verdict: highly recommended, a 9 out of 10
The Captains Table restaurant in the harbour of Molyvos is unreputedly one of the best restaurants on Lesbos island. It is owned and run by Melinda and her husband Theo. Melinda, Australian by birth but a native of Greece for most of her life, prepares food with her husband in the morning, and then along with a great team of charming helpers, looks after the clientele in the evening, while Theo heads up the competent kitchen crew. The restaurant is located a metre from many small colourful fishing boats bobbing up and down in the water. And, no matter how hot the day, in the evening there is always a cool sea breeze. The Captains Table offers a wide range of excellent fresh fish dishes. Melindas father (The Captain) is a fisherman who runs a 25 metre trawler and a caique. For the specialist, who likes to sample a little of everything try the Captains Platter (for one or two persons). Melinda and Theo also offer other fare, and their evening specials could feature Thai cuisine, satays, curries, and Italian dishes. My personal favorites (besides the fish): fava, mushrooms in garlic and wine sauce, tzaziki. The housewine is good! On the picture: Jason and Rebecca Kelly from Australia.
Verdict: recommended, 8.5 out of 10
The Iotis Restaurant can be found at the beach of Nyfida, and the swallows fly in and out of it. inside the restaurant are the vitrines from which the guests can choose what they like. There are all sorts of fish, salads and delicious cheeseballs and zuchiniballs. The service is fast (even when it is busy), the bread is fresh, good tzaziki, in short: everything is delicious. It also looked very hygienic and all the food was cooled and covered with plastic. Besides that it is on a lovely spot.
Verdict: recommended, 8,5 out of 10
The Soulatso Restaurant is one of the restaurants on the beach of Skala Eressos, situated a bit at the end towards the church on the rocks. They serve chicken, several grilled meat dishes, fish and many, many apetizers amongst which courgette balls, tomato balls, fava, tzaziki and grilled peppers. The housewine is served in a nice earthenware jug and is reasonable. There is a boat in front of the restaurant (not in the water). Friendly people, nice music: top.
Verdict: recommended, 8.5 out of 10
This cafe slash bar is right at the beach of Vatera. Without even asking what we wanted to drink they placed a free glass of icecold water on our table. All the drinks seemed to be flown in from the northpole, super. Quick and friendly service, good chairs, no music, just the sound of the sea.
Verdict: recommended, 8,5 out of 10
Traditional fishrestaurant on the beach of Vatera. Not everything you find written on the menu is also served, so ask what they have. The people are very friendly in this restaurant, but explaining in english what you want can take a bit of time. There is also chicken and lamb. The food is accompanied by a big karaf of cold water. The housewine is delicious and the fish is fresh and tiptop. The meals are made in a very good olive oil and you can taste that. One of the walls is covered with seashells, crabs and other animals from the sea, and there are small boats to decorate the place. The lamps are not very romantic, but still it's a cozy place. We stayed a while after dinner and drank a small bottle of ouzo.
Verdict: recommended, a 8,5 out of 10
Close to the townbeach of Sigri with a beautiful view of the beach, the bay and the Turkish fortress, you can find the Golden Key Restaurant. Lovely cappuchino with a free glass of water, friendly waiter. The food is stalled out so you can see what you can order rather than ordering of the menu. It's easy to choose. The offer fish, meat balls, beetroot salad and other salads, spagethi and mousaka. The bread was fresh. We ended up here because the restaurant near the harbour with the Illy Coffee sign served only nescafe.
Verdict: good, 8 out of 10
The Parasol Cocktailbar / Snackbar can be found at the beachfront of Skala Eressos. They serve breakfast, pizzas, snacks, coffees and off course cocktails. It's nicely decorated in a Latin-American style with small cactusses on the tables and latin music. The lamps are coconuts with a lightbulb in it, the service is friendly, the drinks very generous.
Verdict: good, 8 out of 10
The Tzivaeli Restaurant can be found at the beachfront of Skala Eressos. It seemed a pretty popular spot to eat out for the local people of the village. The service is very friendly and the food was delicious with several original dishes. There are all sorts of food on the menu including fava, tzaziki, mashed potatoes with garlic, salted sardines, salads, and a good housewine.
Verdict: good, 8 out of 10
In the harbour of Skala Neon Kydonion, right at the seafront, the first restaurant as you enter the village. We did not eat there, but I wanted to mention this one because it was cheap as chips. Bottles of coca cola or lemon were just one euro, so I am giving them thumbs up for their prices. The menu looked varried and good and also: cheap.
Verdict: good, 8 out of 10
This restaurant is situated at a delightful spot on the townbeach of Molyvos. On the edges of its terrace there are colourful pots with flowers and the place is nicely dressed up. We had a breakfast here and we got toast, and lots of bacon with our english breakfast. Fresh bread would have been better. The service could have been more cheerful because we were the only gueste and we got the impression that the waiter would have preffered to do other things than recieve guests.
Verdict: reasonable, 7 out of 10
Stylish and tastefully decorated house in the harbour of Mytilini, wich couches, chairs and special lamps. There is an inside part of the restaurant / snackbar and there are tables and chairs outside directly on the busy road that leads along the harbour. Long waiting time before our order is taken and a long waiting time before it is brought at our table. A cappuchino costs 3 euro here (2006) which is rather on the expensive side, and in anyway the most expensive cup of coffee we have had on the island, but is is very good (Lavazza) and it comes with a nice cookie. The daymenu is only 8 euro here which is a reasonably good price for Mytilini standards. The toilet wasn't too dirty, but also not superclean.
Verdict: reasonable, 7 out of 10
Just outside the village of Parakila, in the south of Lesbos on the west side of the Kallonis Gulf, you find the Tropio Restaurant situated at the beach. Outside and inside there are seats. The terrace is big and sheltered by big trees. They have various apetizers, and fish, chicken and meat dishes. The building is clean. The bread they served was fresh and came with a tapenade of olives, the fries were crispy. All other things that were fried in oil were terribly fat, and the coffee was no good (nescafe). We got cherries as a thank you after the meal. If you don't order any fried food than I believe you can have a good meal here. The restaurant was quite cheap.
Verdict: reasonable, 7- out of 10
This small restaurant on the boulevard of the village of Petra has a view of the beach and serves coffee and drinks, breakfasts and simple dishes like sandwiches, crepes and hamburgers. The people that work in the restaurant are very friendly, and even brought me a binocular when I asked for the name of the island opposite the village of Petra. Here we had a breakfast. De coffee was just fine, and the breakfast was simple but not bad at all, and it was also quite cheap (5 euro including the coffee).
Verdict: reasonable, a 7+ out of 10
A rather large coffee house on the (busy) square of Plomari center near the harbour. Big cups of coffee accompanied with a glass of water. Coffee not too bad, waiting time long because of football on the television.
Verdict: reasonable, a 7 out of 10
Coffee house slash snackbar opposite the war monument and the childrens playground in Polichnitos. There is not a lot of choice for food, but it is a snackbar and not really a taverna. It was very quiet while we were there, but our two times toast and cheese and our two cappuchinos take a long, long time to make. But when our cappuchinos arrive they come in beautiful cups and taste good. Free glass of water.
Verdict: reasonable, a 7 out of 10
Gorgona Restaurant is placed at the seaside of Skala Eressos and run by a friendly Greek with a moustache. They serve tzaziki, garlic bread, several apetizers, beefburgers with feta cheese inside, grilled food, and the fish can be seen behind the glass. You get a karaf of cold water with your food, and they have real wine glasses. The housewine is simple yet good. While we were there there were two kinds of music coming into our ears. We had to wait a long time for our dinner even though it wasn't really busy. There is a fountain in front of the restaurant with a mermaid on it.
Verdict: reasonable, 7,5 out of 10
Restaurant Fanari can be found on the boulevard of Skala Mystegna. The owner is very friendly and has got a good sense of humour. The tzaziki doesn't have a lot of cucumber in it, but it tastes good, the housewine is okay, the Greek salad comes with a large piece of very tasty feta cheese. The french fries: not so crunchy, meatballs okay. Everything is made fresh on the spot. There's a view of the sea and the beach of Skala Mystegna. The lamps in that are on in the evening could be a little more romantic.
Verdict: reasonable, 7,5 out of 10
Breakfast is possible at all times in the Kavos Restaurant in Skala Sikamneas. It's situated in the harbour of the village with a view of the little white church. It has comfortable chairs and (too) small round tables. This rather large restaurant is beautifully decorated inside and at the end of the building there is an exit where you can also enjoy your food next to a small beach. On this picturesque spot they are the only ones with tables. The hostess is great and polite and very kind. She comes from Australia and has a Greek background. The coffee that is served is good and strong and comes with a free (small) bottle of water. No complaints about the toilets either: clean and with a dryer for your hands. English breakfast looks great, but it is very naked, without coffee, orange juice or bread. Everything has to be ordered seperately, so the end-conclusion is that it is rather expensive...
Verdict: reasonable, 7 out of 10
Music cafe Agra in Panagiouda, close to Mytilini, can be forgiven for only serving nescafe instead of the real thing, but the waitress gets a big zilch, zero from us for her attitude problem.
Verdict: avoid, 1 out of 10
This restaurant is situated in the harbour of Perama and overlooks the harbour. Not that the food in this taverna was that awful, but the place was so dirty and the waiter also looked like he could use a good cleaning. They serve pitas, giros, several appetizers and salads, pizza, club sandwich, chicken and pork. The portions are rather large and taste good. It could have been served a bit hotter though. The french fries were crunchy and the chicken pita was super-large, but with lots of vegetables and mayonaise, and a bit short on the (salty!) chicken part. The place was so dirty it was scary though, and I just hoped I would survive my meal: everything was sticky and the toilet looked and smelled like it had never been cleaned...
Verdict: avoid for health reasons, 5 out of 10
The Amoudeli Restaurant in Plomari is situated in a delightful spot next to the small western town beach of Plomari. They have a small number of apetizers, some salads, grilled food, spagethi, pastitio, mousaka and fish. The view is of the beach and the green rocks and there are nice pots with flowers in them on the terrace. The bread was good and fresh, nice music (a bit too loud to our taste). The french fries that they served were soggy and soft and full of fat and they had been fried way too long, the pumpkinballs came disguised as dripping with fat zuchiniballs and didn't taste well. The Greek salad was just okay, but it's difficult to spoil that recepy.
Verdict: avoid, 5,5 out of 10
The Adonis Restaurant is situated on a delightful spot in the harbour / beach of Skala Eressos. It's not that the people aren't friendly, because they really are, but we just didn't like the food that they served. In Skala Eressos there are plenty of good restaurants to choose from, and everybody seems to be friendly, so why pick this one? There was no descent coffee (only nescafe, I don't understand why the Greeks seem to like these chemicals, because there is no coffee whatso-ever involved in the making of this stuff), and the crab salad came dressed up as a pot of mayonaise with big lumps of surumi sticks.
Verdict: avoid, 6+ out of 10
This bar on the beach of Vatera is trying to be trendy, but nobody speaks a word of english, there is no menu, and the waiter walks around in shorts and a naked torso with lots of hair and his belly popping over. The drinks are served with a nibble. Nice: the spot and the lounge music.
Verdict: avoid, 5 out of 10