A dining guide to Paxos

Paxos has loads of restaurants and like most places in Greece the food is tasty although rather samey. 

You can always get the usual fare of squid, Octopus, Souvlaki, Mousakka, chips, chips, more chips and rice. Although the food can seem similar meal by meal there is always the option to cook your own (if you have a villa, apartment, barbecue etc) and we did this a lot. There are quite a few supermarkets and mini-marts about with a broad range of choices.

Although dining in a lot we did go out and here is a brief critique on what we found. We went to the three main locations of Lakka, Loggos and Gaios although we start with Mongonissi as it was close to where we were staying.

I hope you find the blog possibly helpful/interesting although please remember the views contained are mine alone and relate to mainly just one visit.

Mongonissi

PAN AND THEO

We did not use the beach but we enjoyed looking at it and beyond to the boats. What I really want to see recognised is the main restaurant overlooking the beach which does not seem to get much billing in its own right. We went there twice and the food was great and better than most other more recognised restaurants on the island. Judith had 'best ever' sardines and I enjoyed a lovely juicy souvlaki. All this with the beautiful setting and view makes a great place to visit.

CARNAYO GOLD LOUNGE CAFE

Nice bar with great evening view

I have to say this was a very nice relaxing place and great for sun-downer drinks. It is both laid back and slightly quirky and occupied by a mixture of tourists and yachtsmen. Some of the visitors tend to pose a bit but this adds to the entertainment! I understand you can get light snacks there but we didn’t try them. Yes, we liked it!

Gaios

ANESIS CAFE

We like to go to a bar which we can adopt as a pre-dinner watering hole and we found what we think is the perfect place. It is called Anesis Café and located near the corner of the waterfront square (close to where the church is) and it looks and feels very local if you sit in the bar itself. They also have seats under an awning in the square. The people who run it are relaxed, friendly and talkative if you need to ask them anything. It is one of those places where you can immediately relax, drink a large and tasty carafe of local wine and watch the world go by until you build up an appetite. Highly recommended.

MAMBO

As harbour front bars go this was a good one and it serves light meals. We did not eat a lot but what we had was very enjoyable. The drinks were cold and flavourful and we enjoyed ourselves. Being right on the front you can see the yachts and harbour activity which can be both interesting and sometimes amusing.  We would go again.

VASILIS TAVERN

Ther is nothing too special to say about this place really. It is off the waterfront and occupies a narrow throughway between some buildings. It was very busy and operated rather like a food production line i.e. high turnover and bland. There was very little individualism and not much flair and the food that was distinctly average. Despite all that they did nothing too awful but also delivered nothing particularly well. It was a very average meal and we did not return.

PAN AND THEO

We ate at Pan and Theo twice and I have to say the food there was better than all the other restaurants we visited. It is on the waterfront in Gaios and had good views to go with good food and friendly service. All the usual Greek staple meals were on offer but all cooked rather well. It was one of the few places that seemed particularly packed out. Unless there are two Pan and Theo’s I assume they run the place in Mongonissi too. We recommend it, we really do

Lakka

HARBOUR LIGHTS

It was a nice place for a drink and possibly more. We only popped in for a couple of drinks but it was really very pleasant. The beer was cold, the people seemed nice and the view was interesting and enjoyable. Yes, worth visiting in our opinion.

Loggos

VASILIS

Before going to Paxos I looked up the restaurant critiques on TripAdvisor and this one came out tops at the time. Although the Gaios restaurant of the same name disappointed us we thought this one would make up for it. So we went with high expectation but sadly had a bad time. It certainly looked good perched on the quayside and it was quite quaint in that you might have to move your chairs every time a local bus tried to squeeze past!

To get a decent table you should book which shows its popularity but sadly what we got to eat was dry and cold. I mean even the blooming chips were cold! So we suffered in silence and drank our bottle of wine. When they came to take our barely touched plates they finally realised there was something wrong and the maître d came over. He whisked the plates away to the kitchen where raised voices were heard and then came back, apologised, and refused to take any payment for anything including drinks and wine. Whilst he rescued the situation, which I applaud, the actual food was not up to par. I just hope we just had bad luck at a busy time as it remains a very popular place.

ROXI BAR CAFÉ

It was probably more of of a disappointment because I had previously read the hype about this place. In fact some people say it is the best bar on the island.  In actuality for us it was nothing particularly special except for the view from the tables. It also didn't help that some regular guests arrived and were practically bowled over with welcomes while we sat, being ignored and hoping to get a drink. Anyway, the actual place was nice. We sat harbour-side and, whilst the chairs were on a downward slope, it was entirely acceptable......but not 'great'. One can go through the bar to tables on the other side which overlooks the harbour entrance. Sadly no food seemed available but there are plenty of places nearby.

NASSOS TAVERN

We count ourselves really fortunate to have found this tavern. It was towards the end of our fortnight holiday and we felt rather jaded as far as Greek food was concerned. Again we were in Loggos and decided to try this place mainly because we were hungry and it was convenient. We were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed a very good moussaka and excellent souvlaki. We enjoyed it here and made new friends.

So that was our little tour of cafes, bars and restaurants completed. There are plenty of others which I am sure many of you know about. We went to more but, after a while they all seemed to blend together. An important thing you might want to remember is that my views are mine and you might have totally different experience to mine. In some cases I sincerely hope so. I enjoyed my food on Paxos although I won’t be eating any more souvlaki or moussaka for a while!