San Stefanos Online ~ North West Corfu
Welcome to San Stefanos (NW Corfu) => San Stefanos news and views => Topic started by: Silverstar on August 30, 2016, 06:47:30 PM
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Returned home on Sunday after 3 glorious weeks in SS.....its the first time I've had 3 weeks there and unfortunately 2 weeks will now never be enough so have booked for 3 weeks again next year ;D
Stayed with Vagelis in his Helena Villa which was fabulous yet again - cleaned and beds made daily by Anthoula who is now 8 months pregnant but just looks like she's had a big dinner - nothing slows that lady down, absolutely nothing :)
As usual we spent majority of our time at the Nafsika pool and had breakfast and lunch there most days. Consider it as my second home and thoroughly enjoyed the company of Spiros, Stefanos, Chris, Patricia and Penny with some memorable nights had including the 80's night, Killer pool and the Quiz night we had last Friday - both were comedy gold.... 8)
I found the resort to be busier than last year and even Acabar seemed to be getting into double figures most nights and many of the shops and restaurants/businesses seemed to be happy with the summer so far.
I just went to the restaurants that I really rate this year so didn't eat at hardly any on 'the strip'.
I decided to retry both Olympia and Brusko again after disappointing meals in 2009 and 2015 respectively. Had some lovely after dinner drinks several nights at Silver Star which was much busier than last year (lovely to see) and also made it to Bar 38 one night for some very nice cocktails and live music.
Olympia - I cannot fault the food, it was lovely this time round. However for me personally, there is absolutely no atmosphere in there..... In addition, I will never eat there again after being charged a €7.50 cutlery charge on my bill. Literally couldn't get my breath at the cheek of that and met several other people who had experienced this item being added to their bill.......!
Brusko - this year I thought the food was excellent - great staff, great food and a lovely atmosphere - back on the hit list and happily so!
Nafsika - my home from home and I absolutely love their breakfasts and the grilled chicken and Greek salad is my lunchtime favourite. In addition I tried the Greek roasted chicken and their curry this year and loved both so Nafsika continues to shine for me.
Ozzy Oil - we took friends who hadn't eaten there before and unfortunately it was a disappointing night. The menu has changed beyond recognition and all the Oz dishes which were preceded by Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane etc have completely disappeared and there is just one token Australian dish on the menu now. I was not bowled over by anything that I ate and to be honest, I feel like it has lost its way a little bit and the menu now is just like a Greek restaurant when the point of Ozzy Oil was to bring an Australian flavour to the resort.
Fantasea - still one of my favourites and I just love what Kostas is trying to do in terms of being innovative and coming up with fresh ideas. Every meal was great and the location, ambience and service continue to be excellent.
Beachcomber - again, one of my favourites and Sue always seems to get it right from a perfectly cooked fillet steak to home made Tiramisu. Had several lovely meals there and they never disappoint - also sunsets to die for!
Beer O Clock - Had a 2-3 meals here and again, always very good with lovely staff and a nice atmosphere.
Yiannis - infamous orange cake and good service ;)
I also ate at a few places outside of SS for a change. I can thoroughly recommend Trilogia in Kassiopi - just love going back here as never disappoints with a superb location and fabulous food. We also returned to Anemos in Afionas one night which again had great food (and cocktails) with those amazing views and the sunset of all sunsets.
New for us this year was Bikolis in Peroulades which was an absolute hidden gem and I would definitely both recommend and go back next year. Fabulous food in a lovely garden restaurant with very helpful and friendly staff.
Also new this year was Horizon hotel in Arillas - went a couple of times for lunch and wished we had heard about it earlier in our stay. Uber cool hotel restaurant overlooking Arillas beach with Ibiza type music and a very laid back vibe with excellent food and cocktails. Definite winner for me and will be revisiting next year for sure.
All in all another fabulous holiday and also flew home with Norwegian Airlines for the first time and cannot rate them highly enough. Superb on all levels and will definitely be my first choice airline next year.
Only 49 weeks till I'm there again............ :(
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€7:50 for cutlery! I've never heard of such a thing! What do they expect you to do,eat with your fingers?
Is this is something new that they've introduced this year? If so they are going to lose a lot of custom.
I think I would have told them I only want to eat with the cutlery not buy it! Olympia has been crossed off my list for September, shame,used to like it there
But ,appart from thatI'm glad you enjoyed your holiday.
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I've never liked Olympia.
I get the feeling that they would ideally love a Taverna full of couples.
Never got a good feeling towards our young one and it's always half empty
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Same here ,went there in 2009 when our daughter was 5 ,never been back .
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Chrissie I heard two others tell me similar whilst we were out there. Just not appealing to families at all
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Have only ever ate there once in 25 years and that was once to many...totally no atmosphere, and not at all friendly..was like here is you food , eat up and go..
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Weird isn't it Rilo.....
I know some rave about it. I've honestly never seen anymore than 4/5 tables taken
The last time we went in there it was 8.30pm at the end of June . We were the only ones in till another 2 tables were taken about 9.45pm
This cutlery charge thing is madness
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Yes Gavlah very strange...and cutlery charge , thats a new one on me..will sure keep away in the future..
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If they charge me I'll keep the cutlery!
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Strange, although it's not my favourite we find them very friendly. Didn't notice the 7.50 charge in July - but it might well have been on there - I don't look at the detail (I know I should). It was the busiest we've ever seen it this year.
Great review SilverStar, glad you had a great time.
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I'm wondering now if something got lost in translation and that the €7.50 Olympia called a cutlery charge was actually a service charge, would that make sense?
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I agree with Teamnickos. Ate there 4 times in July with no "cutlery" charge and it was very busy each time in fact the one night there were only 3/4 tables right inside not in use. Always found them very welcoming for kids as well.
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I ate there three times, whilst staying in the apartment above in early August,definately no cutlery charge then,I always check my bill,Im a true Scotsman ;D.Im back in a fortnight,so will find out if its a new charge added since then.
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Ok - the cutlery charge is definitely for real.
This is what happened........we went for dinner one night and at the end of the meal the bill was around €15 higher than it would normally be for what we had.........it was all in Greek, and we were tired and couldn't be bothered to argue, plus Nate was trying to wade in their fountain so we just wanted to exit before he was soaked.
However talking to one of my friends around the pool the following week and she told me that she had had some friends (a party of 15) go to Olympia for dinner the previous evening and they left in disgust......apparently the service was shocking and they were made to feel like an inconvenience all night and then the bill was significantly higher than expected and they asked for a breakdown of several €7.50 charges in Greek and were told that they were cutlery charges at which point it all got a bit heated apparently.....!
I had a lightbulb moment and said 'so that's why our bill was higher than it should have been!' and then in speaking to other people found out that a few others had experienced it too.......!
Definitely something to watch out for but I won't be visiting it again - its just not for me.
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Many places charge for covers, don't they?
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Usually its the bread for €1.50..
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I have just messaged Stelios at Olympia re 'the cutlery charge' and his reply was that he is only charging the same as all of the other restaurants in Agios Stefanos ! So I think maybe that there has been a misunderstanding and somehow something has got lost in translation !
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If 5 people were eating the cover charge would add up to Eur7.50
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Ate in Olympia last night and both had a brilliant meal. Atmosphere chilled and relaxed, a perfect end to a pleasant day. Nearly all tables taken and there were children in. No cutlery charge. Checked with Stelios what his cover charge for bread was, it's 90cents which I think is cheaper than some others. Whatever the explanation for a cutlery charge was, it certainly wasn't apparent last night and there was nothing to put us off returning, on the contrary.
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I'm addressing this for the last time.
I can only go by my own experience and what friends tell me and the waiter clearly said that the 7.50 charges were for cutlery at which point the party of 15 who had queried the bill said in that case, they would take the cutlery with them....!
It got a bit heated but there was no 'misunderstanding' on what the charge was for.
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We ate there last week and there was no cutlery charge on our bill?
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Snap !!! All was well, food spot on, unlike The Barras :(
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Yep . No cutlery mention whatsoever and food and service was spot on
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What a lot of rubbish some people come up with, re cutlery charge. all tavernas charge for bread. usually 1.5 euro per couple for bread,no cutlery charge. I sometimes think people are trying to put some tavernas out of business. We have eaten at the Olympia for over twenty years and never had a bad meal or been treated without respect there.We never ever complain about the places we eat, everyone can have a bad day. never mind the reviews and just enjoy a beautiful village and the wonderful hard working people trying to make a living.
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Hear Hear
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I think that's really harsh. Silverstar (who I don't know by the way, other than from this forum and facebook) is a regular of many, many years and obviously loves the village, as do her family. She gave a review of all the restaurants she visited, not just Olympia and has clearly explained her experience, more than once.
Just to be clear - I've never had a bad experience at Olympia so that's not why I'm defending her comments.
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allanm
You have treated my comments with a basic lack of respect.
I reviewed everywhere that I ate in the village and as a visitor of over 30 years, I find your insinuation that I may be trying to put any restaurant in SS out of business to be absolutely disgraceful.
The cutlery charge at the Olympia is FACT for the 15 person party who ate there during their stay in August (they had the bill to prove it) and furthermore when they questioned a member of staff, they were told it was for cutlery to which they responded 'well we will take it with us then' which developed into a fairly heated exchange as you can imagine.
I was told of this by a close friend of one of the party who is also a long standing visitor to SS and does not lie/exaggerate which is why I 100% believe what I was told.
Furthermore I was personally overcharged on the evening that I ate there but due to having a non-verbal autistic 6 year old who was trying to climb in the fountain, I didn't question the bill at the time but after finding out about the charge levied at the large party the previous evening, suspect that I might have been charged in a similar way - however I cannot say for sure.
I am not disagreeing or disputing that many people love Olympia but for me personally, it is not somewhere that I would go again.
Some people have had various issues at the Nafsika/Beachcomber/Fantasea, all of whom I love to bits but I totally respect everyone's opinion on here and would never accuse anyone of deliberately trying to sabotage a restaurant by simply giving their experience of it.
I will not discuss this again and please let this thread now be closed.
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Thank you Teamnickos for the kind words :)
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Restaurants all over the world charge a small fee for cutlery etc. It's called a cover charge. In London it's usually about £3. In SS it's usually about €0.9 and includes bread - but in several places you pay it whether or not you have bread.
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Only just read any of this I have always loved the Olympia and I hope people will at least give it a try. Its serves consistently good food. Year in year out.
I went to a restaurant here last weekend and there were 6 of us so we were charged a standard service charge - was in very small print at the bottom of the menu. maybe Olympia is the same if there are more than a certain number.
I know this is last years post but we are fast approaching 2017 season and I hope the Olympia is still a place where people will try for themselves.
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Have eaten there for twenty years, never had any issues with prices,service or food. It is different to some of the noisier venues. That, along with the excellent food,is it's attraction.