San Stefanos Online ~ North West Corfu

I've booked already for next year too.   4-27 August at Vagelis.   Outbound flights booked, just eyeing up options for returns....

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.

 

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.

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.

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 

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....

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............

i definitely will

I always think of the old part of town starting from Maria & Peli's shop all the way round to fantasea.

I always stay behind Nafsika now as we love Nafsika pool and food and prefer that end of town - having said that I've stayed all over and Teresa is a nice spot as is Vickys.

A lot of visitors completely miss out the old town which is a big shame as they are truly missing out