Santorini Taverna & Ouzeri

I love the food here. The mains are ok but the meze are brilliant. I have many happy memories of eating until comatose here with plates and plates of different things on the table. Certainly as good as I’ve had in Cyprus (never been to Greece), and pretty reasonable– you can get full on 2 – 3 well chosen meze each with bread, and they’re about 3 – 4 pounds each. The £15 chef’s selection of meze with a drink is a really good deal and last time a big group I was with had that we weren’t even near to finishing it. I’ve always found the service good (we definitely got free dessert one time but I can’t remember what happened) and it’s nice to be somewhere family run.

I ate the slow-​cooked lamb here last week and it was superb. The lamb melted off the bone. The tomato stew was delicious and the portion was huge. We also had a well balanced spinach and feta pastry to start and a tasty stuffed pepper main. It’s not cheap — £10−15 per main course — but it is very well prepared and authentic.

Alright, here’s the deal with Santorini: The food is delicious.
BUT, and its a big BUT…
the service is terrible if you are in a large group. The servers can be quite pushy and, well, mean. I was there once with one friend and the service was nice, but for a recent party that I had it was definitely lacking.
I made a reservation for 25 people, which is very large, I’ll grant them that, but really didn’t appreciate how the entire reservation was handled. Rather than telling me when I made the reservation that they wanted me to place a deposit, they called me the day before and demanded that I come by with £200 — in cash. I had to argue for a good 15 minutes or so to get them to let me place my deposit in cheque form. And they never quite justified why they asked me for cash in the first place.
They claimed that they wanted a deposit in case we didn’t show up, which I guess is fair. However, when we all actually showed up, the waitstaff was fairly uncommunicative and also had forgotten that I had requested vegetarian dishes for my vegetarian guests. They fixed the problem eventually, but most of my conversations with the waitstaff seemed far from friendly.
Overall, it’s a bit of a pity, because Santorini has amazing food, but I will definitely think twice before bringing people there again.

Excellent home-​style Greek. The meze list is the highlight: The taramosalata was a heaping and super flavourful. The dolmathes were airy & minty. The patates (available both crispier and softer) were heavenly dunked in lemony oil with liberal helpings of herbs. Spanakotiropita was the only miss. The moussaka entrée was superb, with just the right amount of lamb, and the vegetables were super-​fresh.
Service was prompt enough (it’s a Greek restaurant, after all) and very friendly. We were able to sit down right away, and get served quickly after ordering, at ~20.00 on a Saturday. You can’t get retsina by the glass, which is a bit of a bummer if your dinner partner doesn’t like the stuff, but the house white hit the spot. They also serve Mythos beer, a nice treat.
Prices are good. A chef’s selection of meze for dinner is only £15 a head, which comes with a drink. Meze selection, drink & entrée is just £5 more. Ala carte it’s roughly £4 for an appetizer, £10-£15 for an entrée.
All in all, heartily recommended by this picky Greek.

The most amazing tasting traditional Greek food. I would rate this as extraordinarily good home cooked food. Better than you would find in the country itself. Around £20/​head for a Sunday lunchtime, provided you do not go mad on the booze.
And of course there is the Ouzo!!!
Welcoming ambiance, attentive service.
But watch out it is cash only.