The 20 best restaurants in Zakynthos
All our recommendations below have been hand selected and tested by our resident destination expert to help you discover the best restaurants in Santorini. Find out more below, or for more inspiration see our guides to the island's best hotels, restaurants, nightlife and things to do. Plan an extended visit with our ultimate guide to planning a Greek island-hopping holiday.
Find a restaurant by type:
Best all-rounders
Spartakos Taverna
If you want to know where locals go to fill up on the freshest seafood in town follow crowds to Spartakos. This cheery family-run taverna has a dozen tables covered with blue-check cloths on the deck overlooking Zante's sparkling port. This is an old-style Greek taverna so Spartakos will show you into the cramped kitchen to pick out one of the luscious dishes – garides saganaki (shrimps baked in a tomato and feta sauce), or kalamari gemisto (oven-baked squid stuffed with a succulent blend of seafood and rice) prepared by his wife, who is inspired by her family's age-old recipes.
Contact: 0030 2695 044526; facebook.com/spartakos.zakynthos
Reservations: Only on weekends
Prices: ££
Best table: Ask for one with a harbour view
Eucalyptos
Set in the peaceful poolside garden of one of the island's oldest hotels, this delightfully bucolic restaurant – named for the island's oldest eucalyptus tree – was one of the first on the island to source ingredients locally. The menu only features traditional local dishes and regional – mainly organic – wines. Enthusiastic owner Maria Lougari – whose parents opened the hotel back in the 1990s – is on hand to chat (and chivvy the waiters) as you dine on succulent lamb and pasta giouvetsi, veal, onion and tomato stew moscharistifado and other traditional dishes.
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The 20 best restaurants in Zakynthos
Exohora's millennial olive tree is living proof that the world's healthiest oil has been produced on Zakynthos, also known as Zante, for centuries and most of the local specialties – including meltingly rich beef stew sofigadoura and garlic-laden aubergine dish skordostoubi – are doused in it. Other unique homegrown ingredients include sweet white Belousiotiko onions and the tiny wild strawberries which colour the hillsides in spring. Round off any meal with the island's spicy sheep cheese ladotiri and sherry-like Verdea wine and you'll agree that the gastronomy of this island, where Apollo once strolled, is fit for the gods. All our recommendations below have been hand selected and tested by our resident destination expert to help you discover the best restaurants in Santorini. Find out more below, or for more inspiration see our guides to the island's best hotels, restaurants, nightlife and things to do. Plan an extended visit with our ultimate guide to planning a Greek island-hopping holiday. Find a restaurant by type: Best all-rounders Spartakos Taverna If you want to know where locals go to fill up on the freshest seafood in town follow crowds to Spartakos. This cheery family-run taverna has a dozen tables covered with blue-check cloths on the deck overlooking Zante's sparkling port. This is an old-style Greek taverna so Spartakos will show you into the cramped kitchen to pick out one of the luscious dishes – garides saganaki (shrimps baked in a tomato and feta sauce), or kalamari gemisto (oven-baked squid stuffed with a succulent blend of seafood and rice) prepared by his wife, who is inspired by her family's age-old recipes. Contact: 0030 2695 044526; Reservations: Only on weekends Prices: ££ Best table: Ask for one with a harbour view Eucalyptos Set in the peaceful poolside garden of one of the island's oldest hotels, this delightfully bucolic restaurant – named for the island's oldest eucalyptus tree – was one of the first on the island to source ingredients locally. The menu only features traditional local dishes and regional – mainly organic – wines. Enthusiastic owner Maria Lougari – whose parents opened the hotel back in the 1990s – is on hand to chat (and chivvy the waiters) as you dine on succulent lamb and pasta giouvetsi, veal, onion and tomato stew moscharistifado and other traditional dishes.
