The best restaurants Rethymnon

An excellent, elegant and charming restaurant where you will recognize replicas of Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings of La Goulue. The jazzy music, the flower-filled courtyard, the beautifully presented dishes will make your meal a delightful and pleasant stop. Cretan snails as a starter, stewed lamb, salt-crusted sea bass or stewed venison are all good choices. Off the menu is the lobster pasta, a delight! Flamur speaks a few words of French and will advise you in your choice of dishes and wine!

This elegant restaurant is located on the waterfront between the fortress of Rethymnon and the old port. The spacious and beautifully decorated terrace offers a modern and soothing setting for lunch and dinner. It serves Greek, Cretan and international dishes, all slightly revisited but based on local products. The portions are correct and the service is affable. Everything is done to have a good time in the shade of the umbrellas and under the effect of the Arbona, this wind of the sea refreshing and so pleasant in full summer.

Lemonokipos has been a family-run establishment since 2000, offering creative and refined Mediterranean and international cuisine. This restaurant offers a total experience under the freshness of the lemon trees whether it is for a good coffee, a good cocktail or a good meal. The desserts are not to be outdone, just excellent! In addition, the quiet and large square offers an ideal playground for your children. Pleasant and attentive service. A good address, often full, but which remains, somehow, a quiet place!

Although this restaurant is not at all in the centre of Rethymnon, it is definitely worth venturing out into the countryside during your stay in the city. Kostas Hamogiorgakis, the owner, is a passionate gastronome, a talented and creative restaurateur. The traditionally inspired recipes, taken from an old drawer, all have a little "je ne sais quoi" in them. The raw materials are of undeniable quality. A very good address for gourmets and lovers of authentic and inspired cuisine. Impeccable service.

An associative place, a sort of cooperative, offers a few tables inside and on the terrace. You can drink a very good coffee and enjoy some good, classic dishes. The menu is not very big but it will be enough to calm the small cravings after visiting the fortress of Réthymnon, just a few meters higher. In addition to being in a nice street and offering a pleasant and quiet setting, we like even more the idea that we are running a humane place and engaged in social struggles. Smiling and available staff.

This spacious, warm and welcoming stone tavern offers delicious dishes at incredible prices: grilled meats, salads, stuffed vine leaves, smoked pork and Cretan puff pastries as well as some dishes simmered according to the recipes that the Greek refugees from Asia Minor brought back in their luggage are among the most original culinary options. Just 4 km from the center of Rethymnon, you can sit comfortably on the shady terrace or inside and have a good time. Ideal for families.

You'll recognize this tiny tavern by all the colorful umbrellas hanging on the awning that protects you from the sun! Take a seat on the pedestrian street and enjoy the succulent, home-made dishes, prepared day by day with great generosity. The stuffed vine leaves are a delight. Stews, casseroles, soups, stewed dishes, yoghurt with candied fruits, offered at the end of the meal, bring the authentic Cretan flavors to your plate. Don't leave without a jar of home-made jam!

Since 1988, this tavern has been offering an excellent, simple and local cuisine, right by the sea, at the foot of the Venetian fortress. Unforgettable homemade fries, spaghetti with lobster, grilled lobster... as well as a wide variety of traditional Cretan and Greek mezzedes, homemade, prepared according to the rules of the art, served quickly and without fuss. The tables are all outside because the inside is tiny and cluttered by the service and the kitchen. An authentic address, caught up by success, where you always come twice!

Famous tavern since 1986. The tables carefully set up in the shaded and flowered patio are of the most beautiful effect. What awaits you on the plates is also very appealing; refined Cretan specialties, grilled or stewed local mountain meats, veal fillet carpaccio, snails or even sea bass fillet. Our favorite is the Chateaubriand for 2! Very well located on one of the arteries of the old city between the old port and the fortress. Excellent address where the locals come to eat meat.

Change your perspective and discover the fortress from the west coast of Rethymno! Far from the crowds that crowd the old port, this waterfront restaurant offers a 180-degree view of the sea with a terrace on several levels above the rocks. Chic and simple at the same time, it attempts to offer Mediterranean cuisine, based on local ingredients carefully selected from nearby producers. All the products used are organically grown. The best address in town to enjoy sushi.

No doubt, one of the best tables in town that will delight gourmets. Located in a pedestrian alley, it will enchant you with its superb vaulted room, its interior stone courtyard crumbling under the vegetation. The creative cuisine is rooted in the Cretan culinary tradition: let yourself be tempted by the tender and tasty goat meat, cooked with honey and thyme. Impressive choice of wines. Pleasant service. An address you will fall in love with! Most of the ingredients are organic and come from small local farmers.

This small address in the old town has recently opened its doors to lovers of authentic cuisine and we are delighted. You can meet with friends and share a lot of small dishes made with Cretan products, but the chef, Michalis Hassikos, allows himself to be creative and to invent recipes that go beyond the local traditions. There are only a few tables on the terrace and a few in the beautiful dining room. The food is tastefully presented and the dishes are tasty. A varied wine list. A very good address.

Charm and romance guaranteed. This is the restaurant of the Hotel Pallazzo Di Corina. It has the Greek "organic" label. On the large terrace in the square you can taste, among other things, the following house specialties, depending on the season: "Mitato" lamb with honey, yoghurt and thyme, saganaki kavourma, boureki (meat puff pastry) or stuffed zucchini flowers. Also a la carte, fish, shellfish and seafood, a mix of traditional Cretan cuisine and more creative and contemporary options. Professional service and friendly atmosphere.

In the heart of the old town, here is beautiful Venetian architecture in a particularly well-kept setting. Pretty terrace, well shaded and pleasant, marked by bougainvilleas and large flowerpots full of geraniums! Here the cuisine is traditional, Cretan and Mediterranean. Delicious salads and good local meats. Great selection of wines. An address not to be missed both for its intimate setting and its menu. Enjoy the pretty garden and mingle with the locals. Very good address and good value for money.

This typical Cretan rakadiko is located opposite the Avli Restaurant: It's his little sister… In other words, it's the more relaxed version of the great Avli, where you drink raki by sharing small dishes or mezze that are simmered on the spot before our eyes. Good alternative to eating well if you want to stay light or if Avli is complete as often in the full season. Ideal for a small traditional evening, between drinks and good dishes. Ingredients come from small local producers, most of them organic.

It is a former 15th century Dominican monastery renovated in 1997 and transformed into a hotel-restaurant. Here you can enjoy creative Cretan cuisine, either in the hotel's outdoor courtyard or in the magnificent interior room with exposed beams. Perfect for a romantic and gastronomic dinner. Beyond the dream setting, the menu is elaborate and out of the ordinary. The well-stocked wine cellar offers more than 150 labels. Professional and attentive staff. It's worth it for those who can!

Frequented by locals and, above all, students of Rethymno, this mezzedopoleio makes no concessions on the quality of the dishes offered. Located in the heart of the historical center, it is an ideal address to enjoy traditional Cretan and Greek cuisine at a very good price. Among the dishes: the Cretan brusquette, marinated anchovies, steamed mussels... Doughnuts with chocolate sauce offered generously at the end of the meal. Excellent value for money. With a little luck, you can also attend a live music evening.