5 Best Restaurants in Agios Nikolaos, Crete

Steps away from Ammoudi beach, this tavern serves up Cretan classics on a sea-scented veranda overlooking the ocean. Proud of their local ingredients, the family-led team at Arismari offer traditional flavors that respect their culinary heritage. Strong on simply prepared seafood and fish, the menu also offers snails and sea herbs collected from the neighboring shores. Perhaps best is to take a slice of the pie of the day, some freshly fried calamari, and to raise a glass of house wine to the waves that break on the sands.

Airy blue-on-blue sofas and chairs look over the lake here, with a menu dreamed up by sweets lovers. Waffles, pancakes, and toasts are offered, but it is really all about the ice cream---up to 45 flavors are offered.

Right on Lake Voulismeni, Karnagio is a riot of multicolor tables, shouted orders, and running waiters. Proud of their local products, the grill is the center of attention here with a wide selection of meat and fish. Salads and a meze selection top up the offerings and the outdoor square is a fun, lively place to spend a couple of hours. Be prepared to wait at busy times, though the staff hand out glasses of wine to queueing customers.

An enchanting courtyard garden and the high-ceilinged parlors of an elegant Neoclassical mansion are the setting for what many consider to be the best fish tavern in Agios Nikolaos. Simple is the keyword here: fresh catches from the fleet bobbing in the harbor just beyond are plainly grilled and accompanied by local vegetables and Cretan wines. Salads are a winner, often with unusual combinations, and the pasta is well presented, too, but really you are here for the daily seafood specials, handsomely displayed on ice in an old wooden boat at the front of house.

Enhance the short trip out to Kritsa and Lato with a stop in the nearby village of Exo Lakonia to enjoy a meal at the homey taverna run by the Stavrakakis family. Dishes are still based on hand-me-down recipes, and most are made from ingredients the family grow themselves. Dolmades are made with zucchini flowers instead of vine leaves, wild mountain greens appear in salads dressed with local olive oil, pumpkin is served stifado style, and the local wine and raki are good. It's all served with charm under the shade of a magnificent bougainvillea or by a roaring fire on nippy winter nights.