by: Patricia Winter

 Odos Zinonos restaurant is located in a charming old house in the centre of Pafos town. The sophisticated interior decor has soft lighting, elegant table-settings and very good, live Greek music.

Unfortunately, this is where the positive comments end.

Odos Zinonos’ menu is essentially interchangeable with countless other dining establishments in Pafos offering poorly prepared, mainly fried dishes in their mezes (a selection of many different foods in smaller portions). The mushrooms, zucchini, pork souvlaki (cubes of tender pork), lamb chops and louganiko (spicy sausage) were all fried. The chicken souvla (large pieces of chicken) was grilled but so overcooked it had dried out.  Souvlaki, souvla and louganiko are traditionally grilled slowly over an open charcoal fire and, if cooked with care, are tender and delicious.

Service is not their strong suit, either. As we entered Odos Zinonos on a recent Friday night, there was a definite lack of hospitality, which is unusual for Cyprus. Our server was downright glum and the plates of food were just shoved onto the table. To make matters worse the music was so loud it was impossible to have a conversation.

There’s a simple formula to running a successful restaurant: warmly welcome your guests, serve well-prepared food and drink in a comfortable environment (no ear drum-shattering music), and let your guests know you hope to see them again when they’re ready to leave.

Great service costs the same as poor service. Well-prepared food costs no more than badly-prepared food. Odos Zinonos, however, doesn’t seem to have quite grasped this concept.