Selene Restaurant

We came here for dinner based on Google and to be honest, wish we had read the reviews closely prior to attending. The restaurant ambiance and staff were great. Walking into the restaurant you definitely get the feeling of high end. The staff are friendly and welcoming. That gets 5/5 However, the food did not live up to its hype. For two, our bill came to about 700 euros and we still had to order room service when we got back to our hotel. I’ve been to many other restaurants that are Michelin stars or have Michelin-star chefs and I enjoyed them much better. I didn’t have an issue paying the bill but, for 700 euros, I expected a certain level of satisfaction which wasn’t there. Wouldn’t be on my recommend restaurants.

We are fans of chef Botrini (as evident from rating his Athens restaurant with 5/5). The Santorini restaurant's ambience is wonderful. There is attention to detail and the overall feeling is high end. That said, I highly regret dinner for 2 at Selene: it costed almost as much as a pair of Louboutin heels, minus the joy of owning and wearing them. Upon arrival we discovered the menus were not the ones displaying online but instead just a choice between a 3-course a la carte (of sorts), at 125 euro per person, and a bigger tasting menu at 210 euro (!) per person. We went for the "cheap" option. Each course featured 3 choices, expect 1 of the 3 was not available (and not substituted for) at the firsts section - completely unacceptable. The food was good (and very good looking) but not exquisite - there was a sense of "good enough for tourists" about it. The service was friendly but overly aggressive. Wine glasses were refilled after every couple of sips and we basically finished our bottle before the main course arrived. Subsequent suggestions were in the neighbourhood of 45 per glass (we succumbed). Despite ordering the "economy" menu we managed a 520 euro bill (prior to the tip) for 2. We take no issue with the amount per se, but when one negotiates at this price point one expects a certain level of satisfaction. This was nowhere near value for money. Crucially, immediately after the five hundred+ euro dinner we went for drinks and ordered mini burgers and grilled prawns too - we were still hungry. Not coming back.

The dinner at Selene was chilled and pleasant sitting in the Garden area on warm Greek summer evening. There were a couple of hiccups of the evening but the staff was wiling to improve their service and food was delicious but the portion of the pre-dinner dishes could be slightly smaller and in general we enjoyed the experience. When the higher management learnt about our initial experience of the evening at Selene did not succeed our expectations, they were very willing to work out the way to improve our experience and make the effect to make up for us. All in all, I recommend visitors to visit the beautiful building and enjoy their hospitality.

The best dining experience we had in Santorini. Everything was absolutely perfect. The harvest menu was also incredible. This is THE romantic spot.