Avli in Malia Review
Avli in Malia Information:
Address: Agiou Ioannou 2 28ης Οκτωβρίου 7 Αγίου Ιωάννου, γωνία 2, Malia 700 07, Greece
Phone: +30 2897 031112
Website: https://avli-malia.gr/
Ratings:
Overall: 5/5
Food: 5/5
Cleanliness/Ambiance: 5/5
Kid Friendly: 5/5
Customer Service: 5/5
Accessibility: 5/5
Price per Person: $10-$20
Overview:
Hands down one of the best restaurants in Malia, Greece. We had been staying in Malia for almost 3 weeks before we discovered Avli, and will forever be kicking ourselves for not going sooner!
Before you even get to the restaurant, you can smell it. That wood burning oven permeates through the streets and just draws you in. The inside of the restaurant is beautiful. Open, airy, and spacious. It has an open kitchen concept so you can watch the action. There is a fresh produce stand behind the counter that is just beautiful, and gets you excited for the fresh and delicious food you’re about to be served!
Our server, Eleni, gave excellent recommendations and was so warm and welcoming to our family. Avli offers the cutest fairy-esque kids menu, and our server hunted down a few coloring pages and crayons for the table. Our daughter liked her so much she gave her a big hug as we were leaving! Impeccable service from the entire staff.
The Food
The menu is extraordinary. Being a chef myself, I tend to critique the food a little harsher than most. There was not one thing here I could fault. Great texture combinations, perfectly seasoned, and technical presentations. Everything spot on. We ordered a little bit of everything, and it all was delectable.
The Feta Rolls were a table favorite. Feta cheese wrapped in shredded phyllo dough and drizzled with fresh watermelon sauce. The sauce was subtly sweet and the phyllo gave a perfect crunch.
The Stuffed Mushrooms are filled with pork apaki (a traditional Cretan delicacy of cured pork loin), Cretan gruyere and fresh basil. I am a sucker for stuffed mushrooms, and these blew me away. The filling had just the right amount and the perfectly seasoned. I could have munched on those all day long.
The Chicken Souvlaki is where it’s at! Our server recommended this dish and I’m so glad we took her up on it. Beautifully presented and perfectly seasoned. We had been eating a lot of this dish during our time on Crete, and here was the best version we had.
The Drinks
The house wine is the most delicious wine I’ve had in a long time, and the ending to the meal was unexpected and delicious. The rose raki was the perfect send off. Rose flavored anything is hard to do as it is very hard to find that balance. This raki had just the right amount of rose. You could smell it and taste it, but it wasn’t like you were sucking down the whole garden.
The drink menu was small, but just the right amount of options. We tried each cocktail they offered, and our daughter had the homemade lemonade which was the best! It is Avli’s own recipe, full of healthy nutrients, and sugar free! It’s made with Cretan wild mint and thyme honey, which sounds like complex flavors, especially for a kid, but our daughter loved it!
All of this for such a great price. We could not believe our eyes when we got our check. Our family likes to guess the amount of the bill before we look, and we were so off! We guessed much higher than it was! The atmosphere, the food, drinks, and service were so top notch. It almost didn’t feel right paying so little for such an amazing meal.
We cannot wait to come back for another memorable experience. Thank you so much for such a great meal!
Customer Service/Kid Friendliness:
Eleni was one of the best servers we have had in a while. Great recommendations, welcoming and friendly. She brought our daughter some coloring pages to keep her busy, and she still has it to this day, “To remember her time there”. They offer a really cute kids menu as well.
Accessibility:
Close to Old Town, but easy to walk to from pretty much anywhere in Malia.
