3 Best Restaurants in Patmos, Rhodes and the Dodecanese

A native Patmian, Benetos Matthaiou, and his American wife, Susan, operate this lovely restaurant abutting a seaside garden that supplies the kitchen with fresh herbs and vegetables. These homegrown ingredients find their way into a selection of Mediterranean-style dishes that are influenced by the couple's travels and include house-cured sardines, the island's freshest Greek salad, and juicy slow-roasted pork atop a chickpea puree.

Choose between a table on the main square (perfect for people-watching) or the raised terrace out back with stunning views of the sea. Fresh grilled fish and lemon-and-oregano-flavored goat are specialties of the traditional kitchen, and other simple dishes such as mint-flavored dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) and tzatziki (yogurt and cucumber dip) are the way to go.

The excellent island cooking here is spiced up by the sea views, which you can savor from a seaside balcony table or right on the beach below. The mezedes menu includes such traditional favorites as leek pie, fried eggplant, and smoked pork. Grilled lamb chops and other main courses are served as well. Live music (Tzivaeri, which roughly translates as "my beloved," is also the name of a popular Greek folk song) is performed many nights, usually not earlier than around midnight.