Sixty Years on the Same Stretch of Sand: Drakos Taverna, Ios
Place — Drakos Taverna
By James B. Stoney, Editor ·
A family fish taverna at the end of Mylopotas beach — the kind of place where the setting does most of the work, and the food is simply what you order while you sit in it.
A family fish taverna at the end of Mylopotas beach — the kind of place where the setting does most of the work, and the food is simply what you order while you sit in it.
Mylopotas beach was reached on foot in the 1960s.
An hour's walk from Chora, no buildings, no road. Hippies camped in the caves along the shore.
Drakos opened anyway, at the quiet end of it.
A Different Starting Point
George Drakos — "Barba-Yorgis" to the island — opened the taverna in 1962, at the far end of Psili Ammos. There was no infrastructure to speak of. Supplies arrived by donkey and fishing boat. No electricity, no road.
His children took over in the 1970s. His grandson, also named George, and his wife Chryssa, took the reins in 2000 and 2001, and renovated the building. But the position never changed. That's the part worth understanding before anything on the menu.
The Setting Is the Point
Drakos sits at the far southern end of Mylopotas — one of the island's most photographed beaches, and considerably quieter here than further along, where the crowds and the music are.
Tables run right to the water's edge. The bay curves away in front of you, mountains behind, and the whole scene tips into a proper sunset most evenings. A small table with two buckets of seawater still sits at the end of the pier, used to clean the day's catch, exactly where it's stood for decades — a small, functional detail that says more about the place than any description could.
This is not a restaurant you visit for the room. There isn't one. You sit outside, on sand, at the edge of the Aegean, and that's the entire architecture.
What's on the Table
The food is good rather than the reason to come. Fish arrives daily from Ios and Kalymnos fishermen, grilled simply. Octopus hangs drying at the dock before it's cooked. The kitchen garden supplies zucchini blossoms, picked each morning. Ksino, the island's own soft cheese, is made in-house and spread on barley rusks.
None of it is trying to be inventive. It's a fish taverna doing what a fish taverna by a beach has always done, competently and without pretension.
The Honest Complication
Worth saying plainly: some visitors report prices well above the island average, and the food itself gets mixed notice — occasionally a fish with more bone than expected, or squid on the tougher side. Reservations are close to essential.
None of that is the point of going. Nobody making the trip to the far end of Mylopotas is doing so for a flawless plate. They're doing it for where the plate is served.
Wider Context
Ios trades almost entirely on its nightlife reputation, and much of its food scene is built to match — fast, loud, aimed at a young crowd passing through for a season.
Drakos sits apart from that, in both geography and mood. It was doing the slow, beachfront, family-run version of a Greek taverna long before that became a category people sought out, simply because there was no other way to run a restaurant on a beach with no road to it.
Why It Earns Its Place
Not for the cooking, which is solid rather than remarkable. For the fact that the same family has held the same spot on the same sand for over sixty years, and that spot happens to be one of the better places on the island to watch the sun go down over the water.
The setting is the destination. The food is what arrives while you're in it.
For anyone building a slower Greek-island trip around long, generous dinners by the water, the Reset Series guides and the Reset Companion are a useful pairing for the sleep, digestion and recovery that go with the heat, late meals and long days in the sun.
Related reading: Rock Bar, AYANA Jimbaran — Sunset as a Set Piece · El Kabron, Uluwatu — Cliffside Spanish on the Bukit · Tower House, Richmond — The Riverside Restaurant in the Old Clocktower
Vitae Lifestyle Scorecard
- Setting9.6 / 10
- Atmosphere9.3 / 10
- Food quality7.9 / 10
- Overall experience8.8 / 10
Who it's for
- Anyone wanting Mylopotas beach at its quietest, furthest end, away from the main crowds.
- Sunset diners more interested in the view than a refined plate.
- Not for anyone prioritising culinary precision over setting — book ahead regardless.
Questions
How old is Drakos Taverna?
It opened in 1962, founded by George Drakos — known locally as Barba-Yorgis — at a time when Mylopotas beach had no road, no electricity, and supplies arrived by donkey and fishing boat. It's now run by the third generation of the same family.
What makes the setting distinctive?
It sits at the far southern end of Mylopotas beach, right at the water's edge, considerably quieter than the busier stretches of the same beach. Tables sit on sand facing the bay, with mountains behind and an open view of the sunset.
Is the food the main reason to go?
Not really — the food is competent, simple fish-taverna cooking rather than a destination in its own right. The setting, on a quiet stretch of one of Ios's best-known beaches, is what draws people.
Is it expensive?
By several accounts, yes — some visitors report prices running notably above the island average.
Do you need a reservation?
Effectively yes, particularly in high season. Turning up without booking makes finding a table unlikely.
This article appears in Edit No. 24 — Five Greek Islands, Five Ways of Doing Things Well
