το Χαλικούτι - κολεκτίβα εργασίας στο Ρέθυμνο - Κατεχάκη

A couple of years since I've been but on reflection, the breakfast of yogurt, nuts and honey I had here is the best I've had anywhere in the world, before or since. A big claim but one I stand by. I seem to recall the drinks were great too, it wasn't very expensive and the people running it were good. One of the best places I visited in the two weeks I spent touring around Crete. Do come and support this fantastic little business.

Don’t come here if you’re a foreigner or not a local. The servers humiliated me and my friend, and we can only assume it’s because we’re not regulars and/or we’re foreign tourists who do not speak Greek. This place is so cute, nicely located, good food and pleasant drinks, and nice live music at night. Very quintessentially Greek. We would’ve had a perfect time here, were it not for the way we were treated by the two servers, a blond man and a bespectacled woman, who acted like they had issues with us being there (to the owners, if you’re reading this: this happened on the night of Wednesday, August 11). First and foremost we were asked to move to a very uncomfortable little table with two stools from the nice place we had sat originally because “a large group needed to sit there.” The “large group” turned out to be two women, just like us, apparently more worthy of that table. Throughout the night, we ordered around five rounds of drinks and two plates of food, spent five hours there, and even donated cash to their live music collection. But whenever we’d ask for another drink, the servers would sigh or take forever to serve us; textbook example: when we asked for a glass of their delicious homemade lemonade, the woman sighed and asked the man to say they could only give us a bottled one. When we closed our bill, we took the two receipt they had brought to our table for the first two rounds, fully knowing we had ordered way more — they just had not brought us the receipts for that: the man laughed at us and said “you had way more than those two rounds” essentially assuming we were trying to weasel out of paying a full bill. What? This is frankly really shocking and we did not deserve to be treated like this at all. Our presence just was not wanted. And that’s too bad! We spent so much time in this bar because we liked the atmosphere, the music, we wanted to have an authentic Greek experience. I loved the leftist essence of the place and watching patrons dance kalamatianos. Really too bad to be treated like we should’ve spent our night and money elsewhere because it wasn’t welcome here.

Halikouti is a cooperative cafe that attracts young people and the artists and musicians of Rethymno. Live music, authentic food and local drinks. Pleasant place with polite people.

Nice service, good coffe, place worth visiting.

Very traditional local place, friendly staff and great coffee. ☕??

Alternative to the tourist stuff in Rethymnon. Leftist bar with excellent Greek rap and accompanying excellent drinks and foods. Poetry for sale. The atmosphere altogether extremely pleasant, service all smiles and a very beautiful steep street next to the fort. Terrace and inside very worth while.

Nice place to have a drink before going to bed. Try ouzo. They serve it in vintage glasses. Best experience.

Beautifully located on a narrow street just by the castle, not turistic but really preferred by the locals. It is strongly suggested for the location and for its character (alternative- collectiva) but as for the food, it is nothing extraordinary. The prices are in the normal range. The staff is not that friendly(and I am greek,so it's not an attitude towards tourists but a general attitude I guess). A downside is that they do not invite you in the end to some watermelon or raki at least, which is something really common here in Crete (for the same price in the end you get same quality of food and a treat in the so-called touristic places). I would support it, however, just for its non-beneficiary character (just to know what to expect).