Top 6 Seafood Restaurants in Latchi & Polis 2026

There is a moment, sometime around the third carafe of local white wine, when you stop worrying about getting back to the car. You are sitting at a plastic table on a concrete jetty, a plate of grilled tsipoura — sea bream — in front of you, the Akamas peninsula rising green and unhurried behind the harbour, and the afternoon has simply ceased to have any particular agenda. This is Latchi. This is why people come back, year after year, and why they always end up eating more than they planned.

The harbour at Latchi is small enough to walk in five minutes, but it punches well above its size when it comes to seafood. A handful of tavernas line the quay, their menus almost identical on paper yet wildly different in practice. A few kilometres north, the market town of Polis offers a quieter, less tourist-facing alternative — places where the fishermen themselves eat, where the mezze is assembled from whatever came in that morning, and where nobody is in any hurry to bring you the bill.

I have owned a small property near Polis for several years now, which means I have eaten at every one of these restaurants more times than I can honestly account for. What follows is not a list of the flashiest or the most Instagrammed. It is a list of the places where the fish is genuinely fresh, the cooking is honest, and the experience of sitting by the water on a warm evening feels like a privilege rather than a transaction.

How We Chose These Six

The selection criteria were straightforward but uncompromising. Every restaurant on this list had to demonstrate a clear connection to locally caught fish — not frozen imports dressed up with lemon and capers. All were visited multiple times across different seasons, including the quieter shoulder months of April and October when the tourist crowds thin and the kitchens relax into their natural rhythm. Price was considered, though not prioritised: a good mezze in this part of Cyprus typically runs between €22 and €35 per head including house wine, and anything significantly above that needs to justify itself through exceptional quality or setting.

Service, atmosphere, and the willingness to explain what was actually fresh that day were all weighted heavily. The best fish restaurants in this corner of Paphos share a particular quality: the staff eat there themselves, and it shows.

The Six Best Seafood Restaurants in Latchi and Polis

1. Latchi Harbour Fish Restaurant — The Benchmark

If you arrive in Latchi for the first time and ask anyone where to eat, they will point you here. Sitting almost directly on the harbour wall, with a view across the moored fishing boats to the open sea, this is the most straightforward of the quayside options and, in many ways, the most reliable. The grilled octopus — marinated overnight in red wine vinegar, olive oil and dried oregano — is as good as anything I have eaten on the island. It arrives slightly charred at the edges, tender throughout, with a wedge of lemon that you will actually use.

The fish mezze at around €28 per person is the right order for a long lunch. It begins with taramosalata, tahini, olives and warm pitta, moves through calamari and whitebait, and eventually delivers a whole grilled fish of the day. On my last visit in late October 2025, that was a lavraki — sea bass — caught that morning off the Akamas coast. The flesh was white, clean and completely without pretension.

• Best for: First-time visitors, reliable quality, classic harbour setting
• Typical spend: €25–€35 per head with wine
• Opening hours: Daily noon–11pm, April to October; weekends only November to March
• Booking: Advisable in July and August; walk-in fine in shoulder season

2. Arsinoe Fish Tavern, Latchi — The Local Favourite

Named after the ancient city whose ruins lie a few kilometres down the coast, Arsinoe sits at the far end of the harbour, slightly removed from the main cluster of restaurants. This distance is its greatest asset. The tables are fewer, the noise is lower, and the kitchen operates with a focus that the busier spots sometimes lose in high season. The owner, a compact and watchful man in his sixties, has been buying fish from the same two boats for the better part of two decades. He will tell you this if you ask, and he will also tell you, with no particular embarrassment, if the catch was poor that morning and you should consider the calamari yemista — stuffed squid — instead.

The stuffed squid, incidentally, is exceptional. Filled with rice, herbs and a small amount of minced pork, baked rather than fried, it is the kind of dish that makes you reconsider your automatic preference for grilled fish. The house wine is a dry local white from the Paphos region, served in a small metal jug, cold enough to be refreshing without being so cold it loses its character.

"The fish was poor today — but the squid is very good. I promise you will not be unhappy." — The owner of Arsinoe, on a Tuesday in April, and he was absolutely right.

3. Glaros Restaurant, Latchi — Best Views, Strong Cooking

Glaros occupies a slightly elevated position at the edge of the harbour, which gives its terrace a panoramic sweep across the bay toward the Akamas headland. In the evening, when the sun drops behind the hills and the water turns a deep, theatrical blue, this is one of the most beautiful places to eat in the whole of the Paphos region. The kitchen knows this, and to its credit, it does not rely on the view as an excuse for mediocre food.

The psarosoupa — fish soup — deserves particular mention. Made from the day's offcuts and smaller fish, thickened with egg and lemon in the classic avgolemono style, it is served as a starter and is substantial enough to make you reconsider ordering a main course. The grilled sea bream here is consistently good, the chips are proper rather than frozen, and the service has a warmth that stops just short of being performative. Expect to pay slightly more than at the other harbour restaurants — around €32–€38 per head — but the setting earns its premium on a clear evening.

4. To Anoi, Polis Town — The Insider's Table

Polis is only three kilometres from Latchi, but it operates in a different register entirely. The town square — a shaded, slightly shabby rectangle of cafés and plane trees — is where locals come to drink coffee in the morning and argue about football in the evening. To Anoi sits on a side street just off this square, marked by nothing more than a handwritten sign and a smell of garlic and olive oil that reaches the pavement before you do.

This is not a restaurant that courts tourists, though tourists who find it tend to return with evangelical enthusiasm. The menu changes daily depending on what the owner's cousin — a fisherman working out of Latchi — has brought in. On a good day, you might find barbouni (red mullet) fried whole and served with nothing but lemon and a green salad. On a less good day, you might find the kitchen has pivoted entirely to meat, in which case the lamb chops are excellent and the disappointment passes quickly. The fish mezze, when available, is around €22 per head — the best value on this list.

• Best for: Authentic local experience, budget-conscious travellers, repeat visitors to the area
• Typical spend: €18–€26 per head
• Opening hours: Lunch and dinner Tuesday to Sunday; closed Monday
• Note: Cash only, no reservations — arrive by 12.30pm for lunch or risk missing the fish

5. Finikoudes Seafood, Polis — Modern Touches, Traditional Heart

Of all the restaurants on this list, Finikoudes is the one most likely to divide opinion. It opened in its current form in 2023, with a slightly more considered aesthetic than the traditional taverna model — white walls, good lighting, a short wine list that includes bottles from the Commandaria region as well as the standard Paphos whites. Some of my neighbours in Polis regard this with deep suspicion. I find it refreshing without being alienating.

The cooking here leans into Cypriot seafood traditions while allowing small modern interventions. The htapodi — octopus — is served with a chickpea and parsley salad rather than the usual chips, and it is better for it. The sea bass ceviche, prepared with local citrus and a light chilli, is the kind of dish you would not expect to find in a small Cypriot town and is all the more welcome for that. Prices are slightly higher than the traditional tavernas — budget around €30–€40 per head — but the quality of both food and wine justifies the difference.

6. Yiannakis, Latchi Beach — The Long Lunch Institution

Every coastline has a restaurant where time goes wrong in the best possible way. On the Latchi and Polis stretch of coast, that restaurant is Yiannakis. Set back slightly from the beach rather than on the harbour itself, it lacks the postcard view of some of its competitors but compensates with a sprawling covered terrace, a kitchen that has been doing the same things well for over thirty years, and a proprietorial attitude toward the concept of the long lunch that I find deeply admirable.

The meze here is the fullest on this list — fifteen to eighteen small dishes arriving over the course of two hours, beginning with dips and salads, moving through fried and grilled seafood, and ending with fresh fruit and a small glass of zivania that you did not ask for but will not refuse. The grilled whole fish changes daily. The kalamari is fresh, not frozen — you can tell by the texture, which is tender rather than rubbery. The house wine is local, cold and perfectly adequate. Budget €28–€35 per head and clear your afternoon.

The first time I ate at Yiannakis, I had intended to be back in Polis by three o'clock. I left at six. I have never once regretted it.

Honourable Mentions

Two restaurants narrowly missed the main list but deserve acknowledgement. Notios, on the road between Polis and Latchi, serves a respectable grilled fish lunch with a pleasant garden setting — it lacks the harbour atmosphere of the top picks but is a good option when the quayside restaurants are full in high summer. Thalassa, in the Polis municipal area, is worth knowing about for its psari plaki — fish baked in tomato sauce with onions and capers — which is one of the better versions of this dish in the region, even if the overall menu is less consistent than the restaurants above.

A Practical Comparison

A Few Things Worth Knowing Before You Go

The Latchi and Polis coastline is at its best in May, June, September and October. July and August bring the crowds, the heat, and the slightly deflated quality that comes when a kitchen is cooking for volume rather than love. If you can choose your timing, choose the shoulder months. The sea is still warm enough to swim after lunch, the light in the late afternoon is extraordinary, and the restaurants are operating at their natural pace rather than their emergency pace.

Parking at Latchi harbour is free but limited in high summer — arrive before noon or be prepared to walk five minutes from the small car park on the approach road. Most of the harbour restaurants accept cards, but To Anoi in Polis is cash only, so plan accordingly. For the best experience at any of these restaurants, ask what came in fresh that morning. Every kitchen on this list will tell you honestly, and the answer will almost always lead you to the right order.

The northwest coast of Cyprus does not have the profile of Ayia Napa or even the main Paphos strip, and this is precisely its value. The fishing boats at Latchi still go out before dawn. The octopus still hangs on lines in the sun to dry. The afternoons still stretch out, unhurried and warm, in a way that feels less and less common in the Mediterranean. Eat well. Take your time. Order the mezze.