Dino Bistro Cafe

Gladstonos 137, 25762030, LEMESOS (LIMASSOL)
Mon-Sun 11:00-23:30
Food: [rating:3] 3/5
Service: [rating:3] 3/5
Ambiance: [rating:3] 3/5
If you are wondering which Dino’s I am talking about, it’s probably the one you already know about. It’s a classic Italian café/bistro which has been in the old city of Limassol since a long long time ago.  Before I used to live in Limassol, everyone would say “go to Dino’s”. I later discovered that it was also a bit of “Nicosians” place as we like to go where our friends go, but whatever. It was still popular. After probably a decade Dino’s has moved to a more accessible location with more of a modern ambiance. The new place looks more like a trendy, buzzy lunch place rather than a relaxed coffee place in the heart of the old city. In my opinion, the renovation and re-location was long overdue.
The revamped Dino’s is better in some respects and worse in others. I like the new location on Gladstonos street as I find it is accessible and central. I find myself always looking for a weekday lunch place so I thought this fills a gap in the market. Also, the new black and white look is definitely more modern and more fresh than the old look. Having said that I did think that the inside space is now a bit cramped especially since on my visit there was a large table with noisy kids right behind us. In any case I guess it’s not that big of a problem.
The other thing that I liked was the menu set up. I like sandwiches, I like pastas and I like salads. I had previously thought their dishes were more Italian-based but in fact upon my visit I realized the menu includes  mostly international dishes with an Asian touch including salads with duck teriyaki and orange and also a raw Japanese salad. Japanese noodles were also on the menu something I am pretty sure fit in very well.
My proud Cypriot friend and I shared a salad with smoked turkey breast, brie and avocado. This was relatively large with a very generous amount of turkey breast and cheese. Although the greens were fresh and the ingredients plentiful, we both thought that it was a bit tasteless as a whole and had to add a lot of extra salt and extra balsamic to make it flavourful. In fact, I also had the same thought about my prosciutto cotto sandwich in ciabatta. The bread, and all of the ingredients were indeed fresh and of good quality. What it lacked was flavour, which was surprising. My proud Cypriot friend tried the udon noodles with mushrooms a dish that looked tasty. She said she wasn’t very impressed but they were not bad.
Salad prices ranged between 12.90€ and15.50€ and noodle prices were up to 16.50€. Although at first sight these do seem rather steep (and they were a bit especially compared to the current market prices), the quality and the size of the portions were fair.
Looking back I think I would return mainly because the ingredients were fresh and the menu included a lot of dishes that I would like to try. I would like to let them know of our comments however hoping they would do something about the flavours, the seasoning and the sauces they use, because it is a pity not to. We don’t have a lot of options and we need to maintain the good ones!