Best Restaurants in Athens: 12 Places Locals Actually Book

Best Restaurants in Athens: How to Choose

Looking for the best restaurants in Athens? Start with the kind of meal you want, not a generic ranking. This guide points you to the Athens restaurants locals actually book, from traditional tavernas and modern Greek cooking to rooftop views, late dinners, and special-occasion tables.

Athens has a growing number of genuinely excellent restaurants, and a much larger number of places competing for the same tourist traffic. All twelve places below earn repeat visits from people who live in Athens. The criterion is quality relative to what you are paying and who you are eating with.

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Best Traditional Restaurants in Athens

Taverna Oikonomou — Pangrati

Since 1930. Barrel wine, grilled meats, and a menu that has not meaningfully changed in decades because it doesn't need to. The location in residential Pangrati is the point: this is a neighbourhood taverna that has outlasted every trend around it, serving lunch to the same families that have been coming since their grandparents brought them.

Order: Whatever they have grilled. Ask for the wine from the barrel — not the bottle.
Know: Cash only, lunch service, closed early. Get there before 1:30pm.
Cost: Budget. A full lunch with wine under €20 per person.

Diporto Agoras — Monastiraki (Central Market)

No sign. No menu. Walk down the stairs into a subterranean marble-counter taverna that has operated on the same principle since 1887: someone will bring chickpea soup, grilled fish, and wine from an unlabelled barrel. The food is whatever they made that morning.

Order: Don't. Let them bring things.
Know: Lunch only. Arrive before 1pm or it's closed. Difficult to find the first time — look for the door below street level in the Central Market.
Cost: Budget. One of the best-value meals in Athens.

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Best Modern Greek Restaurants in Athens

Manari Taverna — Monastiraki

Open-fire cooking from the team behind Vezene — whole animals, live coals, and the kind of grilling that feels like a direct line to what Athenians have been eating for centuries. The room is lively, the wine list is taken seriously, and the portions are designed for sharing.

Order: Whatever is on the grill that evening. The sharing plates are the format to use.
Know: Reserve. It fills up, particularly on weekends.
Cost: Mid-range.

Ta Karamanlidika tou Fani — Psirri

Part Anatolian-Greek charcuterie shop, part meze restaurant. The cured meats hanging from the ceiling are for sale by the 100g; the taramosalata (white carp roe — not the pink tourist version) is the best in the city. Order a spread of meze and spend two hours on it.

Order: Taramosalata. Whatever cured meat the person behind the counter recommends. The cheese plate.
Know: Can be busy at peak hours. The deli counter is open earlier than the restaurant for takeaway charcuterie.
Cost: Mid-range for a full meze spread with wine.

→ Private Gourmet Food Tour that covers Psirri and the Central Market — from $120 on Viator

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Athens Restaurants for Dinner and Drinks

Koita — Psirri

Microbakery and dining bar with natural wine, open-fire cooking, and a playlist that takes the room seriously. The food is inventive enough to be interesting, unpretentious enough that you are not eating in a concept. Book ahead — it fills fast.

Order: The sharing plates. Ask what's new on the natural wine list.
Know: The vibe shifts from dining to bar as the evening goes on. You can arrive for a drink without a reservation later in the evening.
Cost: Mid-range.

Voulkanizater — Koukaki

A HiFi sound system, a serious kitchen, and a bar that stays open late. Harder to categorize than most: it is not a restaurant that happens to have music, or a bar that happens to serve food — both are taken equally seriously. The crowd is Athenian, the playlist is vinyl, and it is the right place to end up after 11pm.

Order: Whatever is on the menu that evening. Stay for the bar.
Know: Later in the evening is the point. Not a dinner-at-eight-and-out kind of place.
Cost: Mid-range.

Akra — Exarcheia

All-day space combining a naturally leavened bakery, a restaurant, and a wine bar. The bread is the reason to come at breakfast; the kitchen and the natural wine list are the reason to return for lunch or dinner. The Exarcheia address means fewer tourists and a more genuinely local crowd.

Order: The bread in the morning. Ask the staff what to drink with the food in the evening.
Cost: Mid-range.

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Athens Restaurants with a View

Strofi — Makrygianni

A classic Athenian taverna on the south slope of the Acropolis, open since 1975. The rooftop terrace puts you 200 metres from the floodlit Parthenon columns. The food — grilled octopus, lamb, honest mezedes — is what the tourist tavernas on the main drag claim to be and aren't.

Order: Book the rooftop table specifically, not just the restaurant. The interior is fine; the terrace is why you're here.
Cost: Mid-range. Reserve in advance, especially in summer.

For the wider choice between Acropolis views, cocktails, sunset and a quieter table, compare the best rooftop bars in Athens guide. Strofi is covered there as the food-first option, alongside A for Athens and other terraces.

→ Private Greek Cooking Experience + Lunch in Athens — from $120 on Viator

Kuzina — Thissio

A converted neoclassical building on the edge of Thissio with a terrace overlooking the Ancient Agora and Acropolis. The setting is exceptional; the food is modern Greek and competent, occasionally more. Better for a longer meal with views than a quick dinner.

Order: The seafood. Request the terrace when booking.
Cost: Mid-range to upper-mid.

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Special-Occasion Restaurants in Athens

LS & Sia — Monastiraki

A bright, atmospheric space in the historic centre — part restaurant, part candle shop, part something harder to define. The cooking is considered, the room is beautiful, and it is genuinely popular with Athens' creative and food community rather than just well-reviewed by tourists.

Order: The seasonal menu. The wine selection is worth asking about.
Know: Reserve. The room is not large and it fills quickly.
Cost: Higher-end, but not fine-dining prices.

Iodio — Psirri

Chef Georgianna Hiliadaki's daily-catch restaurant — whole fish, raw bar, and ultra-seasonal Greek seafood in a stripped-back room in Psirri. The fish is whatever came in that morning; the menu changes accordingly.

Order: Ask what fish is in. Order it whole. The raw bar items are worth exploring.
Know: A seafood dinner here is an occasion. Book ahead.
Cost: Upscale.

Ithaki Restaurant Bar — Vouliagmeni (Riviera)

Not in central Athens — Ithaki sits above the Athenian Riviera at Kavouri, 40 minutes from the centre by taxi. The setting, with a terrace over the sea and one of the cleanest coastal views in Attica, justifies the journey for a special occasion. Fine dining with Greek seafood at its most confident.

Know: This is a destination meal, not a casual dinner. Plan the evening around it.
Cost: Upscale. Reserve well in advance in summer.

→ Athens Riviera Half-Day Tour — combine with a Vouliagmeni visit on Viator

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How to Book

Most of these restaurants take reservations by phone or via their website. A few (Diporto Agoras, Oikonomou) do not take reservations at all — arrive early. For the more popular mid-range spots (Manari, Koita, LS & Sia), booking 2–3 days ahead is usually enough on weekdays; a week ahead for weekend evenings in summer.

Athens eats late. Dinner reservations at 8:30–9pm are normal; 7pm is considered early. Adjust accordingly.

If you'd rather have a local guide take you around first: the Athens Food Tour with Context Travel (from $154) covers the Central Market and Psirri with a food historian who can tell you exactly which of these spots to prioritise for your specific trip. The Athens Street Food Walking Tour on Viator (from $59, 2,100+ reviews) is the higher-volume option for the same area.