Where to Eat in Athens and Piraeus

Athens

If you're wondering where to eat in Athens and Piraeus we have a few suggestions including some favorites around the Acropolis, Omonia Square, and Syntagma.

Old man in Athens tavernaHe Knows Where to Eat in Athens!

We've also included some highly-acclaimed places, ranging from Michelin-starred restaurants that we aspire to eat in one day, to cheap tavernas that we love and which simply ooze atmosphere.

Price Guide
€€€ = Expensive
€€ = Moderate
€ = Inexpensive

Around the Acropolis

Spondi restaurant AthensSpondi Restaurant in Athens

Spondi €€€ This neo-classical mansion has contemporary art works on the walls and has been voted the best restaurant not just in Athens but in the whole of Greece several years in a row. Pyrronos 5, Varnava Square, tel: 210 752 4021, spondi.gr. 

To Kouti €€ One of the few reliable places on this busy Plaka street, most of the others catering for the fast tourist trade. Here the service is more leisurely, the menu's unusual and the setting with its Acropolis views will give you a romantic night to remember. Adrianou 23, tel: 210 321 3229, no website.

Bakalarakia Taverna AthensBakalarakia Taverna in Athens

Bakalarakia € This is one of the Plaka's basic basement tavernas, and is much older and much more reliable than many of the smart places on the street. This is named after its specialty, a cod dish served with a garlic sauce. On one of our research trips when we spent several weeks in Athens, we ate in here a lot! Kidathineon 41, tel: 210 322 5084, bakalarakia.gr.

O Platanos Taverna in AthensO Platanos Taverna in Athens

O Platanos € It sometimes seems like 'The Plane Tree' (like the plane tree it's named after) has been here forever, so well-established is it in its leafy square. Visitors love it as it is so typically Greek, but locals hang out here too, and though the food is nothing fancy, it is wonderfully cooked. Great atmosphere too, whether outside on warm summer evenings or dining cosily inside in winter. Diogenous 4, tel: 210 322 0666, O Platanos website.

Around Omonia Square

Athinaikon restaurant in AthensAthinaikon Taverna in Athens

Athinaikon € Wonderful venerable old place with its wooden interior still intact, and some of the waiters seemingly dating from the same era. They have one of the best meze menus in town, dozens of dishes made fresh every day so it's a chance to try lots of different things like grilled octopus, meatballs with mint, or deep-fried whitebait. Themistokleous 2, tel: 210 383 8485, athinaikon.gr.

Diporto taverna in AthensDiporto in the Central Athens Market

Diporto € If you want a real Athens eating experience then head for this old place in a basement beneath the Central Market, where the market traders go for good, honest, fresh, hearty food, though you'll find local business people there too. If you're on a budget, it's ideal. It's at the corner of Theatrou and Sokratous, There's no phone or website so you just have to turn up and chance your luck, and you can read more about it here: culinarybackstreets.com.

Our Pick of the Athens Guides

Lonely-Planet-Pocket-Athens.png

Around Syntagma Square

Aegli Cafe and Restaurant in AthensAegli Restaurant in Athens

Aegli Café and Restaurant €€€ Fabulous setting in the National Gardens by the Zappeion, but don't assume it's just another café as the bistro-style menu is very inventive, as is the more extensive (and expensive) French-influenced evening menu. They make nice cocktails too. Zappeion, tel: 210 336 9363, aeglizappiou.gr.

Balthazar Restaurant in AthensBalthazar Restaurant in Athens

Balthazar €€€ This has long been one of the most stylish places to eat in Athens, housed in a wonderful 19th-century mansion on the north-east edge of Kolonaki. They do vegan and vegetarian dishes as well, have a separate sushi menu, and if you're on a budget and want to sample their amazing food without breaking the bank they have a Finger Food menu as well. Vournazou/Tsocha 27, tel: 210 644 1215, balthazar.gr.

Ratka €€-€€€ International menu ranges from sushi to pasta in this chic place which has been a fashionable meeting and eating spot in Kolonaki for decades. Haritos 32, tel: 210 729 0746, no website but you can read its glowing reviews on TripAdvisor here.

Ouzadiko €€ This contemporary take on a traditional Greek ouzerie shows off the new Greek-style cooking at its best with a long list of meze, the Greek version of tapas, to choose from, and the chance to find out that not all ouzos taste the same. Karneadou 25-29 (in the shopping mall), tel: 210 729 5484, no website.

Benaki Museum Café € Great place for a spot of lunch on this attractive second-floor terrace, with a very popular buffet on their Thursday late-night opening, for which you would be advised to book. Koumbari 1/Vasilissis Sofias, tel: 210 367 1000,  benaki.gr.

Dexameni € Well-loved and long-established café-restaurant, with mainly light meals but a great people-watching place in a lovely little Kolonaki square. Platia Dexameni, tel: 210 723 2834, no website but you can read more here: culinarybackstreets.com.

Piraeus

Jimmy's Fish Restaurant, Piraeus, AthensJimmy's Fish Restaurant in Piraeus

Jimmy's Fish €€-€€€ Ask an Athenian to recommend one Piraeus fish restaurant and chances are it would be this one, not just for the fresh fish and its speciality seafood pasta dishes but also its lovely setting on the harbour at Mikrolimano. Don't turn up late on a sunny Sunday lunchtime and expect to find an empty seat. Akti Koumoundourou 46, tel: 210 412 4417, jimmysfish.gr.

Dourabeis Restaurant in Piraeus in AthensDourabeis Restaurant in Piraeus

Dourabeis €€ If a seafood restaurant has been in business for over sixty years then it must be doing something right, and the secret here is: keep it simple. The freshest of fish, the lightest of grillings and dinner is perfect. Not cheap but then fish never is. Akti Dilaveri 27-29, tel: 210 412 2092, Dourabeis Facebook page.

Other Athens pages

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    Pictures of Athens from the Greece Travel Secrets website

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    A History of Athens

    A History of Athens from the first people to live on the Acropolis through the Golden Age of Pericles and Alexander the Great to the military junta.

  • This Athens dining guide doesn't list restaurants but gives practical advice on types of eating places, tipping, hotel breakfasts and picnics.

    Athens Dining Guide

    This Athens dining guide doesn't list restaurants but gives practical advice on types of eating places, tipping, hotel breakfasts and picnics.

  • Greece Travel Secrets picks the best time to visit Athens with a month-by-month account of the weather, hotel prices and any special events that are happening.

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  • Greece Travel Secrets tells the history of the classic Greek dish tzatziki, with a recipe for making your own yogurt and cucumber dip.

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  • Athens culinary tours are among the food walking tours offered by an unusual company, Culinary Backstreets.

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  • Greek ouzo is an aniseed-based aperitif made all over the country but especially on Lesbos, tasting like a Greek pastis or arak and usually drunk with water.

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  • We visit and tour the Manousakis Winery on Crete with a wine-tasting and a chance to buy their tsikoudia, sea salt, olive oil and other goodies.

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  • The Goules Taverna in Goulediana, south of Rethymnon, has been called one of the best tavernas on Crete and Greece Travel Secrets recently visited them.

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    The Goules Taverna in Goulediana, south of Rethymnon, has been called one of the best tavernas on Crete and Greece Travel Secrets recently visited them.

  • This extract of Artistic Athens in the Lonely Planet book Culture Trails takes visitors on a journey through the artistic side of Athens..

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  • Athens, an Eater's Guide to the City, is published by Culinary Backstreets, who do walking food tours in Athens and the book recommends the best places to eat.

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  • Greece Travel Secrets tours the Lyrarakis Winery on Crete and learns about Crete grape varieties such as plyto, dafni, vidiano, vilana, mandilari and kotsifali.

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  • The Changing of the Guard in Athens takes place outside the Parliament building at the top of Syntagma Square and is a must-see for visitors.

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  • In My Athens on Greece Travel Secrets travel writer Mike Gerrard describes what he loves about Athens including the Acropolis and eating!

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