Where to Eat in Athens: 13 Best Restaurants

Spondi

Spondi Restaurant’s contemporary dining experience allows guests to savor some of the finest Greek and Mediterranean cuisines.
The Michelin Star eatery’s ambiance and atmosphere are enhanced by its stone vaulted interiors dotted with chandeliers. Changing with the seasons, the menu offers imaginative creations cooked up by the chefs Arnaud Bignon and Kostas Koufalis, experts in their craft, which is why the restaurant serves up some of the finest dishes in all of the local Athens restaurants. Spondi is open from 7:30pm until 1am is every day of the week.

Hytra

Offering a lustrous dining experience, Hytra Restaurant and Bar is a gourmet eatery and Michelin star restaurant in Athens offering an innovative and imaginative culinary experience to its guests. Hytra’s menu is unlike anything else, serving distinctive dishes boasting a culmination of rich and varied flavors, using locally sourced ingredients. With a modern and welcoming atmosphere, this is one of the most exquisite and famous restaurants in Greece that you can’t miss. Hytra is open from 7 pm until 2 am every day of the week.

GB Roof Garden Restaurant & Bar

The eatery GB Roof Garden offers delicious Mediterranean and modern haute cuisine alongside views of a selection of Athens’ best sites, including the Parthenon and Syntagma Square. What’s best about this venue is its views across to the Acropolis of Athens, the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Site and most widely recognized landmark. A great location if you’re thinking about where to go for dinner, GB Roof Garden is open from 6:30 am until 11 am and 1 pm until 2 am from Monday to Friday, and from 7 until 11 am and 1 pm until 2 am on Saturday and Sunday.

SENSE Rooftop Restaurant

Serving up locally sourced and seasonal dishes on its spectacular rooftop terrace, Sense Rooftop Restaurant offers modern Greek cuisine at its finest. Sense is situated in the city’s historic center, offering views of the charming ancient streets of Athens, alongside the striking Acropolis. You’ll find the restaurant on the top of the 7th floor of the hotel AthensWas, and it’s a perfectly idyllic spot for a romantic greek dinner with a partner. Sense is open from 12 pm until 12:30 am every day.

A For Athens

A for Athens boasts one of the city’s most legendary rooftops, located in the Monastiraki neighborhood with a direct Acropolis view. It’s the perfect spot for sundowner cocktails, but breakfast, brunch, and dinner all impress with the chef and team preparing creative dishes using the freshest Greek ingredients. The menu features products from sea and land, with everything from the Poached Fish of the Day and Mafaldine with Tuna Tartar to the Tri-Tip Black Angus. All can be paired with sommelier-selected Greek wines for the total gastronomic experience, enjoyed while gazing out at the most iconic symbol of classical Greek civilization.

Orizontes Lycabettus

Often regarded as one of the best restaurants in Athens, Orizontes’ unrivaled rooftop views are so amazing that you’ll even need to get a cable car to get there. The Mediterranean restaurant serves mainly seafood cuisine and guests can sit on its panoramic terrace situated atop Lycabettus Hill. We’d recommend going at night, where you can savor the delicious dishes by candlelight, with the glistening lights of the city below. Serving some of the best Greek food in Athens, Orizontes is open from 9 am until 2 am from Monday until Saturday and from 9 am until 12 am on Sunday.

CTC Urban Gastronomy

Offering fine dining in the backyard of a neoclassical building in the heart of Athens, CTC Urban Gastronomy is helmed by Michelin-starred chef Alexandros Tsiotinis, renowned for his unique version of Greek haute cuisine prepared using French techniques. After working in both countries, he opened CTC in 2015 with what was considered somewhat radical in Greece at the time: fixed tasting menus with three to nine courses.

Today, the CTC Voyage is the highlight, a “blind” tasting menu featuring 11 courses. All dishes are a mystery until they’re placed in front of you. Everything is a standout here, from the consistency of the high-quality ingredients prepared to perfection to the exceptional hospitality of the staff.

Makris Athens

Nestled at the foot of the Acropolis, Makris has a Michelin star and earned two stars at the FNL Best Restaurant Awards. Set within a historic building that was the country’s first inn, it boasts a terrace for dining with an Acropolis view. The chef has a private farm that supplies the majority of the ingredients, including fresh herbs and vegetables used as the basis for three tasting menus: Utopia, Genesis, and Physis Vegan.

Expect everything from Greek Iberico pork to sautéed lobster that can be complemented by an impressive wine list featuring over 300 labels, including international and Greek options. Open 6:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday, reservations are required.

Vassilenas

Taking a more urban approach to its fine dining, Vassilenas has been honing its craft in creating some of the best Athens cuisine since its opening in 1920. This eatery has been on a journey, from what once was a quaint taverna in the poorer Piraeus neighborhood in the early 1900s, it is now a thriving modern restaurant offering cosmopolitan and contemporary Greek cuisine to its guests.

Vassilenas prides itself on its exceptional service, and its utilization of the best fresh produce, alongside advanced culinary techniques, to produce truly unique and unrivaled dishes. The restaurant is open from 7 pm until 12 am from Monday to Saturday and from 1 pm until 5:30 pm on Sunday.

Varoulko

But if a seafront view is more your style, Varoulko is a Michelin-starred seafood restaurant that guarantees a memorable experience for those in search of traditional Greek food in Athens which incorporates the flavors of the sea to their full potential. The restaurant’s renowned chef, Lefteris Lazarou, takes creativity to a new level, offering his unique take on humble Greek dishes that you won’t find elsewhere, such as a traditional minced-meat moussaka made instead with crayfish – a bold and innovative move if we do say so ourselves. Varoulko is open from 1 pm until 12 am every day.

Psarras Tavern

Since 1898, Psarras Tavern, meaning ‘old fisherman’s tavern’, has been one of the leaders of Athen’s traditional taverna scene serving hearty Greek cuisine to its diners. Situated in the beautiful city area of Plaka, the eatery is only around the corner from the steps of Monsikleus in a striking neoclassical building with ochre-colored walls.

The eatery has developed its reputation for its fresh fish dishes and traditional, humble Greek recipes. Loved by all, even the most esteemed of intellectuals, including the famous Greek George Katsimballs, the restaurant is a pillar of the community and an unrivaled restaurant in Athens. Psarra’s Tavern is open from 11:30 am until 12:30 am every day.

Ergon Agora

Located on Mitropoleos Street, Ergon Agora is a one-of-a-kind. It combines the charm of a retro-style Greek taverna with a vibrant, traditional Greek market, or Agora, into an impressive modern setting. Set within a glass atrium with natural light flooding in, this is a community gathering place where fishmongers, butchers, bakers, and farmers bring their freshest products.

Widely regarded as one of the city’s best venues for breakfast or brunch, dishes are all about farm-to-table, seasonal produce. There’s an emphasis on ingredients from small farmers from around Greece, particularly the Greek islands. You can even buy unique, fresh products here, perhaps to put together a picnic enjoyed in one of the city’s parks. Ergon Agora is open daily from 9 a.m. to 11:55 p.m

Aigli Zappeion All Day

Nestled in the National Garden of Athens, Aigli Zappeion is an iconic venue in operation since 1909. While it reopened its doors with a new philosophy focused on sustainability in December 2024, it still lives up to its name, with Aigli translating to “glamour.” Proudly standing next to the palatial Zappeion Megaron, host to some of the most significant moments in the city’s social life, everyone from politicians and intellectuals to artists roamed its halls and often enjoyed dining at Aigli.

Offering rich heritage, a prime location, and Zappeion Megaron view, the Aigli All Day room serves breakfast. It’s especially ideal for a coffee break while exploring, or for a delicious breakfast with everything from Greek yogurt and classic omelets to Greek bougatsa in a truly historical setting. Aigli Zappeion All Day Room serves breakfast daily, 9am to 12pm.