151 Best Restaurants in Greece

Romantic and rightly popular, Barriello has an enviable position with views of the sea and the village square. A 150-year-old mansion has been repurposed to good effect by charismatic owner Takis, where local ingredients, mostly grown on their own farm, are confidently presented. It's more fine dining than traditional taverna but the tastes are refined and recognizable and it is generally regarded as some of the best food on the island.

A native Patmian, Benetos Matthaiou, and his American wife, Susan, operate this lovely restaurant abutting a seaside garden that supplies the kitchen with fresh herbs and vegetables. These homegrown ingredients find their way into a selection of Mediterranean-style dishes that are influenced by the couple's travels and include house-cured anchovies, the island's freshest Greek salad, and juicy slow-roasted meats.

Celebrating Japanese grill culture, this buzzy place serves up a stream of little plates that make your taste buds dance. As one of visionary chef/restauranteur Ari Vezenes' numerous successful ventures in the city, it highlights very carefully sourced and thus limited-edition ingredients sourced from quality producers. You'll find dishes like beef nigiri (served with truffle mayo or wasabi) made from rare cuts, delicacies like chicken hearts or chicken skin skewers cooked in the open-fire kitchen, lamb chops with Japanese chimichuri and succulent beef gyoza, all to be washed down with refreshing drinks like the highball with Japanese whisky with tart green apple, lime and ginger or craft beer. Inside, vinyl records play and people eat and chat at the bar and high tables.

A cozy, family-run restaurant with an ambitious menu that reinvents classic Greek cooking, with dishes like prawn saganaki and seafood couscous. A "krassotiri" crème brûlée makes the most of the island's famous soft cheese, while mains offer an even more tender touch, with pork cheeks nestled atop a chickpea ragout stealing the show. Excellent value for such skilled, imaginative food.

After a decade, Buddha Bar is still some of the best beach dining on Mykonos, showing off its Greek-island incarnation as part of the renowned upscale chain known for world music, celebrity DJs and chefs, and inspired cocktails. A Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Peruvian-inspired menu may seem out of place in Greece, but the immaculately presented food is popular with the chic and well-heeled crowd who love the boho atmosphere.

This waterside favorite serves seafood that's grilled to perfection including the island's famous sardines, all caught locally. It's best to enjoy the fresh fish and seafood, garden-grown vegetables, and tantalizing homemade dips as small mezedes to be shared. Make a reservation or get there early as it fills up quickly. The family owners also rent upscale houses a short walk away. 

Housed in an 18th-century fortress at Mikro Kamini, Castello offers sophisticated Mediterranean dishes, including seafood, premium beef cuts, and signature carpaccio and tartare. Enjoy fine dining paired with magnificent sea views from terraces overlooking the beach.

High in the White Mountains, lambs and goats roam free on the family farm, while on lower pastures in Sfakia, vegetables are tended to. These top-notch ingredients are transformed in the wood oven that dominates the dining room in this backstreet beauty. Moussaka is as fat as an airport paperback but with more action, Mizithra cheese comes with home-baked bread, and those lamb and goats are cooked tsigariasto—slowly in a clay pot. Authentic, this is the true traditional taste of Crete and where the locals come for a taste of home. Reservations recommended as there are often queues by early evening.

This beautifully designed patisserie offers a range of delicious bijou creations that look like works of art. Gorgeous and chic, they are the best sweet treats on the island and would not look out of place in a Parisian boutique. A breezy shaded terrace with views is a great place to take a break and indulge yourself.

If this is not the top patisserie-gelateria in Corfu, it's certainly among the very best. The store distributes its own brand of ice cream island-wide, and its cakes are made on the premises. They're best enjoyed, along with coffee, on the airy veranda or the roof terrace overlooking the magical view over Paleokastritsa and the west coast.

Everyone—not just sailors—will appreciate the spectacular location of this classy restaurant, tucked under the northern wall of the Venetian-era Old Fortress beside the yacht club harbor. The food is Greek but offers elevated twists on traditional favorites, using pickled, smoked, and cured ingredients to beautiful-tasting effect. Dishes from all over Greece include Santorini-style fava dip and a salad featuring local nouboulo ham (aka, Corfiot "prosciutto").

Talented pastry chef Lefteris Kokonas makes a point of only making small batches of his delicious creations, thus ensuring everything in his display cases is as fresh as possible. The 10-minute walk from the beachfront is well rewarded—this is patisserie as an art form.

The life-size black-and-white cow outside tells you that you have arrived at the best ice cream shop on the island. Made from Syros milk by an Italian ice-cream maker, funky flavors exist alongside the classics.

In Thessaloniki's new thrust of innovative gastronomy, this hot spot is the tip of the spear. It is notable that chef/co-owner Manolis Papoutsaki served an apprenticeship at the three-Michelin-starred Frantzénin in Stockholm. As a result, dining here is a full throttle Greek degustation experience that blows away the constraints of tradition and will have you sampling Greek ingredients in a new and unexpected way. Expect to share five to six dishes between two people—the wait staff will gladly help you navigate the 25 plate menu, or alternatively splurge for the a la carte "Chef's Prayer" for a rapturous experience.

Finer dining in Olympia town is reserved for a handful of eateries clustered near the entrance to the archeological site. Dimitra is arguably its most accomplished, with a pretty terrace surrounded by trees and a blend of Italian and Greek fare to savor. Dishes range from pork belly and various pastas to grilled mastelo cheese, and a decent wine list makes this one of the slicker spots in town. Service is slow though. 

Even weathered Athenians can't help but gasp at the vista from this restaurant, and the cuisine keeps the sense of awe going—so do the prices but if you're seeking a truly luxurious experience this restaurant is sure to provide it. Delicate as well as rich flavors, with a broad array of raw dishes like fish carpaccio or tartare and sushi rolls, Asian dishes like crispy duck with steamed pancakes, or Italian, like smoked burrata salad, asparagus risotto and mushroom ravioli, or linguine with lobster and black truffle, offer deep comfort and elegant delight. The cocktails are perfectly mixed, and the wine list is exciting.

Who wants some tasty Italian food with a view? This place does what it says on the tin—great pasta and pizza for all. Handmade on the premises every day, the dishes are authentic and use ingredients from the local area to great effect. A punky soundtrack and a funky cocktail list add to the happy aura in this hillside gem.

On a mountain perch above Chania is one of the most singular restaurants in the whole of Crete. A holistic approach is taken---this is farm-to-table eating but ramped up to the nth degree. Your meal is cooked in traditional clay pots that sit over the wood fire, as they have no electricity in the kitchen. Ingredients come from the family farm and they produce everything in-house, organically, of course---only the salt comes from the coast 20 km (12.4 miles) away. There is no menu, merely what is in season that day, but all tastes are catered for by the friendly staff. It's not fancy, nor is it fast, but it is honest and truly memorable as an experience of Cretan food and hospitality.

A standout among the many affable places along the harbor front, Elia is a little more sophisticated than its neighbors and with a modern European focus offers a refreshingly eclectic take on Greek cuisine with a big nod to local flavors. Fish-focused, the dishes are meticulously presented and as pretty as a picture. As you would expect, the wine list is full of Samian vintages as well as a few of the best from the rest of Greece.

A 10-minute walk south of the center takes you across the river and into the suburbs, where you'll find this friendly, effortlessly retro neighborhood taverna. Inside, jazz music echoes the vintage ad posters for 1950s Greek cigarettes and long-gone liquors, while the menu is a treasure trove of hearty classics, from Spartan dishes like pork with olives and orange to the lightest of moussakas. It's great value and a peaceful break from the cramped plateia terraces.

The young trio of owners—Yiannis, Kostas, and Alexandros—energize this beach taverna just 30 meters (100 feet) from Vlichos Beach with friendly, attentive service. Traditional fare ranges from ntakos and lively salads to shrimp linguine, each pairing nicely with house wine or an ice-cold beer. All-white walls with cool-blue accents pop against cascades of pink bougainvillea, and at the rear you’ll find the Hydra Diving Center’s Vlichos base.

This breezy place brings a modern, soulful twist to the classic Athenian tsipouro bar, combined with the aesthetics and philosophy of a French bistro. Serving a choice of mere dishes—some served "blind" as a surprise and others on the menu, it pairs a romantic, art-filled interior with a vibrant mix of Greek and European, mostly French, wines—often served from dramatic magnum bottles. Start with fresh oysters and ceviche and ask for the dish of the day. As the night deepens, the cozy space buzzes with conversation and candlelight. A stylish, intimate spot for lingering, best reserved ahead after sundown.

This place transforms Greek culinary essence with a creative Balkan fusion cuisine that is unique to Greece. Albanian-origin, Michelin-starred chef Elvi Zyba's avant-garde plates, served in a modern, tranquil ambience, awaken the senses with bright, fresh, flavorful yet delicate touches. Dishes like marinated or crispy seafood are enhanced with herbs, citrus fruit and flowers. Here, comforting, as well as tantalizing takes on classics from Albania, Greece, and Bulgaria, take center stage. Don't miss out on the mouthwatering dolma stuffed with beef tartare and the feel-good giaourtotavas, lamb sweetbreads served with rice and yogurt.

Perched just below Corfu's brooding New Fortress, whose name it borrows, this restaurant serves up knockout traditional Greek dishes with a side of rustic romance from its lovely surroundings—all soft lighting and swaying trees. Tables are tucked beneath stone arches, with sunset skies over the harbor, and plates that really pop—like citrusy ceviche, rich seafood pasta, and fall-apart lamb. It's stylish but unpretentious.

At this chic, hip, sparkling, and artfully designed wine-lover's paradise, you can try food influenced from Greek and Scandinavian cooking, with starters like fresh, succulent oysters with champagne sauce and mains like venison on charcoal, Wagyu beef with shrimp tartare, and Ossetra caviar and lobster pasta.

Self-taught and ever-evolving chef Andreas Gavris creates seasonal delights fit for the gods in his justifiably popular restaurant. Standouts include the melon soup with prawns and mint; bourani, a rich rice dish with nettles, wild mushrooms, and a Gruyère-like cheese from Crete; and black pig of Olympus stew and mountain lamb, cooked with mushroom and wheat puree. People travel from far and wide to enjoy Andreas' creations, which help make the superb location become even more enticing. Choose between the classic menu or five a-la-carte options including one vegan selection. The wine list has more than 500 labels on offer.

Let's start with the view: the Acropolis, the distant mountains, and Syntagma Square below looking like a theater set from such a high angle. Add to that a sophisticated and modern Greek-Mediterranean menu of haute cuisine dishes and an excellent wine list, and you've got a winner. This classic and incredibly scenic restaurant on the rooftop of the legendary Grand Bretagne hotel, where a stream of world leaders, A'listers, and other major personalities have stayed over 150 years, makes for an idyllic fine-dining experience. Premium meats, hand-picked seasonal ingredients, and the freshest fish are served by gracious staff who know how to make guests feel special. Make the best of the stunning 360-degree views of the city by preceding your dinner at the buzzy outdoor Bar 8, sipping a beautifully mixed signature cocktail under a sky painted in sunset hues.

Descend into the rustic interior of this bakery and you will feel like you have stepped back in time; Gioras dates back to the 18th century and is the oldest working wood-fired bakery in the Cyclades. Take a couple of pies for the beach, or sit with a coffee and a slice of baklava and breathe in the history.