29 Best Restaurants in Greece

Though known for its seafood, the handsomely decorated old rooms, beautiful walled garden, and panoramic view from the roof terrace found here are equalling enchanting. Mussels in wine, scallops in vodka sauce, shrimp risotto in an ouzo sauce, as well as simply grilled fish fill the menu. A side dish might be sautéed squash with wild glistrida (purslane), grown in the restaurant's own gardens.

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.

At the back of the Anargyreos and Korgialenios School, overlooking Kaiki beach and the waters beyond, sits this lovely pine-shaded café. Named after the John Fowles classic (Fowles was a teacher at the school back in the day), the Magus Art Cafe is set in the school's beautiful gardens. The coffee is good, the snacks decent, and the cocktails satisfactory but these consumables are merely a secondary reason to spend a few magical hours here.

Though an increasing number of restaurants are catering to vegans and vegetarians these days on the island, restaurants where you can find truly outstanding such dishes are thin on the ground. This ingenious restaurant rises to that occasion. The soy-and-lentil moussaka is as light and cheesy as anything you'll ever taste, which accompanies an ever-changing menu of bites and larger dishes, most with a Middle Eastern influence.

These old-school twin eateries, sharing the premises and kitchen, are located just off one of the Old Town's car-free shopping thoroughfares and are patronized as much by locals as by travelers—always a good sign. Oven-cooked dishes simmer in the open kitchen, while the savory aromas of lamb, pork, and chicken waft from the grill.

Step out of Kallidromiou Street in edgy Exarchia and find yourself in a large, lovely courtyard full of little tables and abundant greenery. Ama Lachei has gained a loyal following for its decently priced, delectable Greek dishes always made with a fanciful flourish and with bona fide ingredients. You'll find scrumptious regional cheeses; seafood appetizers such as orzo pasta with Kozani saffron and tiny shrimps; succulent meats and sausages; and plenty of vegetarian options such as the makarounes Karpathou (a traditional handmade pasta from Karpathos island) with rocket and myzithra cheese. Do like the Greeks, and accompany them with a gratifying choice of regional wines and tsipouro (the local firewater), then linger on with your parea (group of friends) until late at night. Every day there are five to nine new daily specials.

This bright, breezy, colorful ice-cream parlor and café overlooks the old harbor and the New Fortress. It's a cool place to relax after exploring the old Campiello neighborhood.

The perfect way to combine a chic, tasty meal with excellent wines, this place (with siblings in Psyrri on Agatharkou 15, and Acropolis on Drakou 3--5) serves up plenty of oenological expertise and inspiration along with dishes like charcuterie and cheese platters, bruschetti with toppings like goat cheese, strawberry jam and balsamic, warm cuts like smoked tenderloin, salads, and, if you're there at the right time of year, fresh oysters. The extensive wine list includes limited-edition labels and the highly educated staff are more than happy to advise you on pairings and varieties. Group and private wine tastings are also on offer, and you can shop wine and food goodies in-house.

It's the savvy locals' treasured secret—and one of Athens's oldest tavernas—where everyone wandering around Omonia Square has been welcomed through the years. Owner-chef Barba Mitsos keeps everyone happy with his handful of simple, delicious, and dirt-cheap homemade dishes, from the always exceptional horiatiki (Greek salad) and buttery gigantes (giant beans in tomato sauce) to saucy boiled meats with vegetables and tiny fried fish. Wine is drawn directly from the barrels lining the walls. As for decor, the feeling is authentic 1950s Athens. There is no sign on the door: just walk down the staircase of this corner Neoclassical building.

No Greek experience is complete without a quick gyro pita on the hoof. And if that's what you're after pop into Kai Kremmidi for the best of that ilk on Hydra. Also try the tasty lahmacun, an Arabic-style mini pizza topped with spiced ground meat and a squeeze of lemon. It's located a couple of blocks up from the harbor.

Amid all the high-end dining spots, where mains typically start at around €25, there's something comforting in the familiar form of this old-school taverna that has been dishing up Greek comfort food since the early 1960s while all around it has changed. Little surprises about its menu, and portions veer toward the gargantuan. It doesn't have the seaside setting of others, but its pretty, whitewashed terrace is a peaceful spot to sample everything from meatballs to a whole red snapper. This is Greek food made simply and with care. 

The choice of dining spots as you head towards Sounion tends to skew between hotel offerings and small touristy places. This venerable old-stager offers a happy alternative, with a nice paved terrace garden in which to sample some of the finest seafood on the coast. Staff are friendly and helpful, while boat-fresh snapper and mackerel arrive fresh from the grill (and deboned if necessary) alongside poached octopus and marinated anchovies.  

Inspired in its decor and the names of the dishes on the menu by old Hollywood glamour, this was Athens's first farm-to-table restaurant. Having received several awards over the years for its top-quality ingredients—mainly organic and sourced from small producers—as well as its great service and many healthy comfort-food options, it's also set up in Kifissia and Mykonos. The all-day restaurant has an easygoing and upbeat urban ambience and serves creative as well as classic modern Greek, Asian, Mediterranean, and North American--inspired cuisine to suit all tastes, moods, and dietary requirements. You can head here for a full brunch, lunch, or dinner or order a great bottle of wine accompanied by several appetizers to share with friends. If you have a sweet tooth, don't miss out on the dairy and sugar-free olive oil ice cream, which comes in several indulgent flavors.

Sip quality coffee in the pretty garden setting of a Neoclassical mansion-turned-museum. Whether you want to see the country's most extensive collection of coins spanning through the ages or just head for the café to meet a friend, the experience is always pleasant. The menu includes salads, light snacks, and desserts as well as wine and soft drinks.

The antithesis of the noisy café-bars that proliferate across the road in Lakka Square. This is defiantly a tea shop; it has no pretensions to nightlife, it just serves wonderful teas in a variety of herbal and dried-fruit profusions on its rooftop terrace. Bliss. 

Sit on the waterside veranda or the garden across the taverna and savor seafood mezedes and fresh fish in one of the more affordable (although somewhat noisy) restaurants on this overall pricey island. The house specialties are the fish soup, astakomakaronada (lobster with spaghetti), shrimp saganaki (cooked with melty feta cheese), and crayfish. Magirefta (oven-baked dishes) include stuffed aubergines and oven-baked lamb. The chef makes a mean baked apple for dessert, but before you order, know that miniportions of baklava, karydopita (walnut cake), and spoon sweets with yogurt are on the house.

A great spot for cheap, casual snacking, without the hefty price tags found elsewhere in Corfu Town. For just a few euros you can buy a gyros or souvlaki packed with falafels, grilled meat, pickles, and salad—it caters well to vegetarians and vegans, too. It seems to be open at all hours.

Stop in to taste some artfully tasty pittes (pies) to go that are made without using yeast in a wood-burning oven. Since 1981, the bakery (which now has three branches in Athens and one in Vienna) uses its own stone mill to grind the grains used in the pies, which have a perfectly crisp, buttery pastry, and comforting fillings made with high-quality ingredients. Try the creamy feta cheese or spinach pie, and grab a loaf of sourdough bread stuffed with feta and tomato for later.

Time to spice up your trip? Head down to Poncho, a funky little neon-lit shack on the busy Karitsi Square. Authentic handmade tortillas topped with the freshest of ingredients—you'll be craving them for days afterward. These tacos are the bomb!

This is a refreshing addition to the Athenian dinner scene created by the Greek-Japanese owner-chef of (also very hip) Nolan. Diners keep returning to delight in an inventive, improvisational, and experimental menu based on the season's best-quality ingredients from small producers as well as the restaurant's incredibly fluffy, crunchy, and mouthwatering homemade sourdough and "lactic" cheese. There is nothing predictable about this low-profile, affordably priced yet gourmet restaurant, where tables sprawl along a pedestrian road surrounded by graffiti-covered Neoclassical mansions. Try the marinated seafood, wild buffalo tartare, ceviche, and pizza cooked in a wood fire oven, and don't overlook the cocktail menu.

On the main drag by the waterfront you'll come across Remvi café. Enjoy some of the best coffee to be had in town, and why not try one of their lovely pancakes or waffles, to sweeten the deal? They also serve beautifully plated snacks.

It's not hard to see why this humble restaurant, nestled among a slew of eateries and bars along Trion Navarchon, has found favor—particularly with visitors. It's crowd-pleasing Greek-Turkish menu is just ambitious enough to excite (think chicken stuffed with metsovone cheese; stewed pork and celery root puree) and its friendly owner emerges periodically to drown you in amuse-bouches in between courses. You walk away stuffed, your senses struggling to comprehend how you spent so little on so much. 

A local favorite for lunch in town is located near San Rocco Square in the center of Corfu's commercial district. It caters particularly to residents—many of them lawyers and other white-collar professionals from local offices—who savor Chef Stamatis' tasty and filling traditional dishes of the day, like bourdetto or pastitsada.

This sunny beach bar and deck is a great place to swim and soak up some rays after visiting the aquarium. Use of the sun loungers is free when you spend €10 each on the café's range of coffees, cold drinks, ice creams, and snacks. Use of showers and changing rooms is also free.

Belly-busting portions are served up at this crowd-pleasing restaurant—with dishes that cater all kinds of tastes. The stars of the show are the creamy, herby, seafood-laced pasta dishes, enough to feed two and brimming with local flavors. There's plenty more beyond, from mezedes and gyros to burgers and steaks, but the grilled whole-fish is a real knockout.

This place is serious about its coffee. It was the first new era, award-winning coffee brand from Greece, which not only selected excellent coffee bean varieties from around the world for its roastery, but also trains baristas in all that is coffee. Modern and ergonomic, it's one of the best spots in Athens for a cup, whether begotten by a variety of skilled hand drip and cold brewing methods or pulled from top-of-the-line machines.

A stone-walled interior sets the scene for this family-run slice of traditional taverna hospitality. The friendly owner is always happy to offer suggestions, though the Kefalonian kreatopita (three-meat pie), the island's famous "national dish," is well worth sinking your teeth into.

A longtime local favorite that never fails to impress. The terrace outside gets no "pretty points" for running alongside the road, but inside, its open kitchen, glass walls stuffed with ingredients, and black-and-white press cuttings from days gone by always provide something interesting to look at. The food is down-the-line classic grillhouse fare, yet done with elan and no little skill. Rustic-style village sausages arrive in baskets filled with greaseproof paper and great hunks of grill-seared meat are tender to the touch. Classics from tigania (pan-fried pork) to potato skins topped with sheep's butter delight, and there are a few veggie mezes (its particularly good on mushrooms) to balance out the meat sweats. Great value. 

Chatty owner-manager Lefteris is reason enough to stop by this cute café, but it tempts also with its great coffee, tasty pastries, and ingredient-packed sandwiches---all freshly made every day. The brunch is a popular order.