20 Best Restaurants in Greece

The Botrini family restaurant is considered one of the best in Greece (the Athens branch has a Michelin star), and it certainly can be classed as among the most inventive, offering lavish set menus of Italian- and Greek-inspired dishes. Chef Ettore Botrini demonstrates his flawless technique and creativity on the molecular gastronomy front in the range of artwork dishes on offer. Completing the picture of class with, a sprinkle of opulence, is the magnificently romantic setting, where the best tables—often booked solid with chic and wealthy Corfiots—are set out in a large, antique-style courtyard. 

A stupendous, 15-course gastronomic journey based on the European, Middle Eastern, South American and Southeast Asian culinary endeavors of multi-awarded owner-chef Herve Ponzato awaits you. You'll arrive to a place that looks closed because all the windows are curtained. Entry is only accessible to dinner guests who punch in a code that's sent to their phone after booking. Inside, a slick chef's table with stools wraps around the action in the ultramodern kitchen, modern street-art inspired paintings hang on the wall and the lighting is low. The tasting menu is altered every season, with some standard classics always remaining, and is based on exotic (like foie gras and caviar) elements as well as local ingredients sourced from small producers around Greece. There are also tables around the bar and in a separate courtyard area that has an open roof during summer. One thing you can surely expect is to be delighted repeatedly, spending at least three hours on a memorable adventure in which every small gourmet dish is a beautiful surprise. The wine pairing (optional) offers some sublime tasting experiences.

With quality ingredients—everything from vibrantly colored flowers and aromatic herbs to olives and partridge meat—sourced from an organic farm in ancient Corinth and a full respect for zero-waste practices, this fine dining restaurant provides a rich gourmet experience with high conscience. In an elegant, peaceful setting over the Roman Agora, chef Petros Dimas creates exquisite dishes like mushroom cappuccino with a brioche for dipping, scallop with jamon Iberico, duck fillet with asparagus, and langoustine ravioli with truffle that are as incredible to taste as they are to look at. Staff is friendly and informative, and the polished space includes a rooftop dining area and a cellar with a glass floor through which you see ancient Athenian structures.

This restaurant, located in picturesque Mikrolimano, is a cornerstone of Greek fine dining. Helmed by chef Lefteris Lazarou, the first Greek chef to earn a Michelin star, the restaurant offers a seafood-centric menu that marries tradition with innovation. Standout dishes include red shrimp tartare with citrus and lemongrass, cuttlefish risotto, and grilled squid with ouzo gel. The setting—overlooking the marina—adds to the allure, making it a must-visit for those seeking refined maritime cuisine in Athens.

Restaurants, including this multiple-award-winning Michelin-starred gem of Neoclassical design and inventive Mediterranean cuisine, are the reason Metaxourgeio's profile is on the rise. As soon as you arrive in the beautiful garden, lit with fairy lights and scattered with creative decor details, you'll want to stay for hours; the winter dining area indoors is very elegant, too, if less uplifting. Chef Gikas Xenakis's cooking is a serious candidate for notoriety, with two tasting menus, "Earth & Sea" or "Garden & Nature," as well as a pescatarian menu and a vegetarian menu, with a choice of five or six dishes and an excellent wine pairing option. There is also an excellent wine pairing alongside a wide-ranging wine list. 

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.

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.

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.

Progressive chef Georgianna Halidaki, Greece's only female chef to have been awarded two Michelin stars, helms this elegant, seafood-loving place combining contemporary techniques with traditional Greek and Mediterranean concepts. Dishes like fish tartare yiouverlakia and dolmades wrapped in wake instead of fig leaves, grilled langoustines, pasta with Greek bottarga, and green pepper sauce oysters, are luxurious, refined, and packed with authentic tastes of the sea. Desserts are great, too, created by patissier Manolis Stithos who plays with nostalgic Greek childhood sweets, reintroducing them in a memorable new light. Think caramelized nori milk pie (galatopita), the chocolate "Chicago" ice cream (a vintage Greek) or a signature pistachio ice cream. The intuitively curated wine list includes Greek and European wines that pair excellently with the menu.

Included in the Michelin guide each of the four years since it opened, this fine-dining restaurant just minutes from Syntagma Square is led by chef Giorgos Toklas, who reimagines flavors and textures through his unique vision. The beautifully presented dishes that make up the restaurant's tasting menu (diners can also order à la carte) are delectable, delicate, and deeply satisfying. Starting with fluffy sourdough bread with a perfectly crunchy exterior accompanied by a caramel-like butter with truffle powder, diners are treated to dishes like raw bonito with almonds, maple, and chili sauce, cod wrapped sushi-like in nori and dressed in champagne sauce and lamb with a creamy, tangy Kalathaki cheese and semi-dry olives. Pairing options are available and the cocktails are refreshing and well-mixed; do not leave without trying the Okio margarita, made with tequila, homemade mango cordial, and Caslamansi citrus from the Philippines—the very definition of umami bliss. 

Dine on the seafront veranda in movie-star style at the iconic Poseidonion Grand Hotel, where this award-winning restaurant serves local island dishes that have been inventively redefined. Many ingredients come straight from the hotel's own organic farm, harmoniously complementing the headlining fresh seafood. The renewed menu now centers on traditional Greek flavors with an elegant twist, with even gigantes giant beans in tomato sauce being transformed in a comforting yet more refined experience. The sommelier is happy to help you pair your dishes of choice with some of Greece's finest wines. All this overlooking Poseidonion Square and the Argo-Saronic gulf beyond. Reservations are essential. Next door is the trendy Palms Bar where they serve delicious cocktails and sushi.

Picture this: it's twilight and you're sitting under bitter-orange trees at one of Athens's best fish restaurants, in the heart of Kolonaki (with a view of the Parthenon if you book it in advance) as you sip a perfectly chilled glass of wine and wait for your order of succulent seafood to arrive. There's muted conversation at the gleaming white-tablecloth tables around you, where opinion makers, theater directors, and loyal customers relax. You may start with a bowl of creamy and flavorsome kakavia fish soup that waitress pours out of a large silver teapot, and then progress to steamed mussels and chili-fried shrimp with feta, before digging into a beautifully baked fish like white grouper with orzo and lemon on the grill with seasonal vegetables. Indoors, the cool-in-summer and cozy-in-winter interiors have walls covered by giant, colorful paintings and a silver wall sculpture of fish.

Back in Fira, the restaurant that set Santorini on its own gastronomic trail continues to entice and impress in its new incarnation in the imposing setting of an 18th-century Catholic monastery. The ingredients of the Cyclades are redefined under the watch of Michelin-starred chef Ettore Botrini for a one-of-a-kind experience—this is some of the finest dining in Greece.

This place shines with an original style of cuisine that the restaurant describes as an "earthy philosophy" (which has earned it Michelin's Green Star), because all of its fresh ingredients are organically grown in chef Tassos Mandis's garden in Aleopochori village just outside of Athens. Set in a beautiful 1920s mansion with a warmly lit two-level garden, Soil presents a gourmet set menu of 15 dishes that changes every season and transports diners from the sea to the land via dishes that honor seafood, meat, and fruit and vegetables in visionary and indulgent ways. Note that the beautiful ceramic crockery is all handmade by Mantis' wife, Elia Lampiri, at her MUD LAB studio.

Globe-trotting chef Fred Chesneau finally set down roots in Paros, bringing French-influenced dining to the island. A romantic flower-filled garden with white ironwork furniture is a pretty match for the weekly changing fixed menu that features the best locally sourced seasonal produce. Just 30 lucky diners each night get to experience a food journey that may take them from Paros to Paris via Bangkok and Tokyo.

Overlooking the famous infinity pool of the Grace Hotel, Michelin-starred chef Lefteris Lazarou brings his iconic Varoulko dishes to the island. The Aegean and all its bounties are the inspiration for the breathtaking dishes that truly express the exceptional ingredients. The food here revels in its Greekness, generous in color and flavor, matched to contemporary techniques and presentation.

Vezene brings elegant flair to Greek-inspired comfort food, blending refined technique with deep respect for ingredients. Chef Ari Vezene’s menu leans into wild seafood and whole-fish preparations, alongside nose-to-tail cuts like goat neck fricassee. The space is sleek and warmly lit, with thoughtful design details that match the kitchen’s precision. Natural wines, quiet confidence, and beautifully plated dishes make this a polished yet heartfelt Athenian standout.

Hidden away in the Dilou quarter, this is one of the most reputable restaurants on the island, featuring the best of both French and Greek cuisine, which makes it well worth the search to find it. Once you're here you'll see a handful of linen-laden tables sat under a canopy of brilliant bougainvillea in an iconic Mykonos photo pose, while the lovely whitewashed candlelit interior features Cycladic arches and a faded 16th-century tapestry from Constantinople. It is very elegant, very sophisticated and very expensive but the fine food and excellent, hospitable service keep people coming.

This legendary Psarou beach restaurant is the place to go on the island for a healthy dose of excess—super-bling, self-conscious, and selfie-central, Nammos is the spot for late lunches next to the sea with the jet set. The eye-poppingly expensive Mediterranean fusion cuisine is actually good, but it's not really about the food and drink: tables are for dancing on rather than eating at, and champagne is for spraying over your fellow diners, racing-driver style. It is a place to be seen spending conspicuously, and depending on your sensibilities, you will either love it or hate it. For those who want to live the full lifestyle, there is a 26 room and 3 villa Nammos hotel next door.

If the wind is up, the waves sing at this magical and lively spot, set on a far tip of land below the famous windmills of Mykonos. The preferred place for Greek shipowners, Sea Satin Market's fine seafood dishes are enjoyed on a beautiful seaside terrace, and even onto the sand of the beach bordering Little Venice. When it comes to fish, prices vary according to weight. Shellfish is a specialty, and everything is beautifully presented.