In this guide
💡 The Short Version: The places named by the most of the 75 publishers counted are the Varvakios Central Market (19 sources), Kostas (16), Karamanlidika tou Fani and Ouzeri tou Laki (12 each) and Lefteris o Politis (11). Karamanlidika is closed on Sundays, Klimataria is open daily from 12:00 to 02:00, and Tudor Hall asks for smart casual after 17:00. The Central Market is at 42 Athinas Street. Or book a tour: the Athens: Street Food Tasting Tourad is from €59 for 3 hours.
📊 The evidence behind this guide. Nothing here is ranked on one visit. This pass counts the restaurant, taverna, street-food and market lists of 41 English and 34 Greek publishers: newspapers, magazines, guidebooks and travel writers, among them Time Out, Condé Nast Traveller, the Telegraph, Lonely Planet, Eater and Saveur in English, and Athinorama, Gastronomos, LiFO, Athens Magazine and Kathimerini in Greek. Athens-only sites without a named newsroom, tour operators and listing sites are not counted. Counts are publishers, not pages, and the English and Greek counts are shown apart. The City of Athens’ own guide, This is Athens, has its own column. How the guides are made
⚠️ Check the day. Karamanlidika tou Fani is closed on Sundays. Tudor Hall serves dinner only.
The places named by the most sources
The count is the number of publishers that name the place on a restaurant, taverna, street-food or market list, with the split between the 41 English and 34 Greek publishers. A place named by fewer than 7 is left out of this table. The lists use the name Kostas for two shops, and the count covers both.
| Place | Sources | English | Greek | City guide | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varvakios Central Market | 19 | 12 | 7 | Yes | 42 Athinas Street |
| Kostas | 16 | 9 | 7 | Yes | Agias Irinis Square, and 5 Pentelis |
| Karamanlidika tou Fani | 12 | 7 | 5 | 1 Sokratous and Evripidou | |
| Ouzeri tou Laki | 12 | 4 | 8 | Yes | 16 Elpidos, Victoria Square |
| Lefteris o Politis | 11 | 5 | 6 | Yes | 20 Satovriandou, Omonia |
| Varoulko Seaside | 10 | 4 | 6 | Yes | 54 Koumoundourou Coast, Piraeus |
| Makris Athens | 10 | 6 | 4 | 10 Astiggos and 119 Ermou, Thissio | |
| Klimataria | 9 | 7 | 2 | Syngrou 8, Plaka | |
| Savvas | 9 | 2 | 7 | Ermou, Monastiraki | |
| Thanasis | 8 | 6 | 2 | Mitropoleos 69, Monastiraki | |
| Ama Lachei Fanari | 8 | 2 | 6 | Kallidromiou 69, Exarchia | |
| Feyrouz | 8 | 5 | 3 | Yes | Agathonos 1 |
| Tudor Hall | 8 | 5 | 3 | 3 Vasileos Georgiou A, in the King George hotel | |
| Ergon | 8 | 6 | 2 | 23 Mitropoleos | |
| Hytra | 8 | 2 | 6 | 1 Petrou Kokkali Street | |
| Vezené | 8 | 5 | 3 | 11 Vrasida Street | |
| Hoocut | 7 | 2 | 5 | Yes | 9 Platia Agias Irinis, Monastiraki |
| Cookoovaya | 7 | 2 | 5 | Hatzigianni Mexi 2A | |
| Achilleas | 7 | 1 | 6 | Neos Kosmos |
The English lists favour Thanasis, Klimataria and Ergon, and the Greek lists favour Ouzeri tou Laki, Savvas, Hytra, Ama Lachei Fanari, Hoocut, Cookoovaya and Achilleas. Souvlaki is on its own page: see best souvlaki in Athens.
The Central Market
42 Athinas Street · thisisathens.org
The Varvakios Central Market is the place the most publishers name, 12 English and 7 Greek. It is 0.47 km from Monastiraki Square in a straight line: see Monastiraki flea market. The market tours below walk through it.
The meat hall of the Central Market on Athinas Street. Photo: Herbert Ortner, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Tavernas and ouzeri
A taverna table on Thespidos Street in Plaka. Photo: northernsky7007, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Karamanlidika tou Fani
1 Sokratous and Evripidou · restaurant Monday to Saturday 12:00 to 23:00 · shop 08:00 to 21:00 · closed Sunday · Cited by 12 sources (7 English, 5 Greek) · karamanlidika.gr
A delicatessen and meze restaurant in the manner of the Byzantine pastomageirio, an eatery for cured meats, with the flavours of Asia Minor. The shop sells rare cheeses from across Greece, and the staff pick wine, ouzo and tsipouro to go with the meze. Time Out calls it a tavern and deli in one.
Ouzeri tou Laki
16 Elpidos, Victoria Square · Cited by 12 sources (4 English, 8 Greek) · City guide · +30 210 821 3776
An ouzeri with a fishing-boat rudder by the door and a ship’s wheel on the wall. An open refrigerator shows the fish and seafood, delivered daily from Kymi and Skyros, and the menu runs from chickpea fritters to mackerel with caramelised onions and sardine moussaka. It stocks 16 brands of ouzo, according to the City’s guide. Victoria Square is on metro line 1.
Klimataria
Syngrou 8, Plaka · every day 12:00 to 02:00 · Cited by 9 sources (7 English, 2 Greek) · klimataria.gr
A tavern in Plaka, named for the vine arbour, with live music, a programme the tavern posts on its site. Time Out singles out the grilled meat platter of lamb chops, pork chops and biftekia, the grilled meat patties.
Athinaikon
2 Themistokleous and 34 Mitropoleos · from 1932 · Cited by 6 sources (1 English, 5 Greek) · athinaikon.gr
Two restaurants under one name: the traditional tavern on the pedestrian street of Themistokleous, and a newer restaurant on Mitropoleos near Syntagma. Each takes bookings through its own page on the site, so book the one you mean.
Ama Lachei Fanari
Kallidromiou 69, Exarchia · Cited by 8 sources (2 English, 6 Greek)
Condé Nast Traveller describes a large leafy courtyard that was once a school playground, with the former classrooms used as dining rooms in winter. The menu is Greek meze with variations, among them loukoumades with feta and honey and kavourmas, cured beef and lamb served with hummus.
Restaurants
Feyrouz
Agathonos 1 · Cited by 8 sources (5 English, 3 Greek) · City guide · feyrouz.gr
A small family restaurant of Levantine street food, with a bakery and a pastry shop in the same corner of the historic centre. Time Out sends readers for the lahmatzun, a thin meat flatbread, and the peinirli, a boat-shaped bread with cheese, and for baklava and kunefe afterwards.
Cookoovaya
Hatzigianni Mexi 2A · Cited by 7 sources (2 English, 5 Greek) · cookoovaya.gr
The chef Periklis Koskinas cooks seasonal Greek dishes with an open kitchen and independent producers. The restaurant names three signature dishes: a bourou-bourou spaghetti, a bianco and a bourdeto. Book through its site.
Tudor Hall
7th floor of the King George hotel, 3 Vasileos Georgiou A · dinner daily 18:00 to 23:00, kitchen closes 22:30 · Cited by 8 sources (5 English, 3 Greek) · tudorhall.gr
A contemporary restaurant with a terrace that looks at the Acropolis and Syntagma Square. After 17:00 the dress code is smart casual. Beachwear, sportswear, safari sandals and flip-flops are not allowed, and shorts are accepted with closed shoes.
What to eat
The count is the number of publishers that name the dish, from all the food lists read, with the split by language.
| Dish | What it is | Sources | English | Greek |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meze | Small plates shared over ouzo or wine | 40 | 16 | 24 |
| Souvlaki | Meat grilled on a skewer, usually wrapped in pita | 36 | 20 | 16 |
| Gyros | Meat shaved from a vertical rotisserie | 27 | 11 | 16 |
| Ouzo | The aniseed spirit, drunk with meze | 25 | 9 | 16 |
| Dolmades and yemista | Vine leaves stuffed with rice; tomatoes and peppers stuffed the same way | 25 | 10 | 15 |
| Saganaki | Fried cheese | 21 | 7 | 14 |
| Greek salad | Tomato, cucumber, onion, olives and feta | 20 | 11 | 9 |
| Moussaka | Aubergine, minced meat and béchamel | 20 | 12 | 8 |
| Loukoumades | Honey-soaked dough balls | 20 | 12 | 8 |
| Spanakopita and tiropita | Spinach and cheese pies | 19 | 7 | 12 |
| Baklava | Layered filo with nuts and syrup | 11 | 8 | 3 |
| Pastitsio | Baked pasta with minced meat and béchamel | 10 | 5 | 5 |
| Bougatsa | A custard or cheese filo pie | 8 | 2 | 6 |
| Koulouri | A sesame bread ring | 7 | 6 | 1 |
The English lists lean towards the moussaka, the loukoumades and the baklava, and the Greek lists towards the meze, the saganaki and the pies. The City’s guide gives the vocabulary of the skewer, the kalamaki, the tylichto and the kebab, in best souvlaki in Athens.
Loukoumades with honey, chopped walnuts and cinnamon. Photo: Missvain, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Food tours
A food tour is a guided walk that stops to eat. GetYourGuide lists these Athens food tours, with its “from” prices:
| Tour | From | Length | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athens: Street Food Tasting Tourad | €59 | 3 hours | 4,146 |
| Athens: Original Athens Food Tour (Full Meal Experience)ad | €69 | 4 hours | 3,631 |
| Athens: Food Market Visit and Cooking Class with Winead | €69 | 4 hours | 1,295 |
Athens food tours and cooking classes compares them with the rest.
Plan the rest
The skewers are in best souvlaki in Athens, and the bars with a view of the hill in rooftop bars in Athens. To fit meals to the sights, see Athens in one or two days. Where to stay in Athens compares the areas, and hotels near the Acropolis lists the hotels beside the old tavernas. The market and the second-hand stalls are in Monastiraki flea market, and the lanes of Plaka in Plaka and Anafiotika. For other cities, see where to eat in Istanbul, the Rome food guide and where to eat in Madrid.
Common questions
Which places do the most food lists in Athens name?
The Varvakios Central Market, named by 19 of the 75 publishers counted (12 English, 7 Greek), then the Kostas souvlaki shops with 16 (9 English, 7 Greek), Karamanlidika tou Fani and Ouzeri tou Laki with 12 each and Lefteris o Politis with 11. The Greek lists lean towards Ouzeri tou Laki, Savvas and Hytra, and the English lists towards Thanasis and Klimataria.
Which Athens restaurants are closed on which days?
Karamanlidika tou Fani is closed on Sundays: its restaurant is open Monday to Saturday from 12:00 to 23:00. Tudor Hall serves dinner only, daily from 18:00 to 23:00 with the kitchen closing at 22:30. Klimataria is open every day from 12:00 to 02:00.
Is there a dress code at Athens restaurants?
At Tudor Hall, on the seventh floor of the King George hotel, the dress code after 17:00 is smart casual with appropriate footwear. Beachwear, sportswear, safari sandals and flip-flops are not allowed, and shorts are accepted with closed shoes.
Do I need to book a restaurant in Athens?
Athinaikon and Cookoovaya take bookings through their own sites, and Athinaikon has a separate booking page for each of its two restaurants.
What is the Varvakios Central Market and where is it?
The market at 42 Athinas Street. Twelve English and seven Greek publishers name it, more than any restaurant. The market tours are compared in Athens food tours.
What should I eat in Athens?
The dishes the lists name most are meze, the small plates, then souvlaki, gyros, ouzo, stuffed vine leaves and tomatoes, saganaki (fried cheese), Greek salad, moussaka and loukoumades, the honey-soaked dough balls.
