Athens Food and Drink Guide

When you visit Athens, it’s almost impossible to struggle with finding good food. You can find nearly everything from Turkish cuisine right here. With so many common dishes, we kept making comparisons, which was really fun. In this guide, you’ll find the restaurants we tried, the food and drink we tasted, and their prices during our trip to Athens, which felt like a food-tasting tour.

Tylixto

One of the best places in Athens to enjoy traditional Gyros. You can tell how good the food is from the constant queue outside. Tylixto is centrally located, so much so that we passed by it at least 10 times while walking from one place to another. We paid 3.9 EUR for a chicken gyros and 2 EUR for a soft drink.

Énastron

A lovely tavern with live music in the evenings. We made a reservation in advance as it’s hard to find a table, especially on weekends. We ordered lamb kebab, prawn pasta, octopus, prawn saganaki, a mezze platter, Greek salad, and two Mythos beers. The total bill for four people came to 100 EUR. If you’re looking for a tavern that’s not a tourist trap, centrally located, and more frequented by locals, this is definitely worth a visit.

Μάμ

A local bakery with good pastries. Generally speaking, you’ll likely enjoy any pastry you try in Athens because they are all generously filled and packed with flavour. Μάμ doesn’t have seating, functioning more like a bakery. The pastries here were around 1-1.5 EUR each.

Picky

Picky is a great option for a good coffee or brunch. We had to wait a little to get a seat since it was busy in the morning. The garden was lovely, but prices were slightly higher compared to other places. We paid 4.5 EUR for a flat white and 6 EUR for a detox juice.

Tis Theatrou to Steki

This became my favourite spot in Athens. It’s a small, local eatery on a corner. The food was incredibly tasty, and the prices were very reasonable. The tables were filled with locals, and we loved that it wasn’t a tourist trap. We enjoyed lunch here with a glass of raki. We ordered sardines, baked small fish, red mullet, fried fish, mezze dishes like tzatziki, zucchini fritters, sea bass, and a small bottle of ouzo. Everything on the table was delicious, and the total for this meal for four was 50 EUR. If you’re a seafood lover, you must visit this place.

Acropolis Museum Cafe and Restaurant

A lovely cafe located on the second-floor terrace of the Acropolis Museum. The view directly overlooks the Acropolis. We tried a double Greek coffee here and paid 4 EUR.

Alchemist Cafe Patisserie

We walked into this patisserie after seeing the banner on the window proclaiming it to have “Athens’ best baklava”. The baklava was very popular according to its Google Maps rating and reviews. We tried the walnut and cinnamon cream versions. They couldn’t hold a candle to our Turkish baklava, but I respect the effort. If you want to try what’s considered the best Greek baklava, you might want to stop by.

Aster

We wanted to try a place in Petralona, a neighbourhood loved by locals but less frequented by tourists. Aster met our expectations perfectly. Here we had chicken with potatoes, liver, aubergine, and courgette fritters. The food was decent, and the total for four people was 50 EUR.

Street Souvlaki

Tucked away in a side street, this spot lives up to its name. We tried the chicken skewer gyros here, which was average. Prices were around 3-4 EUR.

Lontos Cafe

A nice cafe/restaurant with a view of the Acropolis. There are many cafes and restaurants in this area with similar views, so it’s worth checking out a few of them. Here we tried the Greek Frappe and it was really good.

Bandiera

For our last dinner, we chose Bandiera. The food and service were both excellent. We had briam, kebabs, and prawns. The total bill was 45 EUR. After the meal, we were treated to revani with ice cream on the house.

Sisinely

One of the many cafes and restaurants lined up with a view of the Agora. We chose this spot for its beautiful view of the Agora. We tried the Freddo Cappuccino and Freddo Espresso, which we saw every local drinking. The cappuccino was 4 EUR and the espresso 3.80 EUR.