Athens Food: What to Eat, Where to Eat It, and How Meals Work

Eat small plates and grilled meat, and eat them slowly. Athens rewards a table that fills up bit by bit, so order a few things, share them, and let the meal run long.

What food is Athens known for?

Gyros and souvlaki

Street food comes first. Souvlaki is meat grilled on a skewer, and you'll smell it before you see the stand. Gyros is its close cousin: meat sliced off a rotisserie and wrapped in pita with tzatziki, fries, tomato and onion.

Lefteris, near Omonia Square, has been serving skewers since 1951 and does things its own way. The beef is shaped by hand around the skewer into a long tube and served with onion, tomato and parsley. Don't ask for fries or tzatziki. There's no sauce, yet the tomatoes give enough juice to drip through the paper-wrapped pita, and the result is simple, spicy, smoky and closer to a kebab. For gyros, Gyros Pou Gyrevis, a takeaway joint near the Acropolis, fills with locals in the evening and turns out a garlicky, lemony chicken version.

Greek salad

A proper horiatiki brings together tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, olives and green pepper under a thick slab of feta, finished with olive oil and oregano. No lettuce. It turns up beside many meals in Athens, and a big bowl can easily be lunch on its own. At Smile Restaurant, steps from the Acropolis Museum, it arrives piled high in a massive round bowl, with seats in the open air or looking into the kitchen. For a modern take, Philos Athens swaps the feta for a creamy Greek goat cheese.

Meze, dips and fritters

Meze, small plates meant for sharing, are the heart of eating here. Keftedes, the Greek meatballs, mix ground beef and pork with onion, parsley and breadcrumbs, and they come out juicy and a little peppery. Order bread on the side and make a little sandwich, as Greeks do. Kolokithokeftedes, zucchini fritters, are the vegetarian favorite, crisp outside and tender inside, served with a yogurt or tzatziki dip. Dolmades, grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs, come warm or cold with olive oil or a dollop of yogurt.

Then come the dips. Taramosalata is a salty, creamy spread of cod roe blended with bread or potato. The version at Fita is light and fluffy and comes with housemade potato chips for scooping. It's most closely tied to Santorini.

Beans, vegetables and fish soup

Athenians have loved legumes since antiquity. At Louis Cafe, black-eyed peas are tossed with parsley, onion and red peppers. Spring brings artichokes marinated in vinegar, with lemon and a sprig of dill.

Briam is a casserole of potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, onions and eggplant, a good meatless pick. Most Greeks eat it hot, though some prefer it at room temperature. Bandiera, a redbrick eatery below the Acropolis with a friendly staff, serves it in a big bowl to share around the table. Kakavia, the fish soup that once fed Greek fishermen, is gentler than it sounds. At Pezoulas, the kakavia starts with bony fish simmered whole alongside potatoes, celery and carrots, and the flavorful broth becomes the soup, with olive oil and lemon to finish.

Lamb chops, kleftiko and moussaka

Athenian lamb chops are long and slender, grilled over wood or charcoal, with a lemon wedge on the side and sometimes a dollop of tzatziki or yogurt. They're ordered by the kilo at koutouki, the limited-menu places with live music and barrels of house wine. Eat them with your hands, and bite off the thin strip of meat along the bone. Look for it at rustic tavernas. Moussaka, layered eggplant, minced meat, potato and béchamel, is the comfort order.

Pies, pastries and sweets

Spanakopita, the spinach and feta pie in crisp filo, is a breakfast staple, and bakeries slice it up as soon as the sun rises. Bougatsadiko Psirri, an old wood-paneled bakery where passersby can watch the bakers through the windows, is famous for its thin, crisp slices. Bougatsa is the other morning favorite, filo wrapped around sweet custard or ground meat, the sweet one dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Have it with a strong Greek coffee. That coffee is fine-ground, bitter and smoky, and a sweet pastry balances it.

For dessert, loukoumades are honey-drenched fried dough puffs. Krinos has been making them for over a century, fresh daily in huge batches. Its café feels dated, so take them to go. Lukumades, its younger rival, sells smaller, filled ones with endless toppings. Locals tend to eat a whole order alone, though the portions are big enough to share. Baklava, made with filo, pistachios and honey syrup, is at its best at the Alchemist Cafe Patisserie, often called one of the top places in Greece to try it. It sits outside the main tourist area, a bus ride away. At Feyrouz, the kunefe pairs a crisp nest of fresh kadaif with soft cheese and a drizzle of honey syrup, bringing a taste of Ottoman culinary traditions to Athens.

What do adventurous eaters order in Athens?

Athenian cooking has a waste-not streak from times when meat was scarce, and it shows on the menu. Kokoretsi is a long skewer of organ meats wrapped in intestines and seasoned with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper, crisp outside and soft and flavorful within. Fried lamb testicles, called ameletita, taste no funkier than liver. At O Mitos, a Cretan spot, you get a paper menu and a pencil to mark your order, and the offal cuts are listed on the back pages.

Patsas, a tripe soup, divides people. Squeeze in plenty of lemon, especially the first time. It's a local hangover cure, served late for night owls and early-shift workers, and the most famous bowl is at Epirus, one of the last old-style tavernas inside the Varvakeios market, which sets out vinegar and chile flakes to bring out the meaty flavor.

How do meals work at an Athens taverna?

Slowly. Lingering is part of the experience, so settle in. Friends wander in, neighbors stop by, and the server might step away for a smoke. The classic way to eat is sharing a spread of small plates with a group, and it's customary to wait until all the plates arrive before digging in. Bread is your tool for mopping up olive oil and sauce. With souvlaki, some Greeks slide the meat off with a knife and fork, while others bite straight from the skewer.

Drinks fit the pace. Ouzo is an anise spirit with a bold licorice flavor and plenty of strength, and it pairs well with meze; Xoxlidaki displays 250 bottles of it along its walls. Little glasses of raki go round during a long Sunday lunch, and house wine often comes straight from a barrel.

Where are the best places to eat in Athens?

Start with the neighborhoods. Plaka is a lovely neighborhood for sipping ouzo with meze. Koukaki makes a good brunch stop after an early Acropolis visit, with This is Loco serving creative plates all day. In up-and-coming Kerameikos, a little farther from the center, Manu builds its menu around the catch of the day with Greek and Asian touches. Go late in the evening, when it fills up.

The Varvakeios Market is worth a wander for its high-ceilinged halls of vegetables, olives, cheeses, herbs, meats and fish, with small stalls and tavernas serving traditional dishes. For something newer, Nolan, a Bib Gourmand restaurant, serves small plates that mix Greek and Japanese flavors and are easy to share. Karamanlidika serves traditional dishes with a modern twist and a standout selection of cheeses and smoked meats. Out in Piraeus, Paleo Wine Bar fills a former boat-repair warehouse and pairs a large Greek wine cellar with cheeses from across the country, so a cheese plate and a bottle can make the meal. You can also take a food walk through the central market and shops, with stops for coffee, spoon sweets, bougatsa and a long meze lunch.

What should Americans know before eating their way through Athens?

U.S. citizens can visit Greece without a visa for up to 90 days, with a passport that has at least three months of validity beyond your planned departure date. Greece is a generally safe destination, but petty crime is common in popular tourist areas, and pickpockets and purse-snatchers work the metro, so keep your belongings secure. Strikes and demonstrations can happen with little notice and disrupt transport, so leave slack on days when you have a table to reach. On public transportation, validate your ticket, since riding without a valid one can bring a fine of up to 60 times the basic fare. Carry a passport or photo ID at all times. Most care providers in Greece usually take only cash, and private hospitals usually ask for proof of insurance or cash before admitting a patient, so keep some euros on hand in case a rich meal goes sideways.