A spread of Greek meze.
Kolonaki is where Athenians come to eat well rather than cheaply. This guide follows a local day: a pastry in the morning, the Friday market, a proper Greek lunch around two, a modern Greek or seafood dinner after nine, and the quick bites that fill the gaps. For every place you get the street, what to order and a link, plus a price level wherever I could pin one down.
I have lived in Kolonaki for more than a decade and host guests in two apartments here, so "where should we eat tonight?" is the question I answer most. The neighbourhood is also changing fast. Several old names have closed, a historic café has reopened with a new kitchen, and new seafood places have arrived on the upper streets. Every place below was checked against a 2025 or 2026 source on 10 October 2026. Restaurants still change, so check opening hours before you set out.
How to use this guide
The Athenian eating day
Locals eat later than most visitors expect. Breakfast is light: coffee and something from a bakery. Lunch is the main meal, usually from about 14:00, and it is where Athens gives the best value. Dinner starts at 21:00 or later, and a room that is empty at 19:30 will be full by 22:00. If you follow that rhythm, you eat with locals instead of beside other tourists.
What the price levels mean
| Level | Rough spend per person, with a glass of wine where relevant |
|---|---|
| € | under €15 |
| €€ | €15 to €30 |
| €€€ | €30 to €60 |
| €€€€ | over €60 |
Where a venue publishes prices, I quote them with the date I checked.
Kolonaki at a glance
| Eating moment | Where | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast and bakeries | Kora, Queen Bee, Désiré, Da Capo | € to €€ |
| Market day (Friday morning) | Xenokratous laiki, then Filippou or Dexameni | € to €€ |
| The long lunch | Filippou, To Kafeneio 1987, Oikeio | €€ |
| Dinner | Simul, Le Rosé, Ratka | €€€ to €€€€ |
| Seafood, lunch or dinner | Iodio, Sea You, Barbounaki, Papadakis | €€€ to €€€€ |
| Quick bites | Kalamaki Kolonaki, Nosh | € to €€ |
Breakfast and bakeries
Athenians do not do a big cooked breakfast. They do a coffee, often a freddo drunk slowly, and a pastry or a pie. Coffee has its own guide: see my favourite cafés in Kolonaki. These are the places to go for something to eat with it.
Kora
A neighbourhood sourdough bakery, and the one I would send you to first. Order: the Valrhona pain au chocolat, or a savoury pastry with spianata, cheddar and potato (travel.gr, 14 September 2026). It also bakes focaccia and good bread to take back to an apartment kitchen. Price: €. Where: Panagiotou Anagnostopoulou 44. Map
Queen Bee
A Parisian-style patisserie with marble counters, and Parisian prices to match (travel.gr, 9 September 2026). Order: a croissant, or one of the sandwiches. It fills up at weekends. Price: €€. Where: Patriarchou Ioakeim 45. Facebook
Désiré
Kolonaki's old-school patisserie, open since 1962 and still taking Christmas orders in December 2025, when Athinorama featured it (13 December 2025). Order: the Saint Honoré or a Mont Blanc, at one of its tables if you want to sit. Where: Dimokritou 6, phone +30 210 363 2333. Open Monday to Saturday 07:30 to 21:30 and Sunday 09:00 to 20:00, per its own site, checked 10 October 2026. Website
Da Capo
The classic café on the corner of the square, for people-watching over a freddo and a panino. Price: €. Where: Tsakalof 1. Kolonaki Square itself is currently a worksite for the new Metro Line 4, so the view is less lovely than it was. Map
Market day: Friday on Xenokratous
Every Friday, the upper end of Kolonaki gets its laiki, the neighbourhood street market, on Xenokratous (Athens Insider, February 2025; OneMan, February 2024). Stallholders sell seasonal fruit and vegetables, fish, herbs, olives and honey, and it is the best morning to see the residential side of Kolonaki. If you are staying in an apartment, this is where to shop. Go in the morning, when the stalls are fullest. Map
Where to eat afterwards
- Filippou is on the same street, at Xenokratous 19. Friday lunch at Filippou after the market is about as local as Kolonaki gets.
- Dexameni is the café by the leafy square of the same name, a few minutes uphill. Order: meze like sausage with mustard, fried calamari, and lentil salad, with a cold beer (travel.gr, September 2026). Price: € to €€; most Google reviewers in 2026 spent €10 to €20. Instagram
From Dexameni you can carry on up to the Lycabettus funicular, or come back on a summer evening for a film at the open-air Cine Dexameni.
The long lunch
A Greek taverna courtyard set for dinner.
If you eat one proper Greek meal in Kolonaki, make it lunch. This is when the mageirefta come out: dishes cooked that morning and kept warm in trays, like moussaka, pastitsio and lemony stews. You point, you order a carafe of house wine, and nobody rushes you.
Filippou
A Kolonaki institution, trading on Xenokratous since 1923 and still run by the family. It is the most honest lunch in the neighbourhood. Order: pastitsio (€9.80), lamb with oregano (€11.50), or the grouper soup (€16.50). Those are prices from the menu on its own site, checked 10 October 2026. Price: €€. Hours: Monday to Friday 12:30 to 17:00 and 19:30 to midnight, Saturday lunch only, closed Sunday. Where: Xenokratous 19, phone +30 210 721 6390. Website
To Kafeneio 1987
A neighbourhood café on Loukianou since 1987, renovated and reopened in late 2025 by the team behind the Italian restaurant Brunello, with chef Kyriaki Fotopoulou in the kitchen (Athens Voice, December 2025; travel.gr, September 2026). It now cooks urban Greek comfort food. Order: the charcoal-grilled beetroot, sardines, veal with manestra (orzo), or roast lamb with hilopites pasta, and pistachio baklava to finish. Price: €€. Where: Loukianou 26, phone +30 210 723 9600. Website
Oikeio
A small, cosy bistro with tables on the pavement in summer. The cooking is traditional with a light modern touch. Order: moussaka, sardines, or octopus in vinegar (travel.gr, September 2026). Price: €€; most Google reviewers in 2026 spent €15 to €35 a head. Where: Ploutarchou 15. Facebook
Dinner
Glasses of wine being poured at a wine bar.
Kolonaki's strength at night is modern Greek cooking. These are rooms to book a day ahead, especially Thursday to Saturday. If you want a drink before or after, my guide to drinks in Kolonaki goes street by street.
Simul
Chef Nikos Thomas cooks modern Greek dishes from an open kitchen, with boutique Greek wines. It is my choice for a serious dinner without ceremony. Order: the deconstructed moussaka, crayfish with black lentils, or lamb tataki with XO sauce (travel.gr, September 2026). A seven-course tasting menu with dessert was €90 in September 2025 (powergame.gr). Price: €€€€ for the tasting menu, less à la carte. Hours: Tuesday to Friday 18:00 to midnight, Saturday 14:00 to midnight, closed Sunday and Monday. Where: Ypsilantou 63, phone +30 210 722 4737. Website
Le Rosé
A small corner bistro built around rosé wine, with a French-Japanese menu and live guitar and double bass on weekend evenings (travel.gr, September 2026). Order: a glass of rosé with ceviche, tartare or sushi. Price: €€€ to €€€€; more than half of the Google reviewers who gave a figure in 2026 spent over €50 a head. Where: Kapsali 3. The room is tiny, so book. Facebook
Ratka
Open on Charitos since 1975 and still one of the places where Kolonaki goes to see and be seen, at small tables on the pavement (Athinorama, October 2024; travel.gr, September 2026). Order: oysters, escargots, or spaghetti with pesto. Price: €€€€; most Google reviewers who gave a figure spent over €50 a head. Where: Charitos 30-32. Map
Seafood, at lunch or dinner
Fish is the biggest change in Kolonaki over the past two years. Two new seafood places have opened on the upper streets, joining two long-standing ones. Whole fish is sold by the kilo, so ask the price of the fish you pick before it goes on the grill.
Iodio
Inventive seafood, opened in November 2024, with Georgianna Hiliadaki of Funky Gourmet among its culinary directors. Order: sea urchin orecchiette (€32), grouper tartare made like giouvarlakia (€18), taramas with lagana bread (€12), and the pistachio ice cream for two (€18). Those prices are from its May 2026 dinner menu. Whole Evia fish on the charcoal is €105 a kilo. Price: €€€€. Hours: 13:00 to 23:30. Where: Loukianou 36, phone +30 213 026 3656. Website
Sea You
Aegean seafood meze inside the Lemos arcade, opened in late 2025. On Saturdays the "let's get dirty" menu has you eating with your hands. Order: taramosalata (€10), kataifi-wrapped prawns (€7 each), shrimp couscous (€23), and oysters (its online menu, checked 10 October 2026). Price: €€€. Hours: Monday to Friday 18:00 to 02:00, Saturday 12:00 to 02:00, Sunday 12:00 to 20:00. Where: Karneadou 25, phone +30 210 729 4056. Website
Barbounaki
A relaxed fish taverna, the sort of place politicians go when they want a quiet fish dinner (travel.gr, September 2026). Order: grilled sardines in red sauce, fried fresh red mullet (barbounia, the name of the place), or shrimp orzo. Reviewers in 2025 and 2026 found it pricey and noted that some fish can be unavailable. Price: €€€. Where: Charitos 39. Map
Papadakis
Chef Argyro Barbarigou's restaurant has been in Athens since 2005, after starting on Paros. Polished and art-filled, it is the place for a special fish dinner. Order: kakavia fish soup, sea bass ceviche, octopus with honey, grouper orzo, and the Greek millefeuille. Price: €€€ to €€€€; most Google reviewers who gave a figure in 2026 spent €40 or more a head. Hours: Monday to Saturday 13:30 to midnight, closed Sunday. Where: Fokylidou 15, on the corner of Voukourestiou, phone +30 210 360 8621. Website
Quick bites
Not every meal is an event. These are the counters where people who work in Kolonaki grab lunch.
Kalamaki Kolonaki
Grilled skewers and warm pita, fast. Order: the Black Angus kalamaki (€4.80) or pork (€2.60), with fries and grilled feta. Those are its delivery-menu prices, checked 10 October 2026, and prices at the counter may be a little lower. It is open late, until 05:00 on Friday and Saturday nights according to its Google listing. Price: €. Where: Ploutarchou 32. Facebook
Nosh
A lobster-roll counter with a few seats, open since December 2024. Order: a lobster roll on brioche, with the filling of the day. Price: €€; most Google reviewers in 2026 spent €10 to €30. Where: Kapsali 5. Instagram
Practical notes
Booking
Book Simul, Iodio, Papadakis, Sea You and Le Rosé a day ahead, especially for Thursday to Saturday nights. The lunch places, the bakeries and the quick-bite counters are walk-in.
August
Much of central Athens shuts for its summer holiday in August, and Kolonaki more than most. If you are visiting then, check that a restaurant is open before you walk over. My guide to the best time to visit Athens covers what August is like.
Places I no longer list
Some of the names in older versions of this guide have closed, moved out of Kolonaki, or could not be confirmed as open in 2025 or 2026, so I took them out. If you find a place shut that is listed here, tell me and I will update the guide.
Eating here as a guest
The advantage of staying in Kolonaki is that everything above is a short walk from the door, with no taxi at the end of the night. I host two apartments here: the one-bedroom in upper Kolonaki and the two-bedroom near Evangelismos metro, both with a full kitchen for the mornings you would rather stay in with bread from Kora and fruit from the Friday market. For the rest of the neighbourhood, see my Kolonaki neighbourhood guide, our map of the neighbourhood, or, if you are still choosing a base, where to stay in Kolonaki. You can see both apartments or book direct.
Photos: JIP / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0; Heiko Gorski / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0; Maria Eklind / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0.