Athinaiki Taratsa

Billing itself as an “open-view restaurant and bar,” Athinaiki Taratsa (Athenian Rooftop) lives up to the description. Step onto the terrace and you’re greeted by olive green tables, a burnt orange sofa, retro 70s-style lighting, and – most impressively – a front-row view of the Acropolis. As rhythmic beats hum softly from the speakers, aromas from the open kitchen drift across the terrace. The menu – under the creative direction of chef Alexandros Karakatsanis – is a vibrant blend of Greek and Levantine influences, with a clear passion for flame-cooked food. Highlights include a rose-petal tomato salad with spiced rose vinaigrette, a beef tartare twist on classic dolma, and pasta with smoked eel, bottarga, and eastern spices. There’s also wood-oven-finished chicken shashlik with tomato rice, and melt-in-your-mouth kebabs served with soft flatbreads. Dessert might be a syrupy galaktoboureko or golden künefe.

The cocktails, curated by the team behind The Bar in Front of the Bar, are just as creative. Try “An Afternoon on the Island,” a refreshing mix of mastiha, vodka, green apple and fennel, or the tongue-in-cheek “Tabouleh,” a cocktail that playfully mirrors the flavors of the kitchen.

The Zillers

Modern, bright-white, and beautifully lit, The Zillers offers unforgettable views of the Acropolis and Mitropoleos Square. A well-established fine dining destination in Athens, it offers a gourmet experience with a strong Greek identity and a creative edge.

Now a year into his tenure, head chef Vassilis Roussos  presents two dégustation menus that playfully blend local inspiration with storytelling flair. Expect poetically named, sometimes enigmatic dishes with unexpected twists, like the hot dog made with rooster sausage and a stifado-style onion sauce.

Standouts from this summer’s menu include “What the Corals Know,” a miniature seascape with Symi shrimp, sea urchin, bottarga, and mussels; Kyllada shrimp in Greek olive oil paired with tomato, bergamot, and kumquat; and “The Myth of Meleager,” featuring guinea fowl with wild mushrooms and fig pastille.

The wine list focuses on Greek regions and native grape varieties, balanced with a few international entries. For a sweet finale, Christos Papadogiannis – who also leads The Zillers Pastry Bar across the street – delivers desserts that echo the restaurant’s refined character.

Stellar Gastro Cinema

At this unconventional open-air cinema, food isn’t just part of the evening – it’s part of the plot. The brainchild of chef Giannis Markadakis, Stellar Gastro Cinema offers a multi-course dining experience inspired by each movie.

Watch an Italian comedy while enjoying pizza with taleggio, artichokes, and truffle. For a French dramedy, you might get a burger inspired by boeuf bourguignon. While the menu shifts regularly – sometimes Spanish, sometimes Indian or Japanese – it is always contemporary and creative.

Launched in 2020 on a rooftop in Gazi, the project now occupies a new space on the top floor of the IEK SVIE building on Kaningos Square. During the screening, a four-course menu and dessert (vegetarian options available) are served by a discreet and well-rehearsed team that moves through the twilight almost invisibly. All dishes are prepared just one floor below.

Each table includes chilled bottled water, while cocktails and other drinks are available at an extra cost. When I watched All About My Mother – Pedro Almodóvar’s poignant and ever-relevant film that opened this summer’s program – I couldn’t resist ordering a Paloma.

The GB Roof Garden

Few places in Athens offer as many summer moods as the Hotel Grande Bretagne. You might find yourself under olive and cypress trees in Il Giardino Segreto, enjoying pizzas, focaccias, and fresh pasta made before your eyes. You could be watching a film by the poolside open-air cinema, nibbling on gourmet movie snacks or sipping a finely crafted cocktail with the city stretched out below you at Bar 8.

But when the occasion calls for a refined, elegant dinner and a view that will still awe lifelong Athenians, you book a table at the GB Roof Garden. This cosmopolitan restaurant blends fine dining with a comforting, approachable touch, celebrating top-quality Greek ingredients in thoughtful, creative ways.

Executive chef Asterios Koustoudis and chef Nikos Liokas present dishes such as “Athenian tartare” with Mediterranean white fish, ravioli filled with smoked eggplant, aged graviera cheese, and tomato coulis, grilled turbot with zucchini blossoms stuffed with shellfish, or charcoal-grilled rack of lamb served with marjoram sausage, tsalafouti cheese, Kalamata olives, and romesco sauce.

Desserts by Alexandros Koufas, an exceptional wine list curated by sommelier Evangelos Psofides – rich in both Greek and international labels – and warm, seamless service complete the picture. A rooftop experience as classic and polished as the city’s grandest hotel.

Mappemonde

Perched atop Athens Capital – MGallery, just a few steps from Syntagma Square, Mappemonde offers one of the city’s broadest panoramas, with the Acropolis, Lycabettus, and the shimmering spine of Panepistimiou Avenue on display.

The cuisine here is contemporary Greek-Mediterranean with creative, sometimes unexpected flourishes. The current summer menu includes a luxurious kakavia (fisherman’s soup) with scorpionfish, scallops, and shrimp; calamarata pasta with shrimp, bottarga, zucchini, tomato, fennel, and basil; and lamb served with anchovy cream, chickpeas, cucumber, smoked yogurt, and black garlic. There’s also a full grill selection: T-bone steaks, rib-eyes, and fillets.

Whether you’re coming for dinner or simply for cocktails at the bar, Mappemonde offers a refined escape high above the city streets.

The Foundry Rooftop Garden

Tucked above the leafy backstreets of Psyrri, The Foundry offers something rare: a rooftop that feels more like a garden courtyard than a hotel terrace. Step through the boutique hotel’s lobby – with its floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and vintage typewriters nodding to the building’s past as a type foundry – take the elevator to the top, and you’ll emerge into a lush, quiet escape.

Inspired by the courtyards of old Athenian homes, the rooftop is overflowing with olive trees, pomegranate bushes, wild roses, star jasmine, lavender, and grapevines winding up the iron pergolas. Wooden tables and tasteful outdoor furniture create intimate corners, each with a slightly different view – the Acropolis in one direction, the Observatory or Gazi in another.

The relaxed, unpretentious vibe extends to the menu. Shareable platters of cured meats and cheeses pair nicely with pizzas baked in the wood oven next to the bar. Options range from the classic Margherita to versions with mortadella and pistachio, pepperoni, or a creative mix of miso sauce, buffalo mozzarella, provolone, shimeji mushrooms, lime zest, and kaffir lime.

Occasionally, the rooftop hosts pop-up nights, like a recent sushi night. Cocktails, Greek craft beers, and wines from small, local producers complete the scene. 

Dolli’s Rooftop Restaurant

The view from Dolli’s Rooftop Restaurant is extraordinary – an unobstructed sweep across the Acropolis, Plaka, the Temple of Hephaestus, and the Roman Agora. Set atop the restored Kallimassiotis Mansion, an elegant 1925 building designed by eclecticist architect Andreas Kriezis and once home to the famed Chytiroglou textile house, The Dolli at Acropolis is now one of Athens’ most refined boutique hotels, and its rooftop is its crown jewel.

On one side, a slim pool frames the Acropolis; here, you can sip your cocktail in peace as the city lights flicker on. The bar is stocked with a range of premium spirits and serves inventive cocktails, like the bittersweet, herbaceous Red Forest, made with Athenian vermouth, strawberry-infused Campari, and grapefruit soda.

The rooftop restaurant (reservations required) is scented with blooming jasmine and opens with thoughtful details like handmade bread and olive oil from Agrecofarms, Grecotel’s model farm in Rethymno. The menu blends Mediterranean and Asian influences: expertly grilled calamari served with fava, sun-dried tomato, capers, pickled onion, sea fennel, and fresh herbs; lobster with linguine, tomato, black truffle and aromatics; beef fillet with truffle sauce and matchstick fries; and a solid selection of sushi rolls and nigiri.

At lunchtime, the mood shifts toward relaxed Greek classics – think dakos, homemade vine leaf dolmas, and grilled octopus with lemon and oregano.

Modernist 1818

A hidden speakeasy-style rooftop bar at The Modernist, just steps from Varotsos’ iconic Runner sculpture. The name, 1818, nods to the building’s past as the Canadian Embassy, with red accents and touches of maple syrup in the cocktails quietly paying homage to that heritage.

Drinks are crafted by award-winning mixologist Nikos Bakoulis (The Clumsies). Try the Apple Negroni or the Smoked Paloma, both clean, balanced, and deeply satisfying. 

The bar food menu includes smoked chicken sandwiches with maple syrup and pecans, a hearty hot dog, and brioche with salmon, pickled onion, and cream cheese. 

The best time to visit 1818? At sunset, when the light bathes the skyline in gold and the rooftop becomes the most serene perch in central Athens.

Sense

Chef Alexandros Charalampopoulos’ contemporary Greek cuisine is refined, thoughtful, and quietly bold. Over the years, he has revisited classic dishes – from garides Mikrolimano to gemista, lachanodolmades to patsas – reimagining them with elegance and emotional depth. Even in their most inventive or daring versions, his flavors strike a familiar chord.

This summer’s tasting menu, titled “Roots Through Time,” is an evocative journey across Greece through ingredients, memories, and emotion. “It draws from what defines us, what moves us, what unites us,” the chef says.

Highlights include a dolce pastitsio, inspired by Corfu’s Venetian-inflected version, made with pork sausage, guinea fowl, a hint of beef, and a trace of soutzouki, presented as a striking timbale; and a delicate fish course – steamed scorpionfish or grilled fagri – accompanied by two types of green beans: a purée of traditional tsavoulia and crisp blanched ampelofasoula, finished with a sauce of tomato water and olive oil from local Megara olives.

Kuzina

You can sit at a table along the bustling pedestrian street of Adrianou or inside the stylish interior, but the most coveted seats at Kuzina are on the rooftop – the restaurant’s white-linen “theater box” with front-row views of the Acropolis and the Temple of Hephaestus. From spring until the weather cools, the terrace fills up nightly with a mix of locals and travelers who pause between courses to capture the view, then return to their wrought-iron chairs for another bite.

On the menu, Greek flavors meet global inspiration. Chef Aris Tsanaklidis – a well-traveled talent who’s helmed the kitchen at this Thissio favorite for nearly two decades – blends ingredients, ideas, and techniques from around the world, while keeping Greece at the heart of every dish.

Start with crispy loukoumades topped with whipped feta and thyme honey, or capellini with Trikalinos bottarga, anchovy, chili and lemon. There’s spicy tuna with wasabi-tahini sauce, and other inventive combinations that feel rooted yet adventurous. For dessert, don’t miss the armenovil, a nostalgic Greek-French sundae with chocolate and meringue, that is a childhood favorite of the chef.

Electra Roof Garden

Few restaurants in Athens can rival this view. From the 8th-floor terrace of the Electra Palace Athens, the sweeping panoramas of the Acropolis, Mount Lycabettus, and the Athenian sky set the stage for an unforgettable dining experience. For years, the Electra Roof Garden has been synonymous with refined Greek cuisine infused with modern creativity.

The Mediterranean-inspired menu, curated by the Executive Chef and his team, places Greek ingredients at center stage in a series of shareable dishes; a tribute to the joy of gathering and savoring. Think beetroot-marinated smoked salmon with tomato pesto, pickled cucumber, and dill; lamb with sweetcorn risotto, grilled lettuce and tomato ponzu; or their signature linguine with lobster, bouillabaisse sauce, Florina pepper cream and bottarga from Mesolongi.

There’s no shortage of bold combinations either: pelmeni with fresh anthotyro, asparagus and truffle butter, or risotto with avocado-pistachio pesto, sun-dried tomato and rocket, all showcase the kitchen’s innovative spirit.

The extensive wine list includes over 90 labels from both Greek and international vineyards, ranging from sparkling selections like Amalia Brut and Lheureux Plekhoff Brut to standout whites like Terra Nera Assyrtiko from Santorini, plus rosés, reds, and elegant dessert wines to end your meal on a sweet, satisfying note.

Makris

The most recent Athenian addition to the Michelin Guide offers not only exquisitely crafted dishes made with Greek ingredients, but also a peaceful rooftop terrace overlooking the Acropolis and the Temple of Hephaestus – a welcome retreat above the busy streets of Thissio.

At the helm is chef Petros Dimas, who draws from his roots, sourcing ingredients from his father’s farm in Corinth and from small-scale Greek producers. His summer menu is deeply seasonal and expressive, balancing finesse with a sense of place.

Highlights include his signature raw Kyllada shrimp with a trio of citrus fruits, pork from Ancient Olympia served with green beans, bergamot, and chanterelles, and grouper paired with zucchini in multiple textures and a fish broth sauce reminiscent of kakavia.

One of the most striking plates is called “A Journey into the Greek Summer Seabed, Among the Corals”: four delicate bites featuring Greek crab from Pieria, Alonissos tuna, smoked eel from Arta, and Ionian octopus.

Nyn Esti

Perched atop the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), Nyn Esti offers a dining experience as artful as the exhibitions below. Inside, the atmosphere is sleek and focused, with a minimalist design that draws the eye to the open kitchen at its center. There, chef Stamatis Misomikes and his team craft dishes with the meticulousness of art restorers – each element intentional, each composition precise.

Step out onto the terrace, and the mood softens. From here, glimpses of the illuminated Acropolis shimmer in the background as the tasting menu unfolds like a curated series of edible landscapes.

At Nyn Esti, the cuisine is grounded in Greek terroir and infused with sustainability. Ingredients are sourced from across the country, and techniques range from traditional to avant-garde, often merging both. Nothing goes to waste – one of the most memorable condiments we’ve tasted here was crafted entirely from vegetable trimmings.

Guests can choose between three degustation journeys or order à la carte. The current seasonal menu includes dishes like fried sea anemones; eel grilled in fig leaves with unripe almonds (tsagala); smoked bone marrow with eggplant and tsantilas feta; charcoal-grilled cuttlefish with lardo and a summer ragoût in apaki dashi; and slow-cooked goat with leek, kefir, and cumin. Each course arrives in beautifully designed vessels, some resembling sculpture, each plate a miniature performance of its own.

Nyx

Step through the sleek lobby of the Academias Hotel, ride the elevator up, pass the bar, and suddenly, there it is: the Acropolis, bathed in golden light. Nyx, the hotel’s rooftop gastrobar, has become a local favorite in a city famously skeptical of hotel dining. Breezy, lush with greenery, and lively with music, it offers a playful, polished take on Japanese fusion cuisine with an unpretentious vibe.

Chef Dimitris Kotsalis, who’s helmed the kitchen for the past four years, has created a menu full of summery flavor bombs. Try the sea bass ceviche with passion fruit, mango, and crispy salicornia – a signature ingredient – which strikes a perfect sweet-sour-salty balance. Or the duck confit gyoza, served with sweet potato purée, shiso, spring onion, coriander, mint, and slivers of kumquat for citrusy lift.

The sushi section includes both elegant rolls and eye-catching nigiri served over ice. One standout: lightly torched Kyllada shrimp nigiri, topped with shiso, caviar, and a rich glaze made from the crustacean’s shells and legs – a clever zero-waste flourish. Or go all-in with the wagyu nigiri, paired with 24-month aged parmesan, a soy-vinegar-sugar glaze, and a touch of black garlic pudding – a decadent, complex bite.

Originally published in Gastronomos magazine.