Cheap eating in Athens is not a fallback. It is a whole category of food that Athenians eat by choice, at every income level, several times a week. The grill on the corner is not where you go when you cannot afford the restaurant; it is where you go because it is good.
Organised here by what you are actually in the mood for, with honest prices attached.
How much is souvlaki or gyros in Athens?
The national fast food, and the single best value in the city. A pita wrapped around grilled pork or chicken, tomato, onion, tzatziki and a handful of chips costs between three and four and a half euros almost anywhere outside the tourist streets.
Two useful distinctions. Kalamaki is the skewer itself, ordered by the piece and eaten with bread rather than wrapped. Gyros is the meat shaved from the vertical spit. A good grill will be busy at odd hours, will have a queue of people who clearly work nearby, and will not have photographs of its food outside.
What does bakery food cost?
The Greek bakery is a serious institution and it is where most of the city has breakfast. Tiropita, cheese in filo pastry, and spanakopita, spinach and feta, both run between one and a half and three euros and are a genuine meal.
The koulouri — a ring of bread crusted with sesame, sold from carts and kiosks from dawn — costs well under a euro and is what Athens eats on the way to work. Add a coffee and breakfast has cost you three euros.
- Koulouri: sesame bread ring, under a euro, sold from street carts.
- Tiropita and spanakopita: filo pies, one and a half to three euros.
- Bougatsa: custard or cheese in filo with sugar and cinnamon, a morning thing.
- Loukoumades: honey doughnuts, the cheap dessert everyone shares.
How much are market stews?
The magiria around the Varvakios central market cook a small number of dishes in trays from very early in the morning and serve them until they run out. Patsas, chickpea soup, beans, stuffed vegetables, whatever was good that day.
A plate with bread costs seven to ten euros and is the most filling and least fashionable meal in Athens. It is also open at hours nothing else is, which has made it the traditional end of a long night as well as a working lunch.
Read nextWhat to eat in Greece: twenty dishes worth ordering
What do mezedes for a group cost?
The cheapest way to have an actual sit-down dinner with friends is a mezedopoleio or an ouzeri. You order six or eight small plates for the table and keep going as long as everyone is hungry.
Fried courgette, gavros, fava, gigantes, a cheese, a salad, some grilled octopus if the budget stretches. In Exarchia, Psyrri or Petralona this lands at twelve to eighteen euros a head with drinks, and it is a proper evening rather than a quick meal.
Read nextWhere to eat in Athens, neighbourhood by neighbourhood
Why should you eat at Greek hours?
Athenians eat lunch from two, and dinner from half past nine. Everything in between is quiet, and quiet is where the value is. The magireuta at lunch are the cheapest good food in the city, and the early evening is when restaurants will do a deal.
That is the hour discount booking sells. On Filotimo you reserve a table at a partner restaurant before its peak and the food is halved, drinks charged as normal, with a service fee starting at six euros for one person. Athens is where the platform's coverage is deepest, which makes it a genuinely practical way to eat in restaurants that are not otherwise budget restaurants at all.
Read nextOff-peak dining in Greece: the cheapest hours to eat
How do you make a real restaurant cheap?
Sometimes you do not want street food; you want a table, a waiter and a proper dinner, without paying for it. The lever there is the hour rather than the venue.
Athenian restaurants fill after half past nine, so the early evening is empty and cheap to buy. Filotimo lists partner restaurants across the city at half price on the food during those off-peak hours, with drinks at normal prices and a service fee starting at six euros for one person. It is the one way to put a full restaurant dinner into the same price bracket as the mezedopoleio.
| You want | Go to | Pay |
|---|---|---|
| Something fast, hot and filling | Souvlaki shop | €3.50–5 |
| Breakfast or a snack on the move | Bakery: koulouri, tiropita, bougatsa | €1–3 |
| A proper cooked lunch | Magirio near a market | €8–11 |
| A long table with friends | Mezedopoleio, small plates shared | €12–18 a head |
| A real restaurant dinner, cheaply | Book a quiet hour, food at half price | €14–20 a head |
Read nextHow do you book a restaurant in Athens and pay less?
Athens rewards eating like a resident: a koulouri in the morning, a souvlaki at four, mezedes with friends at ten. Almost none of it costs much, and almost all of it is better than the version sold to visitors with a view.
How this guide is kept honest
Written in Athens by the team behind Filotimo, from the menus, prices and bookings we see across our partner restaurants. Prices move with the season and the street, so every figure here is a working range rather than a quote.