Larissa is the largest city in Thessaly, in the middle of the richest plain in Greece, and that explains its table: meat from the flocks of the plain, cheese from the same flocks, wheat for the pies and the halva, and tsipouro to go with them.
It is also a city with almost no tourism, so whatever is served is served to Larissans, at Larissan prices. The tsipouradiko, which in Volos brings fish, here brings sausage, cheese, meatballs and pie.
What follows is where the tsipouradika and the grill-houses are, what the plain brings, and what you will pay.
Is Larissa a tsipouro city like Volos?
It is, with one difference that decides everything: Volos has the sea and Larissa has the plain. The carafe of tsipouro arrives here too with a meze chosen by the kitchen, but the meze is sausage with leek, fried cheese, meatballs, chips, a slice of pie — whatever the plain provides.
The round works the same way. You order one carafe at a time, the meze grows with each one, you stop when you are full, and you pay for the carafes at €3–4.50 each. Two people with five carafes have dined for €25–32 in total.
- Meze of the plain: sausage, cheese, meatballs, pie, instead of octopus and mussels.
- Carafe €3–4.50, meze included; two people, five carafes, dinner.
- Tsipouro without anise is the Thessalian default; ask for it with, if you prefer.
Where do you eat in the centre: the pedestrian streets, the Frourio or Neapoli?
Central Larissa is a grid of pedestrian streets around the Central Square — Papakyriazi, Asklipiou, Kouma, Roosevelt — and nearly every tsipouradiko and mezedopoleio in the city is within ten minutes' walk of it. The tables are in the street and fill after ten.
The Frourio, the hill with the ancient theatre and the bezesteni, has the quietest tavernas in old houses, and Neapoli, to the south-east, is the grill-house district where the city goes for meat by the kilo. Volos, an hour east, does the same ritual with fish.
What does the Thessalian plain put on the table?
Meat first: kontosouvli, kokoretsi, lamb chops, sausage with leek, and the plain's pork spit-roasted every Sunday. The cheese is feta and kasseri from the same flocks, and galotyri, a sour spreadable cheese, is the meze you will not find further south.
The wheat gives the pies — plastos, a pie of greens and cornmeal, is the Thessalian one — and Farsala halva, the syrupy halva of starch and butter sold in slices from the city's patisseries. A piece after the tsipouro is the correct way to finish.
- Galotyri: sour, spreadable cheese of sheep's milk, the most Thessalian meze.
- Plastos: a pie of greens and cornmeal, in a slice from the tray.
- Farsala halva: syrupy, caramelised on top, cut into diamonds.
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What should a meal in Larissa cost?
Larissa is among the cheapest cities in Greece for dinner, because the tsipouradiko does not charge for the food separately and the grill-houses sell meat from the plain next door. A tsipouradiko dinner stays at €11–16 a head and a portion of meat by the kilo in a grill-house at €13–18.
The hour adds the second discount. The city sits down after ten, so a quiet-hour booking through an app like Filotimo takes half off the food in the grill-houses and the places with a regular menu. The table gives the ranges.
| Area | Best for | Per head |
|---|---|---|
| Central pedestrian streets | Tsipouradika, meze in rounds | €11–16 |
| Frourio | Quiet tavernas in old houses | €12–17 |
| Neapoli | Grill-houses, meat by the kilo | €13–18 |
| Central Square | Coffee, tables outside, slightly dearer | €13–19 |
| Centre, at lunch | Cooked dishes and pies | €7–10 |
| Patisseries | Farsala halva, coffee | €3–5 |
Read nextOff-peak dining in Greece: the cheapest hours to eat
Larissa is the city where the tsipouro brings meat instead of fish and the bill is always smaller than you expected. Sit on a pedestrian street, order one carafe at a time, and keep the second night for a grill-house in Neapoli.
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.