Plaka restaurants are touristy by nature which does not always mean bad food. What it does mean is a transient clientele and some restaurants have reputations for serving food that a true Greek would send back. The restaurants I have reviewed are the ones that the people from the neighborhood eat at too. It does not mean you won't get a bad meal because that can happen anywhere. But a bad meal is far less likely if you stick to the places that the locals eat at too.

Paradosiako
Matt's Favorite!

 This combination Ouzeri-taverna on the corner of Voulis and Nikodimou is not exactly quiet, in fact its a lot like sitting in the middle of a traffic jam. But the food is great and the people who own it, Dimitris and his wife Eugenia are entertaining and fantastic cooks! Well, actually she is the cook and Dimitris is the waiter. Try their always fresh seafood, octopus, fried kalamarakia and galeos. Food-wise this is the best of the ouzo cafeneons in the Plaka. They have daily specials and pretty much everything here is good. They have a special sausage called soutsouki that has a curry flavor and this is what I get often. If they have fresh fried gavros (anchovies) go for that. In fact that is the fish of choice for many people because it is usually the freshest. The place is small and there are not many tables but they make use of what little space they have and you are close enough to your neighbor to easily make friends. I could eat here every day. Maybe the best Greek salad in Athens. One of the few places that serves grilled sardines when they are in season. Most people come here for meals but if you get here during off hours there is no better place to drink ouzo and eat seafood mezedes in the Plaka.

If Paradosiako is full you can just walk down Voulis street and turn right on Apollonos and go to #4 right by the intersection with Nikis street near Syntagma Square, where the son and daughter of Demitris and Eugenia have their restaurant, called Oinomagerio Paradosiako also very good, in fact this too is a Matt's Favorite!. They specialize in grilled meats and fish and all kinds of cooked dishes. Many similar dishes to Paradosiako because Eugenia does the cooking at both places. If you want my personal opinion these are the best two restaurants in the Plaka. They are the closest thing you will find to home-cooking in the neighborhood. They are very particular about the quality of meat and fish they buy, unlike some of the larger and more popular restaurants. Both restaurants are small meaning unless you go at odd hours you may not find a table, but since people in Greece are known to eat lunch at 3pm and dinner at 10pm your normal eating times may be odd.

Vyzantino Taverna

This is the restaurant of choice for many locals in the Plaka as well as tourists. From the outside there is nothing to distinguish it from the other more tourist-type places except for the great location in the small park on Kydatheneon street, but the food is better and influenced by the Greek clientele who eat there year-round. I like the spinach pie (spana- ko -pita), their fish soup (psa- row -soupa) which you can get it with or without a plate of fish. Of course they have the Greek salad (hor-ee- ah -tiko), eggplant salad (mel-eetsana salata), yogurt dip (sa-tzi-ki), and all the tourist standards. It's not cheap but it's not expensive either. I love their roast potatoes (fourno pahtahtes) and chicken (kotopoulo). They have bottled wine and cold beer and ouzo and mezedes. The menu is in several languages including English. Look for strange and funny translations on menus here and all over Greece. It's a high form of entertainment for travelers. Galeos is not red snapper which is what all the menus tell you. It's dogfish, a small non man-eating shark, kind of a humorous translation. You can walk right in and see the food. Either ask the cook or waiter how to pronounce whatever it is you want, or drag your waiter in and point to it. It's perfectly acceptable behavior. These are some of the best waiters in Athens too. Very attentive, fast and they all speak English. If you go at night you may be disappointed because most of the oven-cooked dishes they make in the morning and serve at lunch are gone (or don't look as appetising). At night your best bet is getting something from the grill or salads. Fried calamari and potatoes are hit or miss. Your best bet is coming here for lunch when the choices are plentiful and you can spend the rest of the day people-watching. After lunch you can buy a newspaper at the kiosk across the street and have a coffee at one of the cafes on the square while reading about what's going on in the rest of the world. When I met super-star travel writer Paul Hellander of Lonely Planet for the first time in Athens a couple years ago he wanted to take me to a special place he knew about. I was very excited thinking Paul was going to reveal a new secret taverna that only the most knowledgeable Greco-files knew about. To my surprise we came to Vyzantino where I had been eating for the last 20 years. But we had a fun time and drank lots of wine that afternoon and the photo he uses on his books was one I took in Vyzantino. Paul likes the giovetsi which is excellent. Lately I have been eating the roukforte salad, and the lamb fricasse is good and as healthy as it gets for carnivores.

The Hani

A few years ago two members of the Vyzantino staff bought one of the tourist restaurants on Adrianou street and opened The Hani. A Hani is a sort of inn for travelers and the clientele here are a mixture of Greeks and travelers from all over the world. The food itself is straight out of the Vyzantino cook book as you would expect since that is where the cooks come from. With live acoustic bouzoukia music, an outdoor garden in the back and tables right on Adriannou Street where you can watch the people parade, combined with a nice mezedes platter, fresh fish, grilled meats, oven cooked meats and vegetables and salads and appetisers and wine by the carafe or bottle, the Hani is a good place to begin your Greek food adventure. Waiters speak English too. The Hani is at 138 Adrianou street. Try their Psaronefi (roast pork loin) and their Rouqforte Salad if you are bored with Greek salads. Open for lunch they have AC in the summer.

Thespidos

If you continue walking up Kydathenaon street past Adrianou and begin climbing the steps past a couple fancy wineglass restaurants you will come to this very nice taverna that is not too expensive and it is in a quiet location that will enable you to forget you are in a city. Sit outside next to the ruins of ancient Athens. If you order mezedes and a salad you won't even need a main course. But if you have a large stomach everything here is pretty good and though you will see other tourists around it is still traditionally Greek and you will also see many locals. If the lower areas of the Plaka are too hot there is usually a nice breeze blowing through here. Tom Mazarakis loves this place. Last time I was here in July of 2008 it had not changed, the location is probably the best of all the mainstream Plaka tavernas. I was surprised to see the same owner still working here. He was old when I ate here thirty years ago!
 
Saita Bakaliaro
Matt's Favorite!

If you should be lucky enough to be here before the weather gets too hot you may notice several basement restaurants. These are called Bakaliarzidikos and they specialize in fried codfish. The reason they are not open in the summer is because with all the ovens and fryers it's just too hot. But these restaurants generally have some of the best homemade wine (khee-ma) and the codfish (bakaliaro) served with garlic dip (skordaya) is out of this world. The tables are cramped and you can tune in to the conversation next door as easy as your own. It's very friendly and full of local Athenians, expatriates and smart people. Just about anything on the menu is good and your clothes will smell of codfish for days to come. The best Bakaliaro place in my opinion and the one I usually go to is Saita located a block from Nikis street on the corner of Kydatheneon and Sotiros owned and run by George (photo) who comes from a small village in Arkadia in the Peloponessos. They also serve steaks, chops and other Greek specialties and have perhaps the best barrel wine in the Plaka. They play good old Greek music and have an authentic atmosphere that you won't find in other Plaka restaurants. This is my primary winter hangout in the Plaka. I always start with their smoked rega (herring) and several liters of wine from the barrel.
 
Psaras Fish Taverna
Psaras was my favorite restaurant in the Plaka. One of the oldest Tavernas in the Plaka, dating back to 1898, this is where my friends and I spent many an evening. Who cared if the waiters were rude and got mad at you if you didn't order enough, or spilled hot fish oil on my friend's expensive dresses not one but two times. What was the big deal if every time we ate there the bill was padded with stuff we didn't order and never received? Even after my friends and I one at a time declared we would never eat there again, we always came back, because the food was great, the wine delicious and because it was on the steps of the Plaka far from any cars, it was like being on an island. They could insult us, not recognize us after hundreds of visits, ruin our clothes, rip us off and laugh at us when we left, and we did not care. For some reason Psaras went out of business. But now it is back, with new tablecloths, a new decor (a whole new restaurant in the same beautiful spot), new waiters (the old ones are probably in prison or selling chestnuts in Omonia), new cooks (the old ones were over 100 and probably died), and food and wine that if not as good as the old Psaras, is decent by Plaka standards. The menu is in English and the waiters and staff are usually pleasant and often helpful. It's on the corner of Erotocritou and Erehtheos streets up the steps that lead from the Plaka to the Acropolis. I love the grilled soupes (cuttlefish). Try the Cretan Salad too. (Last time I was here I lost my phone so ask if they found it yet.) They have taken over a couple other nearby spaces and it is not the hole-in-the-wall it used to be. This is a large, corporate-run fish taverna with a menu meant to appeal to most people and includes plenty of meat dishes too. It is a little more expensive than most of the other restaurants on this page but nice atmosphere and if you are a group they have room, but you should make reservations.
 
The Diros

The Diros is the favorite restaurant of my friend George at Fantasy Travel which is lucky for him because it is just two doors down from his office. Getting him to eat anywhere else is almost like pulling teeth but I don't really mind because I like the place. Diros was actually a very old restaurant called The Corfu which was located in Syntagma that closed many years ago and reopened with the same staff in their present location on Xenofontos street. This is one of the last of the old-time restaurants and is still frequented by the old politicians and Greek celebrities as well as many people in the business community. Air-conditioned in the summer it is a good place to be when it gets really hot in July or August and very cozy in the cool months. If you want good food in a clean environment with excellent service come here for lunch or dinner. To find the Diros go to Syntagma Square and walk up Nikis or Fileninon. If you walk up Nikis take your first left, if you walk up Fileninon your first right.
 
Peristeri

For backpackers and budget travelers this small taverna-estiatorio on Patroou street has been a hangout since I was in high school and I was very pleased to find it still open one night while taking a shortcut from the Plaka to Psiri. In the daytime the place is air-conditioned on very hot days and at night they have tables across the street in the entrance of a parking garage. No maybe it is not the most romantic setting but their homemade wine is excellent and the beers are cold and they have a good selection of food on display inside so deciding what you order is easy. The roast chicken and potatoes were good. I had the pork in red sauce and that was fine too. My friend Dorian said they had the best beefteki he had ever tasted. Dorian is prone to exaggerate but they were pretty good.  You can find Peristeri by walking down Apollonos street and turning right or down Metropolis street and turning left. This is probably the most authentically working-class restaurant in the Plaka. Right across the street is the Aspro Alogo, a small working class ouzerie that opened the summer of 2007 and has attracted a small but devoted following. They also serve breakfast. The waitor and sometimes night-manager is Markos who is a very charming young guy from I don't know where. Thats him in the photo above at his last job which was at Peristeri across the street.

Platanos

There is another old restaurant worth going to in the Plaka called Platanos. To find it walk down Adrianou towards Monastiraki. Turn left on Mysicleos street and then take your first right which is Diogenous street. It's in the platia. Go inside and see what they have. Everything is as good as it looks. Great place to eat at night. Be sure to sit outside unless it is cold. This taverna is popular with both Greeks and foreigners who live in Athens as well as those who come year after year. Next door is the Greek Music Museum which is my favorite museum in the city. Each display has headphones so you can hear each instrument in context and in a variety of styles. Sometimes they have concerts in the courtyard and when they do that is the background music for your meal. If you continue walking you will come to the famous Tower of the Winds, right around the corner. 

Air-Conditioned Restaurants

Of course when it's 100 degrees outside, food only becomes secondary. Still you don't want to eat lousy food just so you can stay cool, so try the Diros (above) or one of my favorite restaurants, Terina on the square at the intersection of Kapni Karea and Adrianou Street across from the wall of Hadrian's Library. It has an extensive international menu, is a good place for breakfast too and it stays open late. It also has great coffee, cakes and ice-creams and an extensive bar with all sorts of traditional and exotic drinks. Not exactly traditional but sometimes you have to leave the past behind and embrace the present. Triantafilos at 22 Lekka and the Epeiros restaurant in the meat market both are working class restaurants with air-conditioning. Both of the Paradosiako restaurants in the Plaka have AC too.