When I first thought of the title, Cheap Athens Restaurants, I was sure I needed to make a clarification: we’re talking cheap as in affordable and not a rip off but with good, quality food, not cheap as in a bacteria infested place with lousy food.

Based on our previous articles on this site you know we strive to do a good research and we think we did it this time as well. We’ve compiled a list of the most interesting cheap Athens restaurants out there. Here we go (the number attached to each restaurant is for easy reading, not a rank; you’re free to choose any of the below listed cheap Athens restaurants):

1. Filistron Restaurant

This small restaurant is opened daily except for Monday when the schedule starts from noon and into the evening. It is located in the Thissio neighborhood and it has a great view of the Acropolis from the rooftop. You can reach it quickly with a 10 minute walk from city center and it is very popular with locals. Not only do they offer the regular Greek dishes but they also sport a variety of vegetarian food. Not bad at all.

Site: filistron.com
Address: 23, Apostolou Pavlou str. Thission, Athens, 11851, Greece
Telephone: 210 3422897
Fax: 210 3427646
E-mail: info@filistron.com

2. Mamacas Restaurant

This cheap budget restaurant – thought not as cheap as other Athens restaurants on this list but good value for money – in Athens was named in honor of the mothers of the owners, “Mamacas” meaning “mommies”. Aside from this useless fact, the restaurant is located in the Gazi area, away from the popular and touristy Plaka neighborhood. It was dubbed as being a neo-taverna, meaning a place where one can enjoy traditional Greek food in a pleasant and relaxing manner. They pride themselves with carefully chosing their ingredients and hand cutting their fried potatoes on a daily basis. Don’t know if that has any relevance but I thought I should mention it.

Site: mamacas.gr
E-mail: mamacas@otenet.gr

3. Kostas Restaurant

This cheap restaurant is really cheap. Expect a price range between $5-10 per person for a meal. 5 Euros will probably get you two beers and two souvlakis. The restaurant is very close to the Syntagma metro station and they only sell souvlaki. One dish but they are experts in it and it is opened from 10 in the morning to 5 in the morning but the next day.

Address: 5 Pentelis, Athens, Greece
Telephone: 210 3228502

4. Ariston Restaurant

This cheap Athens restaurant specializes in snack bakery. They actually just sell warm pies made of anything you can imagine. Well, not acually anything but you get my point. It is close to the Syntagma metro station near Ermou street. This is a take-away restaurant so you’re bound to be dissapointed if you wanted to sit down but you can go to the Syntagma square and sit there if you so wish. You should expect to pay about 2 EUR for a piece of pie.

Address: Voulis 10, Athens, Greece

“I don’t like the restaurants you proposed. How do I find my own cheap Athens restaurants?”

Well, that’s easy. One way would be to head down to the Plaka neighborhood, roam through the streets and choose a half-decent place with some half decent dishes on the menu at a good price. You can take a sneak at the menus or you can just watch others and see how good what they eat looks. This is quite a barbaric method but yes, I used it. It took me 30 minutes but I found a quality restaurant on the cheap.

If you didn’t enjoy my stupid idea above, you can also roam the Internet and forums such as Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree or TripAdvisor’s for cheap Athens restaurants or you can enquire the hotel receptionist as to where does s/he eat when s/he goes out. I did that as well and it worked fine.

This concludes our article about cheap Athens restaurants. I’m hoping you found it at least half-useful and whether you did or not we’re still expecting comments with your experiences related to cheap Athens restaurants.

So you want to eat something Greek, delicious and cheap at the same time; what can it be? Well, there are a couple of options for you of cheap eats in Athens so here we go:

1. Souvlaki

Souvlaki is a popular fast food Greek dish made of grilled cubes of meat on skewers, on a plate or inside a pita sandwich. The meat used to be lamb but chicken seems to be the most popular option now. Pork is also available. It is served with tzatziki on top and various vegetables if inside a pita or with some baked potatoes if on a plate. Delicious and a cheap eat too, no doubt about it! A place that specializes in these yummy things in Athens is the Kostas Restaurant on 5 Pentelis, close to Syntagma metro station. All they do there is make and sell souvlaki. Two of them with two beers will cost you around 5 Euros. Not too shabby.

2. Gyros

This is a traditional dish made of tomatoes, onion, meat and tzatziki sauce. Compared to souvlaki, the meat here is thinly sliced instead of cubic. In fact, the meat and the pita are the only mandatory ingredients of this cheap Athens food, the rest being up to the innovation of the creator. You can find gyros in pretty much every street cafe or taverna in Athens. It is best recommended to buy it along with a beer and sit outside and enjoy the atmosphere.

3. Greek Salad

There are many many types of Greek salad. The one known worldwide is known in Greece as village/peasant salad or horiatiki. It is made up of sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, green peper, oregano, red onion, kalamata olives, sliced or cubed feta cheese all mixed up with some olive oil. Just with some of the other dishes presented here, you should have no problem getting served such a salad regardless of the place you chose to eat.

4. Calamari

Calamari, Kalamari or Kalamarakia is fried squid and it is very very cheap in Athens. Restaurants are also forced to specify whether a food is fresh or frozen and all you need to do to get your Calamari fresh is to make sure it doesn’t have a “kat” word next to it on the menu.

5. Moussaka

Moussaka is a layered dish consisting of layers of eggplant and meat with white sauce on top and baked. Of course, olive oil is also used freely. This cheap dish can be easily found in Athens’ tavernas.

6. Pies

Pies, pies, pies. Lovely pies are another cheap food in Athens. The Greek are experts in pies made with all sort of fillings and traditional olive oil. One of the best places in Athens to experience quality Greek pies is the Ariston restaurant on Voulis 10, close to Ermou Street and Syntagma square. They charge around 2 Euros per piece which is very cheap given the quality you get.

Mind you these aren’t all the cheap eats one can get in Athens. Otherwise, the list would be limitless. These are just the most popular of the bunch.

This concludes our article on cheap food in Athens. Don’t go away yet; I’d like to ask you to post your recommendations on cheap Athens eats in the comments below. Thanks!

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Where can you find some cheap Athens bars that are not a complete disappointment? Well, that’s a tough question. Your best bet would be to roam around the city, see if you like a bar that comes your way and join in. If you don’t like that method, you could also ask for recommendations to your hotel/hostel receptionist or on famous travel forums such as Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree. Or you could just follow our advice blindly and check out one of the following bars:

1. Brettos Bar

This is a traditional bar located in Plaka. What sets this bar apart is that you can start talking instantly with anyone that is inside the bar. This makes way to hearing – and sharing – some interesting stories from totally different people. They offer ouzo straight from the barrel, wines poured straight into glasses, different kinds of brandy (3, 5 and 7 years stars) and more. They also have an interesting decor at the bar consisting of lit and colorful bottles.

Site: brettosplaka.com
Address: Kydatheneon Street, Plaka, Athens, Greece
Telephone: 210 3232110
Fax: 210 3212760
E-mail: info@brettosplaka.com

2. Oinopneymata Bar

This is one of those charming bars located in Psiri, Athens. If you don’t know what I mean by using “charming”, I highly reccomend you visit this bar, or any bar on Miaouli Street, on a late Saturday night and see for yourself. Get some fine wine and a pipe, take a seat outside – if you can find any – and just watch the world go by.

Address: 21 Miaouli, Psiri, Athens

3. Liquid Bar

This is another cheap Athens bar from the Psiri district. It is located close to the Oinopneymata Bar on Miaouli Street. What we said about Oinopneymata can just as well be said here as well. Recommended.

4. Guru Bar

Guru Bar is a jazz bar located in central Athens. If you also want to eat here, be prepared as they only serve spicy but delicious Thai food.

Address: 10 Theatrou Square, Thisson, Athens
Telephone: 210-3246530

5. Mike’s Irish Bar

What’s an Irish Bar doing in here mate? Well, it’s on our list because it’s pretty good. They have live music of various styles every night and it is an excellent bar for the sports fan: it has around 10 TVs and a large screen broadcasting important sporting events from around the world. They also have karaoke nights and happy hours.

Site: mikesirishbar.gr
Address: 6 Sinopis Street, Ambelokipi, Athens Greece
Telephone: 210 7776797
E-mail: info@mikesirishbar.gr

Do keep in mind that these bars are not necessarily cheap; just cheaper than plenty of other Athens bars in comparison to their quality.

We’d also recommend that, whichever Athens bars you choose, you try out some of the traditional drinks such as ouzo, Metaxa or Greek wines.

This concludes our article related to cheap Athens bars. Feel free to share your experiences on where one can have a fun and cheap drink in Athens by posting a comment below.