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Mykonos has a food problem — and it's not that the food is bad. It's that the island's price-to-quality ratio has become the most distorted in Greece.
A beachfront lunch at a branded beach club — the kind where the music is loud, the sunbeds cost €80, and the menu features lobster pasta at prices that would make a Parisian blink — can easily run €80–150 per person for food that is, in objective culinary terms, unremarkable. The island's reputation is built on nightlife, beaches, and glamour, and too many restaurants have learned that the brand does the selling while the kitchen coasts.
But here's the correction: Mykonos also has genuinely excellent restaurants. The Michelin-starred kitchens are world-class. A new generation of creative Greek restaurants treats the Cycladic pantry with real ambition. The fish tavernas on the quieter coast serve seafood that justifies a trip from any island. And in the backstreets of Mykonos Town and the village square of Ano Mera, traditional tavernas survive — smaller, less photogenic, and infinitely more honest than the VIP-section dining that the island markets.
The key is knowing which is which. This guide is the filter.
For the full island guide, see our things to do in Mykonos. For accommodation, read our where to stay in Mykonos and best hotels in Mykonos guides.
Quick Answer: Best Mykonos Restaurants by Category
- Best fine dining: Matsuhisa Mykonos — Nobu's Greek outpost, Japanese-Peruvian-Greek, the island's most polished
- Best creative Greek: Kiku — contemporary Greek with Asian accents, Mykonos Town, serious cooking
- Best traditional taverna: Joanna's Niko's Place — Megali Ammos, family-run, the honest Mykonos that still exists
- Best seafood: Kounelas — Mykonos Town harbor, fresh fish since the 1960s, no pretension
- Best in Ano Mera: To Steki tou Proedrou — the village taverna, Myconiots' favorite
- Best souvlaki: Souvlaki Story — Mykonos Town, the budget lifeline
- Best sunset dinner: Kastro's — Little Venice, the view that launched a thousand selfies
Where to Eat in Mykonos by Area
Where you eat in Mykonos matters as much as what you order — each part of the island has a distinct dining character and a very different price ceiling. Here's where to head depending on where you are (or where you want to be).
Mykonos Town (Chora) — the most range
The old town is where the island's dining runs widest, from world-class to wallet-friendly within the same maze of marble lanes. For polished cooking, Kiku delivers contemporary Greek with Asian accents (€40–65) without the beach-club theatrics, while Matsuhisa at the Belvedere — just above town — is the island's fine-dining headline (€70–120). On the harbor, Kounelas has grilled fresh fish since the 1960s (€25–40) and Remezzo trades on its windmill-and-sea terrace view (€40–60). For the budget lifeline, Souvlaki Story (€4–8) and the wood-fired Gioras Bakery (€2–5) keep you fed at near-mainland prices. Best for: variety, walkable dinners, both ends of the budget.
Little Venice — sunset drinks, not dinner
The waterfront where the buildings overhang the sea is a sunset destination first. Kastro's is the classic spot — arrive an hour before sundown for a railing table, come for the view and cocktails, and eat your serious meal elsewhere. Best for: golden-hour drinks and the photograph; not a food destination.
Megali Ammos — honest beachfront, 10 minutes from town
A short walk from Chora, Joanna's Niko's Place is the family taverna that proves Mykonos still has a food soul — simply grilled fish, real tomatoes, feet-in-the-sand setting, fair prices by island standards (€25–40). Best for: honest Greek food without the club premium, families.
Ano Mera — where locals actually eat
The island's interior village, 8 km from town, is the Mykonos corrective. To Steki tou Proedrou on the village square serves traditional grilled meats, stews and pies at genuinely normal prices (€12–22), under a plane tree with church bells instead of lounge music. A car or taxi is needed. Best for: authenticity, budget, seeing the island behind the tourism mask.
The South Coast (Paraga, Paradise, Psarou) — scene over plate
This is beach-club territory — Nammos, Scorpios and the rest — where you're paying for the sunbed, the DJ and the spectacle, not the cooking (see our Mykonos beach clubs guide for prices and min-spend). The honest exception is Nikolas Taverna near Agia Anna/Paraga (€20–35) — a beachfront taverna from before the VIP clubs arrived. Best for: the scene (clubs) or a simple beach lunch away from the inflation (Nikolas).
The East Coast (Kalafatis) — the dramatic setting
Quieter and less inflated than the south coast, Spilia is built into a sea cave at Kalafatis (€35–55) — fresh seafood eaten inside a rock formation with the waves below, about 15 minutes from town. Best for: a dramatic lunch, couples, escaping the crowds.
Fine Dining & Creative
Matsuhisa Mykonos (Nobu)
The Nobu brand's Greek outpost — set at the Belvedere Hotel with a terrace overlooking Mykonos Town and the harbor. The menu is the signature Nobu Japanese-Peruvian fusion adapted to Greek ingredients: the black cod miso is present, but so are Aegean fish preparations, local seafood sashimi, and dishes that acknowledge the island's marine pantry. The execution is polished, the service is professional, and the setting — particularly the terrace at sunset — competes with the food for your attention.
Matsuhisa is expensive by any standard and very expensive by Greek standards. But it delivers genuine quality at a level that justifies the premium — unlike many Mykonos restaurants where the price reflects the postcode rather than the plate.
Cuisine: Japanese-Peruvian-Greek (Nobu)
Price range: €70–120/person
Best for: Special occasions, fine-dining enthusiasts, the island's most internationally recognized kitchen
Good to know: Reserve well ahead — days in summer. The terrace is the preferred seating. Dress code is smart casual. The omakase/tasting experience is the most complete. The prices are Mykonos-level and then some.
Kiku
A contemporary Greek restaurant in Mykonos Town that applies genuine culinary ambition to Cycladic ingredients — the chef's background includes Asian influences, and the menu combines Greek produce with technique and presentation that's a step above the island's taverna standard without losing the ingredient focus. The space is contemporary and intimate. The wine list is well-curated.
Cuisine: Contemporary Greek, Asian accents
Price range: €40–65/person
Best for: Food-serious couples, creative-cuisine seekers, a polished dinner without the beach-club markup
Good to know: Reserve for dinner. The Mykonos Town location is walkable from most hotels. The cooking is ambitious without being showy — the ingredients lead. The cocktails are well-made.
M-eating (Mykonos Town)
A cornerstone of Mykonos Town's serious restaurant scene since 1976 — one of the oldest continuously operating creative Greek restaurants in the Cyclades. Chef Panagiotis Menardos builds a menu around local traditions with contemporary technique: the signature lamb with Mykonian herbs is the benchmark dish, the seafood risotto is the other consistent recommendation. The intimate courtyard seating (a converted Cycladic house, jasmine-draped walls) provides atmosphere that is romantic without effort.
M-eating occupies a specific niche: food-serious without being theatrical, local-focused without being rustic, priced at the creative-Greek level without the fine-dining ceremony. For travelers who find Matsuhisa too formal and Joanna's too casual, M-eating is the middle register.
Cuisine: Creative Greek, Mykonian ingredients Price range: €35–55/person Best for: Food-curious couples, repeat Mykonos visitors, the courtyard ambiance Good to know: Reserve for dinner. The lamb is the signature order. The courtyard seating is the preferred configuration. Has been operating since 1976 — the longevity is a quality signal.
Remezzo
A Mykonos Town institution that occupies a prime position above the harbor — the terrace views across to the windmills and the sea are among the most coveted on the island. The menu is Greek-Mediterranean with seafood focus, and the cooking, while not as cutting-edge as Kiku, is consistent and well-executed. Remezzo is the restaurant for travelers who want a view dinner at a quality that justifies the location premium.
Cuisine: Greek-Mediterranean, seafood
Price range: €40–60/person
Best for: View dinners, couples, the harbor-and-windmill panorama
Good to know: Reserve for a terrace table — the view is the point. The food is good but the setting elevates it. Dinner is the main event; the sunset timing matters.
Traditional & Honest Tavernas
Joanna's Niko's Place (Megali Ammos)
The restaurant that proves Mykonos once had — and still has, in pockets — an honest food soul. A family-run taverna on Megali Ammos Beach, about a 10-minute walk from Mykonos Town, where the fish is grilled simply, the Greek salad uses tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, and the prices, while not mainland-cheap, are fair by Mykonos standards. The family has been cooking here for decades, and the consistency — genuine food, warm service, beach setting — makes Niko's the taverna that food-aware visitors discover and return to.
Cuisine: Traditional Greek, seafood, beachfront
Price range: €25–40/person
Best for: Anyone wanting honest Mykonos food, families, the antidote to the beach-club lunch
Good to know: The Megali Ammos Beach setting is pleasant — feet-in-the-sand casual. The walk from Mykonos Town is easy. The fish is priced by weight — ask before ordering. Reservations help in summer but walk-ins are possible for lunch.
Kiki's Tavern (Agios Sostis)
The most discussed taverna in Mykonos among people who actually know the island — and the most deliberately low-profile. Kiki's sits on the quieter northern coast at Agios Sostis beach, operates with no sign, no phone, no reservations, and no electricity (the kitchen runs on gas), closes whenever the food runs out, and doesn't open if the weather isn't right. None of this is a branding strategy. It's just how a family has run a taverna for decades.
The menu is short: grilled meat (chops, chicken) from a charcoal grill that produces a line of smoke visible from the beach. Greek salad. Cold wine from a bucket. The cooking is honest Greek taverna at a standard that has built a cult following entirely through word-of-mouth. Arrive by 1 PM at the latest in summer — when the food runs out, the kitchen closes.
Cuisine: Traditional Greek, charcoal grill Price range: €25–40/person Best for: Food-serious travelers, the "real Mykonos" experience, anyone who makes the effort to get off the south-coast circuit Good to know: No reservations, no phone, no electricity. Cash only. Agios Sostis is on the north coast — you need a car or taxi. The beach itself is one of the island's finest. Combine beach morning with lunch at Kiki's for the best half-day on Mykonos.
Maereio (Mykonos Town)
A Mykonos Town taverna that has survived for over 20 years on a formula that should be impossible to sustain on the most fashion- forward island in Greece: twin brothers who run the room, their mother who runs the kitchen, a short menu of traditional Mykonian recipes, and a tiny courtyard of veranda tables so intimate that dinner becomes a genuine exchange rather than a transaction.
The food is the island's culinary heritage. Louza — Mykonian cured pork sausage, the island's most distinctive charcuterie — is served as part of the meze. Kopanisti — the peppery, fermented island cheese — appears with warm bread. The meatballs are from childhood recipes. The house wine is local and unfussy.
Maereio fills every evening and doesn't take walk-ins after early evening in summer. Reserve for dinner.
Cuisine: Traditional Mykonian, family recipes Price range: €20–35/person Best for: Local food pilgrims, couples wanting warmth not theater, the island's food heritage Good to know: Book for dinner. The Mykonos Town location means no car needed. The louza and kopanisti are the first orders. The twins make the service feel personal in a way that Mykonos restaurants at this price point rarely achieve.
To Steki tou Proedrou (Ano Mera)
The village taverna that Myconiots eat at on their day off — set on the square of Ano Mera, the island's interior village, about 8 km from Mykonos Town. The cooking is traditional Greek — grilled meats, stews, pies, salads — served in portions that assume you've been working the land rather than lying on a sunbed. The atmosphere is village Greece: church on the square, plane tree for shade, the sound of Greek conversation rather than international lounge music.
Ano Mera is the Mykonos corrective — the proof that behind the beach clubs and the VIP culture, the island has a permanent community that cooks and eats in the Greek way.
Cuisine: Traditional Greek village taverna
Price range: €12–22/person
Best for: Budget eaters, authenticity seekers, anyone wanting to see Mykonos behind the tourism mask
Good to know: A car or taxi is needed — Ano Mera is 8 km from Mykonos Town. The village square is the setting. The Panagia Tourliani monastery across the square is worth a visit. Lunch is the best meal.
Kounelas (Mykonos Town)
A fish taverna on the harbor in Mykonos Town that has survived since the 1960s — long before the island became what it is today. Kounelas serves fresh grilled fish, fried calamari, octopus, and Greek salads in a setting that's about as unpretentious as Mykonos gets: simple tables, harbor views, and a kitchen that lets the quality of the catch do the talking.
Cuisine: Traditional seafood
Price range: €25–40/person
Best for: Seafood lovers, harbor-front dining without the VIP premium
Good to know: The harbor location means some tourist foot traffic, but the clientele is mixed (locals, returning visitors, newcomers who did their research). Fish is priced by weight. The fried calamari is reliably excellent.
Seaside & Beach Restaurants
Spilia (Kalafatis)
A restaurant built into a sea cave at Kalafatis Beach on the island's east coast — the setting alone would be worth a visit, but the kitchen delivers genuinely good seafood and Greek-Mediterranean dishes that hold their own against the dramatic location. The cave creates natural shade and acoustics, the sea is directly below, and the experience of eating fresh fish inside a rock formation with waves crashing outside is unique on Mykonos.
Cuisine: Greek-Mediterranean, seafood, sea-cave setting
Price range: €35–55/person
Best for: Couples seeking a dramatic setting, the east-coast beach-day lunch
Good to know: Kalafatis is on the east coast — about 15 minutes from Mykonos Town. The cave setting is the draw. Reserve for lunch. The beach at Kalafatis is one of the less crowded on the island.
Nikolas Taverna (Agia Anna, near Paraga)
A beachfront taverna near Paraga that serves honest Greek food — grilled fish, meze, salads — at prices that are reasonable for the beach setting. Nikolas represents the beach-taverna experience before the VIP clubs took over Mykonos's south coast: simple tables on the sand, fresh fish, cold beer, and the sound of the sea rather than a DJ.
Cuisine: Traditional Greek, beachfront
Price range: €20–35/person
Best for: Beach-day lunch without the club premium, families, honest seaside food
Good to know: The south-coast location puts you near the popular beaches (Paraga, Paradise) but away from the worst of the beach-club inflation. The setting is simple — that's the point.
Little Venice & Sunset
Kastro's (Little Venice)
The quintessential Little Venice experience — a bar-restaurant on the waterfront where the buildings overhang the sea and the sunset view across to Delos and the windmills has become one of the most photographed in Greece. The cocktails are the main draw (the food is adequate, not outstanding), and the sunset ritual — drink in hand, waves below, the sky performing — is a Mykonos rite of passage.
Cuisine: Bar-restaurant, Mediterranean
Price range: €15–30/person (drinks and light food)
Best for: Sunset drinks, the Little Venice experience, the view
Good to know: Not a dinner destination — a sunset destination. Arrive at least an hour before sunset to claim a waterfront table (or stand at the railing). The cocktail prices are Mykonos-level. The atmosphere at golden hour is genuinely magical.
Budget & Street Food
Souvlaki Story (Mykonos Town)
The budget lifeline of Mykonos — a souvlaki shop in Mykonos Town that serves gyros, souvlaki wraps, and pita at prices that would be normal on any other Greek island and feel miraculous on Mykonos. The quality is good — handmade pita, well-seasoned meat, proper toppings — and the €4–6 wrap provides enough fuel for an evening in a town where a single cocktail costs the same as three wraps.
Cuisine: Souvlaki, gyros
Price range: €4–8/person
Best for: Budget travelers, late-night fuel, anyone who refuses to pay €25 for a mediocre burger
Good to know: Multiple locations in Mykonos Town. Cash and card. The late-night hours (past midnight) make it the post-bar fuel stop. The gyros is honest and satisfying.
Gioras Wood Bakery
A traditional bakery in Mykonos Town that has been baking bread, pies, and pastries in a wood-fired oven since 1420 — reportedly one of the oldest operating bakeries in Greece. The morning pies (cheese, spinach) and the bread are excellent and cheap. It's the breakfast that Mykonos doesn't want you to find (because it costs €3 instead of €25).
Cuisine: Traditional bakery, pies, bread
Price range: €2–5
Best for: Breakfast, mid-morning snack, the best-value bite on the island
Good to know: Opens early. The wood-fired oven is genuine and ancient. The cheese pies are the morning standard. The location in the Mykonos Town lanes is slightly hidden — ask or search.
Practical Tips for Eating in Mykonos
What to Order in Mykonos
Mykonos has its own food identity that pre-dates the beach clubs and the Nobu franchise. Two things to specifically look for:
Kopanisti is the island's signature cheese — soft, tangy, with a sharp peppery bite that comes from natural fermentation. It's made from cow, goat, or sheep's milk (or a combination), aged to develop its intensity, and best eaten with warm bread, island tomatoes, and olive oil drizzled over the top. Avli Tou Thodori in Platis Gialos is cited most often for the best version on the island. Maereio in Mykonos Town serves it as part of the meze.
Louza is a cured pork sausage — mildly spiced, sliced thin, served as part of a meze platter alongside kopanisti and olives. It's produced locally by a handful of families using a curing method that's been on the island for centuries. Order it at Maereio, Kounelas, or any traditional meze restaurant in town. Ask for "louza Mykonou" to distinguish from mainland variants.
Both are best understood as an aperitivo rather than a main course — order them with cold white wine before the main meal arrives. If a restaurant doesn't have them, it's not a traditional taverna.
The price reality. Mykonos restaurant prices are 30–100% higher than comparable quality on other Greek islands. A simple Greek salad: €12–18 (vs €7–10 elsewhere). Grilled fish: €18–30/kg (vs €10–18). Fine dining: €50–120/person. The souvlaki shops and bakeries are the only prices that remain on the Greek mainland scale.
Avoid. The most prominent restaurants with touts outside, photo menus in six languages, and prices that aren't clearly displayed. The branded beach clubs where the minimum spend exceeds €50. Any restaurant where the DJ is louder than the waiter. These aren't all bad — some are fun — but they're not where you eat well.
When to eat. Dinner in Mykonos starts late (9:30 PM+) and extends past midnight. Lunch on the beach: 1–3 PM. Sunset drinks in Little Venice: arrive by 7 PM in summer. The bakeries and souvlaki shops operate throughout the day.
Delos day trip. If you're visiting the archaeological island of Delos (the sacred birthplace of Apollo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site), pack food or eat before — Delos has no restaurants. The morning boat from Mykonos Town takes about 30 minutes.
Written by
Athens-born engineer · Coordinates a 5-expert Greek team · 50+ years combined field experience
I write every article on this site drawing on real, first-hand expertise — mine and that of four colleagues who live and work across Greece daily: a Peloponnese tour operator, a transfer specialist across Athens, Mykonos & Santorini, a Cretan hotel owner, and a Northern Greece hotel supplier. Nothing here comes from a single visit or desk research.
Informed by 5 Greek experts
Every destination we cover has been visited and vetted by at least one team member — not for a review, but as part of their daily work in Greek tourism.