Best Restaurants in Syros, Greece: 23 Places to Eat (2026)

Syros eats like a small European city rather than a Greek island, and the difference shows at the table. Ermoupoli is the administrative capital of the Cyclades, with a university department, a working shipyard and people who live here all year, so its restaurants cook for regulars twelve months a year instead of for a ten-week season. The result is a food scene that is deeper, more consistent and better value than the island's low profile suggests.

Look at what actually ends up on the plate. San Michali, the PDO cow's-milk cheese named after a village in the north of the island. Loukoumi, made in Ermoupoli since the 19th century and still sold by family makers like Korres and Kanakaris a few steps from Miaouli Square. Halvadopita, almond nougat pressed between thin wafers. And tables that range from a courtyard restaurant inside a former ceramics factory to fish tavernas with their feet in the sand at Kini and Vari.

We've organised the island the way people actually eat it: Ermoupoli's fine-dining courtyards and harbourfront meze houses, Ano Syros up the hill, and the beach tavernas around the coast, plus the bars and sweet shops in between. Every venue below was checked against current listings for 2026, and where a place opens only for the summer, we say so.

For the full island guide, see our things to do in Syros. For accommodation, read our best hotels in Syros guide. Planning the whole trip? Start with our Syros travel guide.

Quick Answer: Best Syros Restaurants by Category

• Best modern Greek: Mazi, a courtyard restaurant inside a former ceramics factory on Leotsakou Street, Ermoupoli
• Best traditional taverna: Stin Ithaki tou Ai, central Ermoupoli, big portions and lamb chops
• Best beach seafood: Allou Yialou, on the waterfront at Kini, known for ceviche and sunsets
• Best in Ano Syros: Maison de Meze, a tiny meze cafe in the medieval lanes
• Best meze by the port: To Tsipouradiko tis Mirsinis, sharing plates and natural wine on Akti Papagou
• Best loukoumi: Korres, Kanakaris and Sykoutris, family sweet shops around Miaouli Square and the harbour
• Best cheap eat: Ermoupoli's souvlaki shops, with a gyros pita at around €4–6
• Best fine dining: Elexis, in the courtyard of an 1853 mansion at the Argini Hotel
• Best Italian: Amvix, fresh pasta and wood-fired pizza on the harbourfront
• Best long lunch in the north: Plakostroto, Cycladic cooking and sunset views at San Michalis

Ermoupoli: Modern Greek and Fine Dining

Mazi

Mazi is the most widely recommended table on Syros, and it earns the reputation. It occupies the courtyard of a former ceramics factory at Leotsakou 2, a few minutes' walk from Miaouli Square, with climbing plants overhead instead of a roof, and the menu is modern Greek with a light touch: ceviche, tartare and plates built around island fish, vegetables and cheese.

It opens for dinner only and the courtyard is not large, so in July and August it's worth reserving a day or two ahead. Earlier in the season you can usually walk in.

Cuisine: Modern Greek
Price: Around €35–40 per person
Best for: Couples and food lovers, the island's signature dinner
Good to know: Dinner only, from 7pm. Leotsakou 2, off Miaouli Square.

Avant Garden

Avant Garden is Ermoupoli's other serious dinner, on Vardaka Square: a garden for warm evenings and, inside, stone walls, parquet floors and a fireplace. The cooking is creative Greek-Mediterranean, the kind of menu that puts ox-tongue carpaccio next to rooster with tomato cannelloni and finishes with a loukoumi-and-rose ice cream.

Cuisine: Creative Greek-Mediterranean
Best for: A special-occasion dinner in a garden
Good to know: Seasonal, open roughly April to October, Monday to Saturday from 7pm.

Elexis

Elexis is the restaurant of the Argini Hotel, set in the enclosed courtyard of an 1853 neoclassical mansion on Apollonos Street, and it's open to non-guests. The menu was developed with the team behind Athens' Spondi and Hytra, with chef Nikos Stamatis in the kitchen, and it leans on Cycladic produce: kopanisti, fava with caper jam, ceviche with yuzu.

Cuisine: Gourmet Greek
Best for: The most polished dinner in town
Good to know: 11 Apollonos Street, inside the Argini Hotel. Book ahead in summer.

Peri Tinos

Peri Tinos sits on the harbourfront at Akti Petrou Ralli 7, with its tables facing the yachts, and it's the modern-Greek choice for eating with the port in view. The shrimp orzo is the dish most people order, sea urchin is on the menu, and bread arrives with olives and a local cheese spread.

Cuisine: Modern Greek, seafood
Best for: A harbour-view lunch or dinner
Good to know: Open daily from lunchtime until late evening.

Ermoupoli: Tavernas, Meze and Seafood

Stin Ithaki tou Ai

Stin Ithaki tou Ai is the taverna Ermoupoli's regulars fall back on, on the corner of Klonos and Kiparissou streets in the centre of town. The cooking is straightforward Greek, grilled meats, oven dishes and the lamb chops people come back for, in portions sized for someone who skipped lunch, and the meal often ends with a dessert on the house.

It's the restaurant that best shows what a year-round population does for an island's food: it fills up in the evening, mostly with locals, so arrive early or expect a short wait.

Cuisine: Traditional Greek taverna
Best for: A big, good-value dinner
Good to know: Open daily from noon until midnight. It gets busy after 9pm, so go early.

To Tsipouradiko tis Mirsinis

To Tsipouradiko tis Mirsinis is the meze house at Akti Papagou 6 on the harbourfront, and with thousands of reviews it's one of the most popular tables in town. Order tsipouro or a natural wine and build a table of sharing plates: seafood orzo, octopus with fava, sun-dried fish. A round of shots and a dessert usually arrive with the bill.

How the tsipouradiko format works, and why the plates keep coming, is in our guide to Greek meze culture.

Cuisine: Meze, seafood
Best for: A long, sociable dinner by the port
Good to know: Open daily from noon until around 1am.

Seariani Fish & More

Seariani is a small seafood restaurant at Sofokleous 4, run by its owners Christos and Mina and open for dinner only. Fried calamari and sea urchin are the staples, and the homemade portokalopita, the Greek orange pie, is the dessert to save room for.

Cuisine: Seafood
Best for: A fish dinner in town without driving to the beach
Good to know: Dinner only, from 5pm. Whole fish is sold by weight, so ask the price before it goes on the grill.

Laoutari

Laoutari is a kafeneio-style meze place in a quiet alley behind the Ermoupoli promenade, with retro decor and live music, a fitting thing on the island where Markos Vamvakaris, the father of rebetiko, was born. Order the kavourmas with eggs and the chicken patties, and stay for the music.

Cuisine: Meze, kafeneio
Best for: Music, drinks and small plates
Good to know: In an alley just behind the waterfront promenade.

To Kastri (Women's Union of Syros)

To Kastri, at Parou 13, is run by the Women's Union of Syros, a cooperative of around 28 local women who cook home-style Greek food and serve it cafeteria-style. It's the most direct way to eat what Syros families eat at home.

Cuisine: Home cooking
Best for: A cheap, local lunch
Good to know: Lunch only, roughly 11am to 2pm, Wednesday to Saturday.

Ermoupoli: Italian and Pizza

Amvix

Amvix is the Italian restaurant on the harbourfront at Akti Papagou 26, where chef Roberto Brasola makes fresh pasta and wood-fired pizza. It's one of the most-searched restaurant names on the island, and the reason is simple: after a week of grilled fish and meze, a properly made plate of pasta by the water is exactly what a lot of people want.

Cuisine: Italian
Best for: Pasta and pizza by the port, families
Good to know: On the main harbourfront, an easy walk from the ferry quay.

Solo Grano

Solo Grano, at Stamatiou Proiou 109, is the pizza specialist: a stone-built room around a wood-fired oven, turning out southern-Italian-style pizza alongside handmade fresh pasta.

Cuisine: Italian, pizza
Best for: A casual dinner
Good to know: Closed on Mondays.

Beach Tavernas Around the Island

The beach tavernas are where Syros eats in summer, and most of them close or cut their hours from autumn to spring, so check before driving out in the shoulder season. Galissas and Kini are about 7 km and 9 km from Ermoupoli on the bus loop; Vari, Achladi, Megas Gialos, Finikas and Posidonia are on the south coast.

Allou Yialou (Kini)

Allou Yialou sits on the waterfront at Kini, the west-coast fishing village about 9 km from Ermoupoli, and it's the beach seafood restaurant most often recommended on the island. The kitchen is more modern than a classic fish taverna, with ceviche among its best-known dishes, and the terrace faces west, so time dinner for sunset.

Cuisine: Seafood, modern Greek
Best for: A sunset seafood dinner
Good to know: Seasonal; it closes in the off-season. Book a sunset table in July and August, and ask the price of whole fish before ordering.

Dyo Tzitzikia st'Armyrikia (Kini)

Dyo Tzitzikia st'Armyrikia is the other Kini table worth knowing, a summer taverna right on the beach at the Armyrikia end of the bay. It's more traditional than Allou Yialou, with mussels in garlic butter and lamb cooked in a clay pot, and it gets the same Kini sunset.

Cuisine: Greek taverna, seafood
Best for: A relaxed beach dinner
Good to know: Summer only.

Iliovasilema (Galissas)

Iliovasilema has been cooking in Galissas, 200 metres from the beach, since 1992, with chef-owner Kostas Bougiouris in the kitchen. The menu is a good introduction to Syros produce: fennel pie, cuttlefish risotto, and loukoumades made with San Michali cheese, which alone is reason enough to go.

Cuisine: Greek, local produce
Best for: A beach-day lunch or dinner in Galissas
Good to know: A short walk up from Galissas beach.

Giosifaki (Vari)

Giosifaki opened on the sand at Vari in 1958 as a cafe and was run by three generations of the same family before its long-time cook, Rafail Stefanou, took it over. Order the Syros louza salad, the local sausage or the bouillabaisse, and eat with your feet almost in the water. If Vari is where you'd like to stay, our best hotels in Syros guide covers the beach stays on the same bay.

Cuisine: Fish taverna
Best for: A long lunch on the south coast
Good to know: Seasonal. Vari is on the south-coast bus route.

Achladi (Achladi Beach)

Achladi is on the small beach of the same name between Vari and Megas Gialos, with chef Thodoris Kassavetis and head chef Konstantina Kasparidou running a modern fish kitchen. Think amberjack crudo with grilled dolmadakia, or grouper giouvetsi. It's also the most expensive meal in this guide.

Cuisine: Modern seafood
Price: Around €60–80 per person
Best for: A special-occasion lunch by the sea
Good to know: Book ahead in summer.

Talaras (Megas Gialos)

Talaras is a family taverna on the seafront at Megas Gialos, about 12 km from Ermoupoli, run by Iosif Roussos, with a terrace by the beach. It's the place for a simple fish lunch after a swim on the quieter southeast coast.

Cuisine: Greek taverna, fish
Best for: A low-key beach lunch
Good to know: Seasonal.

Calmo Mare (Finikas)

Calmo Mare is a meze restaurant right on Finikas beach, open from breakfast until midnight, which makes it as useful for a morning coffee as for a sunset meal. Try the oven-baked aubergine, the shrimp omelette or the boiled turbot.

Cuisine: Meze
Best for: Any time of day on the beach
Good to know: Open from 8am until midnight in season.

Village Tavernas: Posidonia and the North

Melydron (Posidonia)

Melydron is a traditional taverna in the village of Posidonia, with an ouzo-and-tsipouro meze list and a house salad made with goat's cheese from Ios. Order the marathopita, the local fennel pie, and the kontosouvli.

Cuisine: Traditional taverna, meze
Best for: A village dinner on the south coast
Good to know: In Posidonia village, a short drive from the Agathopes and Finikas beaches.

Plakostroto (San Michalis, Apano Meria)

Plakostroto is the reason to drive to the far north of Syros: a family taverna in San Michalis, the village that gave the island's cheese its name, with Cycladic cooking and a sunset view over the Aegean. Rooster cooked in wine with pasta is the dish people talk about, and the menu also runs to kid baked in parchment and pork braised in wine with fennel.

Cuisine: Cycladic taverna
Best for: A long lunch or a sunset dinner in the north
Good to know: You'll need a car or a taxi. It has been under new management since 2018.

Ano Syros: Meze With a View

Maison de Meze

Maison de Meze is a tiny meze cafe on Don I. Stefanou Street, open from breakfast through dinner, with a short menu of meze built around Syros products. It's the easiest place in Ano Syros for a proper sit-down lunch after the climb.

Cuisine: Meze, local products
Best for: Lunch after walking up from Ermoupoli
Good to know: Very small, so expect to share the lane with other tables.

Apanochoritissa

Apanochoritissa, on Agios Antonios Square, is a taverna-cafe with a balcony over Ermoupoli and the Aegean. Come for meze, or just for coffee and its homemade sweets: revani, galaktoboureko and fruit pies.

Cuisine: Taverna-cafe
Best for: Coffee and cake with the best view in town
Good to know: On Agios Antonios Square, near the top of the village.

Lilis

O Lilis is less a food recommendation than a pilgrimage. It's the taverna of Leonardos Roussos, known as Lilis, who ran it until his death in 2019 at the age of 98, and it's where Markos Vamvakaris, the father of rebetiko and Ano Syros's most famous son, played in 1955. His portrait still hangs inside.

Ano Syros is a different world from Ermoupoli below: narrow medieval lanes, arched passages, the San Giorgio Cathedral at the summit, and an atmosphere of quiet, Catholic antiquity. Eating up here is about the place as much as the plate.

Best for: Rebetiko fans and the view
Good to know: Recent reviews of the food are mixed, so come for a drink and a few meze on the terrace rather than a full dinner. Ano Syros is a steep 15–20 minute climb from Ermoupoli, or a short taxi ride to the top.

Bars and Cafes in Ermoupoli and Ano Syros

Kouchico

Kouchico, on the corner of Emmanouil Roidi and Georgiou Souri streets, is an award-winning cocktail bar that opens as a cafe in the morning. The food is light, sandwiches and bowls, but this is the place for a well-made drink before or after dinner.

Bohème del Mar

Bohème del Mar is the bohemian bar on the Ermoupoli seafront, with tables by the water, art events and a music policy that runs from tango and flamenco to electronic. It opens around midday and keeps going until the early hours, and it's busiest when the students are in town.

Theosis (Ano Syros)

Theosis is a cocktail bar and Cycladic gift shop in Ano Syros, with its own range of spirits and a drinks list themed on Theseus and Ariadne. Have one on the way down from the hilltop.

Sweets & Street Food

Loukoumi Shops: Korres, Kanakaris, Sykoutris and More

Loukoumi is Syros's signature sweet, made in Ermoupoli since the 19th century and on Greece's national list of intangible cultural heritage since 2019. There's no single shop to visit, because several family makers sell boxes around town. Korres is at Chiou 27 by Miaouli Square and also sells halvadopita; Kanakaris is on the harbourfront at Akti Papagou 3; Sykoutris is at Mystras 8; Leivaderas is at Akti Ethnikis Antistaseos 24; and Denaxas is at Akti Papagou 52.

What to buy: Classic rose loukoumi is the starting point, with mastic and bergamot versions worth trying too.
Also look for: Halvadopita, almond nougat pressed between thin wafers, the other Syros sweet to take home.
Good to know: Loukoumi travels well, which makes a box the easiest souvenir on the island.

Ermoupoli Souvlaki & Bakeries

Souvlaki shops and bakeries line the streets around Miaouli Square. A gyros pita costs around €4–6, and the morning cheese and spinach pies are the cheapest breakfast in town. Up in Ano Syros, Chyma & Tsouvalaata does souvlaki with old Greek films playing.

Price: Gyros pita around €4–6
Best for: Budget travellers, breakfast pies, late-night food

What to Eat in Syros: Local Dishes and Products

San Michali is the cheese to look for: a hard PDO cheese made from Syros cow's milk by the island's VIOSYR cooperative dairy, and named after the village of San Michalis in the north. It's sharp and crumbly, and locals compare it to Parmesan. You'll find it grated over pasta, baked into loukoumades at Iliovasilema, and in every Ermoupoli delicatessen.

Kopanisti is the other cheese to try, a soft, peppery PDO spread made across the Cyclades, Syros included, and a fixture of any meze table. Louza, the Cycladic cured pork, turns up in salads at places like Giosifaki, and if you see wild capers from Apano Meria on a menu, order them: they have far more punch than the jarred kind.

Louza is a Tinos speciality too. If you're crossing over, our best restaurants in Tinos guide covers the island's village tavernas and the seafood tables at Ormos Isternion and Agios Fokas.

For something sweet it's loukoumi and halvadopita, the nougat-and-wafer sweet that arrived with refugees from Chios and Psara in the 1820s, the same families who built Ermoupoli.

Practical Tips for Eating in Syros

Ermoupoli or the beaches? Base your evenings in Ermoupoli, where most restaurants are a short walk apart and many stay open all year, and use the beach tavernas for long lunches and sunset dinners when you're already out for the day.

Ermoupoli vs Ano Syros. Ermoupoli for the restaurants, the meze and the evening scene. Ano Syros for the medieval lanes and the view: climb up for lunch at Maison de Meze or a drink on the terrace at Lilis, then come back down for dinner.

When to eat. Lunch: 1–3 PM (tavernas and the market area). Dinner: 9 PM onward (Syros eats late, like any Greek city). The backstreet tavernas fill by 9:30 PM. The meze and wine spots get lively around 10 PM.

Year-round, with exceptions. Ermoupoli keeps eating through the winter because people live here all year, and most town tavernas stay open. The exceptions are the beach tavernas and seasonal places like Avant Garden, which opens roughly April to October, so from late autumn to spring, plan to eat in town.

Reservations. Book ahead for Mazi, Elexis, Avant Garden, Achladi and any sunset table at Kini in July and August. Traditional tavernas like Stin Ithaki tou Ai don't usually take bookings for small groups; arrive before 9pm instead.