Meze Meaning in Greek: What Mezedes Are and How to Eat Like a Greek

Meze (μεζές) is the Greek word for a small dish eaten with a drink, and the plural, mezedes, is how Greeks describe a whole evening: a carafe of ouzo, tsipouro or wine, a table that fills slowly with shared plates, and no main course at all. It is not a starter. At an ouzeri or a tsipouradiko the meze is the meal, and the drink is the reason the food exists.

The word came into Greek through Ottoman Turkish from the Persian maze, meaning taste or snack, but the habit of eating small things while drinking is far older than the word. The format changes across the country: in Volos the plates arrive free with every small bottle of tsipouro, in Crete each carafe of raki brings another round, on Lesvos the ouzo comes with Kalloni sardines, and in Thessaloniki the meze carries the spices refugees brought from Asia Minor.

This guide is written by Greeks who eat this way most weeks. It covers what meze means and how to say it, the places where it happens, the dishes worth ordering and how many, what to drink with what, the unwritten rules of the table, and how to put together a meze platter at home.

Meze doesn't really begin until the first glass is raised. How to do that part like a Greek — and why shouting "opa" is the wrong move — is in cheers in Greek.

For the broader context of Greek food, see the Greek food guide. For the practical guide to eating at a taverna, see how to eat at a Greek taverna.

Meze Meaning: What the Word Means in Greek

Meze (μεζές, pronounced meh-ZES) means a small portion of food served with a drink and meant for sharing. The plural is mezedes (μεζέδες, meh-ZEH-thes), and mezedakia is the affectionate diminutive, little mezes. One plate is ena meze; a table of them is mezedes; and the whole way of eating, slowly and in company with a drink, is also simply called meze.

Where the word comes from: Greek mezes and Turkish meze both come from Ottoman Turkish, which took it from the Persian maze, meaning taste or snack. That is why the same word, spelled meze, mezze or mezé, turns up from the Balkans to Lebanon and Iran. In English you will see meze, mezze, mezes and mezethes; in Greece it is always mezes for one and mezedes for many.

Meze is not appetisers. The difference matters because the appetiser exists to precede something — a main course, a dessert, a more substantial dish. The meze is the thing itself. At a Greek ouzerie or tsipouradiko, you do not order meze before the meal. The meze is the meal.

Is meze Greek or Turkish? The word is Turkish by way of Persian, and much of the modern repertoire was shaped by the Ottoman centuries and by the Greeks of Asia Minor who resettled in Athens and Thessaloniki in the 1920s. The custom itself is older: guests at an ancient Greek symposium ate small savoury and sweet bites called tragemata between cups of wine. The Greek version today is built around the country's own drinks, ouzo, tsipouro, raki and wine, and that is what separates it from the Turkish and Levantine meze tables it is related to.

Is meze the same as tapas? Close, but not quite. Spanish tapas are often eaten standing, one bar at a time. Greek meze is a sit-down evening at one table, ordered in waves, and it is tied to a specific drink in a way tapas rarely are.

Words You'll Hear at the Meze Table

Pikilia (ποικιλία) is a mixed platter, a few of everything on one plate, and the easiest first order.

Thalassina mezedes are seafood meze: octopus, squid, marinated anchovies, sardines, shrimp.

Zesta and krya mean hot and cold, which is how many menus split the list.

Mezedopoleio is a meze restaurant, ouzeri a meze place built around ouzo, tsipouradiko one built around tsipouro, and rakadiko the Cretan version built around raki.

Karafaki is the small carafe or bottle your drink arrives in, and the unit everything else is counted in.

Thes ena meze? means want a meze?, and fere kati na tsimbisoume, bring us something to nibble, is how many Greeks order when they leave it to the kitchen. Our ordering food in Greek phrasebook has the rest.

The Principle: Drink First, Food Second

The most important thing to understand about Greek meze culture is the relationship between the drink and the food. In most Western dining contexts, the food is the point and the drink is the accompaniment. In Greek meze culture, this is reversed.

You sit down. You order ouzo, tsipouro, or wine. The drink arrives. The food arrives to accompany the drink — to slow its absorption, to give the palate something to do between sips, and to provide a reason to remain at the table. More drink is ordered. More food arrives. The session continues.

This structure produces a meal that is fundamentally different from the standard three-course format. There is no starter/main/dessert sequence. There is no sense of moving through stages toward a conclusion. There is drink, there is food, there is company — and the meal ends when all three have run their natural course.

The practical result: At a proper meze session, you will eat less than you might expect, drink more slowly than you might expect, and spend considerably longer at the table than you might expect. This is not a failure of the format. It is the format.

The Settings: Where Meze Happens

The Ouzerie (Ουζερί)

The specialist meze restaurant, built around ouzo. The ouzerie arrived in its current form in the early 20th century, particularly in Athens, Thessaloniki, and the Aegean islands. You order a bottle or carafe of ouzo (or individual glasses, depending on the establishment), and mezedes arrive — either a fixed selection determined by the kitchen or chosen from a menu.

How it works: Sit down. Order ouzo — specify the brand if you have a preference, or ask what they have. The first meze will arrive: typically something simple — olives, a piece of feta, bread — followed by more substantial dishes as the session develops. You can order more or let the kitchen decide.

Before the ouzo, though, the greeting: yassas as you come in, and kalispera once the afternoon has turned. Our guide to hello in Greek covers which to use with whom.

The Athenian ouzerie: The classic ouzerie in Athens tends to be in Monastiraki, Psirri, or along the coast toward Piraeus. The format is similar to a taverna but more specifically anchored to ouzo and meze rather than a full menu.

The Mezedopoleio (Μεζεδοπωλείο)

The mezedopoleio is the menu-driven meze restaurant: no single drink at its centre, a long list of hot and cold plates, wine and beer as often as spirits. It is the format most visitors meet first, in Psyrri and Exarchia in Athens or in any Greek town square, and it is the easiest place to practise ordering in waves. For specific tables, see our best restaurants in Athens.

The Tsipouradiko (Τσιπουράδικο) — Volos

The tsipouradiko is the defining institution of Greek meze culture and, arguably, one of the best food-and-drink experiences in Greece. Centred in the city of Volos on the Thessaly coast (and increasingly found elsewhere), a tsipouradiko operates on a specific economic principle: you pay for the tsipouro; the meze is complimentary.

A small bottle of tsipouro arrives (typically 200ml, around €4–6). With it comes a plate of meze — something simple, something salty, something to eat with the drink. When the bottle is finished, another arrives if you want it, and more meze arrives with it. The plates continue as long as the tsipouro continues. You pay at the end only for the tsipouro consumed.

The dishes: Tsipouradiko meze is typically more substantial than ouzerie meze and reflects the inland Thessaly tradition: grilled sausage, fried courgettes, small fish, cheese, spreads, pickled vegetables, sometimes more complex dishes as the evening progresses. The specific rotation varies by establishment and by the cook's mood that day.

Why it works: The economic model aligns the kitchen's incentives with the diner's experience in an unusual way. The better the meze, the more tsipouro you drink. This produces kitchens genuinely motivated to keep the quality of the food high.

A dedicated trip to Volos specifically to eat at a tsipouradiko is a defensible travel decision.

Our Volos travel guide covers the city's tsipouradika by neighbourhood, and how to pair a night there with the villages of Pelion.

The tsipouradiko has travelled well beyond Volos. On Syros, To Tsipouradiko tis Mirsinis brings the sharing-plate format to Ermoupoli's harbourfront, and our best restaurants in Syros guide covers it alongside the island's other meze tables.

In the Dodecanese, Kos has two meze traditions side by side: the ouzeri of Kos Town, with Pote tin Kyriaki the best known, and the tavernas of Platani, where Turkish and Greek meze share the same table. Our best restaurants in Kos guide covers both.

On Tinos the same sharing-plate habit fills the village squares: Svoura in Komi is built around savoury loukoumades, fava and tarama, and our best restaurants in Tinos guide covers it alongside the island's other meze tables.

The Rakadiko (Ρακάδικο) — Crete

Crete runs the same model on raki, the island's anise-free grape spirit, also called tsikoudia. In a traditional rakadiko you order raki by the karafaki and small plates come with it: olives, cheese, a few slices of cured meat, snails or greens in season, and more substantial dishes as the carafes add up. Even in ordinary Cretan tavernas, a free round of raki and something sweet usually arrives with the bill. Our guides to the best restaurants in Chania, Rethymno and Heraklion cover where to find it.

The Fish Taverna Meze Table

At a coastal Greek fish taverna, the meze format adapts to the marine context. Grilled octopus, fried calamari, marinated anchovies, taramasalata, saganaki, and a horiatiki salad arrive for the table while the main fish is being prepared. Ouzo is the standard drink — the anise flavour is a specific complement to the salt and acidity of the seafood.

The Home Table

At a Greek home, meze appears in its most informal and generous form. The table fills with dips, cheese, olives, bread, and a series of dishes that arrive from the kitchen over the course of an hour or more. Ouzo or tsipouro begins the meal; wine takes over as the food builds. This is the meze tradition in its original context, and encountering it at a Greek household — if you are fortunate enough to be invited — is the best version of the experience available.

Where to Eat Meze in Greece: The Regional Tables

Thessaloniki is the meze capital for many Greeks. The cooking carries the cumin, chilli and cured meats of the Asia Minor refugees, and the tables cluster in Ladadika and around the Kapani and Modiano markets, where tsipouro is the default drink. Start with our best restaurants in Thessaloniki.

Volos and Pelion are the home of the tsipouradiko, and the place to try spetsofai, the Pelion stew of country sausage and peppers that was made to be eaten with tsipouro. See our Volos travel guide.

Lesvos makes much of Greece's ouzo, around Plomari, and its ouzeri pair it with Kalloni sardines, salted or grilled. Mytilene's waterfront is the place to start; our things to do in Lesvos guide covers it.

Crete trades ouzo for raki, and its meze leans on wild greens, snails, dakos and local cheeses. See the rakadiko above.

Athens has every format, but the ouzeri and mezedopoleia of Psyrri and the old market streets are the classic evening, and the Asia Minor delis near the Central Market are where to find pastourma and soutzouki.

The islands each add their own: louza and local cheeses on Tinos, sun-dried fish on Syros, fava on Santorini, and on Kos a Greek and Turkish meze tradition side by side, all covered in the sections above.

What to Order: Building a Meze Table

The composition of a good meze table follows a logic of contrast and progression — lighter things first, richer things later, with variety across textures and flavours throughout.

Start with:

• Olives — Kalamata or a regional variety, dressed with olive oil, lemon, and herbs

• Feta — a slab with olive oil poured over and dried oregano; bread alongside
• Tzatziki — the anchor dip of any meze table
• Taramasalata — the fish roe dip that is the essential companion to ouzo at the coast

Add:

• Dolmadakia — stuffed vine leaves at room temperature
• Saganaki — fried cheese, hot
• Keftedes — pan-fried meatballs, served warm
• Grilled octopus (at a coastal setting) — the classic ouzo companion
• Fried calamari — light, hot, squeezed with lemon

Then:

• Kolokithokeftedes (courgette fritters) — crispy outside, soft inside, excellent with tzatziki

• Tomatokeftedes (tomato fritters, if in season on Santorini) — intensely flavoured, unique

• Bouyiourdi — baked feta with tomatoes and peppers in a clay pot; rich and hot

Finish with:

• More olives, more bread, more of whatever was best — or nothing. The meze is done when the drink is done.

More meze worth ordering:

• Fava — split-pea purée, best on Santorini, topped with raw onion, capers and olive oil
• Melitzanosalata — smoky aubergine dip
• Tyrokafteri — spicy whipped feta with chilli, also called htipiti in the north
• Skordalia — garlic and potato or bread dip, classically with fried salt cod (bakaliaros)
• Gavros marinatos — anchovies marinated in vinegar and oil, the sharpest ouzo meze there is
• Sardeles — sardines, grilled or salted; on Lesvos the Kalloni sardines are the reason to order
• Lakerda — cured bonito, a Constantinople classic
• Loukaniko — grilled country sausage, often with orange peel or leek
• Bekri meze — pork cooked in red wine and spices; the name means the drunkard's meze
• Spetsofai — sausage and pepper stew from Pelion
• Pastourma — spiced cured beef, often baked into pies
• Kolokithoanthoi — courgette flowers stuffed with rice and herbs
• Horta — boiled wild greens with oil and lemon
• Gigantes — giant beans baked in tomato
• Dakos — Cretan barley rusk with grated tomato and soft cheese

How Many Dishes to Order

For two people, start with three plates: one dip, one cheese or salad, one hot dish. Add two more with the second carafe, and keep going in that rhythm. A pikilia counts as two or three plates on its own. Ordering everything at once is the most common mistake visitors make; the hot dishes go cold, and the kitchen can no longer pace the table.

Vegetarian and Lenten Meze

Meze is one of the easiest ways to eat vegetarian in Greece, because so much of it was built for the fasting days of the Orthodox calendar. Fava, gigantes, horta, melitzanosalata, dolmadakia, tomato fritters and fried courgette are all meat-free, and taramasalata, made from fish roe, is the traditional dish of Clean Monday at the start of Lent. Ask whether the courgette fritters include cheese if you are vegan. Our guide to vegetarian and vegan food in Greece has the full list.

The Etiquette of the Meze Table

Fork directly into the common plate. This is standard. Using a serving spoon is optional and equally acceptable, but reaching directly in with your own fork is not considered rude — it is how the table works.

Order one dish at a time. The meze format is designed for slow accumulation, not for ordering ten things simultaneously. Order two or three dishes, see what arrives, assess what is needed, order more. This is also how the kitchen can produce things at their best — hot when hot, cold when cold, in the right sequence.

Do not rush the drink. Meze is not about drinking quickly. A glass of ouzo properly prepared and drunk properly — small sips, a bite of food between, water alongside — can occupy twenty minutes. This is correct.

Let dishes arrive at their pace. Nothing is synchronized. The hot dishes come hot, the cold dishes are already there, the bread is continuous. Do not wait for everything to arrive before beginning. Eat as things come.

Do not ask for the bill the moment the last dish is finished. Order a coffee. Drink some water. Let the conversation finish naturally. The bill is asked for when you are genuinely ready to leave.

What a long meze table is really for is parea, good company, and kefi, the lifted mood that follows; both are among the untranslatable Greek words we explain in detail.

Meze and Drink: The Correct Pairings

Ouzo → coastal meze: Grilled octopus, fried calamari, marinated anchovies, taramasalata, feta, olives. The anise of the ouzo and the salinity of seafood are a natural pair that Greeks have refined over generations.

Tsipouro without anise → assertive meze: Cured meats, aged cheese, pickled vegetables, grilled sausage. The grape character of unspiced tsipouro pairs with richer, more assertive flavours.

Tsipouro with anise → similar to ouzo: Works with the same seafood and cheese meze as ouzo but has more grape complexity underneath the anise.

White wine (assyrtiko) → lighter meze: Dolmadakia, lighter dips, fish meze, vegetable dishes. The acidity of a good assyrtiko cuts through the olive oil in lathera dishes and the richness of feta beautifully.

A good meze table depends as much on the oil as on the wine, so see our Greek olive oil guide for how to choose a bottle.

Red wine (xinomavro) → heavier meze: Keftedes, saganaki with a strong cheese, grilled meats. The tannin and acidity of xinomavro needs food with weight.

How to Build a Greek Meze Platter at Home

A home meze platter is a pikilia: a little of several things rather than a lot of one. Build it from five parts. One dip, such as tzatziki, taramasalata or fava. One cheese, a slab of feta with oil and oregano or a harder graviera. One salty thing, olives or marinated anchovies. One warm thing, keftedes, fried courgette or saganaki. And bread or barley rusks to carry it all, with raw cucumber and tomato for crunch.

Serve it with ouzo or tsipouro over ice and a jug of cold water, or a chilled assyrtiko, and bring the warm dishes out after the first glass rather than all at once. That last part is what turns a platter into a meze.

Greek Meze FAQ

What does meze mean in Greek?

Meze (μεζές) means a small dish eaten with a drink and shared at the table. The plural is mezedes, and mezedakia means little mezes. The word also describes the whole slow, social way of eating that goes with it.

Is meze Greek or Turkish?

The word is Turkish, from Persian maze, meaning taste or snack, and it reached Greek during the Ottoman period. The Greek meze table is its own tradition, built around ouzo, tsipouro, raki and wine, and the habit of eating small bites with wine goes back to the ancient symposium.

What is the plural of meze?

In Greek the plural is mezedes (μεζέδες). In English you will also see mezes, mezze and mezethes.

Is it meze or mezze?

Both are correct spellings of the same word. Meze is closer to the Greek and Turkish; mezze is the common spelling for Lebanese and Middle Eastern menus.

What is a Greek ouzeri?

An ouzeri is a meze restaurant built around ouzo. You order ouzo by the glass or small bottle and the meze, chosen by you or the kitchen, arrives alongside it.

What is a tsipouradiko?

A tsipouradiko is a tsipouro house, invented in Volos. You pay for small bottles of tsipouro, and a plate of meze arrives free with each one, chosen by the kitchen, for as long as you keep ordering.

What are typical Greek meze dishes?

Olives, feta, tzatziki, taramasalata, fava, dolmadakia, saganaki, keftedes, grilled octopus, fried calamari, marinated anchovies, sausage and courgette fritters, with regional dishes like spetsofai in Pelion and dakos in Crete.

How many meze dishes should you order?

For two people, start with about three plates and add two more with each new carafe. Ordering in waves keeps the hot dishes hot and lets the kitchen pace the table.

How do you eat meze properly?

Order a drink first, then a few plates to share, eat straight from the common plates, let dishes arrive at their own pace, and don't ask for the bill the moment the food stops. The meal ends when the conversation does.

Plan Your Greece Trip

• Greek Food Guide — the full picture of Greek cuisine
• How to Eat at a Greek Taverna — the culture and etiquette of taverna dining
• Famous Greek Foods — the 30 dishes every visitor should know
• Greek Drinks Guide — ouzo, tsipouro, raki and what pairs with what
• Ouzo Guide — everything about Greece's most famous spirit
• Ordering Food in Greek — the phrases for the meze table
• Vegetarian & Vegan Food in Greece — the meat-free meze and Lenten dishes
• Volos Travel Guide — the city that invented the tsipouradiko
• Best Restaurants in Thessaloniki — Greece's meze capital
• Athens Travel Guide — where to find the best ouzeries and meze in Athens
• How to Plan a Trip to Greece — the full planning framework

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