Best Restaurants in Santorini: Fine Dining, Local Gems & Where to Eat
There is a particular hour in Santorini – somewhere between six in the evening and the moment the sun finally concedes the sky to the stars – when the whole island smells of charcoal and thyme and something briny carried up from the caldera on a warm draft. Somewhere nearby, a kitchen is waking up. You can hear it: the low percussion of a prep cook’s knife, the hiss of olive oil hitting a pan, the clink of wine glasses being set on a terrace that overlooks, quite casually, one of the most dramatic geological formations on earth. This is when you realise that eating well in Santorini is not simply a matter of choosing a good restaurant. It is a matter of choosing which version of extraordinary you are in the mood for.
The answer, as it turns out, is rarely obvious. Santorini has spent decades being photographed rather than understood, which means a great deal of its best food exists slightly out of frame. Yes, there are caldera-view terraces where Michelin-level ambition meets volcanic scenery. But there are also village squares in Pyrgos where the wine is local and the bread arrives without ceremony and nobody is taking a photograph of it, which is frankly their loss. This guide covers both ends of that spectrum – and a good deal of the rewarding middle.
The Fine Dining Scene: Where Santorini Takes Itself Seriously
Santorini’s fine dining scene is considerably more sophisticated than its reputation as a honeymoon destination might suggest. The island has quietly produced a cluster of restaurants operating at a genuinely world-class level – not just for the views, which would be unfair leverage, but for the cooking itself.
The standard-bearer, by most measures, is The Athenian House in Imerovigli. Michelin-starred chef Dimitris Skarmoutsos presides over a space of dim-lit, domed interiors draped in white linen and crystalware, with a terrace that looks out directly over Skaros Rock and the caldera in a way that renders even seasoned travellers temporarily speechless. The tasting menus here – Grand, Discovery, Pescatarian, Gluten Free, and a Children’s menu that treats younger guests with unusual respect – are vehicles for elevated Greek cuisine that doesn’t forget where it comes from. A TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Award winner in 2024 and winner of Best Luxury Restaurant in Greece at the Luxury Lifestyle Awards in 2022, this is a restaurant that earns its accolades rather than merely collecting them. Book well in advance. Weeks, not days.
In Oia, Elements at Canaves Oia Epitome is the sort of restaurant that makes you grateful you dressed properly. Chef Tasos Stefatos offers two eleven-course tasting menus – ‘World’ and ‘Nature’ – on a volcanic-rock terrace that overlooks Ammoudi Bay with the kind of unobstructed drama that makes you question every restaurant you’ve eaten in before. The architecture is sleek – volcanic stone, honeyed wood, candlelight arranged with an almost architectural precision – and the cuisine draws on Greek tradition while travelling confidently further afield. The wine list is exemplary. The atmosphere is one of quiet, considered sophistication. It is, by any measure, an exceptional way to spend an evening.
For something rooted more explicitly in Santorini’s own terroir, Selene in Pyrgos Village represents the island’s culinary conscience. Founded by Yiorgos Hatziyannakis in 1986, Selene has spent nearly four decades championing local produce with a conviction that was unfashionable when it started and now looks rather prescient. The nightly à la carte menu during the tourist season draws on Santorini’s remarkable farmland – the white aubergine, the cherry tomato so sweet it barely needs anything done to it, the fava from the volcanic soil. Recognised consistently as one of the finest restaurants in Greece, Selene is the place to eat if you want to understand Santorini rather than simply enjoy it. The two are not mutually exclusive, and here they are thoroughly combined.
Scenic Dining With Serious Cooking: The Best Views That Earn Their Place
Not every restaurant with a view deserves one. Santorini is, alas, full of establishments that rely on the caldera to do the work their kitchens cannot quite manage. The exceptions are worth knowing.
Lycabettus in Imerovigli earns its perch on the edge of a hillside above the Aegean with genuine culinary ambition. Executive chef Pavlos Kiriakis trained at Michelin-starred establishments including Spondi, Azurmendi, and Benu – a CV that would be impressive in any city, let alone on a volcanic island in the southern Aegean. His menu is a meditation on Greek and Mediterranean cuisine with a strong current of fresh seafood running through it. Diners can order à la carte, but the nine-course tasting menu is the correct choice if you have the time and the appetite, which, given the sunset unfolding across the horizon, you almost certainly will. The view, it should be said, is extraordinary. But the food would merit attention without it.
Then there is Nobu Santorini, perched on the caldera cliffs and representing something of an outlier in the island’s dining scene – a global brand that has, against some odds, adapted itself thoughtfully to its surroundings. The signature black cod and the yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño are present and correct, as they should be, but the setting transforms even the familiar into something worth travelling for. It is the kind of place that inspires mild controversy among purists, who would prefer you to eat Greek. They are not wrong, exactly. But they are missing a very good meal.
Local Tavernas and Hidden Gems: Where the Locals Actually Eat
The best advice anyone can give you about eating authentically in Santorini is to get away from the caldera edge occasionally and walk into the villages. Not because the view restaurants are bad – several of them, as outlined above, are exceptional – but because some of the island’s most honest, characterful cooking happens in places that don’t advertise themselves with a sunset.
Pyrgos, the highest village on the island and one of its most beautiful, rewards anyone willing to climb its narrow lanes with tavernas that serve the kind of slow-cooked lamb and chickpea dishes that taste like someone’s grandmother is responsible, which is often more or less the case. The local fava – a split yellow pea purée enriched with olive oil and raw onion – is a dish so specific to Santorini’s volcanic soil that it carries a protected designation of origin. Order it wherever you see it. It will not let you down.
The fishing hamlet of Ammoudi, directly below Oia and accessible via a flight of 300 steps that will recalibrate your relationship with your knees, has a handful of seafood tavernas where octopus dries on lines in the sun and the catch arrives directly from the boats moored a few metres away. The cooking is uncomplicated and entirely dependent on the quality of what the sea produced that morning. It is as good as it sounds. The donkeys that carry supplies up the cliff, however, are not always available for the return journey, which is worth factoring into your planning.
For a more structured introduction to local produce, the small markets and farm shops around Megalochori and Emporio carry Santorini’s agricultural specialities – the cherry tomatoes, the white aubergines, the capers packed in sea salt, the fava – alongside local honey and the island’s distinctive wines. It is not a food market in any grand urban sense, but browsing what’s available tells you more about Santorini’s food culture than any restaurant review could.
Beach Clubs and Casual Dining: Sun, Salt and Reasonable Expectations
Santorini’s black sand beaches are not, it must be admitted, the island’s finest feature. The volcanic sand retains heat in a manner that makes walking across it in bare feet a genuinely formative experience. The beach clubs, however, have developed a formula that successfully distracts from this: comfortable sunbeds, well-made cocktails, and food that ranges from perfectly adequate to genuinely good.
Perivolos Beach on the south coast hosts several beach clubs worth knowing about, with Black Beach Club and Theros Wave Bar among the most consistently well-regarded for both atmosphere and food. The latter in particular does creditable work with mezze and grilled seafood in a setting that manages to feel effortlessly cool without trying too hard about it. Arrive early for a sunbed. Or accept that you won’t have one and order another drink at the bar, which is not the worst outcome.
Casual eating on the island rewards flexibility. A gyros from a counter in Fira at midday, eaten standing up while watching the cruise ship passengers navigate the cobblestones, is one of Santorini’s more underrated pleasures. The island’s street food is unpretentious and often excellent.
What to Drink: Santorini’s Remarkable Wine Culture
Any serious engagement with eating in Santorini must include its wine, which is among the most distinctive in Greece and considerably more interesting than many visitors expect. The island’s vineyards – worked in the traditional kouloura basket style, where the vines are trained into low rings to protect the grapes from the volcanic winds – produce wines of mineral intensity and vivid acidity that suit the food here with the logic of things evolved together over centuries.
Assyrtiko is the grape you need to know. Dry, saline, high in acidity, with a citrus and stone fruit character that makes it one of the best white wine varieties in the Mediterranean – it handles grilled seafood, raw shellfish, and the island’s vegetable dishes with equal ease. Producers worth seeking out include Santo Wines, Domaine Sigalas, and Hatzidakis, all of which offer tastings and have wines available across the island’s better restaurants.
Vinsanto – the island’s amber dessert wine made from sun-dried Assyrtiko grapes – is something you should have at least once, preferably with a local loukoumades or simply at the end of a long dinner when the conversation has slowed to something more reflective. It is complex, sweet without being cloying, and unmistakably Santorinian. Take a bottle home. You won’t regret it.
For aperitivo hour, the local Santorini Brewing Company produces a beer called Yellow Donkey that manages to be both a perfectly drinkable craft lager and one of the better-named beverages in the Cyclades.
Reservation Tips and Practical Guidance
The short version: book everything that matters before you arrive on the island. The fine dining restaurants – The Athenian House, Elements, Lycabettus, Selene, Nobu – fill their prime terrace tables weeks or months ahead during high season (June through September). A table at 7:30pm with a caldera view does not become available on a Tuesday afternoon because you wandered past and looked hopeful. This is not how Santorini operates.
If you are staying in a luxury villa in Santorini – which is, frankly, the most sensible way to experience the island properly – your villa manager or concierge will often have relationships with the island’s best restaurants and can secure reservations that would otherwise be unavailable. Several villas also offer the option of a private chef: an arrangement that allows you to eat at the level of a fine dining restaurant on a terrace that is entirely, exclusively yours, with the caldera below and a bottle of Assyrtiko open, which is an argument it is difficult to construct a counter-position to.
For sunset dining specifically, aim for an 8pm reservation rather than 7pm. The light is better, the dinner service is more composed, and you are less likely to be sitting next to a tour group on their third Greek salad of the trip.
The island’s best restaurants close for the winter season, typically from late October or November through to Easter. If you are visiting outside peak season, check current opening dates directly – and enjoy the fact that the island is considerably more manageable than it is in August, when the caldera path at sunset resembles a very slow, very photogenic traffic jam.
For everything else you need to plan a trip to the island – from where to stay to what to do – the full Santorini Travel Guide covers the island in the detail it deserves.
