86 Best Restaurants in The Cyclades, Greece

Since 1922, three generations of the Roussos family have offered hospitality and fine food in this tiny blue-and-white taverna. Outside, tables overlook the caldera; inside, murals and paintings are by the owner. Traditional recipes and local ingredients are given room to shine and are presented well by the attentive staff. If you are lucky enough to get a reservation, the cozy atmosphere may well find you chatting with fellow diners who are just as pleased with their choice.

A walled courtyard garden full of climbers and greenery, with well-spaced tables under the stars, is the setting for some similarly elegant and refined dishes. An imaginative and creative take on Aegean cuisine, the ingredients are local and traditional but are handled with a light touch with contemporary influences—this is very modern food. Presentation is a joy, befitting a chef who has worked in some of the finest European establishments. 

Romantic and rightly popular, Barriello has an enviable position with views of the sea and the Trypiti village square. A 150-year-old mansion has been repurposed to good effect by charismatic owner Takis. Local ingredients, mostly grown on their own farm, are sometimes playfully presented with elements of modern creative Greek cuisine. It's more fine dining than traditional taverna but the tastes are refined and recognizable and it is generally regarded as some of the best food on the island.

Dining here is on an elevated veranda right above the calm blue waters of Agios Georgios Bay. The line of drying octopus may be out, evidence of the captain's pride in serving the freshest seafood on the island. Marcos Pipinos's family boats come in each day with fresh seafood.

This beautifully designed patisserie offers a range of delicious bijou creations that look like works of art. Gorgeous and chic, they are the best sweet treats on the island and would not look out of place in a Parisian boutique. A breezy shaded terrace with views is a great place to take a break and indulge yourself.

The life-size black-and-white cow outside tells you that you have arrived at the best ice cream shop on the island. Made from Syros milk by an Italian ice-cream maker, funky flavors exist alongside the classics.

Who wants some tasty Italian food with a view? This place does what it says on the tin—great pasta and pizza for all. Handmade on the premises everyday, the dishes are authentic and use ingredients from the local area to great effect. A punky soundtrack and a funky cocktail list add to the happy aura in this hillside gem.

The standout option for locals and visitors alike amid the tavernas that cling to Pollonia's pretty waterfront. Small plates showcase local specialties artfully presented, while mains update traditional recipes to luxurious gourmet dishes. Into its second decade, service is assured and friendly and it is one of the best places on the island to while away an afternoon or evening.

Descend into the rustic interior of this bakery and you will feel like you have stepped back in time; Gioras dates back to the 18th century and is the oldest working wood-fired bakery in the Cyclades. Take a couple of pies for the beach, or sit with a coffee and a slice of baklava and breathe in the history.

Fronted by beautiful Agios Ioannis Beach, Hippie Fish is one of the liveliest on-the-beach restaurants—an institution since the 1970s, it has continuously updated and moved with the times, but what it will always be famous for is making the big screen as the 1989 setting for the movie Shirley Valentine, about a dissatisfied housewife "finding herself" on Mykonos. Now offering private dining on the beach with the waves underfoot, visitors can re-create their own cinematic experience.

French-trained chef Kostas Bougiouris lends his expertise to this waterside restaurant. Almost on the beach, the setting is elegant and the cooking focuses on seafood and local Syros products, presented in a modern, creative style. The most gourmet of Syros eateries, crisp linen and a sophisticated white design are the background to the immaculately plated dishes. Romantic and intimate in atmosphere, friendly and attentive staff ensure that every visit is memorable.

The old open-air cinema, steps away from the main street, has been lovingly reimagined as the island's gastronomic hot spot. A romantic pastel-painted courtyard festooned with greenery fronts the clearest expression of Tinos's outstanding produce, where clever contemporary trends are married to traditional techniques and recipes. Elegant and beautifully plated, dishes are offered by a brother and sister team proud of their island heritage. Every Greek child knows the song "There was a little boat" (Itan ena mikro karavi) and every visitor to Tinos should know its impressive namesake.

A bright and fresh room, wistfully painted with sea creatures and cacti, is the backdrop to this bijou establishment on the main street. Refined Aegean cuisine with jewel-like presentation is the order of the day—this is food that you devour with your eyes first. There is magic in those saucepans, though, as this is five-star cooking. The owners and staff are warm and keen to explain the details of every dish. Kalokeri means summer in Greek and the sunshine shines out of every dish. This is an unmissable and unique place.

Chef George Mavridis is an expert at merging the flavors of traditional Greek dishes with contemporary tastes to offer an exciting menu that is beautifully presented. The dining space, a whitewashed indoor room and garden dining area shrouded by vines, is inviting. Menus change seasonally but expect Asian and Italian flavors to sit aside the best Greek produce. Attentive and unhurried service makes for the best dining on the island.

A century-old building on a tiny cobbled street hosts white-linen tables on a candlelit veranda. Chef and owner Panagiotis Menardos has worked in top kitchens across the Mediterranean, gathering techniques and ingredients to produce artful, contemporary interpretations of local dishes using the best produce from small suppliers. Comforting, sometimes surprising but always interesting and charming, M-eating is regularly regarded as one of the finest restaurants on the island.

An old ceramics factory with a jewel of a courtyard—all stone arches and climbing greenery—is the theater set for the most beautiful restaurant in Ermoupoli. With inspiration from around the globe, this is a very modern iteration of Greek food; ceviches and tartares feature, and some dishes are deconstructed to their constituent parts. An all-day brunch menu makes it an atmospheric place to hang out in the day but as dusk falls the romance notches up as gentle music plays, lights twinkle, and the food gets more ambitious.

On a cliff-side setting by the brilliantly painted huts of Mandrakia is the island's best fish taverna. The very essence of summer is to be had on the large terrace on the waterfront. The view is sublime but the food more than punches its weight. Order a bottle of white from their well-chosen list and enjoy the best seafood with the waves splashing by your feet.

An intimate little garden, away from the wind and noise, is a secret culinary haven where candlelit tables carry dishes for the gods in the moonlit sky above. Nostimon means delicious and it doesn't disappoint as it strives to offer modernized Greek classics. The cooking is authentic but elevated with interesting flavors and textures—an average Greek taverna this is not.

Magic happens in the kitchens of this farm-to-table eatery. A handwritten menu in a school exercise book guides you around the local approach of the Psatha family; if they can't grow it or rear it themselves, they don't sell it. The ingredients in front of you shout of the sun and the earth, all served in a leafy courtyard where geraniums fight for space with herbs for the pot. Quirky touches abound—your bread hangs from the back of your chair in a string bag, and meals are served on handmade terra-cotta—but it all makes sense in this singular evocation of the islands terroir.

Fancy dining with the sand between your toes and the waves lapping nearby? Palatia on Agia Anna Beach fits the bill with traditional fare and a stunning view. Decorated in simple Cycladic style, with tables on the beach itself the menu features fresh seafood specialties and Naxian plates created with locally sourced ingredients. The whole beach dining scene can only be bettered if accompanied by a blazing sunset.

A 19th-century mansion is the stage for one of Santorini's most storied eateries; a traditional white exterior and glossy painted door lead to a chic interior and a stupendous terrace with caldera views on all sides; people call to not only make reservations but to request specific tables. The food is a match for the surroundings; assured and confident, it is an elevated take on the traditional island cuisine with a very seductive wine list to complement it.

A pastel-yellow courtyard hidden among the sea captains' mansions is where those in the know come to eat in Ia. Elegant and delicious, these modern Greek updates on classic cooking are rays of sunshine among the more tourist-oriented fare elsewhere. Rooted in island ingredients, this is food to make you smile. Friendly and down-to-earth staff help to make the experience memorable and the all-Greek wine list is particularly strong on the local Santorini offerings.

Back in Fira, the restaurant that set Santorini on its own gastronomic trail continues to entice and impress in its new incarnation in the imposing setting of an 18th-century Catholic monastery. The ingredients of the Cyclades are redefined under the watch of Michelin-starred chef Ettore Botrini for a one of a kind experience—some of the finest dining in Greece.

For many repeat visitors a trip to Paros is unthinkable without a visit to Siparos. This storied eatery is along the coast of Naousa Bay in the beach town of Santa Maria and well deserves its reputation as one of the island's finest. A stunning seaside location is enhanced by an elegant and modern design. Bold, contemporary tastes are teased from traditional recipes but it is in the fish dishes that the local Paros flavors sing loudest.

Globe-trotting chef Fred Chesneau finally set down roots in Paros, bringing French-influenced dining to the island. A romantic flower-filled garden with white ironwork furniture is a pretty match for the bi-weekly changing fixed menu that features the best locally sourced seasonal produce. Just 30 lucky diners each night get to experience a food journey that may take them from Paros to Paris via Bangkok and Tokyo.

The first of the Ammoudi fish houses that opened in the 1980s is still a standout among the several excellent tavernas that line the quay in this tiny fishing port just below Ia—you can walk down and take a cab back to town. Lapping waves, bobbing fishing boats, and tables so close to the water's edge that a clumsy move might add a swim to the evening's entertainment, testify to the freshness of the fish, which is simply grilled. Most diners arrive in time to witness the sunset, but the meal often steals the show.

Set on a platform on Ormos Isternion Bay, right up against the Aegean Sea with views of Syros, chef and owner Antonia Zarpa produces innovative, well-thought-out dishes that capture the local flavors of her beloved island. Just as pilgrims visit the cathedral, so do food worshippers head to Thalassaki for its ephemeral works of art—the restaurant has such a cult following that speedboats zip over from Mykonos for lunch.

Overlooking the famous infinity pool of the Grace Hotel, Michelin-starred chef Lefteris Lazarou brings his iconic Varouko dishes to the island. The Aegean and all its bounties are the inspiration for the breathtaking dishes that truly express the exceptional ingredients. The food here revels in its Greekness, generous in color and flavor, matched to contemporary techniques and presentation.