Top Budget Eating in Greece

Bantis Bougatsa ★ 4.8

Thessaloniki's best bougatsa for 2 to 3 euros at the marble counter. Opens at 06:30. The benchmark cream phyllo pastry of the city eaten standing.

Kostas Souvlaki ★ 4.7

Kostas on Agia Irini Square in Athens has fired the souvlaki pita with its house tomato sauce since 1946, the €3 lunch counter that has fed the city.

OrderPork souvlaki pita with tomato sauce

TipOpen weekdays until 17:00 or until the meat runs out; closed Saturday and Sunday and cash preferred.

Kirkor ★ 4.7

Kirkor sells bougatsa on Lions Square in Heraklion for just a few euros, which makes its counter the cheapest good breakfast in the entire city.

OrderBougatsa with custard, cinnamon and icing sugar

TipA bougatsa and a Greek coffee is breakfast for under five euros, which is the cheapest sit-down in the old town.

Phyllosophies ★ 4.6

Phyllosophies keeps prices low on Lions Square in Heraklion, where a bougatsa or a hand-opened greens pie costs less than a coffee elsewhere.

OrderBougatsa with sweet myzithra, honey and walnuts

TipThe savoury chortopites and tyropites cost about the same as the sweet bougatsa and travel better in a bag.

Trigona Elenidis Centre ★ 4.6

The trigona panoramatos at the Elenidis Centre branch for under 3.50 euros. The city's most landmark pastry at its best for the price of a coffee. Order two.

O Telis ★ 4.5

O Telis on Evripidou in central Athens has grilled pork chops since the 1970s, the king-of-Evripidou-Street counter where the €10 plate comes with chips.

OrderGrilled pork chops with chips, salad, bread

TipNo menu; the order is pork chops with chips, salad, bread and red wine. Closed Sundays.

Diporto ★ 4.5

Diporto on Sokratous and Theatrou in central Athens has poured Attic retsina from barrels since 1887, a basement koutouki with a €10 lunch and no menu.

OrderGreek lunch with retsina from the barrel

TipLunch only from late morning until the pans empty, often by 17:00; no menu, no English spoken.

Ariston Pies ★ 4.4

Ariston on Voulis behind Syntagma in Athens has baked filo pies since 1910, a takeaway counter where the spanakopita is the order and a coffee runs under €3.

OrderSpanakopita, cheese pie, meat pie

TipStand-up counter only; closed Sundays. Morning pies fly out before 10:00.

Falafellas ★ 4.4

Falafellas on Aiolou near Monastiraki in Athens is the central falafel pita counter, fresh-built takeaways under €5 with tahini, salad and chilli.

OrderFalafel pita with tahini and salad

TipQueue runs longest at lunch; the meatball pita is the regulars' variant.

Krinos Loukoumades ★ 4.4

Krinos on Aiolou has fried loukoumades since 1923 in Athens, the €5 portion of doughnuts with honey at the back-counter seated room. At Aiolou 87.

OrderLoukoumades with honey, Greek coffee

TipClosed Sundays; the seated counter at the back is the destination, not the takeaway window.

Taverna tou Oikonomou ★ 4.4

Taverna tou Oikonomou in Ano Petralona in Athens cooks home-style mageirio food since 1930, a €12 lunch plate from the pan with house red and bread included.

OrderDaily mageirio plate

TipNo microwave and no menu; you point at the trays. Closes when the pans run out, often by 22:00.

Karavitis Tavern ★ 4.4

Karavitis in Pangrati has cooked the Athens taverna canon since 1926, a budget Greek dinner of bekri-meze, vine leaves and chops with house wine for around.

OrderAthenian taverna plate with house wine

TipNo reservations are taken; arrive before 21:00 on weeknights and before 20:30 on Saturdays.

Terkenlis 1948 ★ 4.4

Terkenlis has run from this Tsimiski and Aristotelous corner since 1948, producing the tsoureki that became synonymous with Thessaloniki across Greece.

Lukumades Aiolou ★ 4.3

Lukumades on Aiolou and Agia Irini Square in Athens is the modern loukoumades shop, where filled or topped doughnuts run €4 to €8 with espresso to go.

OrderFilled and topped loukoumades

TipThe injected loukoumades with cream are the order; queue runs longest on summer weekends.

Diagonios 1977 ★ 4.3

The pork souvlaki at Diagonios since 1977 for 2.50 euros a skewer, or 4 euros in pita with tzatziki and chips. Late-night institution. At Egnatia 159.

Tragano Navarinou ★ 4.3

Tragano on Dimitriou Gounari near Navarinou Square sells the city's most reliable wood-oven koulouri (sesame bread ring) at 0.70 euros plus a rotating set.

Kapani Market Ouzeries ★ 4.3

The ouzeries tucked inside and around Kapani Market serve the cheapest meze in the city: a half-carafe of tsipouro and three meze plates for under 10 euros.

Chagiati ★ 4.2

Chagiati is the Erotokritou mezedopoleio where Heraklion eats cheaply and well, with grilled sardines and dolmades shared over a carafe of raki.

OrderGrilled sardines and dolmades, shared across the table

TipDinner only and closed Sundays. Order two or three mezedes each and the bill still stays under twenty euros.

Ouzeri Tsinari ★ 4.2

Since 1865 near Kapani market, Ouzeri Tsinari serves fried whitebait, chargrilled octopus, and taramosalata with ouzo or tsipouro for under 12 euros.

Koukos 1953 ★ 4.1

Koukos at Vogatsikou 10 across from the Metropolitan Church serves the city's most celebrated tyropita recipe (passed down since 1953) for under 2 euros.

Modiano Market Lunch Stalls ★ 4.1

The Modiano Market reopened in December 2022 after restoration and now houses food vendors, cheese counters, cured-meat traders, and a handful of small.

Krasas ★ 4.0

Krasas is the cheap grill on Leoforos Ikarou that keeps Heraklion fed after midnight, with pita gyros and skewers priced well under a tenner.

OrderA pork gyros pita, with chips added in

TipOpen until three in the morning, which is why the queue builds long after the tavernas close.

Thraka Grill ★ 4.0

Thraka Grill is the cheapest proper meal on Daskalogianni square in Heraklion, Crete, with gyros wrapped to order and served through to midnight.

OrderA pork gyros pita with everything in it

TipOn Daskalogianni square, and it is the gyros counter used by the local walking food tours rather than a seafront chain.

Giotis Gyradiko ★ 4.0

The gyros pita at Giotis is the city centre's most consistent for under 3 euros. At Vasileos Irakliou 40. Booking recommended. Reservations advised.

Xanthopoulos ★ 4.0

Xanthopoulos has served pork chops, lamb skewers, and kokoretsi from a charcoal grill since the 1960s for prices that have barely moved in real terms.

Rouga ★ 4.0

Rouga near the port serves the authentic tsipouradiko relay for 10 to 14 euros per person including tsipouro: taramosalata, marides, saganaki.

Mavrokostas ★ 3.9

Mavrokostas sells homemade Greek food on 62 Martiron in Heraklion at neighbourhood prices, and keeps selling it long into the following morning.

OrderWhichever tray of homemade food is still hot

TipOpen until six in the morning on weekdays and eight at weekends, which makes it the last cheap kitchen standing.

Nea Diagonios ★ 3.9

Directly across from the original Diagonios on Egnatia with the same format: kalamaki skewers and pita gyros for under 4 euros until the early morning hours.

Bairaktaris Pita Window ★ 3.8

Bairaktaris on Monastiraki Square in Athens has a takeaway pita window onto the square, a €4 pita that runs until 02:00 every day of the week.

OrderSouvlaki and gyros pita

TipThe pita window faces the square; the sit-down room behind is a separate bill.

Souvlaki Point ★ 3.8

Souvlaki Point is the takeaway skewer counter on Menelaou Parlama in Heraklion, Crete, where a full pita meal still lands under nine euros a head.

OrderTwo pork skewers with pita, chips and tzatziki

TipSet up for takeaway rather than sitting down, and it keeps serving until one in the morning most nights.