Chios Restaurants: Where to Eat in Chios Town, Karfas & the Mastic Villages
Chios serves its best food along the waterfront of Chios Town, in the resort of Karfas and on the squares of the mastic villages. This guide points you to the right area rather than a fixed list of tables, because Chios keeps its kitchens local and family-run. Mastic flavours the island's sweets, coffee and liquor, and the fishing coves of the coast cook the day's catch. Send a taverna tip through the mail-me button on the island page and it will be added here. Hire a car to explore Chios at your own pace, covered in our Chios car hire guide.
- Best for fish
- Chios Town waterfront
- Resort dining
- Karfas
- Village kitchens
- Mesta & the mastic villages
- Local flavour
- Mastic (mastiha)
Chios Town waterfront
Chios Town serves the widest choice on the island along its harbour and back streets. The waterfront tavernas cook fresh fish and mezedes, and the lanes behind the seafront hold ouzeries and cafes where locals eat away from the quay. As the capital and ferry port, the town stays busy year-round, so it keeps the most reliable spread of kitchens. It sits a short drive from the resort of Karfas, where most visitors stay.
Karfas & the east coast
Karfas, the main resort 7 km south of the capital, is the easiest base for eating out, with restaurants, tavernas and bars spread along its sandy bay. The neighbouring beaches of Megas Limnionas and Komi add more beachside tavernas and grills in summer. This stretch is aimed at holidaymakers, so the food runs to standard Greek and taverna fare rather than village cooking. The beaches are covered in the Chios beaches guide.
The mastic villages
The mastic villages of the south hide small family kitchens on their squares, where the cooking is homely and the setting medieval. On the central square of Mesta, a relaxed taverna run by its owner Despina lets you choose your dish in the kitchen; it fills with day-trippers who come to see the old town, and towards the end of the afternoon the villagers arrive to eat and drink. Pyrgi and Olympi keep cafes and tavernas on their patterned squares. The villages themselves are described in the Chios sights guide.
The north and the coves
The green north of Chios, around Kardamyla and the beaches of Nagos, Anemi and Giosonas, keeps fish tavernas in its wooded coves, and the north-west villages near Volissos add a few kitchens at Limnos and Lefkathia. These are quieter, seasonal spots that suit a long lunch after a swim rather than a night out. A car helps for reaching them, as set out on the Chios car rental page.
Mastic on the menu
Mastic, the resin that made the island famous, turns up across the Chios table. It flavours the sweet spoon dessert served with a glass of water, the local liquor and the coffee, and it scents biscuits and pastries sold in the mastic villages and the shops of Chios Town. Trying mastiha in some form is part of eating on Chios, and the villages that produce it are covered in the Chios sights guide.
