Restaurant in Athens, Greece
One menu, one chef, book early.
A Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant in Metaxourgeio, Hervé holds a 4.9 Google rating across 860 reviews and delivers fusion cooking across French, Asian, and Italian influences at €€€ pricing — below the top tier of Athens fine dining. Counter seating is the best spot in the house. Book at least two to three weeks out; this is a hard reservation at any point in the week.
The single most useful thing to know before booking Hervé is logistical: when you confirm your reservation, you receive a digital code to enter the building. There is no traditional front door welcome in the conventional sense — the code is your introduction to how this restaurant operates. It signals something about the experience ahead: considered, deliberate, and slightly theatrical in the leading way. Hervé is open Tuesday through Saturday, 7:30 PM to midnight, and is closed Sunday and Monday. If your Athens schedule is flexible, Tuesday or Wednesday gives you the leading chance of a quieter room and more attentive pacing , Friday and Saturday fill fastest, and this is a hard booking at any point in the week.
Hervé sits at Trion Ierarchon 170 in Metaxourgeio, a neighbourhood that rewards the curious. The space itself is worth arriving for before the food arrives: an urban interior with tiled walls, paintings, and natural stone that avoids the sterile minimalism common to tasting-menu restaurants at this price tier. The counter seating, positioned so you can watch the kitchen work, is the most coveted spot in the room. If you have a choice, request it. For solo diners especially, the counter turns the meal into a participatory experience rather than a solitary one. The outdoor patio operates as a genuine alternative when Athens evenings are warm , roughly April through October , and offers a different atmosphere from the interior without sacrificing the quality of service.
Hervé runs a single tasting menu , there is no à la carte option. French chef Hervé Pronzato leads the kitchen, with a cooking approach that pulls from French technique, Asian flavour logic, and Italian produce sensibility. The Michelin inspectors awarded a star in 2024, noting dishes prepared with balance and finesse; two named standouts in the citation are "The Amberjack" and "The Vanilla". At a €€€ price point, this sits below the €€€€ tier occupied by Spondi and Botrini's, which makes Hervé one of the more accessible entry points into Michelin-starred dining in Athens.
For the food explorer planning more than one visit to Athens, Hervé rewards a multi-visit strategy more than most restaurants at this level. A single tasting menu format means your first visit is necessarily an orientation: you are learning the kitchen's vocabulary, the pacing of the meal, the balance between the three culinary influences at work. On a second visit , ideally a different season, when produce and menu composition will have shifted , you arrive with a reference point, and the differences in execution and emphasis become the meal's most interesting dimension. If you are in Athens once and once only, book Hervé for the Michelin credential and the counter experience. If you are a returning visitor to the city, consider spacing visits across warm and cool months: the patio in summer, the stone interior in winter, with a menu that will have moved on in the intervening time.
The Google rating of 4.9 across 860 reviews is an unusually strong signal of consistency for a restaurant at this price and format. Tasting-menu restaurants with mandatory single menus sometimes accumulate polarised reviews from diners who wanted choice; Hervé's score suggests the kitchen's execution converts even the sceptical.
Booking difficulty is rated hard. Reserve as far in advance as your schedule allows , two to three weeks minimum is a reasonable floor, and further out for Friday or Saturday. The digital-code entry system means you should confirm your reservation details carefully and keep the code accessible on arrival. No phone or website is listed in available data, so use the reservation platform through which you found the listing, or contact the restaurant directly via the address. Capacity details are not published, but the presence of both counter seating and an outdoor patio suggests a relatively intimate room , do not assume walk-in availability.
On dietary restrictions: Hervé operates a single tasting menu with a fusion format spanning French, Asian, and Italian influences, which typically allows some flexibility on restrictions communicated well in advance. However, no specific dietary accommodation policy is confirmed in available data. Flag any requirements clearly at the time of booking, not on arrival.
For dress code: nothing is formally stated, but a Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant in Athens at this price tier calls for smart casual at a minimum. Overdressing is rarely a problem; underdressing occasionally is.
See the comparison section below for how Hervé sits against Athens peers including Botrini's, Hytra, Spondi, Tudor Hall, and Aleria.
If you are building an Athens itinerary around serious eating, Hervé pairs well with a wider exploration of the city's restaurant scene. Consider Patio, Annie Fine Cooking, Gallina, see|ds, and Delta (Creative) for contrasting formats and price points. Our full Athens restaurants guide covers the broader field. For where to stay, drink, and explore beyond the table, see our Athens hotels guide, Athens bars guide, Athens wineries guide, and Athens experiences guide.
For Michelin-level modern cuisine elsewhere in Greece, Koukoumavlos in Fira and Aktaion in Firostefani are worth considering on a Santorini visit. Etrusco in Kato Korakiana brings French-influenced cooking to Corfu at a comparable level. On Mykonos, Almiriki and Myconian Ambassador Thalasso Spa in Platis Gialos represent the island's more considered dining options. For international reference points in modern cuisine with a tasting-menu format and comparable ambition, Frantzén in Stockholm and Maison Lameloise in Chagny sit at the upper end of the same European category. Avaton Luxury Beach Resort in Halkidiki is worth noting for diners combining Athens with a beach extension.
Spondi is the closest comparison — also Michelin-starred and tasting-menu-led, but with a more classical French orientation and a longer track record in the city. Hytra offers a lighter, more produce-driven Greek approach at a similar price tier. Botrini's leans into Greek-Mediterranean cooking with a slightly more relaxed format. Aleria and Tudor Hall are worth considering if you want fewer constraints on ordering — both run à la carte alongside tasting options. If the single-menu format at Hervé feels too rigid, Aleria gives you more control without dropping much on quality.
Yes — the counter seating at Hervé is purpose-built for solo diners. You can watch the kitchen in action, which makes the format genuinely engaging rather than isolating. The tasting menu structure also removes any awkwardness around ordering. Tuesday or Wednesday evenings tend to be the least pressured nights to secure a solo counter seat.
Three things: Hervé runs a single tasting menu only — there is no à la carte, so commit to that format before booking. When your reservation is confirmed, you receive a digital code to gain entry through the front door, so keep that email accessible. The restaurant is closed Sunday and Monday, which narrows your window to Tuesday through Saturday, 7:30 PM onwards.
The venue data does not specify a dietary policy, so check the venue's official channels when booking. Given the single tasting menu format — with dishes like the Amberjack and Vanilla cited in Michelin's recognition — the kitchen clearly works with precision, which typically means dietary accommodations are handled at the reservation stage rather than at the table. Flag any restrictions when you book, not on arrival.
It is a strong choice — Michelin-starred, counter seating with kitchen views, a patio for warmer evenings, and a format that structures the entire evening for you. The single tasting menu removes decision fatigue, which works well when the occasion itself is the focus. For a celebration where you want more flexibility or a larger group dynamic, Spondi's dining room may be more accommodating, but Hervé's intimate scale suits couples or small groups marking something specific.
At €€€ with a Michelin star awarded in 2024, Hervé sits at the top of Athens fine dining but is not priced at the level of comparable starred restaurants in Paris or London. The fusion of French, Asian, and Italian technique under chef Hervé Pronzato is the core proposition — if a structured, single tasting menu in a well-run room with serious cooking is what you are after, the price holds up. If you want flexibility or prefer Greek-forward cooking, Hytra or Aleria may deliver better value for your specific preferences.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
