The best Greek restaurants in San Francisco

With its roaring fireplace, dark wood detailing, and uncommonly gracious service, this renowned Greek spot feels luxuriously old-school. Despite the white tablecloth flourish, it’s named after a small fishing village on the island of Samos in the Agean Sea. (In Greek mythology, that’s also the place where Poseidon’s son, Orion, prepared elaborate feasts for his beloved.) The emphasis is on citrus-spiked seafood and rich game dishes prepared on the charcoal grill and wood-fired oven, including lamb chops in an oregano vinaigrette and calamari stuffed with feta, orange and fennel.

Greek-American owner Charles Bililies cut his teeth working at the French Laundry and Michael Mina. Now he’s a runaway success story in San Francisco’s exploding “fine casual” dining scene. He launched his first tiny Hayes Valley restaurant in spring 2014 serving just two things: wraps and salads, plus Greek wine and beer. The genius was in the atmosphere—a gleaming copper bar, white subway tile, fresh flowers—and the high-quality ingredients. This isn’t any old wrap: fillings include American Homestead pork shoulder, Mary’s free-range chicken and Superior Farms lamb, each complemented by flavorful toppings like pickled red onion, navel orange and garlic-spiked Greek yogurt. Whole chickens twirl on a row of rotisserie spits behind the bar (souvla translates to “spit” or “skewer” in Greek), and are available for take-out for $20 apiece. Billilies has expanded his empire over the past few years, launching sister locations in NoPa and, in early 2017, the Mission. Finish your meal with a cup of frozen Greek yogurt, which can be garnished with sour cherry syrup, Greek olive oil and sea salt, baklava crumbles or Cretan wildflower honey.

This family-owned West Portal restaurant is a hidden gem, swathed in dark wood and decked with honeycomb-inspired art. The Loufas family whips up most of the menu from scratch, including daily-baked pita bread, house-made spreads and dips ($6 each; 4 for $18), and even locally-grown honey. Apart from traditional dishes like grilled lamb chops with roasted butternut squash and rotisserie chicken with roasted cauliflower and lemony Greek potatoes, Orexi is known for its flatbreads. The pillowy dough is baked to a light char, then topped with ingredients like house-made Greek sausage, feta and mizithra cheese, oregano pesto and more. Wash it all down with Greek beers from Fix, Mythos and Septem.