Chef-owner of Soil Restaurant, known for his focus on sustainability and home-grown produce.
Insights
Local ModernGreekMediterraneanFine Dining
Last updated: 8/30/2025, 10:28:27 PM
Key Information
Soil Restaurant offers a unique fine dining experience in a neoclassical house in Athens. Its concept, 'Earthy Gastronomy,' emphasizes fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients, many sourced from Chef Tasos Mantis's own garden or family farm. The restaurant is known for its creative presentation, storytelling behind each dish, and a peaceful ambiance, including a charming patio and a Chef's Table experience.
Customer Perception
Customers consistently praise Soil Restaurant for its exceptional food quality, beautiful presentation, and creative dishes, often describing each as a 'work of art.' The service is highlighted as impeccable, attentive, and personalized, with staff providing knowledgeable explanations of concepts and ingredients. Guests appreciate the chef's passion and interaction, making it a memorable 'culinary journey.' While overwhelmingly positive, minor feedback included occasional issues with nearby smokers on the patio or an out-of-place item like a mousetrap.
Additional Details
Soil Restaurant opened approximately three years ago (as of July 2024) and quickly established itself as a sanctuary of Greek gastronomy. Guests often receive a small booklet of herbs to take home as a memento. The restaurant sources ingredients from a private garden in Alepochori. The outdoor patio area has been noted for its charm, occasionally featuring visits from local cats.
As a fine dining establishment, evenings are the typical time to visit. Given its Michelin recognition and popularity, booking well in advance is highly recommended, especially for the Chef's Table experience.
Soil was an interesting experience. Its attempts to integrate the freshest ingredients were clearly recognizable in the colors of the dishes, but they missed their mark on flavor. Having dined at numerous Michelin starred restaurants, I appreciate the redundancy of the concepts, flavors, and presentations and soil was again redundant with nothing that helped it stand out from any other restaurant of a similar caliber in the area. The dishes were reliable and overall presented well, but lacking in anything innovative. The service was overall good, but felt a little forced considering they got very busy very quickly. They were going through the motions in a robotic manner, which again I commend them for at least doing that while doing a busy dinner service.
The wine pairing, particularly the terroir pairing is not worth it in my opinion. The wines were fairly standard and there was no communication regarding which pours were supposed to pair with which dishes which made it difficult to pace consumption. I found myself having courses without a pairing because no one mentioned the previous pour was for 2 courses and not one. I eventually asked for that communication and it was still hit or miss.
Would I go back and pay $318 for dinner at Soil, probably not worth the price for me. It was a good one time experience though.
I enjoyed an amazing dinner at this restaurant. I and my husband were impressed by good service, amazing foods, beautiful atmosphere and very reasonable price. Each course dish was beautiful, tasty, especially dried aging beef dish, shrimp
, and Japanese Wagyu steak dish. I do notear eel and the staff recommended better option for me, very thoughtful. I strongly recommend this restaurant for your pleasure time in Athens.
Dinner at the Soil was pretty much the highlight of my trip to Greece, the perfect ending. Upon seeing the tasting menu, I knew tight away that I wanted to try everything, and asked for two add-ons, which were the lobster and the Japanese wagyu. Now, after the meal, I can clearly see that it was a very smart choice as the dishes were amazing.
Every dish that was served was beautifully presented and had great flavors. Some dishes were so delicate and beautiful that I even felt bad destroying them with the fork.
Some reviewers mentioned that the restaurant deserves a 2nd Michelin star, but I think that will not happen until they iron out a few issues. The course with eel had consome, but it was poured into a non-clear bowl so no one could see how clear it was so pretty much all the time and effort spent making it were wasted. But the most important issue is the inconsistency in service. Upon arrival I was greeted at the door, and escorted to my table and everyone was welcoming me; however, after I paid the bill no one escorted me back to the door and I pretty much went by myself and even opened the door myself without anyone saying thanks for coming, please come again or anything like that. Also during the meal service I had to ask for my water glass to be filled a couple of times.
Basically, if the restaurant irons out a few issues with the dishes, and most importantly with service, I think it can absolutely get their 2nd star.
We visited in March 2026 and had a really wonderful evening. Soil is quite spacious and spread across several floors and rooms, which creates a very cool and pleasant atmosphere. A nice touch is walking past the open kitchen when you enter, where you can catch a quick glimpse of the team at work.
The menu was €110 and definitely worth it. The dishes were not only delicious with a few great surprises, but also very aesthetically presented. You can tell that many of the herbs and flowers come directly from their own garden—it adds a very fresh note to the meal. We also had an excellent Greek white wine that paired perfectly.
The service was attentive and very friendly throughout; we felt truly welcome. A nice detail at the end was receiving the menu nicely packaged to take home with us.
Overall, it was a very well-rounded evening in a great setting. We would definitely come back!
We visited Soil Restaurant in Athens and overall we had a good experience. We tried the tasting menu and added a lobster dish.
Some dishes were excellent, especially the shrimp, which we really enjoyed. The sake pairing was also very good.
However, a few dishes were just average and not very memorable. Also, the tables on the first floor were very close to each other, so there was not much privacy.
The service was very good—professional and friendly.
Overall, a nice experience with some very good highlights.
