Herve stands at Trion Ierarchon 170, 118 52 Athens, Ano Petralona, in a quarter nobody would name as a dining destination. There is no shopfront, the glass is covered and the door carries no name. Before a guest arrives the restaurant sends a four-digit access code, and that is what opens it. Athens press recorded the same coded entry when Herve opened in 2020.
Inside there is nothing to order. What arrives is settled before a guest sits down: 14, one tasting menu, no a la carte, built on seasonal ingredients and divided into vegetable, fish, poultry, meat and dessert courses. The kitchen puts itself in no category of cuisine and takes its influences from many international kitchens, French, Asian and Italian among them, along with street food, markets and older techniques handled in a modern way. The menu is rewritten with the seasons, against what the farmers and suppliers have in each part of Greece. Dinner runs Tuesday to Saturday, from 7.30pm, with last orders at 9.30pm.
One menu, two rooms
The guest’s only decision is where to sit. There are two: the Chef’s Table and the Essence Room, and the menu runs the same in each, though by the restaurant’s own account each room makes a different evening of it. The counter takes parties of 1 to 6 around the open kitchen, the Essence Room takes its own tables, and you book by telephone or by a note on the reservation form. Children are welcome from the age of eight, so that a child can sit comfortably at the counter.
Everything is booked in advance, and the restaurant holds a valid card against its cancellation policy. The kitchen prepares for every confirmed cover, so the number on the booking is the number it cooks for. Courses can be substituted for a dietary restriction, or the menu rebuilt for a vegetarian or a pescatarian, with two days’ notice; dairy-free, sugar-free and vegan dinners are outside what the kitchen does. The figure on record for dinner is 120 euros without drink, as at May 2025, and prices are subject to change.
Beyond the two rooms Herve can be taken privately, in full or in part, for a group. Those menus are built to order, and run from passed canapés and stationed dishes to cocktails, wines and a dinner of tasting courses.
Three owners
Three people own Herve, and the three name themselves together as the people who can be held to account for the dinner: Herve Pronzato, George Efthimopoulos and Grigoris Kikis. All three work the restaurant day to day. Pronzato was born and raised in Paris and had worked as an executive chef in high-end hotels and restaurants in Greece and abroad before he came back to Athens and opened under his own name in 2020. Efthimopoulos is the general manager and a co-owner, and came from senior food and beverage roles in hotels and restaurants in Greece. The kitchen is Herve Pronzato, with Grigoris Kikis as chef de cuisine, and Kikis is a co-owner as well.
The cellar
The wine list is long, and a guest who would rather see a bottle than read about one can walk into the cellar at the back and choose there. The pairing is poured label by label, each one introduced at the table by the sommelier, Christos Theodoropoulos; it ran at 95 euros, as at May 2025. Herve takes cash, bank transfers and cards other than American Express, and there is valet parking.
Who is this for
Herve suits a guest who would rather be cooked for than choose, and it suits a small table: a pair, or a few friends settling in for one long evening. Dress asks no formality, and a considered after-office look sits perfectly well in the room. Around it, Ano Petralona carries murals wall to wall, with record shops, thrift shops and live music venues among its streets. There is a terrace for warm nights, and pets stay at home.
