Souvlaki GR — Restaurant in New York

Not much for vegetarians. Overpriced and more of a "fast food" than real restaurants. Octopus was delicious though but don't expect the same selection of food. Staff tends to be busy and perhaps that's why they aren't too friendly... Unless of course you are a friend of the owners im which case it will be a different treatment for you, all smiles and pats on the back ;) All in all ok... Perhaps a bit overpriced but I would call it completely unreasonable or not worth it. Not my first choice but if you happen to hit this place it'd be ok if you don't expect the experience ti be something you could have at other Greek restaurants... Oh, and it's a bit on the loud side so keep that in mind if you want to dine and have a conversation at the same time... It will be tough to hear what others across the table are saying.

Reply 1: Thank you, unnamed owner, for your reply. Unfortunately this lame Google UI won't allow interactions past a response from the owner, hence I am editing my original review to reply. Meat heavy? Perhaps more vegan heavy... I know some meat-heavy German beer gardens and wurst places as well as Brasilian Steak houses, but Greek restaurants to me have been more "fish heavy" rather where some also serve chicken and lamb, but I wouldn't consider offering those options as qualifying for "meat heavy". That said I've seen your online menu and you do have indeed options for vegetarians (albeit far fewer for vegans unless they modify vegetarian dishes removing eggs, or cheese), but is good to see some are indeed there and it doesn't just have to be a salad :)

When you said "Our staff could have helped you choose those dishes" since I had mentioned that "staff tends to be busy and perhaps that's why they aren't too friendly", you could've made an effort to acknowledge that in this case you may have had a failure of your staff to help rather than say "Our staff could have helped you choose those dishes" and assuming the customer didn't make the effort to ask and is now complaining about something for which your establishment bear no responsibility. Indeed they could have helped, but I was not given a list of choices for vegan/vegetarian/pescatarian. Nor I was pointed to the options I can see in the menu online... perhaps next time the "helpful" wait staff could just tell customers to go online and order from the entries on that menu since they seemed unable (or unwilling for some reason?) to provide viable options other than a pita veggie wrap?

Maybe a vegetarian/vegan-only menu is something as the owner you may want to introduce. Or maybe simply add an icon that could help patrons to quickly ignore the non vegan/vegetarian and pescatarian friendly menu items.

When looking at the menu that we were given, there was no choice of fresh fish like I could order at Ethos, nor a simple and delicious lemon potatoes that could go with it... and I am not comparing you with Ethos... that's just to name a place and menu items from the top of my head.

But aside from that, the presentation of what was served wasn't equally on par with similar Greek restaurants I've enjoyed (not only in NYC). Therefore that's why I used the expression "more of a fast food than a real restaurant". As you may have noticed, nowhere I stated "it's a fast food joint". I am aware this is a sit down establishment with waited tables, that alone does not make a restaurant. Food presentation and service friendliness along with choice and quality of dishes are some main distinguishing factors.

I hope this followup could help improve the current offering and service level at SGR. Thanks and have...

Came in with my friends on Friday night and the food was phenomenal, which is why what I'm about to say next makes this place so disappointing. I ordered a Moscow mule, or in this case "Santorini" mule... which to my surprise was just straight alcohol and seltzer. Just didn't taste right at all, mind you this is my favorite drink of all time so of course I would know what one is supposed to taste like when made right. I kindly asked if they could maybe make it sweeter to where the drink still came back bitter and again, straight alcohol. At this point I kindly asked the waitress to just give me a diet coke as I didn't want to take chances ordering a different drink. We get the bill, and I was revising it to make sure we didn't get charged for the salad we ordered, but had never received. I notice it was a $16 charge for the drink ... So I ask the waitress, and THE OWNER who happened to be the bartender comes to our table and says she had to charge me for her undrinkable drink because it wasn't her fault "I wasn't in the mood" to drink. Like no girl, your drink was just horrid !!! I'm sorry but with my years in the service industry and running a restaurant you never charge a customer who was dissatisfied with your product. It's not like I drank it, or had even half to argue the charge. She gave me the nastiest attitude and said "I'm going to take it off just so you stop complaining" that has NEVER happened to me; so it's clear the money hungry owners have never learned anything about what good customer service is or should be. Not to mention she gave us nasty stares throughout our entire meal. (We were sitting in front of the bar) A DAMN SHAME considering I was texting my boyfriend throughout my meal raving about how we had to come here. Anyway -2 stars if I could JUST for that nasty bitter blonde old woman- I really think she...

Maybe it was seeing all the commericals for Mamma Mia 2, maybe it was my friends posting pictures from Santorini, maybe it's just because it's delicious, but I had a hankering for Greek food. And not just a passing resemblance from a fly by night cart on the side of the street or a diner, but from a real, established Greek restaurant. That's where Slouvaki GR came into the picture. Having been recommended by a few friends we went here after seeing a show in the east village.

Squeezed in-between a wine shop and a bodega, from the outside it seems like there's barely any room for tables never mind a full kitchen in the back. Yet somehow Slouvaki GR manages to fit about 40 seats in the restaurant, as if by magic.

Prices are reasonable, with slightly portions slightly smaller than what you'd get off a cart on the corner. I got a SRG Pork Slouvaki gyro and a chicken skewer, both of which filled me up. The gyro was piled high with French fries, like they do in Greece, and all wrapped up in an amazing fluffy pita, coated in herbs and butter before being grilled to bake in all that delicious flavor. Biting into the chicken stick my mouth was filled with a delicious lemony tang, offset with a piece of pita and tzatziki sauce.

Service itself was a bit spartan (pun intended). Our waiter came by to take our order then effectively acted like our table was in his blind spot, which was awkward as it was right next to the kitchen and order station. Several times we asked for water and a check and each time were glossed over. Overall though, the quality of the food far outweighed the...