Taverna East Village — Restaurant in New York

Cutting corners

This restaurant is pretending to be more expensive than it is. The menu is bursting at the seams with options for fish-lovers, but comes up short for everyone else. Vegetarians may be better off looking elsewhere. For fish, they have red mullet, red snapper, sea bass and salmon to name a few - and even shark! - which are all nicely displayed on a counter at the back of the restaurant. But when it comes to alternatives, during our visit they only offered chicken souvlaki. Lamb chops and steak were available but came at a hefty $50 a piece price tag. There was a notable lack of pork souvlaki on the evening we visited (although this is included in their online menu). For our meal, I ordered swordfish while my fellow diner had, of course, shark. The fish was nice but tasted almost entirely of charcoal (which may be a reflection of the state of the oceans). It would have been nice if it had been drizzled in olive oil, herbs and lemon before being served. Dishes are served with sides of lemon potatoes, rice, beets or fried potatoes. I chose fried potatoes but was horrified to discover that by this they meant, well, crisps/potato chips. We did also order Zucchini chips - a barometer of quality at Greek restaurants - and these, I have to say, were fantastic.

Our waiter was not polite, although both staff members serving water and clearing tables were great and very affable. The main issue with our waiter came when it was time to pay (of course). This restaurant charges a 3.75% surcharge for using a credit card, so I got out my debit to pay. I told our waiter this was the case but, only half listening, he said ‘aren’t they all the same though’?’ And proceeded to bill us the extra percent. In response, I docked that from his tip. The waiter also had some trouble with the different fish species, which is concerning for a member of staff at a primarily seafood restaurant. Before ordering, we asked him what species of shark they had. He responded with: ‘it’s a shark.’ (Dear reader, I imagine it was most likely a dogfish rather than a great white, but you never can be certain!). They did bring us a free dessert, which was nice, but I couldn’t help but feel it may have been deployed as a fig leaf to paper over the cracks.

My fellow diner has also asked me to include something on the ambience. I’ll say this. The outside of the restaurant is dirty and looks a bit tired. The menu at the front is held in place by some dirty cellotape/scotch tape. But on the inside someone has put a good amount of work into decorations and creating an atmosphere. Could almost be Greece!

Overall, I can’t see myself returning anytime soon. Once again, I would direct readers looking for Greek food to the Greek Diner in Hell’s Kitchen. It serves fantastic Greek food at a very reasonable price! Couldn’t be...

It had been a while since I had been to the Astoria spot of this location but I remember loving my experience. Great seafood (and awesome portions), great ambiance, and a great staff. The last time I visited it was a perfect summer night, the restaurant was packed. All in my group were happy and content with everything. I remember the calamari being a particular standout.

Flash forward to now, the winter of 2023, to their spot in the East Village and thankfully not much has changed. Food is still good, portions are a-plenty (wait till you see what a "medium" salad looks like), and the staff is sweet and hospitable. While my current lifestyle does not allow me to indulge in every single thing I would've loved to have had on the menu, this is seafood we're talking about, and so even on a low-carb kick, this place has some fantastic and delicious options.

The Paidaki (lamb chops) are absolutely delicious. I'm usually not the biggest fan of lamb chops in restaurants since you get very little and often pay a lot. But these were a perfect size, seasoned wonderfully, and had amazing taste. Prepared exactly how they should be, and again, portions here are friggin' awesome. Loved these.

I didn't have the Lemon Potatoes but let me tell you, my date absolutely loved them, they looked incredible and smelled friggin' amazing, so I had to add a pic here cause you need to get these. They're a perfect side.

The Oktapodi (octopus) is categorized under "Appetizers" but this is a full meal. Again, going back to the portions that they serve here, this is a pretty big app if you ask me. Absolutely DELICIOUS. Loved every single bite. Flavored and seasoned to bring out all of the delicious flavors, this was a great dish and I'm sure they'll rearrange this and put this under their "Mains" cause damn, this ain't no starter. They also do a nice little show of cutting it up for you before you dig in.

The scallops were delicious, very plump, and very big. Another great starter and it was swimming in butter. And lemme tell you: scallops and butter are the way to go. Just so damn good.

Any salad you get from here is a winner. Just make sure you get feta cheese along with it. Because if you don't, you're doing it wrong.

Great spot and awesome service, can't wait to go back. Oh, and there's an actual fish market towards the back of this restaurant so you can literally see the freshness of your food when it's being prepared, and maybe take some fish home with you if hanging out with whole fish after dinner...

The food here is really good, authentic Greek. The first time I was there there were a couple of large parties of Greek people dining. There are many fish options and the Greek salad is great. Get a large one for two and take some home. I took off two stars due to poor service. The servers are nice and pretty quick. They need coaching on multi tasking when it is busy though. They will come check on a table and fail to make eye contact with neighboring tables they’re also serving and that’s how you lose out on that extra drink, side or desert order. The backwaiters are all on point and this expedites service a little. The main problem is whoever runs the door doesn’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know how to maximize seating despite being an in demand restaurant with a waitlist for walk ins. They sat a party of six on a table of four and had the crying kids sat at the table and the two parents stood over the cramped table. As my boyfriend and I ate, the parents (waiting for our table of two to make a table of six) eye balled and hovered over us as we finished drinks and deserts. The waiters were polite and never rushed us but also eye balled the table looking stressed. Why not communicate that you need our table and offer us a drink on the house at the bar or even simply drop the check with the free desert. It really was restaurant 101. They could make even more money if they didn’t sit incomplete parties and didn’t seat guests on tables that are not ready. Management need to coach whoever’s managing the door and coach servers and hosts to work as a team, communicating with guests in order to turn tables. Also seating should be more considered. Try to sit kids in one area and don’t offer guests a choice of where to sit, take control of your door it’s better for everyone that way. I would definitely go back - it’s a cute restaurant, staff are friendly and food is really good. They just need to get it together with the door...