The Best Greek Food in New York

Whitewashed brick, weathered wood beams, and soft lighting give this Upper West Side Greek restaurant the kind of room that makes a Tuesday feel like a reasonable night out. The cooking leans rustic, with spreads and pita giving way to whole grilled fish in lemon and caper sauce. The menu reads like someone's Greek grandmother got hold of a very good pantry, which is more or less the point.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

The servers might greet you in Greek if you look like you belong, and on Ditmars Boulevard, plenty of people do. This no-frills Astoria taverna has been feeding the neighborhood long enough to qualify as local infrastructure, with a bustling open kitchen and a menu built around simply prepared whole fish, classic dips, and flaky spinach pie. The Michelin Guide has it listed, but the crowd at the tables wouldn't need to be told.

1. The New York Times 2019 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Grub Street The 43 Best Restaurants in New York

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The dining room leans hard into its Ionian Sea fantasy, all blue light and coastal mood, and this full-service Greek restaurant commits to the bit without apology. The menu runs from spreads and pita at the start through whole roasted fish and braised meat, the kind of progression that turns dinner into an event. Halloumi fries keep showing up on tables around you, which tells you something.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

An 18th-century building a block from the Hudson, fitted out with brass chandeliers and mahogany panels, is an unlikely setting for a modern Greek taverna, but Michael Psilakis makes it work. The menu runs family-style, starting with meze and moving through roasted meats and grilled sausage with orange peel. Call ahead if you want the whole roast animal; that one takes planning.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Hundreds of terracotta pots hang from the ceiling, which gives this East Village Greek taverna the feel of a pottery barn that got very good at cooking. Whitewashed walls and lapis-blue accents complete the Aegean mood without overdoing it. The menu runs to the kind of home-style food Greeks actually eat, lamb meatballs, baked gigantes, a vegetarian moussaka built on artichokes. The wine list stays close to the homeland.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. AAA Approved

1. Eater Where to Eat Brunch in New York City

Wine carafes priced the way carafes should be priced, and octopus skewers landing on paper-covered tables beside tzatziki and spanakopita, all of it meant for sharing. Kiki's is a neighborhood Greek taverna on the Lower East Side that got so popular the team opened an identical spot across the street for overflow, which is either very practical or very on-brand for the neighborhood. Usually easy to get a table, which says something.

1. Eater The Best Lower East Side Restaurants

1. The New York Times 2012 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review

1. The New York Times 2015 · 1 star · Restaurant Review

1. The New York Times 2015 · 1 star · Restaurant Review