Taverna Kyclades is one of Astoria’s best-loved Greek restaurants. Between the consistently excellent food and cozy, low key atmosphere, we’ve never had a bad experience here. Seafood is the specialty, and your order should be built around whatever whole fish sounds best with a side (or two) of tart, melt-in-your-mouth lemon potatoes. Bulk it out with a lot of sharable starters, like the assortment of dips, some charred greek sausage, and the complimentary galaktoboureko.

Astoria is home to a number of excellent souvlaki trucks, but you’ll always see a crowd around Franky’s on Steinway, and for good reason. Their meat (beef, pork, chicken, lamb, shrimp) is high quality, and they put large, generous chunks of it in their gyros and sandwiches. The best experiences here are spontaneous, when the smell of freshly cooked meat wafts down the street and you can’t resist stopping by for a nicely seasoned stick of lamb.

According to longtime Astoria residents, the space that Estiatorio Nisí now occupies is cursed. Despite its highly visible location, this particular corner saw five different restaurant closures since 2014, before Nisí brought quality grilled octopus and fresh, lemony fagri back into the building. Compared to other Greek places in the area, this one leans slightly upscale. Portions are smaller and prices are higher, but you’re also getting something more elegant than big, family-style platters.

Loi Estiatorio is one of those Midtown spots that feels like it's been around forever, but stays under the radar. The focus at this unfussy restaurant is very much on the food, which includes a simple, but skillfully prepared branzino and a flavorful Greek salad topped with creamy feta that ends up being a surprise favorite. The dining room could use a little pizzazz, but this is still a good spot to become a lunchtime regular.

To Laiko is a Greek coffee shop right by the Ditmars station in Astoria that makes excellent frappes and even better pies. The pies are stuffed with spinach, halloumi, meat, or leek, with thick, buttery shells that are just flaky enough. There are also a number of other sweet and savory pastries and coffee drinks, so use this place as a pitstop for some breakfast before you get on the train.

The entryway of Bahari Estiatorio in Astoria has a big refrigerator on display of once-living fish with eyes that follow you like they’re in a painting. But move past the fish and you’ll see two huge dining spaces large enough to host a wedding (we’re certain these happen here). This place is huge, and usually pretty busy with groups drinking carafes of wine and ordering seafood from the display up front. We especially like the lamb chops here.

A tiny, excellent Greek restaurant on 7th Street in the East Village. Pylos is one of those spots that you either know about and absolutely love, or have never heard of. There is no in between. Focus on the appetizers, like fried zucchini, halloumi, and then make sure to get the artichoke moussaka.

Astoria Seafood is the only one on this list where you get to hand-pick exactly what you want to eat. This place is part fish market and part restaurant, and there’s a big display in the back where you get to choose your own seafood and bag it up before you hand it over to the kitchen. There’s always a pretty big selection of things like snapper, porgy, shrimp, and octopus, and when your server delivers everything fresh from the grill, you’ll be grateful for every last thing you chose.

Aliada’s menu is full of pretty typical Greek specialties. There’s an incredibly soft and citrus-y octopus dish with tomatoes, caper berries, and onions on top, and some fried and sweet saganaki triangles that we’d like for our next birthday cake. This Astoria spot is the sort of comfortable, laid-back place where you could bring your entire family or someone you hope to one day convince to meet your entire family. There’s a great patio area out front.

Telly’s Taverna has about as many options for grilled whole fish as there are birthday cards in CVS categorized as “funny birthday.” But unlike a card with a glittery sloth on it, you’ll actually want to spend money on these fish. Pick your favorite and then get some grilled or fried vegetables and spanakopita. This is some of the best Greek food in Astoria - which, as you’ll notice from this guide, is saying somet