Ovelia

So we came here for my grandmothers birthday and honestly, the hostess and waitress were very nice.
Unfortunately, the food I ordered was absolutely disgusting. So much so that I could not finish, or even start, what I ordered. I sent the plate back, very hungry and very disappointed. Again, the waitress was nice and offered a complementary dish, but I was so disgusted with what was just served I passed. Rather eat leftovers at home.
They didn’t charge for the nastiness, but I’m not sure why they would even send out something that smelled so vile. Trust me, this wasn’t a preference of taste sort of thing… I’m not picky AT ALL. Bleh.

Very nice variety of specialty drinks and good food. The staff is very friendly and attentive. They have happy hour on weekdays until 7 – 8. There was a DJ on Saturday night.
Good place for a date or after work drinks!

Aside from an underwhelming salad, we loved it all. The calamari especially was the best thing I’ve tasted in a while. We had an early dinner so the place was still really quiet with a great ambiance. Really good time here. One critic. Wish they had more lamb.

I started this out as 3 stars because some of the food was fantastic and some was mediocre, but then I bumped it up for the great service.
Great food that my party had:
— Lamb kebabs
— Grilled calamari
— Tzatziki
— Monastiraki bifteki
— Brussels spouts side
Mediocre food:
— Vegan soutzoukakia (sort of like large felafel)
— Village salad
The free wine deal for the Unilocal checkin is great. And it has a good atmosphere but isn’t too loud. Overall it’s a good place, and I would definitely return and try some of the other items.

Love this place. Food is always excellent and the staff is always friendly. The décor is great, and I love sitting outside in the warmer months.
They have an amazing brunch but great spot for any meal!

Ovelia is amazing. I’ve eaten here a few times and have come for happy hour a bunch and I have no complaints.
Food: basically upscale Greek food. But you will still find most of the traditional small plates and entrees.
— they indicate on the menu what is veg, vegan and gluten free, which is totally helpful and appreciated.
–I’ve liked basically everything I’ve eaten here (salad, calamari, spinach pie, dips, octopus, Saganaki, scallops and more.)
-«rock and ribs Wednesday» is this special menu they have every Wednesday that is like barbecue meets Greek food. They do ribs, Mac and cheese, kafteri poppers, biscuits etc. the only thing I’ve tried from this menu is the buffalo calamari (highly recommend !!!). Looking forward to trying more from this menu
Service/​ambiance:
–a really nice interior– great for a date or girls night
–service has always been spectacular. Bartenders and servers
Happy hour: love their happy hour because they have until 8pm! Sometimes they have $ 1 oysters but I’m not sure what night they have it on. They also have great sangria for $ 6 at happy hour
Negatives:
–I would suggest to stick to their regular menu/​Greek dishes. Ordered a lobster roll from their specials once and it was really disappointing (barley any lobster and no lobster chunks. Lots of fillers like capers that took away any of the lobster flavor)
–they don’t offer any pita sandwiches. They have a bunch of meat entrees, but no sandwich versions of the same. This always makes it really expensive.
All in all I think ovelia deserves 5 stars as they offer an expansive menu and is a great place to go out and have a fun and tasty dinner

My foray into Astoria’s Greek food scene is remains limited, but I have dined at Ovelia twice now and can say, with confidence, that this place constitutes an excellent modern take on more traditional dishes. The price point is slightly above what you’d hope to pay for a moderate meal, which makes this a nice restaurant for a casual date or a special occasion. To that end, the dishes are all fairly priced according to their portion and the quality of the food.
For me personally, the primary appeal of Ovelia was its inclusion of an all-​vegan entrée on the main menu. The «vegan soutzoukakia» is a substantial dish of chickpea croquets (think falafel, but shaped more like sausage) and grated cauliflower (strongly seasoned with tumeric, I believe), and topped off with fresh tomato sauce and herbs. This is easily the single best vegan dish I’ve enjoyed in Astoria so far, given the limited options in the neighborhood (compared to Manhattan). It is incredibly flavorful, and I suspect that anyone could enjoy it – not only vegans/​vegetarians. Entrees are also served with a side of warm pita bread (or is this automatically provided to every table?), adding to the heartiness of the meal.
The other items I’ve tried include the gigantes plaki (baked lima beans in tomato sauce with onion, parsley) for $ 9, the hummus for $ 7, and Ovelia’s classic cocktail. All were satisfying (though not on the same level as the soutzoukakia) and the two starters were good sharing options. It’s also worth mentioning that the happy hour deal here is pretty unbeatable. Select house cocktails for, I believe, only $ 6 or so.
I do wish Ovelia offered 1 or 2 more vegan-​friendly items, especially for lunch or brunch where there are none other than salad. Service here is hit or miss as well, but the food is always great.

Can moussaka fly? It certainly does at Ovelia!
I hosted a major catered event and event before I called any of my regular vendors three attendees asked «Ooh, will you have that wonderful moussaka platter like last time?»
Those if you read my Unilocal posts already know this is one of my favorite brunch/​lunch/​dinner spots, but the catering is also remarkable. A big HOLLAR to Chef Peter for his handiwork and to the team at Ovelia for always helping out at major events. I can’t thank you all enough for setting that up for us, and with the usual packed house on a Saturday afternoon. Evxaristo poli!

Love this place! The staff is so professional, the food is fresh, great desserts! I love being Greek. Thank you for the amazing food

Got late night drinks here and sat outside, which is my favorite!!! I got a greek white wine (Lefkos), my friend got a Greek red wine (Agiorgitiko), and my boyfriend got some girly cocktail with fruit in it (he’s straight, I swear!). Our waitress was super fun and friendly. I wish she could stop working and join us. Atmosphere is generally quiet and dark. Good to meet up for one-​on-​ones.

Came here for brunch with my family. I ordered a bloody mary which was decent. We ordered three spreads as an appetizer and the one that stood out the most was the kafteri. It was different from others I’ve had because it had jalapeños in it which made it so good. As an entrée I ordered the greek salad with grilled chicken which was good but I prefer the beet omelette I’ve ordered in prior visits.

Came for brunch and got the mimosa and eggs florentine. For appetizer we got some dips with pita. Everything was delicious. This place takes your regular brunch items and gives them a greek twist. My eggs florentine came on a bed of spinach pie. the potatoes that came with it were perfectly cooked and had a crisp to them that I enjoyed very much. Great local spot.

I’m giving this place 5 stars because the food is awesome! I’ve been here a few times and was never disappointed by the food. The service is good too! Only thing that’s a pain about this place is– if you want to come on the weekends for brunch it’s almost impossible because of the volume of people that go. But I did manage to get here once for a brunch and again– the food was awesome! So this time I came on a weekday with a friend for lunch and I ordered the fried feta cubes and the mousakas for my main dish. Both were delicious! Even the presentation was very good! If you’re in the Astoria area and want to grab some good Greek style food– definitely stop in here!

Great food and nice beer selection. They had Delirium Tremens on tap!
The appetizers are awesome and very generous portioned. We had the zucchini croquet and the spinach pie, tastes awesome. The entres are also great, we had the ziti and the chicken.
Great place for local comfort food.

Stopped in here at the end of our beer books tour part 2. I’ve passed this place dozens of times and heard good things about it so I was glad to to fi ally be able to try it.
They have outdoor seating when it’s nice out so we opted for the outdoor seating. We ordered a Greek salad and calamari. Both were good.
I forgot what the others ordered but I went with the baby shark. An odd favorite of mine. But trust me, you won’t be disappointed if you like seafood. It was prepared well and tasted pretty good. We ended up waiting 15 – 20 mins for our waitress to make her way back to us so that we could ask for our check.
Good place, awesome location (close to the N-​Q train), nice décor and presentation.

Ovelia, a short walk off the 30^th ave N/​Q stop in Astoria, is an upscale Greek style lounge restaurant. Serving eclectic cocktails and food, we stopped in on a breezy Monday night in August. With their windows and doors wide open, much of their seating is on an outdoor patio. We were greeted by our waitress, Marisa, who was great. She had a number of awesome menu recommendations for foods and drinks. Plus, if you check in on Unilocal,you get a free glass of wine with the purchase of an entrée. Seeing that their wine starts at $ 10 and was delicious, that’s a great deal!
We started with the calamari appetizer. This isn’t your typical calamari, as it isn’t fried or breaded. It’s seasoned squid, some of which is stuffed with feta, bacon, and bell peppers, and served with homemade pita.
I got the bifteki entrée, which is ground lamb, beef, and pork kebabs (without the wooden sticks) served with tzatziki and grilled tomato on a bed of pita and a choice of a side. I got the mixed grain rice mixed with grape leaves, dill, and lemon and topped with a small dollop of greek yogurt. Normally, the taste of grape leaves can be a big too strong for me. But this dish had was so savory, I couldn’t imagine it being better than it was My companion got the «Pastitsio,» which appeared to be a greek style lasagna (though they would never call it lasagna). It is layers of ziti, Greek style bolognese, and bechemel and served with a salad. Everything we ate was awesome.
The drinks:
While they were out of sangria during our visit, we tried a few of their cocktails. the Ovelia Sikatini, the Dona Mariposa, and the Mastiha-​licious. All three were very eclectic, with the Dona Mariposa being very close to a margarita. For me, the winner was the French white wine that was part of the Unilocal special, which was not too dry, not too sweet and just the right amount of everything.
The service:
While Marisa was very attentive and gave great recommendations, the service from the kitchen was super slow. Again, this was a Monday night, and it was kinda late — so the restaurant wasn’t packed. The slowness of the kitchen was the primary reason I had to take my review down to four-​star versus five.
The ambiance:
Very modern and upscale, yet kitschy here and there (the bar counter lights up and changes colors, for example). Music was just the right volume and very loungy.
Would I recommend? It’s great for a couple. a date night, or really just a good food night out.

Piked Ovelia for beautiful Sunday afternoon with friends for drinks. We ordered grilled octopus, saganaki, loukaniko & calamari and drinks. We had wonderful time hanging out while enjoying drinks. Service was exceptional no one bothered us or pushed us to leave, food was delicious. We had awesome time and will definitely come back!

«Delectable delights»
This place is pretty much a fantastic nugget in Astoria. The restaurant has excellent non pretentious cocktails and a pretty good happy hour for certain ones. Sorry, but I have forgotten the actual names of the cocktails but the one with the boozed-​soaked fig is excellent. Oh the lychee bellini is pretty fabulous, even if it is prepared with Andre champagne. God, the champagne brings back both good and bad memories from college.
The place itself is super cute with an open air bar, which is great when the weather is really nice. Plus, the bar has some tupe if glowing action. In terms of service, Tony, the bartender is fantastic.

So I went here for the first time ever this morning for brunch– with my mom. I was skeptical because of all the poor reviews about this place. Let me clear something up for you guys– DON’T TRUST THE REVIEWS!
The place is very cute. I took my mom here for her birthday brunch. We went at 10 AM and it was empty, but an hour later when we left, the place started filling up, so I’d say either get there before 11 or make a reservation?
Anyway, the service was nice. Not overly hyper, but in the morning who is!!! They refilled our water miraculously.
We both got poached eggs with hollandaise sauce over fresh spinach pies with potatoes and onions/​peppers. I loved it. It needed some salt and pepper, but I prefer my plates to be bland in that area so I can add my own sodium.
The hollandaise sauce was thick and almost tasted cheesy? Which was different, but good. The eggs were perfect and yolky. The potatoes and spinach pies were amazing!
The brunch entrees come with a brunch drink. Either a mimosa, a bloody mary, or an amaro spritz.
I got a mimosa, which was great (but due to a headache I couldn’t finish it :’/​) My mom got a bloody mary which it was our first time trying the cocktail and it was pretty good. Very beautiful drinks and plates and scenery, and the food came quickly.
A little pricey but it’s BRUNCH and it comes with a FREE drink. So really, it’s fairly priced. About $ 41 for the whole thing, including tip. Not so bad. That’s how much dinner for two WITHOUT drinks usually is, so.
I’d go back.
Only cons :
One of the water cups smelled really bad! I’ve worked in food service before so I know the dishwasher can make the cups smell bad sometimes especially if it’s left out with the hot water still in it, but it’s just a turn off.
And this one wasn’t a con as much as a misunderstanding, but since I’m 22 years old with a baby face, when I ordered my drink, the waitress never brought it out. When I asked for it, she said she thought I was just ordering it for my mom (who got a bloody mary?) and asked to see my ID. I just found it a little awkward, but she was sweet and it is policy to make sure I’m of age.
So even the cons aren’t really cons.
80% of people who complain on Unilocal are just bitter mean people who complain about everything
If you want to try this place, go ahead! I promise it won’t be a horrible experience.
TIP :
The menu for brunch is not the same online as it is in person.
It’s MUCH better in person.

The waiter we had gave us very professional service.
We used a gilt city coupon, and didn’t get any different treatment for that.
Here is a review of our dining experience:
Grilled Octopus: it was cooked perfectly, the texture was bang on. I think it could have used a bit more seasoning, but it works very to be a lighter taste.
Seared Scallops — I loves the scallops, they were set and decently big and juicy. They were definitely the star of the dish. I also liked the asparagus, but not a fan of the prosciutto.
Coffee steak — this was cooked perfectly medium rare as we requested, a really nice modest flavor of coffee. Their poutine was eh — then again, I’m canadian… Legit poutine is key to me.
Fried Organic Chicken — The breading was perfect. The flavor was subtle. The chicken was leaner than other chickens, hence organic.
Kale
It was good, lemony.
Collard greens
It was a bit salty for my taste… Maybe it is supposed to be that way.
Mac & Cheese
It was alright, a bit lighter than others.