Stamatis

Standard but good Greek food in Astoria, decent service, decent prices, nothing outstanding, but nothing at all bad, recommended for sure.  It is quite big and bright, and I believe they pool their tips, because they service is spotty.

The meal starts with nice toasted bread with a few herbs and olive oil.  There is also a huge jar of opened olive oil and one of vinegar on the table, to use as your liking.  They also drop off a small plate of lemons, you can douse just about anything they serve with lemon, and you should.  For appetizers we had the Avgolemono which was thicker then usual, very good version after I squeezed a few more lemon wedges into it.  Great soup.  We also had the fried eggplant with Skorthalia, which I usually find too bitter from way to much raw garlic, thankfully this one was seasoned just right.  Well fried, lightly battered eggplant, nice portion and well matched with the just garlicky enough Skorthalia.  Another good dish.

For entrees we ordered the Seabass and the Sole.  Both were good, although the seabass was overcooked and the Sole took an extra 5 minutes to arrive, albeit with multiple apologies from the server.  My seabass was grilled as I asked for, but it was overcooked to the point that the entire head was burnt, hard to pick at the crevices for tender pieces.  I like the skin crispy so I still enjoyed this dish, especially served with the oil and garlic sauce, but it was a bit dry.  The Sole was fine, standard, a bit boring, but that is on the fish, not the restaurant.  The lemon potatoes were not so good, not enough lemon and since they cook everything (aside from the fish/meat) in advance it sat around and started to break up, not very appetizing.  The rice and peas were passable.

The cherry on top is the free dessert that is so common in Astoria Greek restaurants, (which of course is a Greek tradition).  The name eludes me, but it was phyllo stuffed with a type of custard, topped with honey and cinnamon, wonderful flavor although a bit sweet for one of the dinner guests.  It was surprisingly light, and I personally loved it.  The house wine by carafe was decent, nothing memorable, standard house red.  Overall good meal, large portions, you will not leave hungry.  Decent service, not overly friendly, but attentive to your needs.  The octopus appetizer is $23 which is ridiculous considering how relatively inexpensive octopus is, I know the same dish served better is $12 a few avenues away, however the prices overall were moderate.  Recommended for fish.