Ristorante Ponticello

I had a very nice meal here, but it was very expensive.  The food was very good although nothing was excellent.  I ate here on a Wednesday night with 3 family members, the place was busy.  Nice looking restaurant, very high ceilings, mirrors all around.

The meal started with cold bread and butter.  Kinda strange not to be offered olive oil.  I don't think i had butter once in the 3 months I lived in Italy, to be fair this was northern Italian and i lived in southern Italy, so for all i know this is typical, although I doubt it.  I ordered the Stuffed Avocado with Crab, it was good.  Crab was good quality canned crab, on a 1/2 avocado with some onions, red peper and lemon.

Others at the table ordered the Lobster Ravioli, which was a very small portion even some a heavy dish, there were only 3 ravioli's.  My fiance had the Eggplant Rolatini, which she liked very much, but it was not actually rolled it was more like eggplant parm.  The table also had the Pasta Vongolette, it was very good, huge portion of small New Zealand clams.

For the main course i had the Stripped Bass with a light tomato and Onion sauce and polenta.  This would have been great if the fish was better, it was not as fresh as i would have liked.  Good but not great dish.  The polenta was a huge disappointment, because i was expecting the traditional version, and instead it was more like polenta cakes, still good but not the best way to enjoy polenta in my opinion.  My father had the Chicken and Filet Minion combination, you would have thought he died and went to heaven.  He loved the meat, very nice size piece of filet with surprisingly a marsala sauce that worked real well.  The chicken turned out to be fransais, well done.  The Swiss Chard potatoes were very good and something i've never seen before.

4 people had apps, entrees, desert and a drink each and the bill came to a little over $200.  The service was  very good and they were very accommodating turning entrees into apps and vice versa.  I would not go out of my way for this place, but if your in the area its worth a visit.

Telly's Taverna

This place is very loud and the staff is overwhelmed. Its a huge place, with few waitresses.  Hard to get anything at all, although they were all very nice when they did stop at our table.  They moved us twice during the meal, first when we sat down they moved us after a few minutes to the back where it was quieter.  Then before we were done they moved us to another small table in the middle of the room, kinda annoying.

The actual food was good to great, but took a while to get to us. Just like a few other Greek fish places in Astoria we were able to walk over to the grill and ask what was fresh and recommended.  I always like that, when i can see the fish up close and know its fresh and when i ask they give me an honest opinion.

The bread tasted fresh out of the oven, very hot and toasted on one side, so i'm assuming they actually grilled it for a minutes or so.  The sea bass was excellent, slighly charred on the outside, which i actually loved, its not often that i eat the skin but this was crispy and tasty.  Very fresh, great simple grilled fish.  The waitress removed the fish from the bone which is always a nice touch.  Came with excellent lemon potatoes, very starchy, particularly tasty, but arrived a good 10 minutes after the fish.  My father had the lamb  chops, nice sized portion, you get 4, decent sized chops.  He did not think they were great, but i enjoyed them very much.

Saganaki for starters was good but the batter was falling off and slightly burnt on the bottom, not quite the stuff i had in Greece, nor in other places in Astoria.  The grilled sausage was excellent, enjoyed by all. Complimentary desert really good, hot out of the oil balls of dough that reminded my of zepoli but with honey and cinnamon.  We devoured it!

Many of the Greek fish places in Astoria are similar, this one is not bad at all, the food was very good, but it is very loud, and its hard to get a hold of the waitress, still recommended, and enjoyed.

Kabab Café

 
After hearing so much about this place, and since i live walking distance i had to try it.  This was not just a meal, it was an experience.  Knowing it was small and imagining it would be busy, my fiance and I arrived at about 6:30 which is early for us.  We dined for about 2 hours, gotta expect a long meal here, Ali takes his time, as he should, this is slow food.   When we arrived there was one other person getting take out, but he left and for the majority of our meal we had the place to ourselves.  When others did arrive it was clear that they were all locals who knew Ali well.

The place itself is like walking into a kitchen or a living room,  When you walk in your surrounded by amazing looking food right in front of you... and the smells!  It smelled incredible.  Such a small place with not much of an outside, i never even noticed it before.  But i'm glad i went.

Awesome meal!  We tried the sweatbread of i believe lamb, thu it might have been veal,  for the first time and loved it!  It was heavy on the salt, but rich with flavor.  The lambs cheek was good, not great, kinda this big black mushy stew with an egg in it, very strange and not appealing in appearance.  The appetizer plate with hummus and apples, falafel and a few more dips was amazing.  Not oily at all, and most dips were a bit chunky, which i enjoyed.  From where i was sitting i could watch Ali cook, it was really interesting.

After the appetizers Ali left to go to the store or something so we hung, thankfully he was back 10 minutes latter to take our dinner order.

"What are you in the mood for?  We have fish... Whole bronzini, porgies, grilled sardines, soft shell crab... meat? Lamb, goat, duck..."

No menu, which was fine as it was an experience and i imagine he is telling me whats best and fresh and recommended.

My fiance ordered the duck.  Very tasty and moist with rice and Asian broccoli, which i really enjoyed, and i generally don't enjoy that stuff very much at all.   I ordered the stuffed lamb.  It was very good but not great.  Not enough meat for me, and to many carrots, but the flavors were fantastic and the spinach was really good too.  We both enjoyed our food very much.  Had a crepe type dish with yogurt and fig jam for desert, it was fantastic, smooth, rich, hot, perfect way to end the meal.   Which was good to because we were totally stuffed!

One thing i really liked was the music, it was like i was at home! fantastic mix of jazz, drum and bass, and world music, really enjoyable to listen to for 2 hours.

Including tip we paid exactly $100, which is kinda expensive, but we ordered alot of food, 3 apps, 2 drinks, 2 entrees, and 1 dessert, so i guess $100 is not that bad.  Very memorable meal, we will return for sure.  Highly recommended for unique food and for a unique experience.  The place is so small you have to interact with the other patrons, which is kinda nice.  I'm not giving it 5 stars because the lamb and the lambs cheek were not great, but if i could give it a 4.5 i would, this is one of the most memorable places i've ever eaten in, i cant wait to go back! 

(I've been back 3 times after this first visit)