Queens / Astoria
The Best Restaurants
in Astoria
Greek fish by the pound, Egyptian cooking on Steinway Street, and a beer garden that opened in 1910.
Checking which of these 14 kitchens are open right now…
- 14 verified restaurants
- 5 Greek tavernas
- pizza from $12.95
- a beer garden since 1910
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The best restaurants in Astoria right now are Bahari Estiatorio on Broadway, where grilled octopus is $28.75 and moussaka $22; Astoria Seafood, where you pick your fish off a bed of ice, have it weighed and grilled, and bring your own wine; Kabab Cafe on Steinway Street, where Ali El Sayed cooks every plate himself and the menu changes daily; Rizzo’s Fine Pizza, whose thin square pie has cost less than a cocktail since 1959; and Bohemian Hall, a beer garden that opened in 1910. Two things make this neighbourhood worth the N or W train: the Greek tavernas around Ditmars and 31st, and the Egyptian cooking on a six-block stretch of Steinway Street that most city-wide guides skip entirely. This list is arranged around both, then the Italian, then everything else. Every price came off the restaurant’s own menu; where a place publishes none, we say so rather than guess.
The short version
- Best overallBahari Estiatorio — $28.75 grilled octopus, $22 moussaka, open noon to midnight every day.
- The Astoria moveAstoria Seafood — pick your fish off the ice, pay by the pound, bring your own wine.
- Best valueRizzo’s Fine Pizza — the thin square pie, $18, since 1959.
- Most interestingKabab Cafe — Ali El Sayed cooks it all himself, menu changes daily, cash only.
- Best for a groupBohemian Hall — $9 a half-litre mug, $26 a pitcher, in a beer garden from 1910.
At a glance
Grouped the way the neighbourhood actually works. Tap a number on the map to place any of them.
| Restaurant | Known for | Best for | Hours | $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bahari Estiatorio | Greek, full menu prices published | A first trip to Astoria | Daily 12pm–12am | $$$ |
| Astoria Seafood | Pick-your-own fish, weighed and grilled | A loud group dinner | Tue–Sat 12–9pm | $$$ |
| Taverna Kyclades | Greek seafood taverna, no reservations | Fish without the market-price roulette | Daily from noon | $$$ |
| Ovelia Psistaria Bar | Greek grill house on 30th Ave | Weekend lunch outside | Wed–Sun, closed Mon & Tue | $$$ |
| Elias Corner | Grilled fish, since 1978 | Dinner with no decisions | Wed–Mon 4–10pm | $$$ |
| Kabab Cafe | Egyptian cooking, chef-driven, cash only | Eating something you cannot plan | Tue–Sun, split service | $$$ |
| Sabry’s Seafood | Egyptian seafood on Steinway | Steinway Street with actual prices | Daily 12–11pm | $$$ |
| Mombar | Egyptian, hand-built room, cash and BYOB | A long, unhurried dinner | Unpublished — call | $$$ |
| Sac’s Place | Coal-brick-oven pizza and red sauce | Pizza worth the trip | Closed Tue (dining room) | $$$ |
| Vesta Trattoria & Wine Bar | Italian, wine bar, weekend brunch | A sit-down dinner on 30th Ave | Daily dinner; lunch varies | $$$ |
| Rizzo’s Fine Pizza | Thin-crust square slice since 1959 | The cheapest good thing in Astoria | Daily 11am–10pm | $$$ |
| Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden | Czech and Slovak food, huge beer garden | A big group outside | Tue–Sun, closed Mon | $$$ |
| Sanfords | All-day American, serious whisky list | Brunch, or a nightcap | Daily 10am–late | $$$ |
| HinoMaru Ramen | Tonkotsu, shoyu, spicy miso ramen | A bowl after the Ditmars stroll | Split service, daily | $$$ |
Map: where these 14 restaurants are
The Greek spots cluster around Ditmars and 31st Street; Little Egypt runs down Steinway between 25th and 28th Avenues.
Pins are address-derived. Astoria Seafood is the outlier at the bottom – it is technically Long Island City, a few blocks over the line.
The Greek spine, which is why people come
Five rooms between Broadway and Ditmars. Two of them let you pick your fish off ice. More in our best Greek restaurants in NYC guide.
Bahari Estiatorio Open now
Start here. Bahari is the Astoria Greek room that publishes actual numbers instead of making you ask: grilled octopus dressed in olive oil and red wine vinegar $28.75, moussaka $22, baby lamb chops $39.75, and the spreads — taramosalata, tzatziki, skordalia — at $12 to $14. Whole fish is still market price, and they say so. It is open noon to midnight every single day, which almost nothing else on this page manages, and there are lunch specials Monday to Friday from noon to 4. The Honest Caveat: reservations are phone only, capped at ten people, and deliberately limited — a bigger group books one of the two private rooms or waits. Their reservations page also still shows a placeholder 555 number; the real one is (718) 204-8968.
bahariestiatorio.com · See our best Greek restaurants in NYC
Astoria Seafood Open now
This is the one to send people to. It is a working fish market with a grill and tables: you walk to the ice, choose your barbounia or branzino or a pile of shrimp, hand it over, say grilled or fried, and it is weighed and cooked. Prices are daily and by the pound, so there is no menu to quote — that is the format, not an evasion. It is BYOB, confirmed by both Time Out and The Infatuation, which makes a big table here absurdly good value. The Honest Caveat, twice over: it is closed Sunday and Monday, and despite the name the address is Long Island City 11101, a few blocks the other side of the line. Over-order and get there early — seating is a scramble.
astoriaseafoodny.com · See our best seafood restaurants in NYC
Taverna Kyclades Open now
The Ditmars Boulevard institution, and the one that generates a queue on the pavement most weekend nights. Grilled octopus is $27.95, calamari $20.95, mussels Santorini $24.95, and unusually for this format the whole fish carries fixed numbers — branzino $44, black sea bass $49.95, dorata $40 — rather than market price. Two caveats and both matter. First, the address: it is 36-01 Ditmars, not the 33-07 that half the internet still lists, because they moved. Second, those prices come off their own ordering site rather than the flagship menu page, which publishes none at all, so treat them as a guide and expect dine-in to differ a little.
Ovelia Psistaria Bar Open now
A psistaria — a grill house — on 30th Avenue, and the reason to know it is one number: the whole branzino is $38, served with lemon potatoes or kale, at a fixed price rather than market. In a neighbourhood where whole fish usually means asking the weight and the per-pound rate and then bracing, that is worth something. Grilled octopus is $32, lamb shoulder chops $38, and the spreads run $9 for hummus to $22 for a taste of three. The Honest Caveat, and lead with it: they are closed Monday and Tuesday, both of them, so this is a Wednesday-to-Sunday plan. Weekends they open at 11am, which is the best time to sit outside.
ovelianyc.com · See our best Greek restaurants in NYC
Elias Corner Open now
A corner room under the N train where the ordering works like this: you look at what is in the fish case at the front, and that is what you eat, grilled plainly with lemon and oil. There is no printed menu and no prices anywhere — not on their site, not on the wall — which is either the charm or the dealbreaker depending on your mood. The Local Move is the free parking they publish on their own directions page, adjacent on 24th Avenue, which in this part of Astoria is a genuine gift. Two Honest Caveats: it is closed all day Tuesday, and it has a long-standing cash-only reputation that we could not confirm either way now that they run a card-based ordering system. Call before you rely on plastic.
Little Egypt, on six blocks of Steinway Street
The part of Astoria most city-wide guides skip. Two brothers run two of these three. More in our best Middle Eastern restaurants guide.
Kabab Cafe Open now
A tiny room on Steinway where Ali El Sayed cooks everything himself, which is the appeal and also the reason nothing about it is predictable. There is a printed menu — grilled chops $27, sliced shank $25, Egyptian shakshuka $12, hawawshi of the day $12 — but half of it carries no price and the actual offer depends on what he found that morning. Order the way you would at a friend’s house: ask what is good. Two Honest Caveats his own site and reviewers are clear about. It is cash only, stated plainly on his website. And the posted hours are aspirational — one person cooking means the door opens when it opens, so ring (718) 728-9858 before you travel. Budget more than the menu suggests.
kababcafenyc.com · See our best Middle Eastern restaurants in NYC
Sabry’s Seafood Open now
The one on Steinway that publishes a full priced menu, which after Kabab Cafe and Mombar is a relief. Grilled salmon $28.95, linguini fruit de mer with shrimp, calamari, mussels and clams $34.95, tajine with scallops $39.95, and the seafood combos running $44.95 to $74.95. Live lobster and lobster tail are market price. The Honest Caveat is one to know before you book a birthday here: their own site states they do not serve alcohol. It is widely described elsewhere as BYOB, but the restaurant has not said so, so do not arrive with a case assuming. Their site also hedges its own opening hours with ‘hours might differ’ — on Steinway that is normal, not a warning sign.
sabrys-seafood.com · See our best seafood restaurants in NYC
Mombar
Ten doors from Kabab Cafe, run by Moustafa El-Sayed — Ali’s brother — in a room he built and tiled himself over more than twenty years. There is no website, no printed menu and no published hours: Moustafa tells you what he is cooking, and the food comes out table by table because it is cooked to order for each one. About eighteen seats. It is cash and BYOB. Worth It if you have an evening rather than an hour; Skip It if you are hungry now and on a clock. The Honest Caveat: because nothing is published, ring (718) 726-2356 before you go. This card carries no opening pill for the same reason — we will not invent hours nobody has stated.
Italian, and the square that predates all of it
Astoria lost its best-known Italian room in 2024. These are what is actually here now. More in our best Italian restaurants in NYC guide.
Sac’s Place Open now
Astoria lost Trattoria L’incontro to the Upper East Side in 2024, and this is the Italian room that earns the slot in its place — partly because the coal-brick oven is genuinely good, partly because it is the only Astoria Italian we found that publishes a full priced menu. The classic pizza is $12.95 for a ten-inch and $26.95 for an eighteen. Penne alla vodka $26, chicken parmigiana $34.30, lobster and crab ravioli with shrimp $36.40, and a family special that feeds four for $65. The Local Move is the seasonal pizza garden, open Wednesday and Thursday evenings and all day Friday to Sunday. The Honest Caveat: the dining room is closed Tuesdays, though pizza takeout still runs from 11:30am.
sacsplace.com · See our best Italian restaurants in NYC
Vesta Trattoria & Wine Bar Open now
The 30th Avenue trattoria people actually book, and the menu is priced properly on its own site: agnolotti ai quattro formaggi $28, fettuccine all’amatriciana $27, wild boar lasagna $26, pan-seared branzino $30, a margherita at $22. Weekend brunch runs noon to 4. The Local Move is going on a night they also do lunch — Monday, Thursday and Friday — because the same kitchen at 12:30pm is a much calmer room. The Honest Caveat: there is no lunch Tuesday or Wednesday, those are dinner-only. Their site footer still reads 2024, so double-check a price you are counting on before you order it.
vestavino.com · See our best Italian restaurants in NYC
Rizzo’s Fine Pizza Open now
The square. Thin, crisp, sauce in bold bursts under parmigiano and romano with slices of mozzarella on top — it is not a thick Sicilian and people who order it expecting one are always disappointed. A whole square cheese pie is $18, two pies with a free two-litre soda $28.95, a round cheese pie from $12. They have been doing exactly this on Steinway since 1959. The Honest Caveat: the by-the-slice price is not published anywhere official, so we are not quoting one. And this is a counter, not a restaurant — do not send anyone here expecting to sit down to dinner. Go Here Instead of the newer pizza places if you want the version Astoria actually grew up on.
myrizzospizza.com · See our best pizza in NYC
The rest of the range
A 1910 beer garden, a whisky bar disguised as a brunch spot, and a bowl of ramen. More in our best restaurants in NYC guide.
Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden Open now
The reason a lot of people first come to Astoria, and it holds up: a genuine beer garden with trees and long communal tables, which the hall itself dates to 1910. Beer is where the value is — $9 for a half-litre mug, $26 for a pitcher, $10 for a Brouczech lager, $12 for a Duvel — while cocktails jump to $15 and wine is $13 a glass or $46 a bottle. The Honest Caveat is the food: they publish the drinks menu with prices and the food menu as images with none, so we cannot quote you a goulash or a pierogi. Come for the garden and the beer, order the food once you are there. Closed Mondays for private events.
bohemianhall.com · See our best breweries in NYC
Sanfords Open now
Everyone in Astoria knows Sanfords for brunch, served every day from 10am to 4pm, and that is a fair reason to go. The more interesting fact is on their press page: Whisky Advocate named it one of America’s Top Whisky Bars for 2025, and it has appeared on a fifty-best-in-the-world whisky bar list. That is a nationally ranked drinks programme sitting inside a neighbourhood brunch room on Broadway, which is a genuinely odd and good thing. The Local Move is therefore to come at night rather than at noon. The Honest Caveat: their menus are published as image-only PDFs with no readable prices, so we are not quoting any — check the board when you sit down.
sanfordsnyc.com · See our best whiskey bars in NYC
HinoMaru Ramen Open now
The ramen option up on Ditmars, a few doors from the Greek strip, doing tonkotsu, shoyu, spicy miso and their own HinoMaru and Fireball bowls, plus okonomiyaki, gyoza, takoyaki and a soft-shell crab nikuman. The Honest Caveat that will actually affect your evening: there is a hard mid-afternoon break. They shut 3pm to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 4pm to 5pm Friday to Sunday, so a 4pm arrival finds a locked door. Their site publishes no prices at all, and it claims a Michelin Bib Gourmand for eight consecutive years without naming a single one of them — we could not verify that against the current guide, so we are not repeating it as fact.
hinomaruramen.com · See our best Japanese restaurants in NYC
Astoria restaurants: FAQ
What are the best restaurants in Astoria?
Bahari Estiatorio is the best all-round Greek room, with $28.75 grilled octopus and $22 moussaka, open noon to midnight daily. Astoria Seafood is the most distinctive: you pick your fish off ice, pay by the pound, and bring your own wine. Kabab Cafe on Steinway Street serves the neighbourhood’s best Egyptian cooking, cash only. Rizzo’s Fine Pizza has made the same $18 thin square pie since 1959.
What is the best food in Astoria?
Greek and Egyptian. The Greek tavernas around Ditmars Boulevard and 31st Street – Taverna Kyclades, Elias Corner, Bahari, Ovelia – do grilled whole fish better and cheaper than most of Manhattan. Six blocks of Steinway Street known as Little Egypt hold Kabab Cafe, Mombar and Sabry’s Seafood. Between them they are the reason to take the N or W train out here.
Which Astoria restaurants are cash only or BYOB?
Kabab Cafe states cash only on its own website. Mombar is cash and BYOB. Astoria Seafood is BYOB, confirmed by Time Out and The Infatuation. Sabry’s Seafood serves no alcohol at all, per its own site – it is often described as BYOB elsewhere, but the restaurant has never said so. Elias Corner has a long-standing cash-only reputation we could not confirm, so call ahead.
Which days are Astoria restaurants closed?
More than you would expect. Ovelia is closed Monday and Tuesday. Elias Corner is closed Tuesday. Sac’s Place closes its dining room Tuesday. Bohemian Hall is closed Monday. Astoria Seafood is closed Sunday and Monday. Kabab Cafe is closed Monday and shuts between 5pm and 6pm. Bahari, Sabry’s and Rizzo’s are the reliable seven-day options.
Is Astoria Seafood actually in Astoria?
No. Despite the name, Astoria Seafood is at 37-10 33rd Street in Long Island City, ZIP 11101, a few blocks the other side of the neighbourhood line – Yelp files it under Long Island City. It is a short walk from Astoria proper and belongs on any honest Astoria list, but the address is LIC.
Two practical things this list keeps running into. First, cash: Kabab Cafe says cash only on its own website, and Mombar is cash and BYOB — bring notes and a bottle. Second, closing days are all over the place out here. Ovelia is dark Monday and Tuesday, Elias Corner is dark Tuesday, Sac’s Place closes its dining room Tuesday, and Bohemian Hall is closed Monday. Check the hours column before you get on the train.
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More guides: Best Greek restaurants · Best Middle Eastern · Best seafood · Best pizza in NYC · Best outdoor bars · Midtown East restaurants
