SVL Souvlaki Bar

We tend to go to Food Bazaar on the outskirts of Long Island City often, and the easiest way to get there by train whilst having dinner options would be to exit off Steinway St in Astoria via the M/R train. This area has a mix of random restaurants ranging from national chains like Applebee’s to Mediterranean and Latin options. This restaurant is literally right across street from the subway entrance, so it was very easy to access.

Ambiance

This really is just a fast food type restaurants where all the things come out really quickly. You order at the cashier, and if you are dining in, they will bring it to your table. Be prepared for the portion sizing because it is a lot for the plates.

Food

The Mixed Plate for 2 (was $34.50, now $49.50 as of Mar 4 ‘23) came with the following:

1. Chicken Yeero - This was pretty good. It’s like shawarma, where you take layers of meat and stack them on top of each other on a spit. There are some very tender pieces as well as plenty of flavor.
2. Pork Yeero - The pork was pretty good too. To be honest, I couldn’t tell too much what I was eating because everything was so close together on the plate.
3. Beef Kabab - This was pretty good. The beef was fairly tender and very flavorful.
4. Loukaniko - This is the sausage. It was overcooked, charred, chewy, and salty. It was not one of my favorites.
5. Beef and Lamb Yeero - They gave several slices of this, and it was good.
6. Pork Souvlaki - I liked this a lot. The pork came charred, juicy, and had a very nice bouncy texture. It reminded me a bit of gizzards.
7. Chicken Souvlaki - The chicken skewers were quite good as well.
8. Mesclun Salad - The salad was very forgettable.
9. Rice Pilaf - We really liked the rice. It’s very similar to American rice pilaf that you’d get at national chain restaurants.
10. Sauces of tzatziki, SVL sauce, chipotle aioli, and mustard aioli - Of all the sauces, we enjoyed the tzatziki the most. The others were OK.
11. Pita bread

For the price and for 2 people, this was a fantastic deal and flavor wise it was pretty good. We definitely had to bring leftovers home, and it was more than enough for dinner for the following day.

Added March 4, 2023.

The Pork Souvlaki plate ($18) was good enough for 2 people and came with the following:

1. 2 skewers of pork souvlaki. This was smokey, good, and bouncy like the mixed plate.
2. Salad
3. Fries
4. Warm pita
5. Tzatziki

Final Verdict

We plan to visit this fast casual restaurant again when we go to Food Bazaar again because it’s quite good for fast food standards. There are only 2 locations of this, and they are both in Astoria.

Yelp Jabs

I wouldn’t recommend this place. This is the worst souvlaki I’ve ever had.

This Yelper probably has only been to at most 2 souvlaki places in their life, so take their review with a grain of salt. They ordered the gyro and complained it was dry. I would imagine if it was not dry, they’d complain it was too greasy.

Experience has led me to view places that have a ton of polish with suspicion, because that polish often comes at the expense of something else, and such was the case here.

If this restaurant seemed polished to this Yelper, then they must have rather low standards or their experience is trivial. Reading their review, they complained it had too many fries. The amusing thing about this comment is that people tend to order gyro wraps for the fries.

Revisions

1. Mar 4, 2023 - Added Pork Souvlaki plate and adjusted the price for the mixed plate for 2.
2. Dec 4, 2022 - Initial revision.