Taverna Kyclades
We came here around 8:30 PM on a rather cold Saturday evening. Typically there is a long line outside, but today people were crowded and bundled up inside. I put my name down for 2. The wait was approximately 40-50 minutes. We had contemplated leaving when we heard the wait time, but we decided to power through and wait. It was worth it.
On July 1, 2023, we visited this restaurant again, and it has moved from it’s previous location. For a table of 4, we just had to wait approximately 30 minutes on a Saturday around 7:30 PM.
Ambiance & Service
The interior and exterior seating areas have a lot of white wooden accents just like before. The service was very fast, and the price was very reasonable considering the large size of all the family style dishes.
Food
The greek salad was pretty straight forward but large. It comes without dressing, but there is olive oil and vinegar that you can pour on the side.
The stuffed clams with crabmeat (kidonia gemista) was recommended by practically everyone on Yelp and by friends. I found this rather just OK. You can imagine what happens when you mix crab meat with mayonnaise like sauces on top of small clam meat. I understand why people like this, so I would say this is a must get for the first time. Otherwise I’d pass on it after.
The grilled octopus (oktapodi) was actually really good. The octopus was soft and tender. Highly recommended. Love the char on it too!
The grilled baby shark (galeos) was really good if you’re into high protein and lean meats. There was not much fat in it, and it was quite dense. The shark had very little bones and was surprisingly really filling.
The grilled scallops were by far my favorite, and it’s because I love scallops. There wasn’t anything particularly special other than they give you a lot of scallops for the price, and the scallops are not overcooked.
Lastly, they give you a courtesy warm baklava at the end of the meal, and it was a nice cap to the night.
Updated July 1, 2023 - our second visit
They gave us complimentary bread. I actually didn’t have any since I was saving space for the rest.
The bottle of Assrytico ‘Thalassitis’ ($77) was from the Gaia Estate, Santorini. This was acidic, dry, and medium body white wine that wasn’t too sweet. It matched well with all the seafood dishes we got in the night.
The Grilled Calamari ($20.95) was so very tender, juicy, and had great smoke flavors from the grill. It was perfectly cooked.
The Crab Cakes ($24.95) were dense with a lot of crab meat and was actually very flavorful. It’s much better than other crab cakes in the city, where they use a lot of sauce to keep the meat together.
The Large Greek Salad ($15.95) was an upgrade to our last visit a few years ago. This bowl was simply massive, but what was phenomenal about this was the feta cheese. It wasn’t salty and was absolutely delicious with the rest.
The Grilled Sardines ($24.95) were actually larger than we thought. We asked the server if they were small, and they said it was. But these were large enough where you did have to be careful when you eat. Not all the bones were edible unfortunately, so we would advise not getting the sardines if you don’t want to do work. The flavor was good though.
The Red Snapper ($45) was market price, and the whole fish was just so tender and juicy. The head cheese was able to fall apart, and you can ask them to debone it for you.
The Beets was the side, and it was crispy and juicy.
The Lemon Potatoes were surprisingly really good. It had plenty of lemon flavors, and the potatoes themselves were very soft.
The complimentary Baklava was not overly sweet, and for some reason had some watery remains to it. Regardless, it was really good.
Final Verdict
For the price, the food was plentiful and not Manhattan pricing. Definitely worth if you’re into consuming large amounts of seafood and affordable prices far from the city.
Yelp Jabs
The lamb chops $30 were unevenly cooked. It was tough and some were undercook.
Who gets red meat at a seafood restaurant? It’s the same as who gets seafood at a steak restaurant?
Food is good but a bit overpriced in my opinion. their fish comes out just a tad dry, i think the best ive had here is the swordfish. it’s so soft it’s almost buttery.
This is a pretty funny comment. Expensive? Curious what places they know of that has cheaper seafood than this in NYC. This person says swordfish is so soft but is almost buttery. The thing is swordfish is a pretty meaty high protein fish. It’s not going to come out buttery. They also ordered crab stuffed fillet - which is going to ruin the fish. Maybe they can’t describe their food properly or don’t really know what is suppose to taste good, but it sounds like they have a questionable palette. Oh they are also one of those elite Yelpers. They can’t be trusted.
Revisions
- Jul 1, 2023 - Added dishes from the second visit: crab cakes, sardines, red snapper.
- Jan 5, 2019 - Initial revision.