Love the uniqueness and eclectic energy of this new upper east side restaurant with a secretive entrance and lively vibe.
Secretive speak easy – ish entrance: hard to locate the entrance. Located on the corner of 2nd and 85th but you enter on 85th; signage not visible but watch for painted Ivy on the outside. Greeted by a friendly employee outside and led through the kitchen, with a couple friendly employees including a chef greeting you as you walk past.
Ambiance: lively, Eclectic energy. The eclectic blend is an interesting mix of very modern and old school pretty charm – not connected but creates a comfortable vibe that is warm and welcoming but also cool and uniquely interesting:
Contemporary red chairs and tables, modern white dishes, bar area with lit up contemporary splashes. Contrasted with a wall with a painted country landscape and old fashioned prints with roses adorning the ceilings … A more private seating area just divided from the main dining room has incredible Distressed brick walls and on the other side sheer interesting curtain type treatments overlaying the walls.
Everyone at the tables – couples, pairs and groups of friends were having a good time, engaged in conversation.
Lively, eclectic energy. Loved it.
Drinks. Comprehensive drink menu including summer cocktails, beer and cider and sake options. I had the Smoky Bravo (Mezcel based) which was fantastic and presented with a pretty red pepper on top which actually matched the contemporary red chairs and looked sharp m against the modern white dishes.
Food. Not traditional Greek, more contemporary Greek inspired dishes . I picture the owner/ chef being a visionary Greek son or grandson who had his own thoughts, traveled and cooked throughout Europe and wanted to implement his vision incorporating all his likes. He has only been in the county a handful of years.
All of the food was wonderfully presented and very good.
– Bread basket – delicious bread with a creamy Buttery whip inside – Fire in the ocean. Clams and oysters in a nice garlic wine broth; delicious, though I prefer larger clams. – Barbouni fava fever – wonderful mild fillet of red mullet with a perfect light creamy tomato sauce. This was fantastic and our favorite. – Gregory's comfort – organic steam pressed Chicken- very good, nicely presented. Steam pressed while healthier preparation, not have your traditional chicken flavor.
Service. Server Luca was extremely friendly, attentive checking in on us and eager to explain the dishes and details about the restaurant.
Only minor negatives: cocktail forks were not served with mussels/ clams and runners did not properly time the entrees.
Absolutely recommend for its unique vibe and eclectic energy. Wonderful for dinner with friends, groups or dates.
Loved this place, I really hope it succeeds! It's hard to locate from the outside, it's on the corner of 85th and 2nd, but doesn't have a lot of signs visible from 2nd Ave and there are no windows, only small portholes. In any case, we walked to 85th where an attractive woman was sitting at a table outside. She said, reservation? We said, yes 2 people at 8:45pm. She then led us through the kitchen into the restaurant. The first thing I noticed were the bright orange chairs and the flowery wallpaper that you would see at your grandmother's (so to speak). It feels like a retro dinner meets a crazy cat lady grandmother meets current date Brooklyn. Totally unexplainable, very dream like, totally worth going to. The place was fairly crowded for a restaurant that had just opened it's doors. There was a brightly colored bar and about 10 tables in the main dining area next to the bar. We opted to sit in the more private area about three steps up and in the back left
Both the food and the drink menu are quite eclectic. They do their own homemade cocktails which are served in old glass bottles, really cool. Very unique. Every cocktail I had was very good.
Our waiter, Alex, was awesome. Straight out of Athens, Greece, he was a really nice guy and was happy to give us suggestions on the menu and listen to us banter about one another. He told us everything was homemade including all of the cockails (which I love). We started with the Maine lobster cappuccino with pancetta croutons – small bowls of lobster bisque. Delicious, I highly recommended it. We then ordered a bunch of seafood appetizers. I really enjoyed their sushi. We had one roll with shrimp that came with squid ink on the top (and I had some extra on the side). I'm giving this place 5 stars for creativity. I'm so bored of the same old hum drum places, I admired the Greece meets Japan theme. We also ordered tuna tartare with avocado. Huge pieces of raw tuna and avocado. Thank god it didn't come with huge pieces of break and a small ball of tuna like some places I have been to. We also had the daily ceviche and the shrimp saganaki. The cerviche ended up being another sushi roll that was served with an orange parmesan like sauce on top
For desert we had baklava which came in a small jar with some vanilla ice cream. Such a bummer their coffee machine was broken, so Alex gave us an after dinner drink (a little too sour for me).
The owner came over and asked how everything was. We said we loved it. The place covered everything on my checklist: unique and tasty good, great service, excellent cocktails, not pretentious, good atmosphere. I would love to go back!
Love the uniqueness and eclectic energy of this new upper east side restaurant with a secretive entrance and lively vibe.
Secretive speak easy – ish entrance: hard to locate the entrance. Located on the corner of 2nd and 85th but you enter on 85th; signage not visible but watch for painted Ivy on the outside. Greeted by a friendly employee outside and led through the kitchen, with a couple friendly employees including a chef greeting you as you walk past.
Ambiance: lively, Eclectic energy. The eclectic blend is an interesting mix of very modern and old school pretty charm – not connected but creates a comfortable vibe that is warm and welcoming but also cool and uniquely interesting:
Contemporary red chairs and tables, modern white dishes, bar area with lit up contemporary splashes. Contrasted with a wall with a painted country landscape and old fashioned prints with roses adorning the ceilings … A more private seating area just divided from the main dining room has incredible Distressed brick walls and on the other side sheer interesting curtain type treatments overlaying the walls.
Everyone at the tables – couples, pairs and groups of friends were having a good time, engaged in conversation.
Lively, eclectic energy. Loved it.
Drinks. Comprehensive drink menu including summer cocktails, beer and cider and sake options. I had the Smoky Bravo (Mezcel based) which was fantastic and presented with a pretty red pepper on top which actually matched the contemporary red chairs and looked sharp m against the modern white dishes.
Food. Not traditional Greek, more contemporary Greek inspired dishes . I picture the owner/ chef being a visionary Greek son or grandson who had his own thoughts, traveled and cooked throughout Europe and wanted to implement his vision incorporating all his likes. He has only been in the county a handful of years.
All of the food was wonderfully presented and very good.
– Bread basket – delicious bread with a creamy Buttery whip inside
– Fire in the ocean. Clams and oysters in a nice garlic wine broth; delicious, though I prefer larger clams.
– Barbouni fava fever – wonderful mild fillet of red mullet with a perfect light creamy tomato sauce. This was fantastic and our favorite.
– Gregory's comfort – organic steam pressed Chicken- very good, nicely presented. Steam pressed while healthier preparation, not have your traditional chicken flavor.
Service. Server Luca was extremely friendly, attentive checking in on us and eager to explain the dishes and details about the restaurant.
Only minor negatives: cocktail forks were not served with mussels/ clams and runners did not properly time the entrees.
Absolutely recommend for its unique vibe and eclectic energy. Wonderful for dinner with friends, groups or dates.
Loved this place, I really hope it succeeds! It's hard to locate from the outside, it's on the corner of 85th and 2nd, but doesn't have a lot of signs visible from 2nd Ave and there are no windows, only small portholes. In any case, we walked to 85th where an attractive woman was sitting at a table outside. She said, reservation? We said, yes 2 people at 8:45pm. She then led us through the kitchen into the restaurant. The first thing I noticed were the bright orange chairs and the flowery wallpaper that you would see at your grandmother's (so to speak). It feels like a retro dinner meets a crazy cat lady grandmother meets current date Brooklyn. Totally unexplainable, very dream like, totally worth going to. The place was fairly crowded for a restaurant that had just opened it's doors. There was a brightly colored bar and about 10 tables in the main dining area next to the bar. We opted to sit in the more private area about three steps up and in the back left
Both the food and the drink menu are quite eclectic. They do their own homemade cocktails which are served in old glass bottles, really cool. Very unique. Every cocktail I had was very good.
Our waiter, Alex, was awesome. Straight out of Athens, Greece, he was a really nice guy and was happy to give us suggestions on the menu and listen to us banter about one another. He told us everything was homemade including all of the cockails (which I love). We started with the Maine lobster cappuccino with pancetta croutons – small bowls of lobster bisque. Delicious, I highly recommended it. We then ordered a bunch of seafood appetizers. I really enjoyed their sushi. We had one roll with shrimp that came with squid ink on the top (and I had some extra on the side). I'm giving this place 5 stars for creativity. I'm so bored of the same old hum drum places, I admired the Greece meets Japan theme. We also ordered tuna tartare with avocado. Huge pieces of raw tuna and avocado. Thank god it didn't come with huge pieces of break and a small ball of tuna like some places I have been to. We also had the daily ceviche and the shrimp saganaki. The cerviche ended up being another sushi roll that was served with an orange parmesan like sauce on top
For desert we had baklava which came in a small jar with some vanilla ice cream. Such a bummer their coffee machine was broken, so Alex gave us an after dinner drink (a little too sour for me).
The owner came over and asked how everything was. We said we loved it. The place covered everything on my checklist: unique and tasty good, great service, excellent cocktails, not pretentious, good atmosphere. I would love to go back!