MP Taverna
“Great food and drinks, the most amazing service ever, affordable prices.Your octopus is terrific.This place is a great addition to Astoria!”
“When I first heard that Chef Michael Psilakis would be opening a venue right next to my beloved Kyclades I worried.”
“Both the eggplant and chickpeas were well-spiced and and had a nice bit of texture, instead of being totally smooth.”
MP Taverna
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Service was fab- my friend ordered the baked chicken breast dish which was by far the juiciest chicken dish I have ever, ever, EVER had in my entire life. It was filled with flavor in every bite. I ordered the octopus salad and I still think about it to date. The blend of the chickpeas in every bite of the perfectly grilled octopus was just divine. Highly recommend this spot if you're on this side of Astoria, but I would say it is worth the trip out regardless.
Came to this place while visiting a friend. Didn't make reservations but were seated fairly quickly. Had a drink at the bar and it was time to be seated. This was around 6:30-7. This place got really crowded around 8 though.
Ambience was cool. Dark but just bright enough. Plenty of seating and I think there was in upstairs seating area as well so there's plenty of space.
Here's what we got:
Trio dip – eggplant, chickpeas, and yogurt. My favorite was the chickpeas. Super flavorful with a nice spreadable consistency. Yogurt was well flavored and refreshing. Eggplant was good too but my least favorite. Comes with a huge side of pita. I don't think you'd have to order more on the side but there is an option to do so.
Greek meatballs – this was really flavorful too. The outside seemed very dry but once we cut into it, it was juicy and came with a separate side of yogurt and pita. We wanted to try something different so we went with this choice. There's also the classic meatball in tomato sauce option.
Lamb chops – this was a special that day so it wasn't on the menu but it was a good choice for sharing. It was again flavored and cooked well.
Greek paella – I'm not sure what was so different about this that its labeled Greek but it was really good. Maybe because it seemed very tomato based?? It almost tasted like they mixed marinara in to it. I love marinara so I enjoyed this dish a lot. Great flavors and a bunch of seafood. Definitely enough for sharing between at least 2 people. I'd get this again.
The service was not spectacular but not horrible. The food took a really long time to come out. We almost thought he forget to place our order. Overall, I think I'd come back here. Prices were fair and food/drinks were good.
We stopped here for a quick, light bite at about 3 in the afternoon, after returning from a trip to Manhatten. THe bartender was friendlt enough. He took our drink and food orderes right away. we received our soup, and lobster and corn potage, full of succulent bites of lobster in a thick corn soup base.
45 minutes later we were all still waiting for our main courses. Had they been in the middle of a rush, or had the items we'd chosen been extra complicated we might excuse waiting 20 minutes or so…but this was a burger, two salads and a souvlaki, one of their specialties. It wasn't until a relief bartender looked down at the slips and asked the manager to check on our meals, that they even seemed to notice their gaffe.
The manager was apologetic, and proceeded to give us a complimentary appetizer and two imported bottles of water…but at this point our weariness had taken over, and while we were, of course, polite, we couldn't recover from being ingored that long.
This service lapse may be the exception more than the rule, and judging by the nuimber of people there on a sunday afternoon MT has a lot going for it…but there are far too many eateries in and around NYC and Astoria to chance a repeat performance for us.
MP Taverna is a good alternative to Taverna Kyclades for a casual Greek Sunday night dinner.
Our group wanted to dine at Taverna Kyclades. Unfortunately, they ran out of fish and squid.
So we opted for MP Taverna, which was a few blocks away.
We ordered: octopus, Grandma Greek meatballs, Branzino, and Greek Paella.
The octopus was tender, perfectly charred and delicious. I love good octopus. This was the perfect cap to a great night.
Grandma Greek meatballs had a crispy crust and light fluffy well seasoned meat on the inside. Three people at the table had a surprised look on their face when they first tasted the meatball. Our friend said 'wow! that's good!'
The Branzino was tender and flakey. My only problem was that I wanted more!
The Greek Paella was more like stuffed clams and mussels. Stuffed with orzo rice and chorizo. So good! And so many juicy clams and mussels. This was so fun to eat!
I would definitely come back for their octopus and meatballs.
Pro tip: The upstairs dining area has soft leather chairs instead of the sleek silver metal ones downstairs. Hope that the waitress seats you there!
After a foiled (and perhaps delusional) attempt at snagging a table for 9 at Taverna Kyclades on a Friday night, we ended up at MP Taverna. We were seated very quickly and our server was on the ball, immediately getting us set up with drinks and ready to take our food orders. We ordered a bottle of Malbec (recommended for those who enjoy spicy, complex wines) and a bunch of mezze to share. We absolutely enjoyed the eggplant dip with pita bread, the risotto, the Greek meatballs and the octopus. I would advise against the mussels; I thought it was impossible to mess mussels up but feta cheese combo just did not do it for me or anyone else in our group. I wouldn't go out of my way to come to MP Taverna for a meal but overall we had a very pleasant experience as this place was really quite suitable for a big friends catch up. But if you have trekked all the way here to get a classic Greek Astoria experience, I say brave the wait at Taverna Kyclades!
I don't drink, so that I won't feel left out, the bartender made me the most delicious juice mix. It was incredible. To the point that my husband drank two of them and had me order more lol. Met cool people to chat with at the bar. The place is dark, and warm. The staff is nice and the drinks were good. We tried the sliders and they were a bit gamey for my taste, so that wasn't my thing, bit much husband liked them. We definitely will go back for the food and my juice drink.
Over priced sub-par food is a major pet peeve of mine. Two hours after leaving this spot I'm still pissed.
Uppity. "Greek-Inspired"*. Bougie. Over-Priced… If you relate to those words – this might be the spot for you.
The ONLY reason we dined here was because it was Greek Easter, so Taverna Kyclades was closed (heart broken). We had trekked all the way to Astoria, so we settled for MP. What a disaster.
The Good (and the only reason I gave them 2 instead of 1 star)
1) Octopus: I only mean the octopus, not the bed of beans and olives that is served with it. It was seasoned well and perfectly cooked.
The Bad
1) Prices: You will pay WAY too much for what you receive. I cannot believe they have the gall to serve what they serve when Taverna Kyclades sits a few buildings away with much higher quality and more reasonable prices and portions.
2) Entree: It was not necessarily bad… but just ok. We ordered the Dourade fish. The most memorable part of that over-priced dish was the broccoli that was served on the side.
3) Greek-Inspired*: They market the spot as a Greek restaurant, but they don't have lemon potatoes, they have paella (?) and even our server mentioned… "We are not Greek, we are Greek-Inspired".
4) GalactoBoureko: I am pretty sure they ordered this from the store across the street. It was dry, blase and just so unsatisfying and over priced (!)
The Ugly
1) Vibe: Once you walk in you realize that MP hosts clientele that I don't relate to. They ignored my spouse (who was wearing a baseball cap) and he had to reiterate that he wanted a table after 2 others were seated before him.
2) Service: Oh, our server was just condescending. We ordered an appetizer and entree and she was pushing us to order more, as if we were cheap… She was just unaccommodating and really judgmental. We were told we had to order apps and entrees at the same time and couldn't keep a menu, in the event that we wanted more… ? After glancing over at a table where folks ate half of their entrees and planned on throwing out the rest, I felt sad for our glutinous and greedy country folk. smh.
I clearly do not plan on returning.
I came here for Brunch
A solid option for Brunch in Astoria. I came here the first time because I friend recommended and I was in the area. After that I have come here several times
Brunch related: Coffee is really good. Usually it's freshly brewed
French Toast is amazing, it is super rich, fried banana, ice cream a bit of a sweet sauce, but super delicious
BLT with Feta, yummmm one of my favorites. I love Feta cheese.
Fries. Delicous, I love fires that have a super crispy skin but fluffy in the inside
Really good option