Stamatis
In our conquest to try more Greek restaurants in the Astoria area since we’re moving further away from the region, I saw Stamatis was on people’s list as a place you have to go to. The Ditmars Astoria area has many restaurants around the N/W subway stop, so it makes it easy to access. This restaurant has that taverna vibe, where you have tables and a lot of noise from bustling families and diners. We were able to walk in without any concerns around 5:00 PM for a Sunday early dinner.
Ambiance & Service
The ambiance is similar to other Greek taverna restaurants, so there are no surprises here. If you’ve been to one, then you have been to most.
The service is very quick, and it feels like this is basically a neighborhood spot where diners and servers are familiar with one another.
Food
The Small Greek Salad ($11) was a bit disappointing for us. The feta was fine, but some of the lettuce was wilted. Because the salad wasn’t the freshest, it did not leave a great lasting impression.
The Grilled Octopus ($28.50) was surprisingly quite tasty and tender. It really struck to us that this was one of the better grilled octopuses that we’ve had in the city. It had the perfect char on the outside and a nice tenderness on the inside.
The complimentary Bread came with pita and toasted bread. This was really just some carbs to complement our food. The bread was the kind where it was super toasted but not stale.
The Seafood Combination ($44) came with swordfish, salmon, filet of sole, stuffed shrimp, scallops, stuffed squid, broiled crab legs, and all drenched with garlic and butter. I felt all the seafood here was pretty good, but it’s entirely soaked in butter. Perhaps butter is the magic ingredient here, but everything tasted fine. Of all the seafood in this plate, the broiled crab legs was probably the more disappointing one. The meat was not only overcooked, but it just didn’t taste fresh enough. The meat stuck to the shell, and when you try to pull out the meat, it was just dry.
The complimentary Galaktoboureko was a traditional Greek sweet custard baked inside phyllo pastry and topped with honey syrup. This is always a no-frills, delicious dessert, so it’s always appreciated.
Overall Impression
For Mediterranean Greek places, Stamatis for me ranks slightly above average. The food itself was decent but not great. Only the octopus was memorable. It does get crowded after a bit because it’s one of those restaurants that has been there for a while. If you’re in this area and can’t get into one of the more popular Greek taverna style restaurants, this is a decent alternative.
Yelp & Google Jabs
I could tell this place was authentic the moment I walked in because everyone was speaking Greek and the menu was even in Greek. (They had an English side too). You can see all the fresh fish when you walk in and the interior is beautifully painted to make you feel like you’re eating in Greece.
This Elitist went out of their way to describe authenticity. They live in Queens, but had they realized that there is a large population of Greek restaurants, you wouldn’t be able to get away with it unless you were authentic.
4:30 pm, busy Fathers Day… the waiter explained at that time that they were out of the fourth main (papoutsaki). “Sorry.” Who does that?… All-in-all, an amateurish and very disappointing holiday dinner.
Greek restaurants, because they attract large families, are inevitably going to be even busier on weekends, let alone on Father’s Day.
Revisions
- Jul 12, 2026 - Initial revision.