Restaurant advice Astoria, Queens, NYC
My wife and I will be traveling to NY in early April. I already have our "nice" dinners planned at Osteria 57 in Greenwich Village and Peak NYC at Hudson Yards. If, for some reason, I should absolutely avoid these two places...please let me know.
We need to loosely plan dinner for the other two nights. These two nights shouldn't be as expensive as the two nights above :). Both of these nights we'd like to eat closer to Astoria, where we will be staying (roughly 28th and 38th). We'll be close to Richmond Hill one of these days, so would be open to eating down there as well before returning back to Astoria.
Could you suggest a great pizza place where we could sit down and have salad and pizza?
how about a traditional Indian restaurant? Not a fusion and not some place where someone tries to do something fancy. A place I can get Chicken Tikka Masala and my wife can find Chana Masala.
Some other place that isn't Indian or pizza, but is an absolute must in Astoria?
Thank you New Yorkers!
Previous post from a couple of years back from my trip - https://tild.es/13jk - not Astoria specific, but might find good info there.
Also @Wulfsta for great dining/drink suggestions.
@mattw2121, check out Angel for Indian, one of the best in the city IMO.
Used to live in Astoria pre-covid.
IMO Retro has the best slice in the neighborhood, and they make a mean meatball sub. Salad is... pizza shop salad. It's cheap, it's authentic, the family that owns it is amazing. Bit of a hike from Ditmars but it's a nice walk and a great way to see the neighborhood. Milkflower is a great alternative if you want wood fired pizza with some more experimental toppings and a decent glass of wine.
Seva was my favorite Indian place in Astoria, my go-to delivery spot. It never disappointed, and I ate there once every two weeks at least.
Check out Diamond Dogs for a solid, not-too-pricy cocktail after your meal, get there before 8 for a good chance at snagging a coveted backyard spot. Il Bambino next door provides an excellent panini midnight snack.
Hit up Astoria Bier & Cheese (or their recently-divorced, but basically identical northern Astoria sibling) for the best selection of craft beer, craft cheese, and upscale sandwiches in the city. Or just walk on up to Singlecut for one of the original IPA-obsessed NYC craft breweries.
Slightly further afield in Long Island City you can find the excellent Dutch Kills cocktail bar (my favorite in the city) and a smattering of craft breweries like Fifth Hammer, whatever Iconyc is calling themselves these days, Rockaway brewing, and Big Alice. One of those might have moved recently, though.
One more: Adda Indian Canteen is an award-winning Indian place in Sunnyside, a pretty easy walk from LIC or Astoria or a short one-transfer subway ride (N/R to 7). I'm not the biggest fan, but if you love lots of spice, traditional biryani, and goat, it's well worth it. Reservation highly recommended, but it isn't particularly expensive.
Big Alice LIC location is closed. :( which used to be one of my favorites when I lived in LIC. Although 5th Hammer and Rockaway brewery was my go to spot since they both are dog friendly. Another mention is Single cut brewery in Astoria, but the location is kinda out there.
Too bad about Big Alice. The walk to Singlecut may be long, but remember that you can walk right by the Constanza's house (https://maps.roadtrippers.com/us/new-york-ny/points-of-interest/the-costanzas-house-seinfeld). I really love the row houses in that area.
"Bund Dumpling House", 25-08 Broadway. Small little Chinese (Shanghai specifically) place, but amazing food, love going back.
"Pye Boat Noodle", 35-13 Broadway. Thai food, has a neat patio in the back, great food, great cocktails. Waiters all seem to wear similar hats for some reason.
"Nuevo Jardin de China", 32-05 Broadway. Haven't been, but heard about it, Cuban & Chinese mix of food.
Moving farther from Astoria in to Long Island City (short subway or bike ride away):
I visit my friends in Astoria fairly regularly and used to live in Queens for few years.
Recently I went to a new bakery called make believe bakeshop. A friend of mine coworker opened this place and the baker is super sweet and talented.
Another honorable mention, in speaking of bakeries, Martha Country Bakery. They have one of my favorite cheesecake in the city. I have been to every single one of their location and they are consistently pretty awesome.
Astoria seafood is pretty unique experience. They are a seafood market with a kitchen. You go in and figure out what fish or seafood you want to eat, go to the counter and tell them how you want the food to be cooked. Would highly recommended limited to yourself to 1 to 2 seafood item. The food was simple, fresh, and overall great.
Martha's is indeed an excellent spot. The same area also has a lot of great Greek food, both food truck and sitdown.
I second Astoria seafood! A little intimidating at first, but quite casual. Byob if you wanted to pair the meal with any drinks.
Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! Will definitely be checking some of these places out. As I originally mentioned, we have a reservation at Peak NYC, but I'm rethinking that decision. I was only able to grab a 5:00PM window seat reservation. I'd really prefer not to eat this early, so want to figure something else out.
This will be a birthday dinner for my wife. Any recommendations with the following in mind?
Thank you!
Here's some of the best dinners I've had in NYC:
Honorable mention:
Also, my two cents: avoid Hudson Yards entirely. It's a capitalist hellhole with nothing but office buildings and luxury apartments you can't enter, surrounded by an overpriced mall. Its centerpiece is the suicide shawarma. It's difficult to get to, so if you want to experience a soulless part of the city as a tourist there's plenty more readily accessible in midtown. If you want luxury shopping just do Fifth Avenue. IMHO, you'd be wasting your time otherwise.
Left Astoria about 7 years ago, still miss the food and the area. My wife and I used to go to these places regularly, and you might like them. Astoria has full blend of Indian, Bangladeshi, Greek, Chinese restaurant all around.
Cafe Triskell - Very close to 36th Ave Stop, it is a small French restaurant, really delicious food.
Ruta Oaxaca Mexican - Close to Broadway Stop, we used to go there frequently for Mexican food.
Bahari Estiatorio - Broadway stop too, Greek restaurant.
Wanted to give an update on where we actually ate and our impressions:
Dinners
Breakfast/Brunch/Lunch
Bakeries
(no vacation is complete without these!)
The only food that we weren't happy with was a cinnamon roll at the American Museum of Natural History. Cold, stale, and no way to heat it up. It was like 7-8 dollars too.