Agnanti Restaurant in Astoria - Restaurant Review

Agnanti serves delicious Greek home cooking, with a great selection of grilled seafood and salads. Its charming location, with outdoor seating just across the street from Astoria Park (but alas, no view) and a cozy indoor dining room, is reason enough to go. Tucking into a platter of grilled fresh sardines on a hot afternoon while sipping a chilled Greek rosé will make you think you’ve stumbled into Astoria's secret European heart.

The bustling Greek restaurant Agnanti pairs Astoria's great tradition of unpretentious, delicious Greek dining with a sublime location across from Astoria Park. On its shady outdoor terrace families and fashionable couples snack shoulder-to-shoulder on seafood and refreshing salads. The chef often leaves the kitchen to greet regulars in Greek.

The finest dishes at Agnanti are the grilled seafood, simply flavored with lemon juice and olive oil. One of my favorite Queens feasts is Agnanti's grilled fresh sardines - flavorful but not at all fishy - with a side of broiled lemon potatoes ($11.50), the towering "small" Greek salad ($6), and a carafe of chilled white wine. Also try the unusually sweet and tender grilled calamari.

It is tempting to make a meal of small plates. The feta cheese drizzled with olive oil is tasty, as is the grilled Mediterranean vegetable platter - Vegetables Pikilia ($9.50). And by midsummer, when the tomato season kicks off, the feta-laden salad becomes a meal unto itself.

In cooler weather, warm up with the stewed rooster and square-shaped noodles ($14.50). Its tomato-based broth is lovely spooned over the succulent meat.

One disappointment is the lack of desserts. They do offer a dish of sour cherry preserves spooned over delicious yogurt, accompanied by a sweet but dense semolina cake.

Go for lunch on a sunny weekend afternoon. Afterwards, stroll in Astoria Park, gaze onto Manhattan, and marvel at what they're missing.