31-14 Broadway, Astoria
The first thing you need to know about Bahari Estiatorio is that it used to be called Stamatis (and is listed as such on line) but it’s the same well reviewed restaurant, so no need to panic if you make the trip out there and find it missing.
It’s really hard to go wrong with Greek food in queens but fortunately that doesn’t mean that they’re all cookie cutter replicas of each other. Each place we’ve been seems to offer something unique and in Bahari’s case it’s a flavorful dried sausage appetizer unlike any that I’ve had. At it’s worst Greek sausage can be oily and a tad bland but this was anything but.
Among our other shared appetizers (a great way to sample lots of good stuff) were more stand out dishes: a fresh feta tomato salad, a baked feta and pepper casserole, a tender grilled octopus (more mildly flavored than I prefer), and a huge pita and spread plate with the usual suspects: my favorite taramasalata, tzatziki, and babaganoush as well as less familiar potato and garlic and cheese spreads.
The staff is friendly, even picking Van up for a hug, though the atmosphere is a bit forgettable.
The meal was quite memorable though and a perfect stop before heading over to the Museum of Moving Image. Plus, a parking lot is right next door which is great in the hard to park area.