My favorite restaurants in Astoria
Astoria
If you aren’t going to live in Astoria, then you can eat there!
Astoria is jammed with cheap, ethnic eateries, all welcoming to families with kids who have less than passing table manners.
There’s good food almost anywhere you catch a whiff of homemade cooking, but the majority of establishments are clustered in the Broadway, 31st, and 30th Avenue area — generally considered the heart of old Astoria — as well as the Ditmars area.
Most of the good places are either conveniently under the elevated "N" track on 31st Street, or at an offshoot thereof (in other words you won’t need a car except to pack the stroller).
Here’s a rundown of some of :
• Balik Kebob House, 23-10 31st Street, between 23rd and 24th Avenues, (718) 721-5020. ["N" to Ditmars Blvd.]. Kids can lie down on the Afghan rugs in the open garden while gorging on good-for-you platters of salmon, beef, or chicken kebobs (all mildly seasoned), with pilaf and salad, for under $9.
• Sac’s Place, 25-41 Broadway, (718) 204-5002. ["N" to Broadway]. If the troopsters are hungering for staple kid food/pizza, Sac’s is the place. Their coal oven pizza made on the premises uses the same Northern recipe "Nonna" used — extra crusty and very European. A 12 inch white pie (ricotta, fresh mozzarella and virgin olive oil) is $8.50.
• Zlata Praha, 28-48 31st Street, (718) 721-6422. ["N" to 30th Avenue]. You can’t get better Czech/Slovak food outside of Eastern Europe. Veal in mushroom sauce, choice of dumplings, schnitzel — great for hearty winter meals on the horizon. Go during a birthday and the waitresses will nonchalantly convert the dining hall into a speckled strobe-lit wonderland with Frank Sinatra crooning a "Happy Birthday" to you, and you get to eat the wonderful sparkler-topped birthday cake.
• Stamatis Taverna, 31-14 Broadway, (718) 204-8968. ["N" to Broadway]. Here’s where you go to gorge on Greek food. An overdosed mega-platter of two chunky garlicky souvlaki skewers with grandma-peeled oven-baked potatoes — all for $9! Three kids could share that one.
• Neptune Diner, 31-05 Astoria Blvd. (718) 278-4853. ["N" to Astoria Blvd.]. Voted by The Daily News as the "Best Diner in Queens”, Neptune offers 24/7 your typical diner grub of the highest caliber. Pasta dishes such seafood fettuccini and pasta primavera range $8-$12. The fish dinners like shrimp Santorini or filet of sole along with porgies and snapper are also good choices.
Astoria is also, as seen by the proliferation of sidewalk cafés, a good place to hang out and do coffee, even with the kids. "Zodiac Café" (30-15 Newtown Ave, 718 726-3995/"N" to 30th Ave) is a family friendly establishment that features magic shows and free Greek bouzouki concerts in the evenings. (It’s not a bad place to eat either, judging by their spinach and cheese pies).
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