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| - Perhaps the worst Greek food I ever ate. I came to Astoria because the Bay Area is poorly served by its own Greek restaurants (there is 1 great restaurant, a couple decent Greek restaurants, and several bad ones). Astoria does not rise to the level of bad. We quickly received seats and ordered drinks. Since I drove, I ordered iced tea. It came out of the fountain: they did not make it themselves. A tick against Astoria right from the start.
We ordered the hummus. It arrived chunky style, as though they thought they might be making salsa instead. I ordered the pork souvlaki, one of the dishes they claim fame with. My order came with a "fresh Greek salad." The "fresh Greek salad," Astoria version, has brown lettuce, 2 tomato quarters, 1 olive, some sort of oil, and crumbled, tasteless feta cheese. My entree arrived: six hunks of pork, "roasted potatoes," and "savory rice." The potatoes had not seen an oven for roasting in a very long time: they, in fact, had been boiled and perhaps microwaved to throw the chill off. The rice tasted like it came from a box, and may have been mostly cardboard anyway.
The pork resisted knife and fork: dry, tough, hardly any taste despite claims to marination.
I've enjoyed excellent Greek food in Greece, Detroit, Chicago, and at the homes of Greek friends. What Astoria calls Greek food is about as close to Greek food as Toronto is to Athens.
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