Philoxenia is really what it says it is, "Greek hospitality at its finest" and some more. The wait staff is all round very courteous which seems surprisingly a dying art in the restaurant business nowadays. We ordered a bottle of fancy water Aqua Panna ($5.5) which is non carbonated and non Greek, but hey it's Mediterranean, so it's close enough. We ordered a few sharing small dishes: Greek Salad (it actually comes in a big bowl, $6?), Grilled Octopus (one long tentacle chargrilled, $11.50), Bekri Mezi (or cubed veal and pork in tomato sauce and feta, $13.5), Mussels in Ouzo (I made up the name, isn't it good or what? Anyway, it's mussels in some light tomato sauce and feta) and for dessert we tried the Greek yogurt with grape toppings ($5.5). Total for the night, tips included, around $73.
Overall both the food and service are very good. The clientele is on the older side, you have guys in their 50s dressing like lawyers and doctors with their spouses on a causal Friday night. And most customers bring their own bottles. The neighborhood is not bad but not much to look around before and after dinner.
Philoxenia's website (it got silly background music, you may want to mute your speakers if you are at work, and or if you are (un)lucky not to have speakers at work, you know who you are, then no need to bother).
why don't you bring me there, next time bring there to Philoxenia
ReplyDeleteUS$73 for a casual dinner is very reasonable for NYC, right?
ReplyDeletewp2007: Next time we visit NYC together, I'll take you there, Okay. You'd better not pout.
We all know where your hard-earned dollars have gone, so I'll have the check. I insist.
CoB
For me it's expensive but then it's really a relative term and we certainly don't do that often enough. It's an experience. If we order any alcohol, the bill can easily go up another notch. I think all things considered, it is reasonable. You can easily spend a hundred dollar on dinner for two in a decent restaurant in Manhattan or even the outer boroughs.
ReplyDeleteSame here. I remember vl2008 once treated us to dinner at a posh Italian restaurant in the harbourview hotel next to my office now [I'm looking right at it at this momemt] an average full course dinner fetched HK$700 and up. It's not unusual for a lady you bring there to order a dinner at a price tag of over HK$1,000 and there's also wine and tip, too. Now you probably know why as a 土共，I hate the capitalists and their hedonistic lifestyle so much.
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