Avra
141 East 48th Street (between 3rd and Lexington)

I had dined at this pricey and well-regarded estiatorio in the past, and the mezes here are always excellent. However, this time I was with a good friend looking for a good seafood meal. I had just dined at their nearby competitor Ammos recently, so suggested this place. Wow, was it a mistake.

Don't get me wrong, Avra is not bad, but it's mediocre -- especially on a very busy Friday night. There are so many good places in New York, mediocre just doesn't cut it -- especially at this price. The place was packed and the service was very shaky. The waiters were confused on who ran what table and conflicting info about the fresh fish was offered. The busboys were confused and kept filling tap water into our glasses (despite us drinking bottled). Chaos, I must say.

I had enjoyed the mezes in the past, so we shared two of them. The halloumi (grilled goat cheese) was heavenly as usual. The sepia (sliced cuttlefish) was very nice, as cuttlefish is a treat to find in the US. So that started well.

The main course for me was the lavraki (or loup de mer), the entire fish de-boned. It was not bad, but nothing special. They seemed to have a lack of fish that night, and this neutral and rather boring fish was all that I could enjoy (my friend had the only other offering, the dorado). Plus, the de-boning was not done very well, and I had to side-step decorum by pulling bones out of my mouth... It was just boring...something anyone could easily do.

The worse part of the meal was dessert. Having lived on top of a Greek restaurant for a year while at university, I fell in love with all aspects of Greek food. And I enjoyed one too many baklava over the years -- and what I had that night was singly the worst one I've ever seen. The filo was piled on top dried, and flaked off like corn flakes. The lower parts were dull and tasteless. It looked like it was done so quickly and not scrutinised by the pastry chef and served haphazardly. Shameful.

I left the restaurant rather disappointed. They can do much better. But this is a very large restaurant for Midtown, and that showed in its poor service and lacklustre food. The only thing they did right was the halloumi, but the goat did the work there...

Food: C
Atmosphere: B-
For Lone Diners: B (*)