Eastside Eatery

Its official. Eastside Eatery is closed. Saw the sign yesterday for a new thai restaurant coming in its place. This neighborhood is going through a lot of changes and so many new restaurants popping up.

Wheredja go Eastside Eatery???
I’ve been looking for the go-​to-​diner in the upper Upper Eastside (above 86^th St, aka Yorkville). Eastside Eatery sadly was not the place. But sadder still is they are gone now! Along with the much better (albeit apples and oranges) Spice Noodle a few doors south. What’s going on 1^st Ave? You’re hurting more than 2^nd Ave and that’s tough with all the subway construction.

Ordered the spanakopita and the Greek cold plate. What a disaster! The spanakopita looked like it had been reheated ten times. The phylo was very dark and not nothing crispy about it. The Greek salad it came with was bad too. Black olives rather than kalamata olives and the tomatoes were pink and bland. The dormades were very salty the horiatiki salad it came with was gross with black canned olives and huge chunky white onions. This was a simple Greek meal that even a non Greek could have made better. First and last time ill be ordering from this place.

I love this place. Look, it’s nowhere fancy, but it’s also not trying to be. It’s a diner and it serves diner food. What makes it great is the EXTREMELY friendly, prompt, attentive service; the large selection of frittatas and other great brunch items; and the fact that it’s rarely crowded (which I chalk up to the slightly out-​of-​the-​way location).
If you want a foo-​foo brunch, don’t go here. If you want huge portions of really good food, then stop reading this and head on over. I personally love the Greek omelette, peanut butter pancakes, and French toast.

I do not know how this place gets 4 stars! Rude, in attentive staff, undercooked frittata (two of us definitely got stomach bugs from this place) really rude owner. Unclean water glasses (we asked for water without ice and I could see finger stains and smudges on the glasses still!- Serious hygiene issue)
Brunch was a disaster– we ordered pancakes, a Greek omelette and of course a frittata.
The pancakes were lumpy, lifeless.
No muffins or OJ till we asked at least three times.
Ridiculous that they charge 40 dollars for this!
Please save money and health. Do not go here. Terribly disappointed with this place. Have already written to the civic authorities complaining about these guys.

Love this place. I have been looking for a great breakfast place near my apartment and I found it here! Service is amazing and the food is so tasty!

Its’ pretty decent. Nothing outstanding. It just is what it is. I wouldn’t mind going there again if I was in the area, but nothing memorable.

I love this place! It’s my go-​to neighborhood diner. The service is always very friendly and speedy. Their menu is huge, so they have options for everyone. I’m particularly a fan of the Greek Frittata.

This place is never very crowded and I can’t figure out why. So finally one day I decided to stop in for dinner I was plesantly pleased with my experience. The wait staff was super friendly, the food was reasonably priced, the portions were HUGE, and most importantly the food was good. There is a wide variety of types of food on the menu, but I was most excited that they serve breakfast all the time and sometimes you just crave a fritatta for dinner.
I can’t say this is going to be a go to place for me or anything like that, but its a solid choice if you are in the area.

Decent enough place to grab breakfast, lunch or brunch. There was nothing particular that stood out or wow-​ed me, but it is a decent staple for eggs, pancakes etc. The pancakes were quite good. My frittata was a little greasy, and the hash browns were very flavorless and bland. Still — a cute atmosphere.

I normally frequent this place for their lunch special. They are right around the corner from my place and you get a sandwich, fried, soup or salad AND a drink for $ 8.95 plus tax. However after having a HORRIBLE experience at another close by brunch spot, we decided to try this place for brunch instead. I was pleasantly surprised. We were seated right away. I got the omelettes that came with potatoes and toast and my friend got a brunch special. We were both happy with our food and left full. Yes, their prices aren’t that cheap to dine in, BUT they aren’t that bad either plus you get a lot of food for what you pay for. The people who run this place and work here are always friendly. Not one of those places you will go to for brunch to get drunk, but someplace that’s nice for quiet spot with good, quick service.

We’ve had good diner experiences here.
Food has been enjoyable so far. I enjoyed my frittata last time. My wife liked her omelette. We are very specific about the way we order and they delivered exactly what we wanted each time. I’ve also had the big lumberjack-​stype of breakfast. Prices were good and I was full. Food was great. We’re going back today hopefully.
Service has been friendly. Not terribly fast but we are NEW YORKERS… if the waiter doesn’t pay attention to you within 2 minutes of your table wanting something, you get up and get his attention. It’s very easy and nothing to complain on Unilocal about.
Ambiance is basic, but you know what? I go there to eat, not to bask in the glory of an expensive interior decorator. If you’re looking for sophisticated ambiance, here’s a suggestion: stop eating at diners.

The food here has been a hit or miss for me.
I seriously LOVE the lamb gyro here. The lamb is perfect and tzatziki sauce is so good. I’ve also tried the classic wrap (Turkey breast, bacon, tomatoes and Swiss cheese. Served with homemade coleslaw and a pickle). It was very flavorless and blah. The wrap was soggy from the tomatoes and the swiss cheese was sweating and limp. The turkey was slightly dry. I tossed it on the frying pan to heat it up and make it a little bit more «eatable», but it was okay at best. I’ve ordered fries from here as well and they were pretty good.
Whenever my lamb gyro craving hits, I order from here.

I don’t understand the good reviews for this place. Aside from the staff being nice and prices being cheap, my brunch experience was terrible.
First of all, the ambiance leaves much to be desired. It tries to have a cute, café feel, but fails miserably, and ends up feeling sterile and diner-​like. The basket of muffins that people reviewed, were two stale store-​bought chocolate chip muffins for my friend and I. Not even worth eating. The coffee was bitter and watery.
For brunch, I ordered eggs benedict, which I thought was a safe choice. Turns out you really can mess up hollandaise sauce. The bloody mary I received first was actually the best part of the meal (although it lacked olives, big minus in my book). But back to the eggs. The eggs were cooked alright, but the hollandaise was a dark yellow color, which turned me off immediately, and it had absolutely NO flavor. Completely bland and tasted like lemon had gone no where near it. Also, the homefries were gross and mushy.
Even for 14 bucks, I felt cheated with that meal. I went in hopes of finding a delicious UES brunch choice, and Eastside Eatery did not fit the bill. You’re better off going to any diner in the area.

Average UES diner. Nothing special about it. Not sure what all of these 5 star reviews are. It’s a good space but the food is totally average. I wish these diners would do something innovative with breakfast rather than copying each other. They must get all of their food from the same place. I guess I expect too much.
It’s probably a 3 star but I think all the 5 stars are ridiculous so I am dropping one.

Finally hit up this place for brunch on Saturday– and I’m glad I did!
Great addition to the Upper East Side, Yorkville area!
The boyfriend and I ordered from the brunch menu which made selecting something to eat pretty easy (they offer like 15 items) compared to the rest of the menu that I suspect would have taken me an hour to peruse.
Brunch is served with
a) complimentary muffins– which were aiiighttt. I ate a quarter of the blueberry one and well, it was just okay. Didn’t taste homemade.
b) A drink of your choice (mimosa, bloody mary, or juice); I chose the bloody mary and I don’t know why I do this to myself EVERYTIME. It’s like I’m trying to force myself to like this tomato alcoholic concoction against my will– I never like it. So naturally I didn’t like this one. My bf’s mimosa was good so next time that’s exactly what I’ll get.
and
c) coffee or tea. I got coffee– it was not good. But I don’t expect diner coffee to be divine. At least refills are free. :-)
I had the Belgium waffle with a poached egg (menu says only one but they gave me two– SCORE! haha), ham, bacon, AND sausage. I’m not much of a meat eater these days (surprise, surprise) so I nibbled on the sausage (ew) and then gave the rest to my boyfriend. My Belgium waffle was delightful. I don’t usually splurge (with the calories that is) during brunch but I thought, why not? I was good though– I didn’t drench it in syrup, instead I asked for jam. The man at the front AND the waiter were super attentive, brought me like 10 packets of jam (5 strawberry, 5 grape). I ended up using just 3 but I just loved that they gave me choices. It was A LOT of food so I ended up packing up half of my waffle. Wasn’t as good later in the day but still good. YUM.
My boyfriend got the veggie, egg white omelet served with a side salad. The omelet was DELISH. So many veggies– including avocado! And I just love they gave the salad dressing on the side instead of drenching your greens like other places tend to do. Yum, yum, yum.
This will become my new go-​to diner. Loved it all. Already planning my next visit. hah. :-)

I love heading to the east side. When you spend 75% of your time on the UWS, it’s like visiting another country with all sorts of new restaurants to discover.
We went here solely due to the Unilocal reviews and the place was pretty cool. It’s like a diner, without the traditional diner look. and feel. Much more like a café. And the food was great. I got an avocado and mozzarella frittata with bacon on the side, and it was magic. Loved it.
One star off because the coffee was an embarrassment. I wish NYC cafes and diners would invest in a decent brand of coffee and make it fresh. Do they not realize you can’t make a pot and leave it there all day? It’s so revolting to get a cup of Saravan or the equivalent that’s been sitting there for half a day. Good beans, and fresh pots, gents.
$ 38 include tip for 3 people, not half bad.

An extremely good deal for brunch: for $ 14.95, I got a salmon lox omelet, home fries, choice of coffee or tea; choice of juice, bloody Mary, sangria or a mimosa, two slices of toast, and 1.5 muffins. (My table of two was given 3 muffins to share.)
Food itself wasn’t that great; ordering a salmon lox omelet probably wasn’t the smartest idea since the lox gets cooked, and the home fries were kinda bland. But definitely good value and very attentive service: plus an extra star for being a striving new restaurant!

Just had to upgrade my review of this place to 5 stars. Staff is always super nice and attentive, food is consistently terrific, salads are huge and tasty, and they are still offering a free glass of wine and hummus plate when you sit down. Just wonderful upscale diner /​bistro style place.

Yum!
My boyfriend and I have been here twice in the last 2 days. We wandered in here after we were too lazy to cook dinner Friday night. It was 6pm and even though the sign clearly says breakfast is served M-​F until 11am THEY MADE ME THE BELGIUM WAFFLE I ORDERED! No fuss. I walked in and the nice guy at the host station was all, «sure, it’s just gonna take me a few minutes to heat up the machine.» *amazing*
Sometimes I feel like service in NYC is so shitty, that we all just get used to it, and then we get great service and we’re all, «oh yeah, I’m paying for this!»
Anyways, the waffle was standard, but totally hit the spot and when you will make it for a customer at 6pm, that makes you awesome.
Today we decided to give it the diner test: eggs, bacon, toast and home fries. All were standard, yummy but not exceptional, just standard diner fare. I also had the iced cappuccino, which was good and artfully prepared.
Again, today the service was awesome, the servers were nice and friendly. The guy who I think is the manager came over and asked about our meal, and talked to us as we were leaving.
The inside is also really pretty. It’s a large space, with exposed brick and nice tables.
We’ll definitely be back.