Ithaka

In all my NY trips I pay a visit to this humble Greek restaurant in the upper east side.
The service in nice and ambient is cozy but, most of all, their food is amazing and not pretentious at all.
I always order the feta cheese salad, the Classic spinach philo pastry, and the seafood orzo which is amazing.
And don’t forget to pair with Greek wines. Their mineral touch accomplishes the best olive oil flavours in their food.

Wonderful Greek food with outstanding service. My friend is Greek and was really happy with the menu selection, food and Greek speaking server who conversed in Greek throughout dinner.
The atmosphere was very nice — And was not crowded. The service was outstanding and friendly — both the sweet waitress and the Greek waiter.
All the food was delicious. What we had:
Tzitziki– this cucumber dip is soooo good.
Tomato and feta cheese salad– also very good
Egg lemon soup– I’m not a soup fan but this reminded my friend of Greek soup made by their mom
Grilled octopus — delicious!
Spanakopita/​spinach pie. A little salty for me.
Thalasino. Mixed seafood (shrimp, scallops, mussels) with orzo. Fantastic !
Highly recommend as a nice restaurant for dinner with a date or family.

Well, I wish I could say we had a better experience. Went here one night a year ago, place was almost empty, and there was a lot of pressure to upsell us on fish entrees for the evening. Food was ok, not great. This week, we ordered from Ithaka using seamless. First, we live literally on the same block as Ithaka — but it took an hour and twenty minutes to get the food. It was not hot — not really cold, but as if it had sat on the counter for a half hour. We ordered: (1) Octopus appetizer; (2) Lamb Kebab; (3) small greek salad; and (4) trio of spreads — cost was over $ 70. The octopus was good, but small portion; the greek salad was fine; the trio of spreads was good. The lamb was terrible –gray, tough, pretty unappetizing; rice was terrible, the lemon potatoes that were supposed to come with it consisted of one, small «steak fry» size potato. We got exactly 4 small cubes of lamb for a $ 25 price on the entrée. We placed a similar order with Agora (a nearby turkish restaurant) a few weeks ago — price was almost half of Ithaka’s — food arrived hot and within 40 minutes — and the food was much better quality. It’s a shame because Ithaka is so close, and we love Greek food. But now I know why I never see anyone in this place (I walk by it every night) — I suggest picking another spot if you want good Mediterranean food — this place is overpriced and poor quality.

Excellent service and food. Particularly liked their fish which can be served whole. One of the finest in NYC.

Excellent Greek on upper east side. Delicious grilled octopus and squid and amazing Bronzino and red snapper. Highly recommend!

Very nice place and delicious greek food.
They have to hire more younger servers, the server was professional but looked like 75 years old.
I will definitely go back…

I have only had delivery so I cannot speak to service but they use quality ingredients and thankfully understand that even simple preparation requires seasoning. The dolmades are plump, preferctly sour and just pleasingly tasty. Bonus points that they do not suffer from the unnecessary currants that other recipes sometimes use — I get that some people enjoy that sort of thing but dolma should not be sweet in my book. The tzatziki is excellent and does not make me feel like I should have saved my money and made my own. The grilled chicken is lemony savory and has that nice char on it without tasting burnt. The grilled shrimp appetizer may be pricey but it’s definitely well executed. The cheese stuffed peppers I would imagine were only missing a beat as a casualty of being delivered as the textures were off but the flavor certainly was not. For the neighborhood this spot is a winner.

LOVE, love love this upper east side traditional Greek eatery. Altho the octopus, squid & whole fish are my favorites, I’ve never had a a bad dish there (& I’ve been dining there for 15 years!) Recently on several visits they had fresh sardines — delicious! The staff are all friendly but Dario is the best — hardworking, always remembering what we like and a smile on his face!

Although we both love Greek food, we somehow only discovered this place the month my fiancé was giving up her place on the UES.
Food: Some of the best Greek I’ve had in the city. Authentic. We’ve had the Soutzoukakia, Gigantes, Tzatziki, Skordalia, Tirokafteri, and Fava off the appetizer menu. The Tzatziki was not my favorite, but still very much worked. All the others were above average, with the Skordalia being my favorite dip. As far as entrees, both times there we ordered off the specials menu. We had some lamb stew that came in a clay pot — good portion and hit the spot. I liked both of the seafood items I ordered. They do the fish correctly, the focus is on the fish, not a shit-​ton or herbs and spices.
Service: We were recognized by our server the second time we were there. He remembered where we sat, and exactly what we had — straight down to the wine. In addition to that the team is very attentive, and we never lacked for anything from a service point of view.
Atmosphere: I liked it. Just right size, liked the white walls with the Greek themed items. Greek music in the background also helped for a nice Greek experience.
Cost: Expensive for Greek food. Entrees were close to $ 30 each, if not over. The wine list does not have any value bottles, so if you’re doing more than one bottle you will easily break $ 100 on wine that is worth a fraction of that. $ 12 Grand Marniers.
Drinks: We ordered 6 Grand Marniers and we were charged $ 12 a piece for all six. When a couple spends $ 120 on wine, I would have expected a round courtesy GM’s on the house, but I guess it’s not their policy. Disappointing, I guess it’s not old school Greek after-​all.
In the end, the food is great, but you will pay for it, as well as every drink you order — which in our case brought the drink bill close to $ 200 each time. This would be a 5 star rating with the buy-​back, but I don’t care for greedy management.

A visit to Ithaka is a journey to the authentic tastes of Greece. I do not review restaurants with only one visit. This upper east side restaurant has become a landmark of Greek cuisine and in all my visits I enjoyed quality food and attentive service. Fresh fish if grilled properly needs just a dash of olive oil and lemon to reach perfection and at Ithaca they nail it. I usually have fish but I also have enjoyed non fish dishes like moussaka and youvetsi. No meal is complete without the sweet mouth explosion of their superb honey dipped donut like spheres called loukoumades. This place is one of the reasons I wish we lived closer to New York City.

I love Greek food. I love lamb. I love seafood. I love everything the Greeks make. So yes, I have a weirdly high standard for Greek food (even though I really don’t know anything about the cuisine other than I like what I’ve had). So this place did not impress me. Service was great though, but it doesn’t make up for the food. Sure, they give you a big portion, but the price reflects it too.
Go to Pylos instead.

The branzino I had here was excellent. The service is very good as well. This place is a pricey so be aware of what you are ordering.

I had walked past this place quite a few times traversing the Upper East Side via 86^th St. It always enticed me so we dropped in for dinner last night.
Food: they bring out warm pita to start which was great. We got the spanakopita appetizer (good) and I had the baby lamb with orzo for my entrée. The dish was very good and the lamb was tasty and tender. My fiancée’s seafood dish was not as good. Each meal was a little on the salty side.
Service: our waiter was fine, but not terribly friendly. Most of the staff was pleasant.
This would be a good casual place for a group that could satisfy many tastes and allow for loud conversations.

Ithaka is a terrific combination of very good Greek food at reasonable prices. That’s a welcome respite from the midtown price gouging of Milos and others. I have been going to this restaurant since its original location on Barrow Street twenty years ago.

Overall, I enjoyed a nice dinner and dessert on a Saturday evening. The Greek Pinot Noir was lighter than I expected and enjoyable. I enjoyed a starter of Oktapodi Scharas, the most tenderly grilled octopus I experienced in awhile. My second cold appetizer of Pikilia — a choice combination of the three dips: Tzatziki, Melitzanosalata and Tirokafteri — were all very delicious! For my main: a delightful Souvlaki Apo Thalassina which was light and lively. Complimentary Loukoumades along wih Baklava and Revani (semolina almond cake with orange zest) topped all a pleasant dining experience. The décor was pleasant, the noise level moderate and the service friendly, however uneven. More than once, I needed to ask someone to have our server be attentive.

Tasty Greek food! We love it.
Highlights are the dip trio and the shredded salad with fresh dill and vinagrette. Love this place. Defiantly going to be a regular place for us. The delivery was prompt and great– the manager delivered to us!!!

I had been here a few times and was never disappointed until I came in one night for take-​out craving a Greek salad with lamb. The owner was so inflexible on giving me lamb instead of chicken (claimed he had to charge me an extra $ 15 on top of the $ 10 for the salad). When I asked if I could get the lamb souvlaki platter with a green salad instead of the rice/​potatoes and veggie, he just gave me a straight-​up no even though I would have paid the $ 25 for that had he been willing to accommodate me. In a city where there are so many great restaurants, if you are lacking on customer service, you don’t deserve good ratings, or my money. Also, I asked for cucumber instead of bread/​pita with my dips and caught an extra charge for that (and only a few slices were included). Needless to say, I will not be returning to Ithaka as long as there is a decent Greek restaurant on the UES

When it comes to Greek food I’m a pretty tough critic. Mainly because I grew up on the real stuff, straight from my Ya-Ya’s kitchen. Unfortunately I don’t get to enjoy that cooking as often as I did when I was a kid, so I’m always in search of a good alternative. Sadly this place didn’t make the cut. The only thing that felt authentic was the interior and décor. I definitely felt transported. My friend and I split a ton of smaller plates and all the basics. I just wasn’t impressed.
The search continues.

4 stars for ambience (nice music)
3 stars for food
4 stars for service
3 stars for price
Overall 3.5 stars
The daily seafood pasta and the grilled octopus were good.
The charbroiled salmon steak was a little too dry.

Stopped by on a Sunday in December for lunch. Place was not busy — chances are you don’t need a reservation on weekends. I am not complaining. Décor is nice but just a little dated. Greek music in the background. Our server today was very good.
Food was on average good but not great — so only three stars.
Our table of three shared several small plates. Cold apps included the Tzatziki, the fava purée and a spicy Cretan spread called Tirokafteri. Nice. Good bread which was served with a red pepper/​olive oil dipping sauce. Next we went with the Greek sausage which I thought was a little dry, scallops — just OK, gigantes — good, and finally the Tiganites Piperyes — the green peppers stuffed with cheese — again nice. Basically all good but not worth going more than twenty blocks in Manhattan.
For dessert the Reveni cake was good. Coffee and done. Chances are that I will be back to try more of the menu.