BZ Grill

Verdict: BZ Grill Is Astoria's Most Consistently Recognised Greek Grill; and Worth the Subway Ride

If you're looking for serious Greek food at a price point that won't register as a splurge, BZ Grill in Astoria is the clearest answer in New York City. Chef Serafin Ferdeklis runs a kitchen that has earned back-to-back placement on the Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats in North America list; ranked #111 in 2023 and #166 in 2024, which in the OAD world is a meaningful credential for a neighbourhood grill. This is not a destination restaurant by Manhattan's definition, but it is exactly the kind of place that food-focused explorers should have on their map. Book it, especially if you're curious about the depth of Greek cooking outside the polished mid-Manhattan options.

What BZ Grill Actually Is

BZ Grill sits on Astoria Boulevard in a neighbourhood that has been a Greek-American culinary corridor for decades. The kitchen's identity is grounded in the grill, the kind of cooking where smoke and char carry as much flavour information as seasoning does. The scent profile you'd expect here is woodsmoke, rendered fat, the faint char of grilled protein meeting open heat: the sensory signature of a serious Greek grill kitchen. That's not incidental to the experience; it's the point. If you're arriving from Manhattan, treat this as a purposeful food trip rather than a convenience stop.

The OAD Cheap Eats ranking, twice over, signals that the kitchen maintains a level of consistency that critics and serious eaters track. OAD's cheap eats lists are assembled from votes by well-travelled diners, not press releases, which makes the placement a reliable indicator of cooking quality relative to price. The slight drop from #111 to #166 between 2023 and 2024 is worth noting: not a red flag, but worth watching for a third-year data point.

On Takeout and Delivery

Given BZ Grill's format as a grill-focused operation, the takeout question matters. Greek grill food, whole fish, skewered meats, charred vegetables, travels better than most cuisines at this price tier, provided you're eating within 20 minutes of pickup. The core flavours are strong enough that a short transit window doesn't destroy them, but anything with crispy skin or textural contrast will suffer on a longer journey. If you're ordering for delivery to a Manhattan address, factor in the Queens-to-Manhattan transit time: the food is likely to arrive compromised. For the full experience, eat in or pick up and eat close to the source. The grill-smoke aromatics that define the kitchen don't survive a sealed container well. For comparison, Greek spots like Taverna Kyclades, also in Astoria, face the same delivery limitations with seafood-heavy menus. The format rewards proximity.

How BZ Grill Fits the NYC Greek Dining Map

Astoria remains the most serious borough for Greek food in New York, BZ Grill is one of its better representatives. If you're building a Greek dining itinerary across the city, pair this with Eléa for a higher-price-point Greek experience in Manhattan, or Pylos in the East Village for a different register of the cuisine. Kyma offers a more polished, expense-account version of the same culinary tradition. BZ Grill is the cheap-eats anchor of that comparison set, the place you go when you want cooking quality without the overhead of a Manhattan dining room. For Greek dining outside the US, OMA in London and Mavrommatis in Paris represent the European end of the spectrum.

Practical Details

Hours: Monday through Sunday, 11 am–10 pm. Reservations: Easy, booking difficulty is low, walk-ins are likely manageable outside peak weekend hours. Budget: Cheap eats tier; expect to spend comfortably below $30 per person. Getting there: Astoria by subway (N/W train to Astoria Blvd) puts you steps from the door. Dress: No dress code, come as you are. Booking method: Not specified in available data; calling ahead for groups is advisable.

Pearl Picks: If You're Planning Around This

• Our full New York City restaurants guide
• Our full New York City hotels guide
• Our full New York City bars guide
• Our full New York City wineries guide
• Our full New York City experiences guide
• Lazy Bear in San Francisco, another OAD-tracked, chef-driven neighbourhood destination worth the detour
• Smyth in Chicago, for comparison on what serious neighbourhood cooking looks like in another city
• Providence in Los Angeles, if you want to benchmark Greek-adjacent seafood cooking at a higher tier
• Emeril's in New Orleans, for context on what OAD-recognised regional cooking means across the country
• The French Laundry in Napa, the opposite end of the price spectrum, useful for calibrating what cheap-eats credibility actually means
• Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg