Cheap Eats - Philly Edition - Effie's BYOB

I will go ahead and admit that moving to Astoria has turned me into a Mediterranean food snob. It comes with the territory of living in the Greek-influenced neighborhood (and the fact that I squat in the basement of an authentically Greek family.) Because of this, I was slightly tentative about trying Effie's in South Philadelphia on Saturday night. The restaurant boasts that it is the only authentically Greek restaurant in Center City, and that the recipes come direct from Effie's family. I must say our group (including fellow Astorians Karim and Carrie) was pleasantly surprised

I hadn't eaten since our morning pig out sesh at Green Eggs Cafe, so 12 hours later, I was ready to violently eat someone's face off (a la Bath Salts). We walked into what seemed like a tiny Greek restaurant, and my heart sank a bit. It was completely packed. "You don't have a reservation?" asked the owner (Effie herself!) who seemed incapable of smiling. Oops. Would we be able to eat, or would be turned back into the street wine bottles clanking, looking for a BYOB establishment that would take us under their wing? This could have turned into a Joseph and Mary at the inn situation (only drunker, and no one was preggers . . . okay, so really it was nothing like that.) "It will be 5 to 10 minutes" she said in a heavy accent. I looked around at the crowded interior, and was skeptical.

We stepped outside for a few, and sure enough, a young bearded dude came valiantly to our rescue (after oddly staring at us for a few minutes through the window in the door). He led us through the room we had already seen, then outside again, and then into another structure that was separate from the restaurant altogether. Where the eff were we? (Sidenote: I later had to use the restroom and was directed upstairs to another dining area floor. The restaurant spanned the interior of an entire house! This was very cool in my book.)

I sat down and yelled "THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING." The exposed brick was a nice touch, and it took away from the fact that we were actually just sitting on metal patio furniture. Some very drunk girls next to us slammed their wine before getting up to leave. "Heeey. Heeeeeeyyyy! Didyagiesjusgetere?" When I responded yes, they handed us the rest of their unfinished double bottle of red wine. I forgot our waiter's name (but it was something super manly and awesome) so I will call him Odysseus for the remainder of this entry. Odysseus returned with some empty water glasses (not wine glasses, but I didn't give a sh*t) and fluffy warm pita that I began to eat ravenously. This dinner was off to a promising start.

Also, I couldn't ignore the fact that the huge group of people behind us were celebrating a 30th birthday.
 (Sidenote: We took their cake. This was foiled when one of the men came back to leave a tip on the table and saw us sticking our fingers in the frosting. This was further foiled when the old Greek ladies got effin' pissed that we left with said cake, and in an act of love, we brought it back to them after leaving. They accepted, no questions asked. No cake for us.)

The menu was limited but covered the bases as far as Greek favorite's go. We settled on GDolmades, Spanakopita and a large Greek salad to start. The GDolmades were very well flavored and the grape leaves were tender. I covered mine in lemon juice and went to town. The Greek salad was well portioned and I appreciated the anchovies and peperoncinis that were included in the mix. The Spanakopita was tasty enough, but arrived to us a little cold in the middle. The filo was perfectly crispy though.

Odysseus came back to take the order for our mains. Our choices spanned the menu - Chicken Souvlaki (grilled chicken skewers), Gyro Platter (slices of lamb), Makaronia (pasta with bacon, kessari and keflotari cheese), Grilled Octopus Salad and Shrimp Santorini (shrimp stewed in a garlic tomato sauce with chives). The Chicken Souvlaki and Gyro Platters were well portioned and pretty basic. Nothing too special. I did like the stewed tomatoes and peas that came as the veggie of the day. The Tzatziki was also the consistency that I like (1 point for Effie's).

 The Grilled Octopus Salad was probably the most beautiful dish. It had a great char and was cooked quite well. This had a great level of acid as it was accompanied by these tasty little marinated cherry tomatoes. The Shrimp Santorini was probably my favorite dish. These shrimp were well cooked and the sauce was rich without being too salty. I didn't try the Makaronia, but Karim seemed to dig it. The portion size on that one was a little insane though.

At this point we had gone through about three bottles of wine and it was past closing time so we figured it was time to head out. Overall, the service was friendly. Odysseus never once used his immortal powers to rush us in the least, so that was pretty baller. And the price was effin' right. Man, we gorged ourselves and drank to excess without breaking the bank. That's a win in my book, even if the place isn't Taverna Kyclades (but no place ever is). Overall, a nice BYOB in the South Philly/Center City area that's worth checking out. Not knock your socks off insane, but pretty solid just the same. Hell, I'd go back. 

I hope those b*tches enjoyed their cake.

THE DAMAGE: $28 per person including tax/tip. Plus BYOB!