jake’s blog at jakeforthewin.com

If you get restaurant reservations in Time Square on New Year’s Eve, the police officers will let you in. They’ll also do it if you’ve got hotel reservations, but those tend to be more expensive, they don’t come with food, and I don’t write hotel reviews, so let’s move on.

My grandparents have been going to Molyvos for the past 2 New Years’ Eves, and perhaps they’ve caught on. Our reservation was at 8:30, and We were helped pretty promptly. We wanted to draw out the dinner as long as possible, and had everything taken this long on any other night of the year, this review would’ve been scathing. But, it was nice. We were expecting to be bothered and asked to leave by 10 at the latest, leaving us to freeze our genetals off in time square for 2-3 more hours, depending on traffic and freezingness. We werren’t pressured at all, though. I’d say we stayed in the restaurant until 11:15,  which leads me to believe they get a lot of people who do this. Onto the food!

My delicious and nicely textured lentil soup

I started with the lentil soup, which I thought was amazing. It wasn’t quite what I had expected, though come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I had Greek lentil soup. I’ve had Indian lentil soup out the wazzoo, but not Greek. It certainly did not disappoint. It had a thin but flavourful broth, but was filled with carrots, celery, onions, and (go figure) lentils. Each bite was different; contained a different variety of vegetables, and was thick and hearty without being overly filling.

The next course was, for me, a roast chicken. Pardon me, I’d normally order something much more interesting, but I had a personal vendetta in ordering the chicken. Perhaps  ”vendetta” is too strong a word, but I noticed that it was accompanied by some roast potatoes, and-if you go to Grady High School or live in Midtown Atlanta, you’ll know what I’m talking about-there’s a good, but not great, Greek restaurant, with the most addicting roast potatoes, oh my God. I’m seriously convinced they lace their taters with some sort of addictive ingredient, but whatever they put in there, it’s working. These potatoes, they’re so simple, pan fried with some herbs, salt, vinegar, and lemon juice, but Grady-goers just can’t get enough, myself included. In recent times, though, I’ve grown tired of these potatoes, and wanted to see them blown out of the water by some that cost four times as much, and are served where I consider to be the cullinary capital of the United States. And my expectations were greeted, met, and exceeded.

My entirely filling entree of roast chicken with potatoes. Well seasoned and perfectly cooked, but too much food!

The chicken was great. Not amazing, but great. It was extremely filling, and I admit that I wasn’t able to finish my entire entree, something fairly rare for me. The chicken was seasoned with a very nice greek sauce, which didn’t blow my mind, but tasted nice. It was a blend of calm (but not bland) flavours, amongst which were rosemary, tomatoes, onions, and lemon. Traditional Greek flavoring. And the potatoes. Ohhhhh, the potatoes. I almost feel guilty going back to Mediterranean Grill after those. They were cooked perfectly, crispy outside, soft and almost fluffy inside, cooked up with salt, pepper, rosemary, and…is that some garlic I detect? Why yes, yes it is. Med’ Grill’s standing wasn’t helped any by the fact that the sauce used to cook the chicken spilled over onto the potatoes, making them a great deal more flavourful and generally delicious then anything I could hope to pick up after school. The chicken was cooked to near-perfection, but as I mentioned, was quite filling. Normally, I’d take it home and extend my meal into lunch the next day, but you don’t wander around for an hour and a half in 15°F weather clutching some Greek chicken and potatoes, no matter how delicious they are.

Chocolate Baklava; Molyvos New Year's Eve special

I put off finishing the chicken for another reason, dessert, and I in no way regret my decision.  Their New Year’s Eve dessert special (they had an entire special menu, but we decided to order off the regular one) was a chocolate baklava. Baklava, for those who have yet to be enlightened, is a delicious Greek pastry made of filo dough, honey, and nuts. Chocolate blended unsurprisingly well into this mix. I was concerned about how well it would meld with the honey, but was quite satisfied in the result. It was round, and stood upright; not typical Baklava form, but it really helped to round out an amazing New Year’s Eve on a not-so-amazing year.

Concise review: Molyvos (I’m fairly certain there’s no apostrophe) is a delicious,  original Greek restaurant. You won’t find any Shish Kebab, gyros, or (perhaps I glanced over them) grape leaves on the menu. What you’ll find are nicely prepared, well seasoned, Greek dishes you wouldn’t necessarily find at your run-of-the-mill pita stand. I give the restaurant 4/5 stars. The food was delicious, and while the entree was too filling for me-and come to think of it, no one at my table finished their entree-I can’t say anything negative about the flavours or the service. Of course, had it taken this long on any other night, I’d never head back. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, since it’s my first visit, and assume they’re used to the New Year’s Eve crowd, and know that they won’t be out any time soon.