Avra’s classy space and very good versions of traditional Greek dishes will undoubtedly make it a favorite of families and diners of a certain age. That’s not to say you won’t like it, because the Greek salads and whole fishes and baklavas put out by this kitchen are all as good as anything served in Mykonos. But your appreciation of the beachy, upscale Mediterranean vibe will likely be directly connected to whether you can remember the Rudy Guliani era of New York.
That’s exactly when Avra got its start, with the original location opening in Midtown Manhattan in 2000. The Sunny Isles version is a sprawling, 330-seat space on the ground floor of the Estates at Acqualina, where condos upstairs start at $4M (add a zero for a penthouse). Out back, enjoy pool and ocean views before sunset. Inside, it’s all shades of beige, with a massive trellis of faux bougainvillea draped over the dining room.
As we slid into one of the booths along the wall, the family occupying the big table in the center of the room had just received a salt-crusted fish, a specialty. “Anybody want the head?” the server asked. With no takers, the prize went back to the kitchen, to be returned later as filets. That fish head would’ve been more adventurous than anything we tried.
Here, it’s more about well-executed classics: a very good Greek salad flavored mostly by the freshness of the vegetables; sweet grilled halloumi with honey and candied orange; roasted squash and onions and carrots just barely hit with herbs.
There’s a lobster pasta with a delicate sauce and a sea bass well seared and then served with a tomatoey stew. We got an order of the gigantes on the side, and it’s a dish that captured the place well, the beans cooked until soft but no further, flavored simply like grandma would’ve done if she had Aegean roots.
The olive oil cake we got at the end might’ve been the most creative thing we ordered, barely qualifying as sweet, ultra-moist from the oil, with a good hit of crispiness from crumbled mascarpone.
Avra isn’t reinventing the wheel, so don’t expect to be excited by anything new. This is a solid spot for when you’ve got fussy family in town: that foodie uncle from Westchester or a passive-aggressively picky father-in-law. Every bite at Avra, every step of the attentive service, every inch of the luxurious space will be exactly as good as you hoped a restaurant could be in the year 2000.
