Eat Here Now
Contact Info:
Address: 839 Lexington Ave (nr 63rd St)
City: New York, NY
Zip: 10021
map: View the Map
Phone: (212) 751-0724
Food Info:
Menu: View the Menu
Cuisine:
Diners
2nd Cuisine:
Greek
Takeout:
Yes
Delivery:
Yes
Payment:
Accepts Credit Cards
Cititour Review:
Somewhere between a diner and a coffee shop, Eat Here Now fills the bill when you crave an unassuming lunch or breakfast and lack the energy for anything trendy. On a busy corner of Lexington Avenue, it's a few steps down to a fairly friendly greeting by a burly man I think is the owner. The waitresses (not wait staff--this place hasn't any airs whatsoever) wear black pants and blouses and are pleasant and extremely efficient even when the place is mobbed.
Sit down at one of the tan vinyl booths or the counter and order. Everything is exactly what you would expect which is what you want.
The food is classic short order: breakfast items like a mushroom or spinach and bacon omelet; an asparagus omelet for adventuresome folks and other egg dishes any way you want including Florentine or Benedict (with a fair Hollandaise sauce); all come with toast and home fries. You can eat Belgian Waffles in many guises and the orange juice tastes fresh. For lunch (or anytime; no one here throws a side-eye if you order spanakopita for your wake-up meal), there are salads, (Greek, tuna, vegetarian and one with crumbled blue cheese and walnuts,) as well as lots of sandwiches. The gyro takes a fresh pita and stuffs it with a decent amount of meat piled on unremarkable lettuce and tomatoes with a minute touch of dressing but the chicken souvlaki, the tuna salad and the grilled cheese deliver the goods as you expect these to taste. The $12.95 Triple Decker sandwiches are too big to get your mouth around with plenty of bacon on the turkey or grilled chicken clubs. The "Burger Bar" puts the meat on a sesame bun or pita while the Knife and Fork Sandwich selections include a Reuben, tuna melt on an English muffin unless you specify otherwise, and the souvlaki platter that calls out chunks of beef served with a smallish Greek salad, fries and pita. Entrees include moussaka which I'd skip in favor of meatloaf or London broil or, in a daring, cross-cultural move, Italian specialties like lasagna or various Parmigianas (eggplant, chicken, shrimp.)
For some reason I can't fathom, fried chicken and a chicken Caesar salad are on the "Carving Board" section (items $16.96) while the Little Extras run to chili, onion rings and cottage cheese.
This is a something for everyone kind of place, offering desserts like carrot cake, rice pudding, apple pie and Jello to cover all the bases. Food comes quickly, especially pleasing to those with kids (or just plain hungry people) and requests for extra napkins are accommodated with no fuss. You will not be amazed by anything but that's not why you're here. It's old school eatery that hews to life before the world went vegan and gluten-crazy and, as such, delivers what's promised. You won't leave hungry.
Review By: Mari Gold