Plaza Lounge 30th Dr and 29th St

Sorry for our extended absence, Amy had to go off and get married. While she was gone Brianna was supposed to review with a guest, but she couldn’t bear to drink a frappe without her lovely partner in caffeine consumption.

Because marriage means pretending that you care about the other person’s activities, we were joined on this review by Amy’s husband (!!! Excuse Brianna while she takes a moment to remind herself that 28 isn’t really that old… right?).

Plaza Lounge is cute enough but given the high cuteness bar set by so many of the Greek café’s (shout out to Park Café and Athens’s Café) the décor didn’t really excel. The open windows and cushy couches are welcoming but not very distinctive given how many other places offer the same amenities. We deemed it warm enough to sit outside (even though Amy was a little chilly by the end of the night), and though nice, the bus stop right in front of the store makes it a little loud, though ultimately probably not any louder than other café’s on 30th Avenue.

The menu is your standard Astoria café huge, and more continental (that other continent to our east…) than Greek. The have a wide selection of creative booze options including about 12 different flavored mojito options ($9 each) and a whole section devoted to various flavored “mysteries” (“a raspberry mystery” seems like the name of an exclusive whore house…). We really should have ordered one of these just to clear up the… mystery but alas we did not – bonus points to the reader who can help us out. Frappes did not appear on the menu but have no fear, the waitress was happy to bring us a couple after we inquired after them.

The frappes ($4 each) were less sweet then we’re used to, which Brianna found refreshing however they were also a bit watery. Amy’s ball and chain ordered an iced tea ($3.50), which was surprisingly frothy. He said it tasted like powdered iced tea mix, and was very sweet--which he considered a negative (this from a boy who used to buy powdered iced team mix in one gallon containers during college, and occasionally eat the mix straight). Luckily the disappointing beverage lead to some high quality reminiscing about the time in college when Brianna ran out of mixers and tried to stir iced tea mix directly into a glass of rum (surprisingly yummy!).



For dinner Brianna ordered a tuna sandwich ($8), Amy a prosciutto sandwich ($8) and Mr. Amy a Caribbean chicken wrap ($8). The tuna was the European style with olive oil instead of mayo, capers, sun dried tomatoes and a slice of ripe tomato (shout out to the month of August!). The sandwich stand out was the bread, which was fresh and crusty and lightly toasted. The sandwich itself was perhaps a bit dry but the capers and sun-dried tomatoes were incredibly yummy. Amy’s sandwich arrived stuffed with chicken instead of prosciutto, but the wait staff was very gracious in taking it back and bringing the correct sandwich, and in a timely manner (or maybe it just seemed fast in comparison to the eons that we waited for sandwiches after ordering them). Amy felt that the Parmesan was a little overwhelming on her sandwich, but it was tasty, and not too much to eat in a sitting, unlike Brianna’s sandwich—she got half of it wrapped to go. There was some concern that the Caribbean wrap would be a little dry, but the chicken was very moist and the avocado perfectly ripe.

Awesome Astoria Activity:

Plaza Café seemed to have had a Jagermeister party last week. Awesome enough.









Food: 3.5
Service: 4
Ambiance: 3.5
Average Attractiveness of Staff: 4
Average Attractiveness of Patrons: 3.5